ATLANTIC GAMBLERS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1429, 15 February 1888, Page 5

ATLANTIC GAMBLERS.

CAED SHAEPEBS AT WOEK.

Card-playing for money is a popular amusement for men on Atlantic steamers. The games played are poker, vingt-et-un, and napoleon. The stakes vary according to agreement. The limit is generally ten shillings, but sometimes there is no limit, and large suma of money are won and lost. Every vessel carries numbers of men who are travelling alone. They are buyers for wholesale houses, actors, or professional men off on a holiday. There are also plenty of ministers, but they shun the smoking-room. It does not take long to strike up an acquaintance on board ship, and by the third day the card-room is filled with men on the very best of terms, but who have never known each other before they met there. This chance of easy introductions is not overlooked by professional gamblers, and a number of them spend the greater part of each summer travelling between New York and Liverpool. They assume all sorts of disguises, and either work siogly or in pairs. If singly they depend on their superior skill to make them winners. Sleight-of-hand may be useful now and again, but as a rule there are too many persons looking on to make that a safe venture. Working with a confederate is the most profitable way of all.

One of the officers of the Cunard line says : —

' There is no law, English or Americau, which would enable us to stop gambling and I do not know that we care to do so. There is no reason why we should suppress card-playing for money, simply because some" persons act wrongfully. It is the main amusement of the men on a voyage, and if we should suppress it the line would lose a great part of its custom. There is no compulsion about playing, and if a man is fool enough to gamble and lose his money he has only himself to blame. The captain has no right to interfere unless complaint is made by the passengers, and then he will take action at once. "We have had several cases where the captain interfered and suppressed all card-playing, as it was believed there were sharper.s on board. "When the latter are known they are excluded from the card-room.'

A well-known American gentleman tells this story ; — ' Last summer I took a run over to Europe, and had a good opportunity of learning how gambling confederates work together. One of the passengers was a well-dressed man, who said he was a member of the Board of Trade of Chicago. There were other Chicago people on board, and they did not know of him, but he talked so glibly of well-known Chicago business men, and such a good fellow generally, that everyone thought that he was all right. He was very soon on good terms with everybody, with a single exception, this was a middle-aged doctor from some Western city. I never learned what their quarrel was about, but they never spoke and eyed each other with great coldness. The Chicago man was always ready for any game of cards, and when he lost everybody knew it, as he talked so much about it. I noticed after a time that his losings were only in small games, and when the stakes were high he generally won. The doctor never played. He did not approve o£ gambling, but he liked to look on. On the third or fourth day out he was standing behind the broker's chair when the latter threw down his cards angrily, jumped to his feet, and addressing the dootor, askad him not to look over, as it made him nervous and brought bad luck. The doctor apologised, and after that kept on the other side of the table. This collision intensified the feeling, and I often saw them exchange bitter glances. "We were fearful at times that they would come to blows. After that the broker had a great run of good luck, and as the game was a heavy one, he won several hundred pounds. I was up late on the nijybt before we reached Liverpool, and, "while strolling along the deck, found the broker and the doctor engaged in close conversation in a dark corner. They separated hastily when they caw they were seen. This started a suspicion iv my mind, and when three days later I saw them eating dinner together in a chop house in liondon the whole thing was plain. They had been working together, and by a system of signals had won the money of the other players.'