A QUEER TRADE.

Waikato Times, Volume XLII, Issue 3424, 9 June 1894, Page 2

A QUEER TRADE.

In a book which he has called "Sharps and Flats," Mr Maskelyne, the celebrated illusionist and conjuror of the Egyptian Hall, London, reveals.a great number or' the secrets of gambling sharps, of whom, as a reviewer says, America is the happy hunting-ground and home, though at the same time England has a fair number of them, and they are not unknown out here, The manufacture and sale of aids to cheating is a recognised industry iu the Great Republic, where they are known as ,l advantage goods," and can be there obtained in almost endless variety. " Among them are dealing boxes which will distribute the particular cards desired ; trimming shears to alter the shape of car<?s in a manner so minute as to be unn'oticeaUe, but sufficient to enable the practised eye to discriminate between them; loaded dice; electric dice; reflectors to show tie cards one is dealing;dice boxes so arranged as to make the result a certainty; arid marked cards of every description." . Mr Maskelyne considers that the most remarkable gambling tool ever invented is what is called the " Kepplinger Holdout," which he says is one of the mechanical marvels of the age, and which was the invention of a famous professional gambler of San Francisco. It must be explained, for the benefit of the uninitiated, that in playing poker, the man who can; hide ; three vor four cards from those he discards, and can prodnce them again as he likes, is bound to win,"and naturally the inventive powers of American gamblers have been directed towards the manufacture of dodges which will enable a man to secrete these cards without being discovered. Kepplinger invented one of these which was absolutely undiscoverable and absolutely infallible, and but for his inordinate ambition there would have been no bounds to the results he might have achieved. Not content, however, with rooking the ordinary "mug," or "juggins," or " flat," he conH not resist the temptation of cheating his own class. For. days he played poker with three .of his own friends, the tacit understanding of course being that each of them wonld cheat to the beso of his ability, and each thought himself familiar with every possible trick. Kepplinger, however, won all the time. At last, in desperation, his friends decided to learn by force what they could not find out by intelligence, and at a preconcerted signal they sprang upon him, gagoed him, and searched him. Thus the "Kepplinger Hold-out" became common property, and it can now be purchased by auybody for £'2o. It is a marvellous machine, concealed in the right coat sleeve, with a universal joint at the elbow and the shoulder, and connected with.two straps round the knees under the trousers, with the result that by bringing his knees together the client can let down' into the palm of his hand an arrangement for holding cards, aud by spreading his knees again can make it disappear up to his elbow." Considering that all the paraphenalia referred to above be purchased openly by anyone who chooses to do so, it is a little remarkable that professional gamblers cau make a living in America; but. if all accounts are true, they still find enough simpletons to make their trade a profitable'one.—Press.