CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. COMMON SHARPERS AND THEIR TRICKS 10
III. MARKED CARDS AND THE MANNER OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT 26
IV. REFLECTORS 60
V. HOLDOUTS 73
VI. MANIPULATION 112
VII. COLLUSION AND CONSPIRACY 159
VIII. THE GAME OF FARO 184
IX. PREPARED CARDS 215
X. DICE 229
XI. HIGH BALL POKER 261
XII. ROULETTE AND ALLIED GAMES 267
XIII. SPORTING-HOUSES 285
XIV. SHARPS AND FLATS 312
POSTSCRIPT 331
LIST OF PLATES
FIGURE
THE DETECTION OF KEPPLINGER _Frontispiece_
12 'FALLEN ANGELS' _to face p._ 46
15 SCROLL-WORK " 50
22 PIPE-REFLECTOR IN SITU " 66
SHARPS AND FLATS
CHAPTER I
_INTRODUCTORY_
That 'it requires all kinds of men to make a world,' is an aphorism
which may or may not be gainsaid, according to the aspect in which it is
regarded. For whilst, on the one hand, we are painfully cognisant of the
fact that this world, as we find it, is composed of 'all sorts and
conditions of men,' and among them not a few sorts with which we could
very readily dispense, still, on the other hand, the idea of a world
with some of the existing components omitted is by no means
inconceivable. Do we not, in fact, every day of our lives, meet with
schemes, philanthropic and otherwise, formulated expressly for the
regeneration of man? Yes, we know them of old; those schemes which,
according to their gifted authors, are to elevate mankind to one
universal level of goodness and purity. Sad to say, however, in spite
of these well-meant efforts, continued from time immemorial, mankind
would appear to be in about the same unregenerate condition as ever. The
'kinds of men' seem to multiply rather than to diminish, and the
long-deferred millennium looms as far off in the dim and distant future
as at any period of the world's history.
Accepting, then, this many-sided world of ours as an established fact,
impossible of modification, it is obvious that, to quote another
time-honoured proverb, and say that 'one half the world does not know
how the other half lives,' is to convey but a very feeble and inadequate
idea of the real facts of the case. All things considered, it may be
safely said that the majority know far too little of the means of
subsistence employed by their fellows, and, in consequence, often suffer
for that lack of knowledge. The fact is, too many of us possess the
gentleness of the dove (more or less) without the qualifying and
ever-necessary wisdom of the serpent.
