Ordinarily the owners and saloonkeepers divide the winnings of all
slot machines. In a fair machine the winnings fall into the receptacle
A. Most of the money gambled by players found its way into this
depository. It did not please the owner of this machine to share his
profits equally with the saloonkeeper. The winning player was paid
from the nickels which lined a zig-zag chute ending at C. The owner
changed this scheme by inserting the secret bag B. Then he cut a hole
in the chute at D. and arranged a spring which diverted one out of
three nickels into B. As long as the chute was empty below the point
of entrance of A the nickels kept on filling the zig-zag runway.
[Illustration: Slot Machine Proves a Fraud.]
When the machine was seized, in the box where all the gains were
supposed to be, $60.20 was found. These two sums represented the total
proceeds of a day.
Confederates, mirrors, words, signs and hold-outs are used. A player
dealing from a stacked deck will inform his confederate how many cards
to draw by uttering a sentence containing that number of words. Men
lounging behind a player will "tip off" his hand. Cards are marked in
a manner imperceptible to the eye of the novice, and sometimes liquid
refreshment is spilled on the table in front of the dealer, so that
his opposite can read the reflections of the cards as they are dealt
face downward across the board. The last-named scheme is used where
the table has no covering.
There are many who believe that talks of crookedness at card tables
are only sermons by "goody-goodies," who know not whereof they speak.
Let the following advertisement, recently sent broadcast over the
country by a large concern located in the business center of one of
America's largest cities, refute such claims: