Garrick was standing ruefully beside the roulette wheel at which
so many fortunes had been dissipated.
"Get me an axe," he asked of one of Dillon's men who was passing.
With a well-directed blow he smashed the wheel.
"Look," he exclaimed, "this is what they were up against."
His forefinger indicated an ingenious but now twisted and tangled
series of minute wires and electro-magnets in the delicate
mechanism now broken open before us. Delicate brushes led the
current into the wheel.
With another blow of the axe, Garrick disclosed wires running down
through the leg of the table to the floor and under the carpet to
buttons operated by the man who ran the game.
"What does it mean?" I asked blankly.
"It means," he returned, "that they had little enough chance to
win at a straight game of roulette. But this wheel wasn't even
straight with all the odds in favor of the bank, as they are
naturally. This game was electrically controlled. Others are
mechanically controlled by what are called the 'mule's ear,' and
other devices.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131