Show I POKERSHARPS AT SEA Fleecing Unsophisticated Travelers On hoard the Ocean Steamships Steam-ships A recent London cablegram said there was a revival of the outcry against gam bUng on the Atlantic steamships and I many letters had been published giving instances of passengers being fleeced by cardsharps Two of these sharpers are slender brighteyed girls who are famil iar to ocean travelers in the summer season sea-son Not long ago the writer saw them aboard a fast steamer for one of their periodical peri-odical round trips and they appeared very pleasant to the eye They were simply yet richly dressed in becoming traveling suits One of them had an alligator alli-gator tourists bag slung over her shoul der and the other with equal grace and archness carried a pair of marine glasses The small snug gray hats that surmounted sur-mounted their pretty heads of neatly doneup hair their closefitting jackets and strong yet shapely shoes all bespoke experienced travelers As they stood at the steamers rail watching the busy jostling crowd they were the cynosure of all eyes They were not unattended Looming up in the background with a bland face was the male guardian of the pretty pair As the younger men who were going to be their fellowpassengers eyed them with illconcealed admiration the graymustached chaperon frowned in a manner that was discouraging to the audacious As the reporter gazed at the picture he was startled by feeling a huge red hand upon his shoulder and hearing a voice in his ear that sounded as if it came from the depths of the sea It said Well old man Turning around the reporter saw the rotund form of the jolly chief officer of the steamer the flagship of the line What are you looking at those girls eh ehIes Yes I wonder who they areEnglish girls going home with papa after doing the States I suppose or may be theyre Boston belles abandoning their t crude and barbarous native land Theyre pretty girls anyhow and 1 feel jealous already of that gaunt roundshouldeiVvi dude who is making up to the fairhaired one in spite of her fathers scowl The jolly officer burst into a peal of laughter which reached the ears of the beauties the rail They turned looked at him crimsoned with resentment and haughtily left the rail to go below or get out of the way of the ollicers eyes English swells or Boston belles 1 ell Thats your reckoning of it is it I laughed the jolly tar Why my dear fellow youre all off Those are the three cleverest swindlers that work the herring pond 1 presume youve heard of the cardsharps and confidence operators opera-tors who spend their time during the summer months between New York and Liverpool fleecing heir fellowpassengers Well thats the slickest trio in the business busi-ness Ive had em twice on this ship and on the second voyage they got so deep into the pockets of two young Englishmen westward bound that the skipper got thwart of their hawse and confined thorn to their stateroom state-room for the rest of the passage You see they book as a father and two daughters and as soon as the ships in blue water they begin to throw out signals sig-nals First one and then andther greenhorn green-horn runs alongside and makes fast Then they sound him If he is clever or on short allowance they sheer ofT and let him alone But if hes what you Yankees call well fixed they make fast to him flirt with him drink fizz and soda and brandy with him smoke cigarettes with him and in due time play poker or nap or baccarat with him The poor dupe thinks that they are too awfully nice for anything All the other lady passengers are below or oft the wind and he thinks it a charming American characteristic this freedom and audacity and good fellowship The cover thats the old sharphe makes a pretense of shortening shorten-ing sail once in a while but its only a blind my boy Then the first thing you know just as you make the lightship Mr Greenhorn is cleaned out of every shilling and may have chucked in a half dozen checks or promissory notes besides be-sides Theyre the hardest class of frauds to tackle because no skipper likes to run afoul of lady passengers Suppose he should make mistake and order young lady whose worst fault is that she is a little gay to keep to her stateroom as he can under British law Why she might make it as hot as old Harry for the company com-pany for such an action would be false imprisonment of the worst kind |