Note A — Chapter I · MODERN GREEKS.
Reading edition
In the United States of America this perfidious scheme was brought to great perfection, and carried out by the bankers themselves at these establishments.
Robertson, in his Memoirs, thus describes it:—In the centre of the tables for play a mechanical spring is concealed, which, by being touched, can make the ball enter the division of "pair" or "impair" at pleasure.
If "Pair" is the favourite, and large stakes are on it, the spring under the table is touched, and, by tightening by the hundredth part of an inch all the "pairs," the ball is forced to enter the "impairs," which are larger.
Whilst this was going on, the victims were pricking their cards and reckoning their chances of winning, but what could the most learned calculator do against a push of the knee?