The Staff a Lower-class Gaming "Hell" (Circa 1731)

Glossary of Victorian underworld Slang.

A "Director"
-to superintend the games.

An "Operator"
-to deal the cards, and cheat the customers with sleight-of-hand.

Two "Crowpees" (croupiers)
- to watch the play and see the players do not cheat the Operator.

2 "Puffs," or "Bonnets"
- acting as decoys by winning high stakes, and thereby luring the real customers to place "deep" (high) wagers.

A "Clerk"
-to see that the Puffs cheat only the customers, not the house.

A "Squib"
-a trainee Puff.

A "Flasher,"
-to talk loudly of the house's losses in hopes of encouraging real customers to play "deep."

A "Dunner"
- to collect debts owed to the house.

A "Waiter"
-to serve the players, and see that they have more than enough to drink, or to distract them when the house is cheating.

An "Attorney"
-to advise the house in long-winded, Latin terms when the legality of play is questioned.

A "Captain"
-to defend the house if a player should draw a weapon.

An "Usher"
-to light the way should a customer desire to relieve himself, or take a break from gaming with one of the house wenches upstairs.

A "Porter,"
-often an ex-soldier, to stand on duty outside, and be on goodterms with the nightwatchmen and local soldiery.

An "Orderly Man"
-to serve as look-out and warn the Porter if trouble with the law is afoot.

A "Runner"
-to carry messages between the house and the courts when legal cases
involving gambling are being heard.

-And numerous part-time employees including:

"Link-boys,"
-A boy with a lantern to light your way home, or to a cab through the dark streets.

" Chair men,"
-To transport better-off patrons using a sedan chair.

Watchmen, affidavit men, ruffians of all sorts, bailees, street urchins, pimps, prostitutes, touts, and beggars...

Glossary of Victorian underworld Slang.