The Timeline of Faro

John Morris described the development of Faro in his book, The Wanderings of a Vagabond, written about 1870 and published in 1873. The following is information from his book presented as a timeline that lists specific dates and trends that affected faro and how it was played:

1822 - The first dealing box was invented by Virginian Major Bayley. It was a face-down deck box with an oblong hole in the center for removing the car one at a time from the box. 

1825 - A watchmaker from Cincinnati named Graves invented the open dealing box familiar to faro dealers, players, and collectors. Until this time, the deck was held in the hand of the dealer and would be so until the box had widespread use. Soon after, Graves began making "gaffed" boxes for cheating identical to his regular, square boxes.

1825 -  The first fashionable gaming house in Washington City, District of Colombia is opened.

1830s - About this time, American terms used in faro supplant the older French terms.

1833 - A German immigrant named Swigel is caught dealing 'seconds' (dealing the second card instead of the top card) at faro in New Orleans. He probably did this from his hand rather than from a dealing box.

1834-1835 -  Commercially manufactured stamped cards are introduced in American gaming. A stamped card was secretly marked to tell the sharper the denomination and sometimes the suit of the cards.

1835 - "Rounds" are invented. A cheating method where cards are shaped round to be easier stocked and dealt in order to cheat.

1836 - The Tongue Tell dealing box invented for cheating.

"  - The gamblers had largely run the skinning dens out of New Orleans until this year when the Gambling Licence law is repealed leading to a rejuvenation of skinning as well as a set of rules set down to favor the faro bankers described by Morris as an "Old Fogy system".

1836-1846 Faro was the main banking game found in Cincinnati, far above any other kind of gambling.  

1837  - Up until this time all gambling locations furnishings operated on "the democratic principle". The gist of this term seems to indicate that a player had to bring their own chairs and furnishing and were not provided by the house, dealer, or proprietor.

"  - Mobile, AL, sets up its first nice gambling location, soon followed by other and establishes itself as a favorite place for gaming in the South.

1844 - Boston opened its first skinning den and conducted by Lyman Brittain and a few other men. Other skinning dens soon followed. Brittain continued in his business there until 1864 when he moved his operation to New York.

1845 -  Most major cities in America have no handsome gambling locations at this time.

"  - Using the copper to reverse the turn for players is accepted as a regular component of play in New York City and soon starts to spread to other parts of the country. Calling the Turn also starts from New York and also became an essential part of faro.

1846 -1848 The Mexican-American War provided gamblers and sharpers a ready, willing, and unwary clientele of bored soldiers to play against. New Orleans did a brisk business there with soldiers arriving and departing frequently. Morris states that many of the roughs from the major cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans and would have been acquainted with the tiger. Near the end of the war, the Northern and Western states began fitting up more respectable rooms for playing faro.

1848 - Square Sights, a cheating method, is invented.

"  - No open limit betting is found in the South or West until this year.

1849 - Principle faro bankers arrive in California via Mexico for the Gold Rush.

"  - California gamblers start experimenting with using the copper bet and open limit; in public saloons the copper could only be used on the last turn. Nearly all games throughout the state that dealt a running limit game did this. However games that had an open limit played the copper. 

1850 - The Odd Card, another cheating method, is invented.

1851 - Banking games become a felony in New York City, but it was used by blackmailing lawyers to extort money from gamblers and sharpers alike.

1853 - New York City's first gorgeous skinning palace "The Crystal Palace" was opened by Mr. Pendleton.

" - New Orleans gets their upper scale skinning palace this year as well.

1853 - Copper betting accepted in Philadelphia, brought by gamblers from other parts of the US, notably California, New York City, and New England states.

1853 - 1856 - Elijah Skaggs, a manipulative sharper, trained patent dealers spread out across America to cheat players as franchises during this time.

1853 - the first fashionable skinning den opens in New Orleans, followed by more in 1854, followed by a great many sharpers competing for distinction.

1855 -  Morris asserts that no meals were prepared for players in the East or the West until this year with the exception of New Orleans, which apparently started this custom, followed by Mobile, Baltimore, and Richmond. It is not clear when these cities started providing meals.

1856 - 1858 - An extortion ring is formed by two police detectives and a judge in Louisville, KY shook down faro bankers there or face a fine and jail time.

"  The death of Charles Cora, itinerant gambler, in San Francisco.

"  - The copper bet first accepted in New Orleans.

1857 - Copper betting is largely adopted by most faro banks across the US.

1858 -  The sharpers in New Orleans have such control over the gambling there that there is only one place to gamble squarely in the city and it was over a livery stable.

1859 - Gamblers from Richmond, VA open a skinning game in New Orleans and to give the appearance of dealing honestly, they provided cue cards for keeping track of the cards in play. They are approached by the sharper elite of that town and are told to cease and desist immediately rather than have players insist on keeping track of the cards themselves and possibly uncover a cheating scheme.

1859 - The running limit game of faro is nearly wiped out by this point and replaced entirely by open limit betting.

Before the Civil War some prejudices existed against a gambler, for example, a gambler in Charleston, SC, could not enter the grandstands of a horse race but a servant could. Few gamblers had the good fortune to escape being preyed upon by rowdies, whether North or South. Often bankers would hire a bruiser or a few to keep order and protect the game. The personal protection of a provided the security the law would not but slowly the rowdies, in New York in particular, began to discover gamblers were also entitled to protection under the law in the sense that robbing or abusing a gambler was a punishable offense regardless of vocation.

1861 - 1865 - Like the Mexican War before it, the Civil War/War Between the States provided an extremely large pool of bored soldiers, unwary contractors, and politicians galore and gambling soars. As a result, some gambling places in New York set up some elaborate houses with suppers and drinks only numbering about 4 in all and did not last more than a year. As far as fabulous skinning dens there numbered about ten but would taper out to about 4 in 1870. Morris estimated that roughly 200 second class skinning dens were operating during the war, both North and South. Charleston used to have a first rate skinning den that operated during the winter up through the war but since the war failed to draw clients and sharpers alike. Mobile had a few houses, one which ran for about 2 year making millions of Confederate dollars before it was closed by the military forces there. Saratoga in New York had three luxuriously fitted houses during the war and one in Cape May. But nearly every town or city throughout the whole of the Union had some sort of skinning den during the wartime. Morris estimates that ten times as many faro banks rose up and gave employment to over fifteen-hundred dealers and banks.

1861 - First elaborate skinning den in New York City, opened by Pat Hearn

1863 - Cincinnati supported about 3 skinning dens but not many in Louisville, Nashville, or St. Louis for fear that military occupation would lead to breaking up the games.

1864 - The American Hoyle is printed wherein it described how faro was actually played in America; the older and English versions of Hoyle described a game no longer played.

Following the end of the conflict, gambling, money, and interest deflated in peacetime. With the end of the war brought about a reduction of gambling houses in proportion from ten to three. The new gambler or banker simply found new vocations since the quick money was gone. The increase in the number of competent dealers as a result of the war induced the boss-sharpers to take advantage of the manipulator artists to essential force them to steal for their wages. New Orleans managed to get up about three first rate skinning dens. Also as a result of the war the price for gaffed dealing boxes became more affordable. A watchmaker in Petersburg, VA, demanded $200 for his boxes but by 1870, Morris related than one can be purchased for about $30 - $100 depending on craftsmanship and materials.

1870 - Johnny Chamberlain set up his skinning palace, "Maison de Jeu" in Long Branch.

"  - Morris notes that even as of this late date, some dealers in the South and West refuse to receive Calling the Turn as part of their game.