There are two stories about the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. The first tells how he invented the method of beating blackjack. The second tells how he moved money through the city streets of Monte Carlo Square and hoodwinked the Cashiers by offering to buy them presents in return for promises of gambling winnings. Neither story is likely to be true.
His name was Joseph Jagger. He was an engineer, born in England in 1851. In his childhood, he was fascinated with inventions and created many of them. His father was a schoolmaster and taught his children to be interested in all kinds of science and technical things. When Joseph was 14 years old, the family moved to Monte Carlo and within a short time the entire family was involved with the notorious Monte Carlo Casino.
There is no room here to tell you how he fooled the cashiers into thinking he had huge winnings. That would have been a great story to tell at the time, but there is no room here to deny that he could make huge winnings. In those days, the casino Levine was situated in the Café de Paris. When a player came in, he found Carlo sitting at a roulette wheel. The casino was surrounded by rooms, which were named after those Frenchmen who had performed innovative financial transactions. There were rooms where alcohol and cigars were sold, rooms where women were sold drinks, and rooms where diamonds were displayed. The décor was magnificent and the service was excellent.
However, when Joseph Jagger went to sleep one night a gambler committed suicide by slitting his neck. His family commissioned another gambler named Charles Martland to carry out the deed. Martland began operations before finishing the job. He was successful and when he returned to Monte Carlo, Joseph Jagger was offered a spot in his employ.
The seat in the Pokerbo took some daring on the part of Joseph Jagger and at the time of his death in 1930, he was fifty seven years old. He was laid to rest in the St. Totero Church at Monte Carlo. Except for a few close friends, none of whom were his family, he was buried in the churchyard of the church.
There is also a story about the undertaker who discovered the body of Joseph Jagger, still wearing the wedding ring he had exchanged with the lover. The undertaker took Joseph Jagger’s remains to the churchyard and reburied him at the expense of the undertaker, in perpetuity. Now, you must be wondering, “Why at the time of his death, would they want to pay theStatute Yards Authority twenty five thousand dollars to have their remains buried there?”
The simple fact of the matter is that if there was a will, there was a way. And even if there wasn’t a will, there was a way to honor Joseph Jagger. Since his remains were reburied at the Statute Yards, they could make the act of placing his frozen corpse at the Coliseum up to his ninety years of age. It would be a suitable end for someone whose ambition was to risk millions on the future of Monte Carlo and to explain to the world the buried fortune.
A few people thought it would be better if the remains were reburied informally, perhaps at theients handwriting; but most authorities considered this an wrong and unprofitable decision.