"Mr. Scarne was not one who, when the boys rode off to war, gave them good advice, chocolate bars, or woolen underwear. Rather he took the men aside, first singly and then in groups, warning that if they like to gamble with dice and cards they were heading for an Army and a Navy abounding in plain and fancy sharpers and crooks. Then, from his incomparable knowledge of the subject, he instructed in spotting such crooked gentry and, if necessary, exposing them.

"In due time Mr. Scarne's activities around his New Jersey home became of interest to the editors of Yank, the Army weekly....