Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a form of false dice, on which the pips are arranged in wrong numbers; a high dispatcher cannot throw less than two, while a low dispatcher cannot throw higher than three.

1796		Sporting Mag. Feb. VII 256/1: Dispatches* [*A cant phrase for dice that have just so many spots, that are not regularly marked, but are so numbered that the thrower cannot possibly lose].
1797		Sporting Mag. Nov. XI 85/2: Dispatchers [...] were loaded dice, which in five minutes would dispatch 500l. out of the pockets of young men, when intoxicated with champagne.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1831		Satirist (London) 28 Aug. 166/1: It may be necessary to explain to the uninitiated that Dispatches mean dice which are imperfect, and are wanting in some number, and which, of course, cannot be turned up.
1846		Censor (London) 25 Jan. 6/1: It was said that the tables had been turned upon themselves, dispatchers were stopped, faked dice and cards were made evidences against them.
1856		Times 27 Nov. in Hotten (1859) n.p.: Despatches [...] dice with two sides, double four, double five, and double six.
1863		Leeds Times 12 Dec. 6/2: Dice can be ‘secured’ with such certainty [...] and dice are made unequal, are scratched, and worked with doctors [...] and despatchers — most appropriately named.
1873		Sl. Dict. 142: Despatchers false dice with two sets of numbers, and, of course, no low pips. So called because they bring the matter to a speedy issue. Great skill in palming is necessary for their successful use.
c.1880		‘US Army Sl. 1870s–1880s’ [compiled by R. Bunting, San Diego CA, 2001] Dispatches [sic] Loaded dice.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 3: Despatchers - False dice with two sets of numbers, and, of course, no low pips. So called because they bring the matter to a speedy issue.
1894		J. Maskelyne Sharps and Flats 238: Therefore, if the sharp throws with one genuine die and one high dispatcher, he cannot throw less than three.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 24: Dispatches, false dice.
1919		Mirror (Sydney) (Sydney) 31 Aug. 8/2: ‘Dispatchers’ is a name applied to sets which have all the numbers barring the sevens. It is alleged that ‘dispatchers’ were being used in the billiard saloon raided last Saturday week.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 31/2: Dispatchers, crooked dice.
1938		(con. late 18C) H. Asbury Sucker’s Progress 42: Loaded dice were called ‘dispatches’ and ‘dispatchers’ then as now, and to prepare them thus for cheating was to ‘plumb the bones’ or ‘load the doctors’.