Omaha daily bee., 1873-04-15
MONTE.
Omaha the Headquarters OF
Professional Monte Players.
How Long will the Present
State Of Affairs Continue?
The Duty of the Police.

know much about it, is, as its name
indicates, played with three cards.
One man throws them, one after the
other, in rapid succession, and at
the conclusion of the operation, any
person, who may have been roped in
for the occasion, bets, if he can be
induced to do so, that he can pick
out a certain card, which he has been
previously shown. There is one
chance out of three in a square game
for a man to win.
The professional throwers of three
card monte attain such dexterity in
their sleight-of-hand performances
for they can be called nothing else
that they have what may be called a
dead-sure thing. An expert thrower
will show the victim the card which
is to be picked out, and while hand
ling it he will turn up a corner, or
crimp it, as If by accident, so that
the Sucker" can follow it with his
eye, or at least is led to believe that
he can, and so thinks that he has got
it sure; but when he turns it over
he finds that he is mistaken, and that
the error has cost him something
generally all the money and jewelry
that he has with him. The tbrower,
of course, while manipulating the
cards, bends back the turned up cor
ner, and turns up the corner oil
another card in q similar manner.
The successful operations of three
card monte lhrowers is all owing to
n single principle--that the action
of the hand is quicker than the
movement of the eye.
The victim is generally allowed to
win several times in succession, until
the bets run up to large amounts,
when he is sure to lose every time.
The trick appears SO simple to him,
that he is willing to risk everything
he possesses on it.
The professional monte players
generally frequent race courses and
fair grounds in the East, while in
the West they travel on railroad
trains, and infest the principal towns
on the lines, in search of vic tins.
The game first made its appear
ance in Omaha about sixteen months
ago, being introduced here by the Gel
ebrated Canada Bill, the king of
monte men, and since that time it
has been operated here and on our
railroads with more or less boldness,
cunning and frequency. Sums gen.
orally small, but sometimes very large,
have been taken from the unwary
traveller by meal of this game. The
successful operations of one nan in
this city, and State and on our rail-
roads, have been recorded in the
daily papers and noised abroad, thus
attracting to Omaha others of the
same profession, from time to time,
until now the city is infested with
numerous petty gangs of these birds
of prey-in all amounting to between
forty and fifty men. They make
their living in no other way than by
beating strangers out of their money
by this three-card trick. Omaha
seems to be one of the best points in
the country for the carrying on of
these nefarious depredations upon
the pocket books of travellers, being
the metropolis of Nebraska, and a
great railroad centre, having sever
lines terminating at and starting from
it. Located as it is on the bank of the
Missouri river, the boundary line
between Nebraska and Iowa, its situa-
ton is a most convenient one, for the
monte men, who, when they are
sought after by the officers of the
law, in behalf of some fleeced indi-
vidual, can easily step from one State
to the other. The officers are thus
frequently evaded, and the victim,
becoming tired and disguised at the
prolonged absence of the tricksters,
proceeds on the way to his destina>
ton, bearing with him no pleasant
remembrances of Omaha, but eon>
sidering it a place above all others to
be Stunned by the travelling public.
1t is thus that Omaha has gained a
most dnenviable reputation abroad,
and is now looked upon as one of the
most demoralized cities of the Union.
Even when the monte men have been
arrested, they have generally with
one or two exceptions, been sharp
enough to manage-by buying off
their victim-to escape the full PEN
atty of the law, and merely pay a
light fine for gambling.
Then again, many who have lost
their money, out of fear of having
their indiscretion being made public,
have gone ON their way, sadder,
wiser and poorer men, leaving the
monteites alone in their glory to en-
joy their ili-gotten wealth.
The operations of a majority of
these men are pretty well known.
There are two classes of them-the
first, who lay low for large amounts,