Omaha daily bee., 1881-08-18

around a long table, in the centre OF
which there was a revolving wheel, at
the bottom of a hole shaped like n
dish-pan. This wheel is filed with
alternate slots, colored red and black,
and numbered as high as 80. Squares
of black and red Of corresponding
numbers are laid out upon the table to
the right and left of the wheel. The
dealer throws a marble in an opposite
direction to which the wheel is revolv-
ing, and the players place their chips
about upon the black or the red,
whichever they play to win. The ball
rum around the surface Of the sloping
side of the wheel for about a minute
and a half and then drops into one of
the slots. If black, black wins, and
the player who has his chips upon
say No. 80 black-gets 80 times the
amount he has played. The dealer
sweeps in all Of the remaining chip,
upon the cloth While'much money
is won by the winner the chances in
his favor are small. The game is now
all the rage. Everybody discusses it,
and nearly everyone who goes to the
clubhouse plays it. There were
beardless boys, certainly not out Of
their teens, who were playing along
side of old men. / saw afamiliar face
in a char at one end of the table. 1t
was that of a Spectator, who is not
known to fame, but who is in fact one
of the shrewdest operators in Wall
street, having made over a million
dollars by careful speculation there.
He was playing with the same care at
roulette, and seemed to be q winner.
Tom Ochiltree-who is it that hasn't
heard of him and his stories = said
that there was q Jew out west who
bought all of the privileges at q county
fair, and among Others that of faving
a roulette table. He had an ingeni-
Gus mechanism worked by a wire stir
rup beneath the table, by which he
could with his foot regulate the re-
volving wheel so as to make the ball
drop in black or red just as it suited
his advantage. He had 80 much other
business that he had to leave a broth
er Israelite in charge of the wheel.
as luck would have IT, there came
along a reckless man just then, who
put down about 5000 upon the red,
and won. The Jew came running up
in great excitement, exclalming with
an oath to his employee. Swat for
you gift me away so forl" 'Don't hit
mel Don't hit mel" said the man be-
hind the table, "You must excuse me,
Isaac, my foot was asleep"
"What is the biggest winnings you
ever knew of Z" 1 asked of an expert
enced New Yorker.
81 have heard many fabulous sto-
%ries," said he, 'but l will speak only
of what l know. / saw Ben Wood,
former proprietor of The Daily News
n night at a Republican game of
faro, that is a game made up of gam
blers, win 1926, 000. He borrowed
50, 500 from Judge McCann to begin
on, and he went away with every
pocket stuffed with checks and bills.
The cigar seller in the gambling rooms
told me that Wood that night smoked
$40 worth of cigars"
"That is impossible"
"a fact, I assure you. He took
cigars costing about one dollar each,
and lighting n end, began in his
nervous way to eat the other, and in
about two n{jnntes he would take a
fresh one."
Had Tom Ochiltree told this story
/ would have said so, for Tom tells
some pyramidal yarns, telling events
of which he saw, and a part of
which he was, but a sedate lawyer,
who at the same time knows New
York life, is my authority. One of
Ochiltree's stories, that Of the poker
with a patent vest, may be old,
but it is worth telling. According to
Tom, this man cleaned out Texas,
including Tom himself and the late
Col. Jim Major, well known in Mis-.
souri,. He beat every crack poker
player in the country, and the natives
were perplexed. Finally he went
away and Tom began to think over
his tricks. He made up his mind
that the man had an improved meth
cd, and getting in his track, followed
him up and told him some Ochiltree-
n and won his confidence. Then
the poker player confessed that he
wore a patent vest, lined with delicate
mechanism and worked by wires lead
ing to the toes; that he always exam
med his hand on q level with the
top of his vest and by dropping a poor
card into his sleeve, he could work up
n to suit the others from the paste
board arsenal he had next to his shirt.
There is a great tendency to swap
lies at Saratoga, but no one tries to
match Ochiltree.
Reeds gambling house is kept open
nearly all night. At 10 o'clock the
next morning his force, looking tired
and worn out, are pool-selling and
book : making at the race track.
In going out to the race course n
passes Reeds cottage. 1t is a choice
bit of architecture, and has the sur
reundings of a man Of wealth and
l~iberality. Some well-dressed women
are on the piazza at their needle
work. The general effect of the cot.
tage in its exterior is 10 impress one
that its owner is a man Of artistic
taste. A closer examination, however,
shows that
"You may daub and bedizen the man as
you will,
But the stamp of the vulgar remains on
him still"
In the strained glass windows he
has enwrought in a fifteenth century
pattern, pictures of himself and diff
ferent members of his family, and
that alongside of the dying gladiator
he has pictures of his horses and
jockeys. Such an aifront to good
taste is an advertisement of the man
whose name and business would other