, 1885-05-19
ERSTIT
THE MEN WHO BATTLE WITH
THE TIGER
Luck May lie In a Black
Fortuna That Waits ON n ''coon'sr
DreAm-A Crooked
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i1uAAko Il hnAti NitNFl
~You may believe in luck or you may
not believe in It. said a well-knowp
sporting man. You may not think there
lie anything in superstition, or you may,
but | tell you there's a heap In IT. and
there Is not a gambler in this town who
has not his pet superstition. and governs
himself accordingly. Why. look here;
the other day found a black kitten on
the sidewalk near my house 1t wanted
to be familiar with me, aud 1 picked 1t up.
carried II into the house and gave It a
feed That day l came down town and
made a big win against the bank, and l
have been winning ever since.
You ask any OF these fellows II they
believe in uch things. md they'll tell you
there Is nothing in IL but they all have
their signs and their lucky numbers. and
their lucky clothes, and a hundred things
! can't repeat. for all that There's Pat
Sheedy. Wasn't he sitting in bad luck
one night and losing every bet he put
changed every rag Of clothes he had on
his back. then turned and made the big
gest win he ever made In his llfeg No; 1
guess there's nothing in II, but they all
play 1t as II there was. just the
same, They are always on the
lookout for something. You know the
'coons' are great for policy and they are
always dreaming numbers. Now. II q
gambler can only get onto u 'coon's'
dream he's fixed. Tom Wallis was walk
ing down State street one day and he
passed two 'coons' very busy talking As
he passed he heard one say; Il tell you.
honey. | dream q. Z. 8 twice; you go buy
two gigs and a saddle Now. Tom Is u
'high-roller,' and plays bank for all there
Is in It. He turned round when he heard
those numbers, went up TO 49, and
played the pot. which / s'pose you know
Is the @. ! and &, for all he could get in II.
1t won for him, n deal eleven times in
succession, and he played the limit. And
he played il all day and nothing else.
and he won a big pile. | tell YOU No.
there's nothing in II, but they all do It
L know gamblers he continued.
who will never play against certain deal
ers. nor If certain persons are In the room.
They think they 'hoodoo' them. that they
gave them bad luck by looking at them.
They will curse some fellow for u 'hoodoo'
up hill and down dale. Then there arc
players who, II you touch one of their
chips, or put one Of yours on top Of theirs
think you give them back luck and that
they will lose, certain. Poker players
all believe In lucky seats. and in the run
Of the cards, and in lucky decks OF cards.
and so do the most Of bank players.
They'll walk round their chair three
times In order 10 change their luck Some
men won't lend money 10 their most init.
mate friend while they are playing. be-
cause It gives their luck away. Others
believe In lucky pieces OF money, old coins
with a certain date on them or some mark
or other.
Il knew an old player who had a lucky
sixpence. He did seem to be mighty
lucky for a long time. But one time he
got broke down TO his sixpence. He laid
that down on a card and told the dealer
he would make 1t good for 4 quarter.
The dealer knew him and know about his
sixpence. He turned and the sixpence
was swept into the TIL. You see. Joc.'
said the dealer. there's nothing in it
You know il it had been such a lucky
piece for Joe he ought not to have lost It
Sc 1t must have been something else that
gave Joe his run of luck.
mo gambler In his seuses will ever pick
up n crooked pin on the street or one ly-
ing crosswise with the way he is walking.
The way to pick up a pin is to have the
head turned toward you. | know some
say that the point should be towards you,
and / have heard that old Thad Stevens,
who was a great gambler. would only pick
1t up with the point toward him. I've
tried all ways, but pins don't seem to
affect my luck one way or the other. A
AShAt wv 1ACNNANI = BAttt hhlhK ~ nv W
bring u fellow good luck. but they are
about as scarce as good luck is generally.
Most gamblers wear a watch charm or
. finger ring that they build a heap IN.
Cy Jaynes has a finger ring that money
couldn't buy, and he don't believe In It
either. II you ask him Still he likes to
have the ring on when he is dealing. An
other thing, n man will have lucky and
unlucky days. l tell you. you can lecture
all day and preach all night. but luck is
luck, and / know it, dreamed one night
that the jack won -four times in succession.
Next day / went to the bank. | was
broke and couldn't play. but I'll be
blamed If the very first deal | looked at If
the jack didn't win four times straight "
There must be q good many ups and
downs at the gamefT suggested the scribe.
Ups and downsG | believe you, " said
the sport Il went down town ono day
with 10 cents. and that night carried
home $500. l went down the next day
with the $500. and had TO borrow car
fare to get home. Don't you touch 1t
young man, II you do you'll never regret
1t but once; that1l be all your life. As for
me. I've got my cat now, and shall try
and get out. ami
A day or two afterward the scribe met
his sporting friend again -Sayi l lost
my cat day before yesterday, and last
night l went broke. | am on the hunt
now for q black cat"