Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-11-23
THE DEAD GAMBLER.
inquest on His Remains
Last Night.
The VERDICT OF THE JURY.
The Unknown Man Who Did the
Shooting is Still at
Large.
HE VERDICT OF THE JURY.

though the police have been actively in
search OF him ever since the affair took
place. He has been SO plainly described
and is known to so many people that it
is hardly possible that he can escape.
He is supposed to be in hiding some
where in the city, and will probably be
discovered before many days have
l'assed.
\ Coroner's inquest yesteaday on the
body OF the murdered man developed
a number Of new facts which are given
in the report of the testimony. It ap-
pears very plainly that what is known
among the gambling fraternity as the
double cross was being worked upon the
man who did the shooting by Robinson
and his accomplice, Hughes. The 'tmac''
had been informed by Robinson that he
would be given a chance at "sucker,"
and Hughes was designated as the man.
1t was arranged that pack of marked
cards should be used and Robinson
agreed to put up half the money for
the game. The marked cards were used
but they were deity arranged so that
the markings should read wrong to the
"mac" outright to Hughes. Thus the
"mac" was to be caught in his own net.
AS it turned out, however, the man who
was really caught was Robinson, the
originator and executor of the entire
scheme. After the inquest Hughes was
released by the police and allowed to
return to Santa Monica, where, it is said,
his child is dying. The inquest was held
at o'clock in the evening and the fol-
lowing testimony was elected: William
Gorme, the keeper of the Crystal Palace
saloon, testified that he had known the
deceased about three years. 'The de-
ceased and Hughes were standing at the
bar when another man passed through
the room and then returned and asked
Robinson to play game of poker. Rob-
inson said, why don't you play with this
man p meaning Hughes. They all three
went into the cardroom and played for
about three hours. Robinson did
not play but looked on and
called for several rounds OF drinks. At
about IL O'Clock the stranger came out
of the room and asked for another pack
of cards. took them out of the drawer
and started to 60 into the room, but be-
fore got there l heard the shooting. I
into the wash-room. One shot after an
other was fred. 1 could not see into the
room. After five or six shots were. fred,
1 saw the two men who were with
the deceased run out the front
door. 1 then went back behind the
counter and one of the men came back
and fired two or three more shots into
the card room. l ran into the card
room and found Robinson crouching
down behind the table, which was over
turned. The deceased had played at
this saloon before, but l did not know
the third man, but had seen him twice
before. l believe that this man did the
shooting. 1 had heard no growing
about the playing during the evening""
James Kershaw, the Lawson patrol
man, testified that he had heard the
shooting and saw man come running
out of the saloon. "Going into the card
room saw the deceased sitting on the
floor behind the table, which was upset.
asked him who did the shooting, but
he could not speak. There was pistol
lying near his hand, pointing away from
him."
DIR. Choate, who was summoned to
give medical aid to the dying man, testi-
fed that death had resulted from bullet
wound, which began at the hip and
terminated in the lungs. The deceased
had refused to speak about the affair,
except to say that Hughes could tell all
about it. "We asked if it was little
man with gold-headed cane that shot
him, and he answered that it was."
The man Hughes, who was the only
witness to the scene between Robinson
and the unknown man, was next exam
ined. He testified in brief as follows:
81 reside at Santa Monica and have al
ways been railroad man until | came
out here, about year ago. Last night l
met the deceased and he told me about
a man whom he called the Little Mac"
who had promised to meet him at the
Oxford Hotel. While we were drink
ing at the Oxford bar this man
came in from the back of the
saloon, walked up and spoke to Frank,
the deceased, and took drink with me.
Frank said he had an engagement with a
girl, aud couldn't play tonight. Then
the "mac" said to me, Il will play you,
if you wish, a little single-handed game
and we all went back into the card-room
together. The 'mac" and played until
about II O'Clock was winning nearly
all the time. The "mac" then got up
and said: Let me have new pack to
change my luck and stepped to the
door, tearing up some OF the cards as he
did so. He asked for the cards, but in
stead of waiting for them he came back
and said to the deceased: you have
been in with this all the time,' and
pulled pistol out of his pocket. He
fired at the deceased and he fell
back into the corner. He fired twice.
1 caught his arm and threw him
back against the partition and then
lodged out under his arm. As ran out
into the barroom l heard more shots.
thought he was going to shoot me. The
cards we were playing with were
marked. The mac knew it but
did not suspect that there were
other marks on them than the ones
of which he knew. only saw one
pistol. If the deceased carried one
did not know Of it."
John Dunn, a clerk, testified that he
knew the deceased. ellis name is
Mathew Robinson, and he is 27 years of
age. recognize this pistol as the one
he owned"
The jury brought in verdict that
"Mathew Robinson came to his death
from a gunshot wound inflicted by q
person unknown to the jury, but de-
scribed in the evidence as little
mac"
Couldn't Agree: He-"Will you be
sister to me? ?" She-"No, but will be