Morning journal and courier., 1889-01-09
BIG WINNINGS BY SCRATCH. The Fickleness of Chance Kllustrated by Stories OfLhe Gaming Tables.


 The Ftckleness of Chance EIlustrated by Stories ofIhe Gaming Tables. From the Denver News.l
 'The caprices of chance or fortune which- ever you may call it, are singular, to say the least, :" remarked well-known gambler yes- terday in recounting his many ups and downs at roulette, faro, and poker and var ious other games ''not long ago I made @ ! nice little winning at faro, and was cashing my checks when rather seedy-looking fellow with gaunt hungry face asked me to give him 25 cents. I didn't know him from a ! crow but having won out pretty well tossed him a white check and told him to go and make winning. What do you suppose that duck done! He cashed the check, took the quater ,strode over to the tub dice game, placed | of the wheel, Give me the money he ex- l claimed and away he went to get the first square meal he had probably eaten in a l week He might have made that same play | hundred times again and lost every bet, but 1 some people can fall into the river and they Il come up with fish in both hands"
 s'That reminds me-" said another knight of | the cloth, ssof an incident that came under my observation last week at gambling house on Sixteenth street. A fly tenderfoot | from the East, who, 1t was said, had won | S25, 900 on election, sauntered up to ths wheel and asked the dealer the limit on the colors. "'Any amount you want to stake,' was the ''tAn right; there's s5,0oo, said the sport ! putting ten $500 bills on the black. Just 1 flip the ball and see what she'll do, coolly 1 chirruped the fellow.
 l ttThe dealer, who had picket the ball out of the pocket, stayed his hand. He looked at | the money sized up the player to see if he was bluffing and had cable tied to it, and ! seeing the fellow meant business and had l! big wad left, wilted and refused to roll. By l this time fifty people had gathered around 1 the table, those on the outside craning theil over the shoulders of those in front of the l daring stranger, who with the utmost sang l froid drew cigar from his pocket, asked the dealer for a match, carelessly scratched it or
 his pants, lighted the cigar and looking impa' tientiy at the dealer, remarked:
 eco ahead; win or lose. Give us 6 roll
 and see what my luck is to-day
 "The dealer still refused to turn and tn.
 fellow was about to take up his money anc
 leave when the proprietor came over ant
 after a little meditation told the deale
 to roll the ball and he would pay the bet i
 1 he lost. The little ivory ball was sent spin
 ming around, and after making ten or twelv
 | circuits struck the pockets, skipped over tn
 l metal edges, and finally after bobbing frs
 into one and then another, dropped in thre , in the odd red. The house had wol
 the money. The stranger shook the game
 bought one thousand dollars worth of chip and tackled faro with indifferent success. , Another we'll known gambler borrowe
 one hundred dellars from friend and sat 1
 1 a game of faro on Holladay street. Befor one o'clock he had won twenty-four hur dred dollars, broke the bank, and woul , have won the proprietor and dealer had the , not closed up and jumped the game. Tw
 days later this same gambler didn't have dollar, but the following night he borrows 3 fifty dollars and won thirty-one hundre . dollars.h
 ssThe funniest play I ever witnessed cam
 up the other night" clipped in a third pa ty. "A young fellow whoss appearance ws . suggestive of railroad fireman or brakema E | bought ten dollars worth of chips sn 5 tackled the wheel. h a half hour he ha lost sixty-fve dollars. He was considerabl l turned to the dealer and said: You can , beat me for five dollars on the colors.' B had fifty cents' worth of chips left from pr, l | vious deals, and throwing five dollar gol } piece on the red, he straddled the doub and single ca with the chips in order to prt . tect himself against the percentage. IT 2 ball went spinning around, and had mao 0 i several circuits, when the fellow switche 8 the gold piece to the single o and transferre . the chips to the red. In ten seconds the be l. dropped and caught the single O. He To 2 fifty cents in chips and won the one hundre . | and seventy-hve dollars on the hVe dollar 6 He exercised whole lot of sense then, f a he cashed in and got away with the money. @ However" soliloquized the sport, "gar = bling don't pay. In the instances stated u g parties won by scratch, but fifty othe @ lost. These rare winnings remind me of u n freaks of fortune in the gold mines of Cal g fornia. Everybody heard of the Flood y OBriens, Mackeys and few more fort d mates, but the world never stopped to thi1 a of the thousands upon thousands who los g Most of the money which supports the t, g or fifteen gambling houses in Denver is we W from poor laborers, who take ten or ffte' d dollars, the earnings of 8 whole week, sr J. try to win a fortune. The amount thu + draw is not enough to protect them. Th' s- simply play their money against the tho h sands of the bank, and they are bound in lose in the end. Occasionally some fello ,g makes a winning, sut if he stays Tor l~ enough it will break him. The only on SC who make money out of gambling are u r. proprietors of the houses. It is Q cost r. amusement for the players. They rust ,y around for a week or month, earn ifte D. or seventy-five dollars, as tue case may | u- and lose it. They might as well march sd and hand it over to the dealer, for he is su 1e l to gobb.e it in few hours"