Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-12-17
THE CHINESE TIGER.
A Merchants Wife In Silks and Pearls
Who Plays o "Biooded' Game.

corner of that part Of the city, de-
voted to game Of stud poker,
patronized by Chinese gamblers,
who have great liking for the un.
certainties of this American game.
Around the uncovered table
highbinders, clerks, laundrymen.
small merchants aud others with
some money and great hopes gather
every night when the smoky gas
lamps dimly light the narrow, dirty
little alley outside. The stu:iy
little room Is always filled with a
crowd of jabbering spectators, who
are almost as much interested In
the changing fortunes of the rapid
game AS the players themselves
Here as at other gaming tables all
are equal.
AT hole In partition at the rear
of the little rooms sits the banker
proprietor Of the game, who sells to
the players at discount the square
aud round pieces Of tin and the liz.
tie ro.nd porcelain buttons which
constitute the chips of three denomi
nations used. The banker Is a dried.
mp, pock marked Chinese of middle,
age, who finds plenty of time tu
watch the game with stolid face,
and slowly smokes.a long pipe " hen
he is not selling or cashiny chips OF
making strange hieroxlyphics in his
hig book with bamboo peu. II,
the crowded room there are Chimes,
with silken garments and Chinese
with the rough, ragged and dirty
clothes of the losfer or laborer, and
with hard faces and wicked hooks.
so we are engrosssed in the game,
some look on with greedy eyes AMI
curse the luck that denies them IL
stake, while Others look on witt
simple curiosity and interest.
Into this motley crowd and int
this foul little home of vice tner,
glides every night or two a Chimes,
woman of nearly middle age. Sh,
is not at all good-iooking, but j.,
dressed in robes of quilted dark-blue
silk. Her hair is artistically done
up in Chinese style, with a shining
little ornamental dagger through it.
A band "f velvet passes across her
forehead, and on its front is n larg,
pearl surmounted by circle vi
| smaller ones. Long earrings, sew
eral finger-rIngs, finger nails nearly
an inch long and Chinese bracelets
are among the ornaments which tell
that she il not just now a child OF
poverty. The players all know her,
aud room is quickly made for her al
the table. Some Gue takes the few
dollars which she produces ana
courteousiy invests it in chips for
her, and she settles down to enjoy n
few hours ut the gaming table.
She Is one of the wives of rich
Chinatown merchant, who has no
objections to her induiging heT t. ste
lor the rapid society of Chinese gam
blers aud the:fascinations Of this lit
tie Moute Carlo, especially ~ she is
generally ahead Of the game. AS
she s-ltles down to uingle her last
winnings, or the allowance her lord
has given her, with the boarded
wages of Chinese laborers, the Ill
gotten gains of black mailing high
binders aud the profits of Chinese
business men, she light. u long
Chluese cigarette and begins to
handle and deal the cards with an
expertness that tells Of long expert
ence. She playa rather careful
game. but when she has a pair or an
ace ''in the hole" will "raisen the
bet in way that makes the most
reckless gamblers there scratch their
heads In uncertainty. Like
wealthy gambler 10 whom even gam
bling has grown tame SHE wins aud
loses with quiet indifference, and
calmly smokes her cigarette in
silence when other players are shout
ing in excitement. When the hour
grows late she as quietly arises, lets
some player cash in her chips II she
has any, and then is quickly lost in
the populous labyrinths of China.
town. On the next night she may
return or may visit some other of
the myriad gambling dens Of the
Chinese metropolis.
All this is one of the ordinary
nightly scenes OF Chinatown, re-
peated with variations In hundreds
of ill'smelling rooms, large and
small, in cellars, attics, and at ends
Of long narrow aud fortified passa &c.
ways, where At fan-tan or other
games the insatiable Chinese thirst
for gambling defies repression.
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