The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-12
WOMEN WHO PLAY POKER
Once Imbued With the Spirit,
They Are More Reckless
Than Men.
A Pretty Woman Who Worked a
Bug and Raised a Great
Row.
How Pairs, Man and Woman, Work the
Boarding Houses Others Who Are
Not So Retired. q

The gaming instinct is as old as the world
and when occasionally there arises q hue
and cry as to it's prevalence in modern
Gotham, public interest is at once awakened
and we are supposed to be on the road to
ruin says the New York Recorder. In one
of his studies Hogarth represents two ruff
fans. seated upon a tombstone and engaged
in matching pennies. In the eager, hawk
like expression of the eyes. the set lines
about the mouth and the look of absorbed
INTEREST," in the faces the artist has faithfully
portrayed the gamester. Gamblers of the
present, however, do not match pennies;
instead they play poker. As for women,
once imbued with the spirit of gaming they
become even more reckless than men. In
New York there are to-day any number of
quiet little poker parties made mp Of women
who secretly spend every cent they can OBJ
tain in the seductive sport.
On of the most inveterate gamblers I
have knowledge of is a young widow whose
vaior Is equal to her discretion, but whose
mad propensity to gamble has brought her
to the brink Of bankruptcy. She ~invaria-
bly, resided in a fashionable locality, where,
installed in luxurious apartments, she re-
ceiyed her numerous feminine visitors.
These ladies frequently remained late.
often deferring their departure till long
after midnight. The little bird that tells
tales soon spread the report, and it was Ia.
mored that high play was INDUCED in, that
hundreds of dollars passed from fair hands
to others equally ms fair during these
seances. One evening there was an uproar,
Chairs were overturned. There was stamp.
ing of feet, while angry feminine exclama.
tions issued from the room. Investigation
showed three indignant women, who were
pouring the walls Of their wrath upon the
discreet widow, who had been detected in
"flling" her hand from a "hold OUT ar.
ranged beneath the table, a continuance
into which could be conveyed cards from
the pack, to be drawn from at pleasure. In
consequence, the widow was Obliged to re.
linquish her Illicit gains and simultaneously
her apartments.
Then there is the married pair of profess
SIGNALS, who practice iB to max boarding
house scquaintanoes, whom they entice
into a little friendly game" Their usual
method is to "whip-saw;" that is to say,
when their opponents bet. one or the other
will proceed to ''raise'' until the outsiders
withdraw. No one yentucing to ~"call," the
husband or wife sweeps in the stakes. A
pair of this description nave a ~cleverly
devised code of signals by which they
ascertain each others cards. They
furnish Il buffet, to which their guests have
access, and nothing is spared to provide
material comforts for the unwary. MANY
n man who drops in there for Il social game
drops out with barely his car fare. AS the
predatory nature of these amiable enter
tanners becomes known it ia necessary for
them to change their quarters from time 10
time. They frequent the larger boarding
houses, and a popularity of their prolonged
stay in q house is that while they pay pune