The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-01

From the Ne,O York Press.
SAN Francisco, June IA craze for
gambling appears to be affecting royalty
the world over at present. and if the infat-
uation continues we shall presently be hear
ing of kings dealing faro, queens presiding
over keno games and princes conducting
pool rooms.
As though the recent English baccarat
scandal, involving the Prince of Wales, was
not enough to emphasize this assumption,
news has lately came to hand that even
Queen Pomare, the unprecedented sub-boss
Of the island Of Tahiti, in the south Pacific
ocean, which is a French possession, has
been caught cheating at casino, that old
fashioned game of our grandmothers' day.
Not to be outdone by Albert Edward,
who had his own counters, don't you know,
Pomare had prepared deck of cards espe-
cially intended to give her the advantage
When detection came, her majesty was
forced to admit that she had been cleverly
trumped and that clubs made of hard
wood was the winning hand. This
INTERESTING PIECE OF ROYAL SCANDAL
was brought to Sal Francisco by passed.
ger on sailing vessel which recently ar
rived there from Tahiti, CALIFORNIA; chief
for that tropical island.
1t seems that early in the present year a
yankee sailor who visited Papeete, the cap
ital Of Tahiti, brought with him several
dozen decks of cards to sell on speculation.
To each buyer he impaired gratuitously the
mysteries of casino, and 1t was not long be-
fore Pepeete was casino mad. The cultiva-
ton of banana and taro patches and the
manufacture of fine mats were abandoned
by the common people, while chiefs Of rank
and members of the royal family neglected
affairs of state for the study of the Ameri-
can game Officers of an American man
of-war which happened TO be in port were
invited to the palace as especial guests, and
then pressed into duty as tutors of the Tahi-
tian nobility and royal family, who had
well high gone casino crazy.
While many OF the natives were unable
to quickly master the intricacies Of the
game, yet Queen Pomare, like her royal
English brother, soon demons rated that
she had an especial aptitude for learning
games of chance. and rapidly became an ex-
pert The result Of this was that " hen the
American warship sailed away she was the
casino monarch of the island. True to
customary royal instinct, she soon began to
turn her superior knowledge TO practical
account.
Like a busy queen bee she quickly dis
played her anxiety to improve each shining
hour and issued royal decree, through her
copper colored secretary, that casino par
ties, lasting four hours, should DO held at
the palace each night until further notice.
This order was mandatory upon all native
subjects known to possess means, while an
open invitation was extended to foreigners
and others to join the royal card games
The unfortunate native novices, like I'M
willing lambs forced to the slaughter, could
do nothing but obey, although fully aware
Of hn fNf rrhf Ch 49,
were being made victims. To disobey the
queens command would have meant not
only forfeiture of their lands but probably
dec8pitation, 80 deciding to at least have a
run for their money" they formed one Of
the card party, taking turns at being beaten
on different nights.
ROYAL LUCK AT CARDS.
This sort of thing had been going on for
fully six weeks. the queen in the meantime
having won dozens Of acres OF land. thou
sands of cocoanuts, twenty-five horses, four
Waterbury watches, an Anticipated sewing
machine, and six bolts of red flannel cloth.
But one night her "hoodoo" came in the
person of a shrewd Yankee sea CAPTAIN
who had arrived on a trading trip with his
schooner from Honolulu couple of days
before. The captain not only understood
the science of navigation, but in
earlier years had been a professional
In the United States 1t did not take him
twenty minutes to discover that this South
Pacific female All Sin was cheating at play
by means Of marked cards, she having olev-
erly marked every card in the pack by
means Of pin holes pricked in the tops and
bottoms Of each piece of pasteboard. To
read the hand of each of her opponents was
thus an easy matter, while her innocent
dusky victims. although strongly suspi-
cious that something was wrong, could not
imagine where the trouble lay, and at the
same time were afraid to withdraw from
the game through fear of mourning the
royal dlspleasure.
During the first nights play the Yankee
skipper purposely lost $95 to Pomare. but
secretly resolved to turn the tables on her
majesty on the following evening. her con-
hdence in the captains unsuspicion being
firmly settled. The fateful evening came
and with it the captain and private pack
of cards, also marked with pinholes, appa-
rently in the same manner as the queens
deck, and apparently resembling it in every
way. But while the pinholes In each Of the
queens cards were made to correspond with
the spot on the face of the card, the captain
advanced one pinhole for each spot on mis-
cards.
On the eight spot for instance, instead Of
there being eight pin holes in the card, there
were nine; in a nine spot, ten holes; in a
ten spot, eleven; a jack was represented by
cross, queen by a double cross, and a
king by circle. Each mark was made
large enough to be distinguished in the
players hands without difficulty, and the
queens suspicious not being aroused there
was little fear of discovery on the captains
part.
PLAYED ALONE WITH THE CAPTAIN.
The game, which began with the queen,
the captain and three chiefs as players soon
consisted of but her majesty and the sailor.
the others having dropped out by royal CON
sent. The deal came to the captain, and
while the queens attention was momentar-
lily directed elsewhere he defty substituted
his own pack of cards for that of her mai
esty, who, quite unconscious of the way in
which the tables had been turned upon her,
made heavy bets, only to find herself beaten
In every game.
The captain had gained over 5000 Of the
royal gold, to the astonishment of the queen
and the onlOokers, when he announced his
Intention to cease playing. To this the
sovereign objected most vigorously and in
sisted upon being given further chances to
regain her lost wealth.
The sailor was at first obdurate, but
hnally consented to play final game, the
stakes to be the $500 he had won from the
queen, against which she was to wager her
royal cloak of state
his was a most magnificent affair aud
one of the only three known to be in exist
enCe. the other two bnincr ono in tho Smith