Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-03-18
This hongolian System OF Gambling
is Managed with Most Scrup-
uIous Honesty.
lac Proprietor OF Chinese Lottery
Takes Al Equal Chance with
His Patrons.
The Machinery of Lottery Joint
and Precautions Barring Out
the Police.

Chinese lottery is dead hard game to
beat. 1t looks so easy, too, but there's the
very rub. In its simplicity lies the deep
deception of the game.
Not that the chinese lottery is not fairly
conducted. Indeed, among themselves the
Mongohans are the most honorable of gam
blers, and their lotteries, far from being
''snide'' or crooked" are managed with
scrupulous honesty. 1t is the strange va :
carries of fate, when the cards are shuffiod
by the Mongolians, which puzzle and be
wilder the most experienced Caucasian
gamblers.
The Chinese lottery is a game in
which the proprietors take equal chances
with their patrons. You could never ia
duce a Chinese gambler to enter a
game in which "the house had a sure
thing. The true Monaghan despises the
"rake-of."
There are only eighty characters On the
Chinese lottery ticket, and of these the
player has the privilege of ''spotting" ten
Fortune is then left in the keeping of
the Chinese jugglers. And what strange
capers does fate indulge in with with these
tickets? When he hopeful player reads
the drawings he finds that the ten spots
marked by him with such rare prescience
and happy anticipation have been totally
avoided by fortune. At least this is gen
orally the case, though once in while
some one does make a drawing and rarer
still, "the house" itself goes broke.
Ten tongs or companies carry on all the
Chinese lottery business in San Francis CO.
They operate under high sounding and
fowery titles which are changed according
to their run of luck.
The Chinese are very superstitious and
when they find fortune frowning upon
them at once change their names. So, too,
With the lottery ''tongs." When one of
them finds its patrons winning to its loss,
new title is Immediately chosen. The
"tongs" are divided into what are known
as red heads and blue heads. The former
write their tickets In red ink and are linn
tied to liability to $4,000 The latter
have blue tickets and an available capital
of $4,000. When the drawings aggre-
gate more than the capital stock of the
tong-which is quite possible, though rare
enough-the winners are paid a pro rata
dividend.
Each lottery has two drawings day. at
and II .. m, respectively, and daily, in
spite of a vigorous police prosecution, from
$25 600 to $4,000 find their way into the
Golfers of the ten tongs. Their business
is carried on through the medium of
agencies or Joint, and it is these joints
which are the objective point of all police
raids.
But the willy heather gambler was not
born to be victim to the peculiar ethical
joints are well provided against sudden
oo Of Lc
located In all parts of the city but flourish
thickest in the intricute recesses of the
Chinese quarter. They exists in wash
houses. in factories, in the bywayg of Fish
Alley Market, and often the more respect
able and substantial of the m.rcantile
houses afford effective disguise for the lot
terry Joint But wherever found in the
fifth story or the second cellar, they are
impregnable. A chain of lookouts and
pickets must be passed before the most
practiced sleuth can get within 100 feet Of
the Joint. These pickets are as innocent
looking as babes-or as Chinese themselves
AS wary as old Lucifer End as slippery
as eels.
It is q great mistake 10 attempt to visit
a lottery joint unannounced. Your ap-
proach has been heralded while you are
yet gropin your way through the dark ard
devious passages. If you are an officer,
though disguised beyond self recognition,
the touch of an electric button has warn.
ed the gamesters of your impending in
Urusion by the time you have fairly located
the joint.
The Joint is marvel Of strength, usual
ly an apartment not over SIX by eight feet
in area, but constructed of the heaviest
hardwood timbers bolted together with
iron rods. The 6oor would fifty adorn
treasurer vault. 1t is made of Australian
ironwood several inches thick and studded
at intervals with uutted bolts. Heavy iron
bars safely hold it closed against all
corners. The police axes have their edges
turned when they strike these doors, and
crowbars make but a faint impression upon
the finely grained surface.
Blasting powder or the good will Of the
inmates are the only open sesames to the
Chinese lottery joints.
And while the officers are Intellectually
endeayoring to gain an entrance the Mon
golian gamesters quickly reft the premises
of all evidence of the lottery The tickets,
copies of drawings and other paraphernalia
are quickly heaped on the blazing charcoal
fire that is always kept burning before the
altor of the household god, Il
"'Lait mlinit, pleades voice from
the inside, and dispite the threats of the
cficers a full minute and often several of
them must elapse before the keeper opens
the door and bows the officers in with the
invariable apology ''Mlee sleep" The two
or three assistants yawn and wear a look
of injured innocence. The lottery evidence
has been burned to the gods. The officers
retire bafied and outwitted.
To a "hiend, as the Chinese gamester
affectionately denotes his trusted patron,
the agent and his assistants are as afable
and polite as the clerks of dry goocs
emporium They wear the merry coun-
tenaaees of pleasant and good nature. The
patrons are cosmopolitan All races of
men seem imbued with the ambition to
gam something for nothing, and to the
misguided OF all climes and conditions
these Chinese lotteries appear to open
promising avenue TO the rapid acqulsl ION
OF wealth.
Usually the tickets are marked or spot
ted at the joints Some prefer the
straight way ticket, where tea spots
are chosen: others the three In
which the spotting is done In three parts
and counted off IN the drawing, as in crib.
There are scores of methods of playing a
ticket, and every method has its multitude
of intricate combinations.
Every friend has his own peculiar
method. The tickets may be played for
almost any amount from cents tc $50
The possible prizes On a scent ticket
are from double the investment On a
fye-spot draw 10 $3.50 when ten spots are
covered