St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-25
You Can Get Any Kind Of a
Game at Butte, Mon
tana.
Everything Is Wide Open end
Gambling Hells Are
Licensed.
How the Tricky Devotees Of
the Green Cloth OPP
crate.
Some Of the Ingenious De-
vices Employed to Beat
the Game.

| Ill tIIC plid ISoS.
This place is the gamblers Mecca and
the town constitutes the biggest mining
camp in the world. Mining camps are
the acknowledged prey of the men who
make their living by games OF chance,
and hence the states most pOpulOus
city is infested with neat-fngered,
tricky, cool-nerved and ubiquitous
knights of the green cloth. The miner
Is the game" stalked and easily OBJ
tanned. With the Anaconda. Boston and
Montana, Parrot, Lexington, Alice and
other big paying mines IN operation,
the monthly pay roll is over S5O0,00O. A
great part of this runs up against The
bank" Three shifts of eight hours each
| mines, and while one Shift is working
! another is sleeping, and the third gam
bling.
The gambling houses are licensed and
run faro games and round the table"
| poker. Roulette, red and black, wheel
of fortune, hazard, or any game with a
kitty or percentage drawback are
forbidden. Day and night shifts of
dealers are worked. Faro bank dealers
work for wages, ST per day. and 'eat
out of the drawer" The limit in most
|
with more "sand" allow their patrons
or victims to bet as high as their evil
genii urge. From dawn to dawn the
| clicking of the chips is heard; there is
hardly any cessation. Butte is esssn-
TALLY an ''all-night" town. It's day all
day in the daytime, and there is no
night in Butte.
At the season of the year. when the
snow is still OIL the ground, the city is
| overrun with the gambling fraternity.
| AS summer opens up and each worthy
makes 'stake," he slips away to
| smaller mining camps to clean up all
the money IN sight; he generally gets it.
| At sheep shearing time, which occurs in
| June, certain slick individuals are
missed from their old haunts i'll the
| city and 20 after the money OF the
| herders and stock raiSerS. They know
| their men.
Incentives to Gambling.
In this section of the country, with
! plenty of hard work and such meager
! opportunities for recreation, the other
| wise sensible man seeks diversion i'll
| gambling This popularity is fostered
and pandered to by the practiced
sharper, and the hard-earned money
| goes surely into the professional gam
| bler'S pocket.
l
| Gently, one of the best known gamblers
| diyulged some interesting facts concern
| ing the quilting of the citizens with the
| sporting" blood. Taking his cue from
| theatrical enterprises, last summer he
secured an advance agent. This agent
| was fitted out as salesman for Chi
cago house, whose commodity consists
| of fine grades of playing cards. 1t is
| hardly necessary to say that all these
! cards were marked. The agents In
| structiOns were to sell the cards or give
| them away, SO that every store in all
| the small hamlets would have them for
| sale. "Sell 'em for two bits a gross if
you can't get more" said the gambler.
| (Two bits equals % cents)
One month after all the desired local
| tiles had been flooded with his brand of
| cards the shrewd gambler started on his
rounds. He had it all his own way.
The backs of the cards were an open
| book to him. The game most indulged
III was ''stud poker" The Swedes are
"stud fends," and would stake their
| clothes on the game. This suited the
| peripatetic gambler; he cleaned up S15,-
| 600 in two months. went East. spent the
| money, and then came back to Butte to
make another stake. He is now PLAN
| ming raid through buculic and mining
| sections for this summer.
Honor among thieves" and ''dog
! won't eat dog" are two saws which eX-
perience black eye among the gamb-
| ling fraternity.
In the expressive patois of the guild
| they do each other up'' on the slightest
provocatiOn. One house in Butte has
gone 100000 behind hand in the last
| two months because so many profess
| ionals have "gone against the bank"
| They know every move, play systems.
and are the most undesirable patrons.
| If the opportunity is offered these same
men will fix the cards i'll the dealers box
| so that they have sure thing against
| the bank. Only last week the proprie-
| tor found gambler sanding" the cards
| in order to beat the bank. This house
| always leaves box or cards out with
| the bartender in order to open up the
| first game in the morning. The bar
| tender on this occasion stood in with the
outside gambler. aud gave him the
cards to fix. Fortunately for the head
| of the establishment friend saw the
| ''doctoring" in operation and Informed
| him, or he would have been out to the
| tune of $4,000 or $4,000. Without
much ado the drink mixer and his
.'pard'' were thrown out upon the cold
world.
Gamblers Devices.
"Sanding" the cards consists IN tne
| application of sand to the edges OF the
| caids so that a keen-eyed man can pro-
| cure flash of the next card before it
comes from the box. To novice this
| device would be thrown away, but to
gambler, whose Bible is deck of cards,
the scheme works satisfactorily.
Another method of beating the bank
is simple and yet hard tor an outsider
to use The first move is 10 get pos
session of the cards in the dealers box.
A man will watch like hawk for days
until the opportunity presents itself.
| When the cards are in his possession the
gambler will puncture with needle
each card with black spot In the cor
ner. With sharp knife all indications
of the puncture is concealed. /
This hole is intiniteSimal, but enOugh
tor the purpose of the man working the
scheme. He places himself alongside
the dealer and watches the cards care
fully. If there is an ace, deuce or tray
under the top, or ''soda' card, there
will be visible 10 the gamblers eye a
dot of white; this dot of white guides
him and he dumps his money around
.coppers" Until the continuous luck
of the player attracts the dealers
suspicion the gambler is all right and
the money goes his way, but If the trick
is discovered his game is up.
While there are few ways to beat
the bank the methods of the latter for
cleaning out the players in front are
legion. An expert dealer watches the
system that every man is playing. and
If there is much money at stake he can
shuttle the cards in such manner as to
bring misfortune upon the head of the
worshlper of pet system. To deal out
of .'two-card box' in this state is a
penitentiary offense, and most of the
gamblers fight shy of it; however, they
are used occasionally, and are termed
squeeze" In order to win game of this
description, salaried man ''keeps the
cases. or tally of the cards as they are
run out. 1t is obvious to any one
familiar with faro how little show a
nlnngar in front has. with tWO-card