The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-04-03
The SECRET OF LUCK IN GAMING.

The charm Of gaming lies not in that neg.
alive virtue of statutory or moral inhibi-
ton, which the French countess so neatly
exploited when she held the glass of spark
ling water above her naughty curls and
exclaimed: "Oh, if it were only wicked to
drink you, how delicious you would taste. u
Rather the reason of the insidious graces
of the gaming table, its rapid inthralI-
ment of the novice, its inextricable prison
net for its victims turks in that altoget her
inexplicable element, Chance We are all
slaves to Chance and the gamester serves
her with a servility that is complete.
1t is worth passing notlce-the re-
Election that while our modern ciyiil-
cation and higher paths of education tend
Enthusiastically to a scepticism of all events
and matters not directly the result of a
logical or physical sequence, neverthe-
less the element of Chance is constantly
insinuating itself into our lives with a
visibility and unnatural, unscientiic and
unexpected spontaneity, that reproyes our
pretentions to knowledge and frightens Us
with proofs of our own helplessness.
Our earthly inception is mere chance;
the recovery from vicious combats with
diseases may be the result of medicinal
skill but the mere chance of the
presence of propitious environments or
the absence of inclement weather
is equally as potent as pills and potions
An old platitude has it that marriage is a
lottery. In short, all through our lives
we are beset with Chance.
1t warrants no wonder then, that slaves
as we are to it, that we soon grow intimate
with it, but with an intimacy that knows
none of It's secrets. 1t is desire, mania,
a madness to some natures, that springs
from this ignorance of what is to happen,
longing to know what will happen and
to hasten the event. In gaming, skill,
luck, guessing and betting are secondary
items. 1t is the real mystery of Chance
that invests gaming with its dangerous
charms.
Until the advent of an Oklahoma gam
bier the mystery of Chance has never been
successfully explained. Men have conJured
by various arts in vain. Certain figures
or sets of figures have been thought to
possess the hidden key: q borrowed coin IS
still believed to have its virtues; Monte
Carlo and faro banks innumerable have
been attacked by mathematical computa-
lions and algebraic leserdemain, but
Chance has always come off successful
Sat the Oklahoma man has got at the
heart of the mystery. This individual
gains his livelihood by games of chance
and always on the lookout for innocent
lambs to fleece, journeyed thence from
Oklahoma to the Sac and Fox country to
worm the government dollars from the
ingenious and unsophisticated Indians
leathern purse. After playing with the
aboriginal sansculottes two days and
nights, our man started home $3.50 poorer
than when he went after the Indians. He
says they were polite to him and showed
him many kind attentions, the Indian
who won the bulk of his money paying for
his lodging and another loaning him s12
on his watch to get back home on.
Now this is singular. A representative
of the white race, which is the most
superior of sublunary tribes is worsted by
the most indolent specimens Of a defeated
and broken savagery. But his explana-
ton is complete.
In fact, the gambler says the devil
stands in with the Indians. He says they
will play for hours, betting only nickles,
and suddenly something will possess them
to bet heavy, jumping from nickles to ten
dollar bills. They invariably win the ten
dollar bets. He declares there can be only
one explanation; they are in league with
the devil and receive tips from his satanic
This sounds strange for rational state
ment at the end of this enlightened cen
fury, but the gambler is probably correct.
Proof is at hand. Bet few nickles and
an eagle. If you lose them, which you
will, it can not be but edifying
and complimentary to you to feel that
your relationship with Mephistopholes is
so great failure.