The morning call., 1894-06-27
Robbery by a Rapacious
Feline.
MORE DARING THAN A TIGER.
How the Deity of "Draw"
Does Its Work.
CHIEF CROWLEY CANNOT STOP 1T.
Since the Ostensible Closing of Faro
Games the Kitty Has Grown
Round and Fat.

cisco police. They have faced the tiger 10
his lair and subdued him, or say they did.
but they do not seem to be able to cope at
all with the baby feline of sporty prociivl-
ties. They have knocked out faro. pre-
sumably, but the poker kitty thrtyes in
all its playtulneSs.
Which only goes TO show after all that
the American Improvement on the wild
beast of the jungle is like all American I'M
provements. good thing.
So the kitty may gambol nightly on its
native green and fatten on the liberal feed,
while the highly colOred stripes on the
faro tiger are running into each other in
the wash, making the once beautiful black
and gold only rusty tan.
The San Francisco kitty is good thing
undoubtedly-for the proprietor. Most
people would call it robbery. 1t maynot
be as bloodthirsty as the festive tiger, but
it is more grasping. has more Voracious
appetite and is cunning enough to evade
the law.
Chief Crowley says there is nothing in
the law that would let him reach it. With
all his bluecoats and all his fly "cOps" and
the laws against ambling he is powerless
to prevent the ravages Of draw poker or
the rapacity of the kitty, its deity.
There is nothing in the Penal Code"
he said yesterday, handing a copy of that
Interesting volume to a renorfer Tor THE
CALL, "to prevent poker. Read for your
SELF
"Thats So" said Captain Lees, who was
near by. ''the law only provides for the
suppression of banking games. and he
went on 10 explain that banking" games
were those at which cheeks were sold. the
players bet their money or checks on
layout provided by the game. and paid or
were paid as the cards were turned and
they won or lost This, the Chief and the
Captain explained. took in faro. roulette
and the thousand and one other devices in
which layouts are used, but not poker.
This Interpretation of the law being
well known to the gambling fraternity
they have raised the shrine of the kitty
and made it warm nest on the green
cloth in many spots in the city. 1t has
been fed and pampered until it is as sleek
as a London Alderman, and it multipliss
apace.
It's fecunditv is remarkable. In one
place on Market street where, a month
ago. there was only one poor. emaeiated
pussy, suffering from lack of nouIishment
the royal Bengal tiger of faro getting 1t
all-there are four well-developed, furry
coated kitties, who live on the fat of the
land. In basement on Turk street, just
of Market. where a ladies' orchestra
tootles melody for the beery, there are
LuIc0 AOIe uOuIlSuIug, aUu III dU atHuSe-
meut resort not more than a thousand
miles from Eddy and Mason streets, there
are two beautiful tabbies. There are
dozens of others in the city to be found
for the searching.
And the man whom the gamblers are
pleased to designate as sucker" sits
hour after hour at the shTines of the kitty
and allows himself to be deliberately
robbed without q murmur. He has no
show to win and his money would be of
more use thrown q the birds.
That's the kind of good thing the kitty
is. and this is the way she works: At
every table the proprietor Of the house
provides an attaehe of the house, who
sharpens the claws of the kitty every
morning before she is ready for business
and gets her in shape for the cruel work
of the day. He is generally low browed
young man, who pastes his hair down on
his forehead, has long, low, rskish-look-
ing CLEAN in his eye. and IS given to black
silk handkerchiefs, cOnspicuously dis
played. He may not look it, but be knows
his work and his game.
A check-raek is set out on a small stand
near the table. and the young man and the
kitty are ready for the victim. The
latter is always on deck in largs numbers,
and she game starts. 1t takes six players
to satisfy the rapacity of the kitty, and
man sells checks at the rate of 5cents
apiece, less than 81 invested not emitting
one TO an entrance to the game.
The deal starts and the young man with
the sOap-locked hair unsheaths the claws
of the kitty. He dips into the pot and
takes out two checks before the draw.
After that interesting period of the game
has passed he dips In again and takes out
at least two more. By any chance should
a player show threes or better the ever
ready claw gets three checks instead of
two.
Ard so ~ ooae IN F,r doot ,S.a- L.,
hour after hour The claws are machine
like in their action and sure in their clutch,
and never miss a grab from 2 O'Clock in
the afternoon till II o'clock at night, longer
if the dupes and their money hold out.
1t can now be easily figured out what a
soft. silken, cruel, merciless robber the
kitty is. For at least ten weary hours the
kitty is indefatigable. The young man
with the soap-lock has to give in. but he is
superseded by another of the same type,
but the kitty is always there and the
slaughter of the unsopbisticated deyotees
goes relentlessly on.
Ten hours, with an average of thirty
deals TO the hour, f0ots up 800 deals. Three
hundred deals, with at least 20 cents to the
kitty every deal, makes $50 fed to tie
feline.
Take sixty players with ST. apiece to
begin with and let them play in squads Of
six in their turn to consume the ten hours.
and they would have become bankrupt
just through fattening the deity of the
game.
In the temple of the cat god, on Market.
that one could look into if he were stand
ing at the southwest corner of Fourth.
there are four of these predatory felines in
two small rooms. and four young men TO
attend them. The seats at the shrines are
filed every hour In the day, and, conserya-
lively figuring on the rake-off at $50 for
ten hours, the players pay for the use of
the cards, the rooms and the checks. with
few drinks thrown in on the side, lust
$40 day. That is S8133 33 month,
$4,000 a year. 1t costs the nation only
that much TO pay stuffed prophet" as a
President. And just for two stuffy little
rooms and few drinks! Truly the kitty
is good thing.
That's only one example. There ara
dozens and dozens of COSY nests for the
tabby all over the city. The feline robs
and plumbers more openly and shame
lessly than the most daring highwayman,
yet the police say they are powerless to
prevent It-tbat the law is against them.
Did they ever try? Maybe not. The
law that killed the faro tiger might natur-
ally be thought to be powerful enough for