Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-28
RAINING NICKELs ALL DAY,
The Extent to Which Gam bling with
the Slot Machines Goes On.

From the New York Sun.
The example set by New York in roofing
out such nickel-in-the-slot boxes as are
used as gambling devices Is being followed
in several suburban towns. The vicious i'm
plements have been scattered all over the
country. and there Is now no state or ter
ritory, and scarcely q village, In which they
have not been set up and literally patron
lied. A reporter Of the Sun, who has seen
them In scores of cities and villages, ran
across one in q town in Michigan. where he
saw to what extreme the use Of the
gambling machine could be carried. The
slot box in this case was on the cigar
counter In the principal hotel 1t re-
vealed three metal runways for nickels,
and whenever coin ran down the
one on the left hand all the money
in the box rolled out upon the counter. The
machine was never Idle between 8 O'Clock
In the morning and / or 2 o'clock the next
morning. Visitors to the hotel were obliged
TO wait at the desk while the clerk stood at
the cigar counter working the machine. The
proprietor was literally the only man in the
hotel who was never seen to indulge in this
weakness. As for the bartender, twice there
was complaint that the door to the bar
room was locked, and it was found that the
bartender was trying his luck with the slot.
The head waitress in the dining room
slipped into the Office when dinner was
over and had the good fortune to win dol
lar and fifteen cents for a nickel. She went
back to her quarters and quickly reap
peared with six five-cent pieces, which she
said formed a pool gotten up by all the
waiter girls. who had asked her to play 1t
for them.
In the afternoon the school boys some of
whom were too small to reach the SLOT
slipped into the Office in couples and trios
and tried their fortunes. There were at
times as many as a dozen boys. school
books in hand, sending the coins rafting
down the metal alleys. They made no
bones Of what they were doing; on the con-
trary, they were noisy and hilarious, and
disturbed every one else in the place. When
the commercial travellers and others who
sat around the stove, resting after many
bouts with the machine. had seen the last
Of the school boys they rose to their feet,
moved over to the counter with one accord.
and asked the cigar man to change their
larger coins. and again tested Dame For
tunes humor with five-cent pieces. So the
play went on all day and far into the night,
Just as Ii was going on at Monte Carlo on
a larger scale At about 1 o'clock In the
morning the reporter of the Sun finished the
book he had been reading in his bed room
and rang for ice water. Again and again he
one flight to the office. There the night
boys and the Waterman were working the
gambling machine. They had taken 1t over
to the clerks desk and had IL between
sit on at ease during the combat with luck
Hello said the Waterman to the re-
porter. I'm bring up the ice water In a
minute. Tried your luck at this old thing
today?'
mo"
Better hit It now. We've got about a
dollar In there. an. IL you hit the right alley
you'll get II, sure"
The reporter found fve-cent piece in his
pocket and decided to gamble just once
You see" said the Waterman there's
three alleys for the nickel to run down.
This one on the right is for the house this
middle one Is for the company that owns
the boxes. and this on the left is what goes
to the pot and gives you the money If you
hit II right"
As IL so often the case with an unsophis-
ticated player. the reporter won the pot, {"
which contained thirty-five cents instead of
dollar. Then he filled a pitcher with ice
water and carried 1t up to his room out of
consideration for the night boy, who was
gambling with such fervor that one would
have thought the box was a punching bag
and he was pugilist in training When-
ever he dropped a coin in the slot he
whacked the box to make the nickel go
right. OF course II did not 60 right. so he
whacked 1t again to make 1t deliver up its
treasure without wanting to. This It aid
not do, either