The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-04-21
4 HOLE IN IN. POLICY.
Five Operators Captured Yesterday
by the Police.
RESULTS OF A RAID MADE DUR
ING THE AFTERNOON.

Young Benjamin Wolf and His Interesting
Account Book Among the Captures
Extent of This Form of Gambling in
This City.
Of the various forms of gambling the
game of policy is one of the most seductive.
One can risk the price of a car fare with the
prospect that it may, per chance, return IN
creased seventy five fold; and the process Is
made easy by agents, or writers as they
are called, who wait upon men at ther
places of business and take their ventures.
The number of such writers who canvass
this city daily is larger than most people
suppose. A single raid made yesterday by
Deputy Marshal Hartnett with Ohcers
Pickett and Norton, will i've some notion
of the extent of the business, when 1t Is
remembered that only one concern is IN
volved in We sterday's operations.
This concern is believed to be the same
that was raided several weeks ago when j.
H. and Hiram Wolf were arrested and
bound over to the May term. The VOLTS are
wealthy Hebrews, clothing dealers on
Middle street, and prominent and lnflu-
yential among their people in this city. Inc
policy business, if it shall be proven to De
theirs. is not the least extensive OF their
business interests.
The establishment which was ra1ded yes
terday was under the charge OF benjamin
Wolf otherwise known as "Benn1e. son
of J. H. Wolfe, and a very smart, alert anu
self possessed young man.
It was not long after noon when Deputy
Hartnett with his officers started out. They
proceeded to the Forest City house, at NO.
2e Fore street, and proceeded Immediately to
Room II. On their way to the nest f1utter-
ing of the birds was visible. Albert Dunn
was met coming down the stairs very lnno-
GENTLY. and was Immediately nabbed by an
officer.
Entering Room II, the police found COM
plete outfit for a policy establishment.
There w ere st mps for printing the lists OF
successful numbers, the account book OF
ssBennie'' Wolf, showing his receipts from
his agents, the slips for yesterday FORE
noon's drawings, a dream book" ana
various other pieces of paraphernalla.
Although the game of policy has been de-
scribed very often, brief description OF II
may he of interest at this point, as showing
the relations of the characters who come
upon the stage.
The headquarters of the game is supposed
to be Frankfort, Kentucky, where the
drawings are supposed to take place twice
daily. forenoon and afternoon. The man
who CANDLES guesses thai in the drawings
on the forenoon or afternoon of a particu-
lar day, a certain set OF numbers will be In
cluded in the dozen or more sets drawn.
AS for example, he guesses that 9-30-3l, will
be among those drawn. This set is called a
s'gig,,: and the gambler ''plays" the gig"
in the parlance of the game. For this
privilege he pays five, ten, or twenty-five
cents, with the assurance that II his gig
comes out he will receive, perhaps, seventy
five fold for what he invested.
Many policy players are s. perst1tous, and
the ssdream boolz'' is an important part of
the outfit. This dream book is a small
dictionary. of the topics that one might
dream about, with the ''gig'' which should
win after such dreams. Thus, in the
s'dream book captured yesterday, were
such references as these: Thunder-Z-9-
49, sCat-7-17-27,'' "Cat with Kittens-16-
1884" etc. There were several thousand
references collected from the experiences
of many thousands of dreaming gamblers all
over America.
Having secured Albert Dunn and the out
fit in the room, the police watched the en-
trance, and were soon rewarded by the ap-
pearance of young Mr.. Benjamin Wolf. He
also was promptly arrested. Meanwhile
Michael Allen had been arrested in anot her
part of the city.
VOLTS account book was an interesting
and valuable work. 1t showed both the
names of the writers" employed by him
and the sums of money which they had
brought in. This book showed his receipts
for the month of March to have been $6l4, all
of which must have been gathered in small
sums ranging from five to twenty-five cents.
With Wolf, Dunn and Allen already Sc
cured: and the account book of Wolf in
their hands, the police were ready to follow
up the remaining writer's. Eugene E. Rear
don, one of the most active writer's in the
city, was found on Commercial street and
seized. Then Frank:Mitchell was brought in
The police station was busy place,
friends and relatives of the writers" ap--
pearing during the proceedings. The officers
were also bustling about making ready to
capture others of their associates.
Wolf and Reardon were liberated on their
own recognisance, while the others were
locked up.
All of them, with such others as the police
may get this morning, will probably be
brought into court this morning.