The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-04-18
A BANKRUPT TRIBE.
THOR Unbroken Run of Ill Luck at
a Game Of Chance.
40" the Black River Indians were
Cleaned Out by the PuyalIups in
the Great Twenty-Six Day ..Sing
Gamble' Near Tacoma

| allup reservation way over to the Black
River reservation. saws the Tacoma cor
respondent of the San Francisco Exam
iner lie had nothing with him except
his clothes and his temper, both of which
were very much worn, from the results
OF the recent protracted sing gamble"
The sing gamble" is the great contest
between two tribes of the Puget Sound
| Indians for the trophies of the year and
for such blankets, wearing apparel, We
hicles and horses as can be spared to be
used for stakes, and sometimes more
than should be spared. This year the
pot at the beginning of the gamble
consisted of twelve Winchester rifles of
the latest pattern, eleven sound horses,
seven buggies, one hundred blankets,
forty-three shawls, an uncounted pile
of mats, clothing for men and women.
some badly worn and some in good con-
| ditioR, but mostly worn, and forty nine
dollars in money.
| This year the ''sing gamble was
held in the barn of Jake Tai-ugh, com
| monty known as Charley Jacobs, whose
| place is four miles from Tacoma. At
the beginning of the sing gamble"
sixty-seven old men and women, many
of them wrinkled, many of them gray
| headed gathered at Jakes big barn,
which had been cleared of all hay,
| grain and other stores.
On the ground, which serves as a
| floor, were laid two mats woven from
straw and weeds and flags. Each of
| these mats was three feet wide and
six feet long. Between the mats was
the space of about hree feet. Around
| these squatted the serious gamblers of
| the ancient races, many of them wear
ing brilliant colored blankets, others
arrayed in combination costumes picked
up at the reservation or in the town.
| As necessary preparation to the
| game, the drummers, one for each tribe,
took positions in front of their drums,
| made of horse hide drawn over one end
| of a stout frame two feet and six inches
deep. Beating heavily on these drums
with sticks, the sound is similar to that
| from bass drum, save that it is more
sonorous and is readily heard distance
of half mile. AS the drums beat the
| Indians begin their chants or walls,
| the men shouting: ''Hi-ah, hi-ah, hi-ah, :"
and the women moaning an accompani-
ment between the shouts of their
| braves. sounding something like this:
''Mm-uh, mm-uh. mm-uh."
The players gather around the mats,
seven being permitted on each side.
One mat is fer the Puyallups, the other
for the Black Rivers The dealer for
each side sits at the head of his mat,
lingering deftly ten wooden chips
about two inches in diameter and
quarter OF an inch thick. Nine of these
are of the same color, but the tenth is
different 10 color, though similar in
shape and dimensions. The shuffler
handles the chips rapidly, like an ex-
perienced faro dealer playing to a big
board He transfers them from one hand
to another, hides them under pile of
shavings made from the cedar bark
growing close to the sap, resembling
much the product called excelsior. He
divides the chips into two piles of five
each, and conceals each pile under the
shavings. Mysteriously he waves his
hands forward and backward, cross
wise and over and over, making passes
like the manipulations of a three-card
monte dealer The drum keeps up it's
constant beat, the Indians at the mats
and those looking on with interest
clap their hands and stamp and chant
il. time to the drum.
Now is the time for the Indian as
signed to guess TO point to one of the
two piles. The game is entirely one of
chance, there being no possible means
for the closest observer to detect in
which pile the dealer places the odd
colored chip 1t is the custom of the
game, however, for the guessman to
ponder for some time before decid-
ing which pile to select. This adds in
terest and excitement to the specula-
ton. Finally he decides, and with his
finger points to one of the piles. The
dealer rolls the chips across the mat to
the farther end. If the guess is right
the side for which the guesser is acting
scores one point. If the guess is wrong
the tribe to which the dealer belongs
scores a point, and the other side takes
She innings-that is to say, the deal.
John Towallis was captain of the
Puyaliup team, and now is the most
popular man in the tribe on account of
the remarkable victory of his side after
the session of nearly month. and also
on account of the quantity and value of
the pot. Capt. Jack, the leader of the
unsuccessful Black River team, proved
thorough sport, for in addition to his
contribution to the stake of his tribe,
he stalSed and lost his greatest treas
ure, a big knife, his principal decora-
ton, shiny brass rings, all his money
Sixty dollars, his watch, his rifle and
his harness, his buggy and his horse.
He advised his companions on the team
to bet everything they had except their
canoes He insisted that they should
keep those, in order that they might
have some way to get home. He was
not so careful of himself as of them, for
he had to walk when the time came.
Some of the men and the squaws who
padded home in their canoes felt the
sharpness OF the weather, for shirts and
trousers were exceedingly scarce when
the sixtieth stick had gone to the
'uyallup end of the board.
At the last part of the gamble the
Black Rivers plunged wildly. The run