The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-19
QUEER WAGERS MADE.
AMERICANS FOND or sPECULArING
AND BETTING.
WIEar.s Edison's First Experiment in
ELECTRICITY the Result OF "a Ret.
Gambling and Superstition in the
Army-MacISny's GrasShopper.

ELECTRICITY the Result OF Ret.
Gambling and Superstition in the
Army-NacISny's GrnsShopper.
From the Chicago Times-Herald.
There is probably no other country
where so much and so curious betting
takes place as in the United States Es-
pecially is this the case at election time
Wizard Edison. il is said. made his first
unusual experiment in electricity as the
result of a bet. He was telegraph opera
tor. and the lunches Of the boys We're car
ried in tin cans. into which reaches made
their way. causing much kicking at meal
time. Various methods were tried to get
rid OF them. and finally Edison made
bet that he would suppress them. The
next day the dinner cans were piled in a
heap, and the wizard placed around them
a circle of narrow tin foil ribbon about an
inch wide, and about a quarter of an inch
away another similar circle and then he
connected both with the current. The con-
sequence was that every roach. in trying
TO get to the cans. placed himself with
his hind legs on one pole Tor piece Of foiD
and his fore legs on the other. thus com
pleting the circuit. and rolling over dead
The bet was won and the dead piled up
like an Irish fence
In the civil war the soldiers at the
front spent much of their spare time in
gambling, and battlefields would be found
literally strewn with packs OF cards The
reason FOR this was that. although every
Dody played more or less, as soon as the
attack was sounded every man threw his
cards away, for the soldiers We're super
sut1ous about dying with pack of cards
IN their possession. The result was that
after a great fight there would not be a
pack Of cards in camp, and curious sub
stituteS We're evolved. one of the most
characteristic was the use OF the army
grayDack or louise Men would gather at
camp fire with their pay in their pockets
or with tobacco. which was almost as good
as money the greater part of the time,
ana some one would produce a fairly
smooth piece Of board, on which a circle
about two inches in diameter would be
made with piece of charcoal. Around
this circle an outer circle about eighteen
inches in diameter would be drawn The
board was heated pretty hot, and the COM
peting 'graybacks" were dropped into the
inner circle. As soon as they touched the
not board they set off like race horses TO
get away from the heat The first to cross
the outer circle was adjudged the winner
considerable money changed hands on
one occasion soldier offered to race his
gee against the whole camp for all they
nked to wager. The bets We're made and
The races came off. the challenger winning
pretty nearly everything in sight. He then
went 10 other camptires ana did the same
thlng enjoying quite run of prosperity
until some one discovered his trick he
had found out that the speediest gray
PACK was half-starved one, and he had
three in his leather pocketbook In a very
auNahced stage Of starvation, with which
ne was able to beat all corners. Many old
y: a. r. men will smile at the recollection
of these races
Millionaire Mackay tells a story of
contest he had three years ago with one
oI MS foremen. The foreman was some
tnhg OF naturalist and trained one
o -. l NJ. enormous grasshoppers Of the west.
a. mark IWain trained his frog, until he
could jump about ten feet Then he in
IefeSted Mr.. Mackay i'm the insect Mr.
MackaY went out and caught some hon
pers ana backed them against the record
breaker, with the result that he wns heat
en- every time. Then he became determ-
med 10 win, and sent several of the
nahds out to hunt for the strongest jun
pers they could find. But all to no pur-
pose, until one day he discovered wet
spot on the table where the forennan's
hopper had sat, Investigating the matter
ne found that the spot was very strong
ammonia, that the foreman had a phial
OF ammonia with dropper in his sleeve
ana that drop of the ammonia made a
grasshopper jump hard enough to heat
the record every time. So Mr.. Mackay
provided himself with dropper and then
went to another battle. The same morn
ing he managed to get hold Of the fore
man dropper, empued it, and filled it
| with chloroform instead of ammonia, and
then kept the foreman with him until the
iast minute. The grasshoppers were
brought forth, and Mr. Mackay's flew
through space. while the foremans only
heayed and heaved, finally rolling over
and going to sleep. 1t was not until the
| third contest that tribe foreman found out
the trick.
one night last April party of railroad
men strolled up Broadway after dinner
Near Forty-second street the CONVERSE
Ion turned upon the prices of cab hire in
different cities. William Hayward ex-
railroad commissioner of Connecticut said
that New York cab fares We're higher
| than any other city in the country.
Where are you staying?" asked New
Yorker.
within six blocks" was the reply; land
anything near IS"
The New Yorker made bet of a supper
for the crowd that any cabby would drive
him to his door for 81.
Bring him along" was the reply. The
money was posted, the cabby called and
the address asked for, and given as "St
Cloud hotel fourth floor. Drive right IN
to the door" A merrier party than the
one which drove round to one Of the ten
derloin owl cafes would have been diff
cult to find
OF late the jumping bean has received
some attention. In the game played in
the downtown Offices a circle with seven
divisions is drawn and bets are made az
to which one the bean will jump into.
Down in Panama the great holiday game
is cat racing In several of the gardens
there are houses or sheds, about 100 yards
long, and in the center of these are board
ed off spaces like a bowling alley but
wider. From end to end of each Of these
are stretched tightly ten thin steel wires
and at the extreme end of each is num-
Der which, on being touched, flies up
When the races take place each cat is
fitted with a leather collar, at the top of
which is an eyelet. through which is
threaded one of the wires, so that each
wire has one cat on it. Firecrackers are
attached to the tail of each cat and fred
simultaneously. The cats give a despair
ing howl and rush away in the only d.
rection possible-namely, straight ahead
guided by the wire The further they 20
the steadier the crackers explode and
the faster the poor cats fly, until one of
them passes under the wire or rather the
eccentric which works the numbers and
sends up the winning signal. Some of the
cats have split second records, but they
cannot be worked very often, or they lie
down and let the fireworks have all the
fun This appears to be modification of
the electric spur and whip dodge used al
Gutenberg some years ago.
A story Is told of an actor who was re-
turning home rather early in the morning
and came TO an early organ grinder A
piece of green bate was stretched over
the top of the organ, while a miserable
monkey gathered in any receipts The ac-
tor saw the green cloth, stopped and put
down silver dollar, which was imme-
diately grabbed by the monkey. The ac-
tor stared minute. rubbed his eyes and
walked away muttering:
"OujpEeSt game / ever ran IN against IN,