The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-28
THEY PLAY THE LIMIT.
WHO RISK THEIR
LIVES AGAINST ODDS.

Precautions Chances of Plumber.
House-Breakers and Safe-Crackers.
PLAYING La Banque Against Death.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
In the golden age OF the Rhenish gamb-
Ing resorts, the managers Of a licensed
i f,ro bank used TO display posters. stat
me the lowest and highest sum which the
-,rrons of the establishment were al
Owed 10 stake upon a single bet. The
4 -,os~ limit varied from $4,000 to $4,000.
/ mt was accepted only with the proviso
mar no more than one or two players
.bould be permitted to stake the maxi
rum al the same time
The motive of that rule was the neces-
si+v 10 limit the risk of a syndicate of
. rrofessional gamblers doubling and doub-
ing their bets till luck could almost be
compelled to turn in their favor. Begin
ming with the lowest stake. say 81, upon
an even chance, a losing gambler could
. double thirteen times before he reached
Il the upper limit. but if he then tried TO
II continue the scale of his geometrical pro-
erosion with the aid of a confederate,
II the croupier of the bank was pretty sure
10 tap him on the shoulder: "One at a
\ time. gentlemen"
II would be well If the same rule would
i he enforced upon the still more desperate
/ gamblers who try TO mend their fortunes
nv stalking their lives against the bank
notes of a cashier or express messenger.
Individual stakes of that kind may be
sbluffed" by the revolver of a cool-headed
Official but the problem becomes more
complicated where the always formidable
maximum stake Of a life-and-death risk
is raised by a plurality of ventures. I'm
der ordinary circumstances six well-armed
robbers have an unaided bank or train
crew at their mercy. and their advantage
cannot always be checkmated on the plan
that proved so strihngly successful in
the case of the recent Q. and c. episode.
The satisfactory outcome of the Pulaski
adventure was the result or the circum-
stance that the wOuld-be robbers were
taken by surprise. They did not suspect
the presence of the extra guards which
the express company had Struggled up
and down the road for a week. But If
that precaution should once be known to
have been adopted as a permanent ar
rangement, the brlgandS would take cOun-
ter measures of their own and contriVe
10 make the escort tight at a disadvant-
age
can Review proposed to double the regu-
lar messenger force of the express COM
panes, besides providing them with re-
peatng rifles and bullet-proOf doors. He
also advised the employment of trained
hounds, to be kept ready for action at
short notice in every junction town, but
the experience of railway managers in
the mountain states of our sister repub-
lie has proved the inadequacy of such pre-
cautions. and even their frequent ten
dency to increase the risk of loss OF life
and property to noncombatants.
The problem is really not as simple
as IL looks" said the passenger agent OF
a southwestern railway, the fact is that
II involves other considerations besides
that of the best method for protecting
the safes of the express company. The
mere presence Of an armed force and
battery on wheels is apt TO alarm weak
nerved travellers by the implied prospect
Of a general fusillade; plurality of pas
sengers would actually prefer the risk
OF personal loss and manage to survive
the disappearance of the entire express
cargo if they could rely on the trans
fer of Doodle being effected without the
firing of a shot There was a case of
that kind on Texas railway where
a gang of robbers stumbled upon train
with a detachment of soldiers in charge
OF regular United states army officer.
The officer wanted his men to pull their
revolvers and capture the whole gang,
with four-fold odds in favor of law and
order, but was restrained by the Shrieks
of ladies', and had to sit by and see the
passengers cleaned out in approved Dick
Turpin style. The mere thought of
bullet shower scares nine of of ten peo
pie more than the imminent risk of having
to surrender a watch and-well. say $40
to $50, for travellers nowadays do not
payment of a stolen check can be stopped
But that is not all. The adoption of a
Triangular system would be almost sure
to tempt desperadoes to more atrocious
devices for insuring the success of their
enterprise. The increase OF their personal
risks in case of capture would only be
slight in that case. anyhow. The laws
against train-robbing-Wlth or without
murder are already pretty severe in the
thinly settled states. It's twenty years
IN or,xrx y orox VIC eft af ha &c
sissippi and death by the present law of
California. What much more could they
do to a captured mass-murderer? Rather
than forego his attempt at rich prize,
a rufian of the Dalton type would dyna-
mite a whole train into splinters, or dump
II over a precipice on the plan actually
worked on several mountain roads in
Western Mexico. The professional bril-
gands of the Sierras had been worked in
repeated encounters, with an armed es-
eeort, and hit upon a plan TO turn the
some ticklish point, where the road ap-
preached a deep glen without the inter-
Vention of safety walls, they trapped
the engine by means of a wedee-shaped
piece of iron, fastened in a way TO make
1t operate like what our track-wallIers
call spread rail, while an iron plate
spiked to the ties assisted the wheels IN
slipping over the other side. A few SHOW
els full of gravel removed on the brink of
the declivity did the rest, and the train
toppled over as the cars LETT the track IN
succession. Imagine the chances for mis-
chief at midnight, in the depths of steep
sulch, with wheels corpses and splintered
timber piled up pell-mell, and no chance to
distinguish the perpetrators OF the wreck
from second-class passengers or char1-
table Sierra farmers The chances for
the success of that special stratagem
would increase with the roughness OF the
neighborhood but prairies would not eX-
clude the risk of modification. There
are nowadays half a dozen explosives
more powerful than dynamite, and with
a key of such stuff three or four coaches
could be blown into kindling wood, with
enough to spare for dropping few hand
Srenades among & group of passengers,
betraylng symptoms of resentment.
A better plan is perhaps the employment
OF travelling detectives, aided by local
spies, but the consequent mistrust or
Contederates has inspired more than one
oesperado with the plan of complete self
reAance. The Michigan brigand, Moltz-
veg or Holway, managed dozen sue
Cessful hold-ups single-handed, and once
robbed train by holding a cooked re-
Volver in each fist and forcing a brake
man to act as his Doodle collector, while
Ihe passengers, women and all were com
PEELED to clasp their hands behind their
ears and thus stand up to be searched.
On another occasion he held up picnic
party, family reunion or something of
mat sort, but met his Waterloo in trying
70 stop stage coach, receiving load OF
buckshot in reply to his demand for trib-
ute. he Quelled the revolt by emDtying