Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-08
HE nBROEE" ALL SEATTLE
Faro Men Waiting fer the Con-
 quering Alaskan.
ONCE A YEAR HE PLUNGES
Asked the Limit" They Pointed to the Ce- ing, and He Went and Won Clean
 to the Top.

Seattle CWash.) Correspondence New York Press.
 For a whole twelve months the faro dealers of Seattle have been waiting and watching for him. For the man with the wind-tanned face, and the grave, quiet eyes, who one day fifteen years ago came down from the gold fields of Alaska and broke every little silver faro bank in this little faro-rdden town. Once year since that night when he "came in with shoestring and went out with rolls," the man with the wind-tanned face returned to Seattle searching for the golden fleece that he had found fifteen years ago and lost again. It has eluded him ever since. Sometimes he has had it almost within his grasp, but each time it has slipped out and he has gone home with his little satchel empty. He is a strange charac- ter even in this young land. where strange characters are common, and his failure to make his customary pilgrim age this year has awakened in the minds of the veteran dealers the memory of the time when he broke the town"
 It was in the old days, or the new days, rather when Seattle was flushed with her first prosperity, and was playing the host for all the tin-horn gamblers and tbimble-riggers and eastern black sheep that came within her gates. They were wild and boisterous days of affiuence un-
 
 recover from the shock for two months. He was different from the regular pa- irons of the joints If he carried a gun he never exposed it, and he showed dis- dressing want of taste in the diamonds which he did not wear. When he walked into the saloon where. right opposite the bar. the biggest game in town was dealt, and In his quiet voice asked what the limit was, the lookout smiled and the dealer pointed to the ceiling. It was an, old pantomime and he understood it. To ask the limit was either greenhcrns trick or a would-be sports attempt to plunge, and when he placed only ten spot" on the high card the lookout smiled wisely again and the dealer winked.
 But the man with grave eyes nei- ther smiled nor winked. He watched the dealer caress with his fingers the deal card on top, as all dealers do before slip ping it from the box The first card was a jack, and the chances of his winning were just two in thirteen. The dealer looked at him with pttying contempt, and then exposed a king.
 How do you want t?" he asked.
 '1ll let it ride" he answered. and that ten spot rode on the right card until it had swelled to hundred, and the deal had reached the last turn. He leaned over and placed the whole stack on the deuce and king to win at three to one. They took some interest in the quiet man then, and they took more when the deuce and king were the first two cards out and he had called the turn
 He had chance to plunge on the next deal, and when 1t was half over he had all those sofd-timers guessing. His stack had been doubled four times. and when the turn came around again and he re peated his query, Whats the lmit?" the dealer winked hard with both eyes Anything you've got. dust or dollars goes here"
 Every penny of it went on the cards and the rounders gathered closer
 You've broke usr' exclaimed the man behind the box. Want to play any more?"
 The man looked at him and smiled Bring 'em on." They got another bank ing fund and he ate into that more fiercey than the first one. They changed dealers on him, and.before the night was over every man in town who could bank d game had had q try at him. and he broke them all.
 Far into the haggard dawn they sat there and watched him quietly draw a stream of geld that they were powerless to stem. He played them hard and mer- cllessly. and when they had to confess that the town was broke he left them as quietly as he came. He had won be- tween $50,000 and $G0,000. and he express ed neither the customary sympathy for them nor offered 10 treat. He walked ont. and they talked about him for two
 
 Just a year afterward he came around again. as calm and reserved as when they had first seen him. He played his game in the same manner. and though they treated him with utmost difference this time. he had no luck and lost steadi- 1y all night. and when he left 1t was his turn to announce that he was broke. That was fourteen years ago. and the old days have gone, and with them many of the old-time gamblers, but each year the man who broke the town has re- turned. Sometimes he has won heavily for hours: but only once. about six years ago. has he approached anything like his former coup. That one time he was play ing against the original clique that he had made penniless before. and for a little while it seemed as though they were doomed again.
 He was Sl2,000 to the good. and half the town was watching him. He played with all his olden daring and reckless ness, but the little silver box was too strong for him, and he went back penni- less. but unconcerned. The game must have reclaimed all of his winnings on that night. but he has never shown any more regret over his losses than he did delight when as winner he 'sewed up the town of Seattle"
 Perhaps the Yukon country. with it's wild torrents and it's wilder crew. has claimed him at last. as it has claimed hundreds of others who have been lured to it's fields of gold, but as long as there is a faro box and a man ito keep cases left in Seattle the memory of the man with the wind-tanned face and the grave quiet eyes will live.
 To radIlca Ol1r stock Of Ia.