The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-06-28
A BANKRUPT TRIBE.
Their Unbroken Run Of III Luck at
q Game of Chance.


G&mD1e" near Tacoma.
Capt. Jack had to walk from the Puy-
auup reservation way over to the Black
River reservation, says the Tacoma cor
respondent of the San Francisco Exam:
liner. He 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, ve-
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-
dition, but mostly worn, and forty-nine
dollars in money.
This year the '4sing 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 Jake's 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 three 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 q 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 stout frame two feetand 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 for the Puyallups, the other
for the Black Rivers. The dealer for
each side sits at the head of his mat,
deity ten wooden chips
about two inches in diameter and a
quarter of an inch thick. Nine of these
are of the same color, but the tenth is
different in color, though similar in
shape and dimensions. The shuffier
the chips rapidly, like an ex-
perienced faro dealer playing to 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 three-card
monte dealer. The drum keeps up. its
constant beat, the Indians at the mats
and those looking ON with interest
clap their hands and stamp and chant
in 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 gdessman to
ponder for some time before decid-
ing which pile to select. This adds in
terest and excitement to the specula-
tion. 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 point, and the other side takes
the innings that is to say, the deal.
John Towallis was captain of the
team, and now is the most
popular man in the tribe on account of
The remarkable victory of his side after
yhe session of nearly month, and also
IN account OF the quantity and value OF
.he pot, Capt. Jack, the leader OF the
unsuccessful Black River team, proved
! thorough sport, for, in addition to his
to the stake of his tribe,
le staked and lost his greatest treas
are, big knife, his principal decora-
ion, shiny brass rings, all his money
sixty dollars), his watch, his rifle and |
ais harness, his buggy and his horse.
lie advised his companions on the team
% bet everything they had except their
,anoes. He insisted that they should
Keep those, in order that they might
iave some way TO get home. He was
lot so careful of himself as OF them, for
10 had to walk when the time came. !
some of the men and the squaws who
,addled home in their canoes felt the
harpness Of the weather, for shirts aud
rousers were exceedingly scarce when
he sixtieth stick had gone TO the
end of the board.
At the last part of the gamble the
Black Rivers plunged wildly. The run
i luck OF the Puyallups had been con-
tant, and Capt, Jack announced to his
ollowers that this could not continue.
.uck must turn, and here was chance |
or them to get every movable thing,
xcept that which belongs to the gov
transferred from the Puyallup |
over to the BlaclxRiver res
rvation. His men were quick to follow
lis suggestion, and the result is that |
ovcrty is intense this year at BLACK |