The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-06-06

Not yet 45 years of age, this woman
has seen more life than most men Go in
century.
Her hair is as white as the driven
snow, but her face preserves its Won
derful beauty which has been her main
stock in trade. Her voice is soft and
low and every action betokens the ut
most refinement, but in spite OF all this
there is not more skillful cardsharp
in the country than she.
Mrs. Kate G. Ogden is the woman's
name, or at least that is the name she
is known by to the people of Superior,
but further west she is better known as
Faro Kate" on account of her having
for many years conducted faro games
in many of the smaller cities and towns.
Until within the last year her daugh-
| ter, a charming girl of about 16, has
been in a convent, and until recently
did not know that her mother was one
of the most dangerous card swindlers
of the continent. Mrs. Ogden is now
wealthy woman, ard every cent OF her
money came from the pockets of her
numerous victims, who range in the
social scale all the way from lumber
jacks" to well-dressed men about town.
The woman is the widow of gambler
who died in the west come years ago,
leaving as a legacy only the knowledge
of how to win at cards and brace of
faro-dealng boxes. How well Mrs
Ogden has made use of the knowledge
and the boxes may be judged when 1t is
stated that she is worth anywhere from
$3.50 900 to 100000, all of it made in
gambling with cards.
Up to the time Miss Ogden returned
form the convent, Mrs. Ogden's home
was a favorite resort for young men
with more money than brains, for the
woman was an excellent entertainer
and would open faro game at any
hour of the day or night for the accom-
mediation of her visitors. For the last
year not a card has been turned in Mrs.
Ogden's home, and it is understood that
she has abandoned the life of gambler
forever, on account of her daughter.
So far as known, Mrs. Ogden's private
life has been a strictly moral one, and
drop OF liquor. She made gambling q
business, the same as other women
make stenography or dressmaking a
business.
Her first stand was at Deadwood, sew
eral years ago, soon after the death oi
her husband, which left her without Z
penny in the world. There she opened
private gambling house and made
money rapidly. From Deadwood she
went to Pierre, s. D., where she re.
NAMED for a time, running openly Oh
Missouri avenue, the tough street of The
city.
Her patrons were largely real estate
dealers and cattlemen, and she would
probably have been there yet had no
a desperate quarrel taken place in hei
house one night, during which a cattle
man was shot in the shoulder. Thi!
ended her career there, and she came t
the northwest, whehe she has been eve
since.
A few years ago Mrs. ogden owned
the finest private gambling house IL
: Bismarck, n. D.,and strange stories ar
told of the games played there durin!
sessions of the legislature, when ever.
one had money to burn. Many of tn
men who have achieved political great
ness in North Dakota know the woman
well and many of them know her (,
their sorrow. for much of their goot
gold went to increase her savings. No
| only did Mrs. Ogden conduct far,
game but poker games, in which tn
; white chips were 81 and the blues any
where from s25 to 800, were of night.
occurrence at her house.
: The charge was made at one time
; Just after one of the best-known men il
the northwest had dropped something
} like $40, 900 at a poker game one night
that a prominent state official stood ii
with Mrs. Ogden and that they had beef
using marked cards and cheating il
, other ways. The charge was neve
pressed, but shortly after it was mad
Mrs. Ogden disappeared one day an,
was next heard of in Superior, wher
she has ever since made her home liv
ing very quietly for the last few months
Soon after Mrs. Ogden located in Su
perior she opened a game, but IL rul
only short time, on account Of a com
plant made by banker. who wa
swindled out of large sum by mean
of marked cards. He, in company wit
several other prominent men. sat in q
q big poker game at the woman's nous
one night and when he arose he was
loser to the tune Of many thousands @
S dollars in cash and paper bearing hi
name. The checks we're never pre-
: scented, however, for an examination G
4 the cards after the game was fnishe
showed that they could be read from tn
, back by person having the key as we
q as they could from the face.
When Miss ogden returned from tn
|, convent in which she had been place
! when child she was horror-stricke
to learn that her mother was gambler
/, and threatened to leave her forever I'm
less she gave UP the business entirel!
:, This Mrs. Ogden promised to Go and u
to the present time she has kept he
promise. and Faro Kate" will soon b
: a woman of the past-and woma
: with a past--for those who knew he
7, professionally in the earlier days ar
: fast growing fewer and fewer.