Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-09-03

to the Puyallup reservation. They
bore no laurels, it is true, but then
they had their ponies and blankets,
which at one time during the gambling
they came disastrously near losing.
The sport took place at a gambling
house kept by Jim Dimrood, a MIS-
qually Indian, and located in a clear
ing five acres in extent on the right
bank Of the NisQually river, four miles
above Maxfield station, where The
Northern Pacific crosses the river The
game played by the Indians is called
''slahael, and was actively participated
in by thirty Pulyallups, five White
River Indians and thirty Inequalities,
the White River Indians playing with
the Puyallups, The stakes put up by
each side were seventeen ponies, one
COW and ten pigs.
1t was in this gambling-house last
Saturday afternoon that Jack Skam-
enke, the leader of the NisQuai'y
gamblers, stood up and began singing
the low dirgelike song which forms
part OF the ceremony, and then handed
the bones to one of his men. The In
dian took the bones fumbled and
changed them, and then, holding L
bone tightly concealed in either hand,
began swinging them for a wary Pay
allup to guess which hand contained
the white one. The gambling was III
full progress. The scene was a strange
one, we'll worthy the brush Of a Freder-
lex Remington or any who Indulge III
a liking for the wild and fantastic.
The bright wood fires We're burning in
either end of the room. Ten feet from
the walls two rows of Indian men were
kneeling down, facing each other, leav-
ing a space of ten feet between them.
In one row we're Puyallup and White
River Indians and in the other were
Inequalities. In the center Of the kneel-
ing rows of Indians were the lead 9rs
/ Tommy Lane for the Puyallups and
/ Skamenke for the Inequalities.
/ Back of the kneeling bucks were
/ benches running the entire length OF
! the room. On these sat the Indian
women of the respective tribes who
watched the varying fortunes of the
players with most intense interest.
Stuck i'll the ground III semi-circulal
form, in front of both Lane and
( Skamenke, we're thirty-five small
/ wooden pegs about three inches IN
length and cne-fouruh Of an inch IN
/ diameter. These were the beans
! Suspended from the neck of each In
dian player and hanging in front OF
/ his breast was a handkerchief, beneath
which he deity concealed his hands
! when the bones were given him tc
swing
The bones mentioned are three
/ inches in length and one inch in di-
ameter. One of them is perfectly
white, the ether one has two black
/ rings around it. Each of the leaders
/ has two sets Of bones, but only one sci
! is used at time. The game proceeds
as follows: The leader of the side
whose turn it is to play chants a sing
! song incarnation to bring luck, the
| squaWs joining in this musical (?) ef
! fort and the bucks also, if they wish
/ Two of his men are then designated by
| the leader to shake the bones, which
are grasped by the player, one in either
! hand, and both hands are placed be
meath the handkerchief hanging over
| his breast, where he fumbles the bones
shifts them about from hand to hand
to confuse those who are keenly watch
/ ing him from the other side, and then
! suddenly drawing them from beneath
| the handkerchief, begins swinging
! them to the right and left in front OF
! him. The leader of the opposite side
| then guesses or names one of his men
whom he thinks may be the more
! lucky, to guess which swinging hand
contains the white bone. If the guess
| is correct the leader of the side which
! is playing-not guessing pulls one OF
! the beans from the ground in front OF
! him, and losses it over to the leader OF
| the side which has made the correct
/ guess. The bean is taken by the win
/ ner and stuck in the ground with the
! other beans belonging to his side.
The bones are also to be passed to the
guessing side, whose turn it becomes
| to play
Provided the guess is correct the side
making IL losses Dean over 10 the Slde
playing, and the man who has shaken
the sticks has the right to shake them
again, while his opponents make an
other guess. Both sets of bones We're
guessed upon by the same man at the
same time. If he guessed the white Of
one and missed the other he won a
| bean and one pair IF bones. but lost a
| bean upon the other set which was
shaken again for him to make another
guess. In this manner the bones and
beans were constantly passing back
and forth from one side to another,
with the varying luck of the different
sides. Saturdays game ended in a
draw.-Tacoma Ledger.