The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-07-20
BREAK !. u BANK,
AN OLD FARO DEALER oNA peLUsloN
o.. or GAMBLING. s,.
Men Who Make One Good Winning For
get All About Their Many Losses--Tho
Merry and Lucky Play OF DInk Davis.
| A Cool Harvard Youth.

l
| A Cool Harvard Youth.
Eyes" remarked the old faro dealer as
he INDUCED in quiet retrospective smile,
"a great many Of em used to labor under
that same delusion-come in with shoe.
string and go out with the bank roll. That
was their oyermastering ambition, and it
cost them barrel of money humorlng 1t,
but they never lost hope and they tipped
away their salaries and incomes in dimes
and quarters with never murmur II
was tho old old some day we'll hit you
that lured EN- on, and we always used to
encourage them in that pleasant and to us
profitable fallacy.
| why, When Lwas dealing bank in that
Sixth avenue shop above Honest John
Kelley's our biggest play used to come
from those same cheap would I've bank
breskcrs. On Saturday night especially
! the place was full Of them, and 1t kept
eight of lis on the jump from until the
next morning aking in their little two for
| cent plunges.
"a great many of them were bankers
and brokers' clerks, and they wore tho
sons Of rich men, who purposely kept
them on small allowances in the hope that
they wero learning to rough it, as they had
done when they were boys. These young
chaps would watch their employers shoot
ing dico and playing poker after tho ex-
change had closed, and by Saturday night
they We're ready to plunge their last bone
And let me tell you now that of all men
have seen around roulette or faro layout
none Of EN- could touch those brokers'
clerks and college boys for pure, raw nerve
your 81, 900 plunger Is all right, but
the s25 and $50, which was all these fel-
;s%' 1 naS %s71 . s y mSs :: ss%s
wiped away without winco or change of
expression When you get n man reduced
to playing his car fare on tho turn of tho
card or the spin of the wheel, and he loses
itwith case and grace, you have got man
who some day will mako Wall street
squirm or else will wind up in Sing Sing.
"The little faro box and the old roulette
wheel arc faithful servants and they never
betray their masters in tho long rum but
sometimes they will get thoughtless for
spell, and l have seen some marvellous
winnings made off of almost nothing.
The cases arc few and far between, though,
and when you hear Il man discoursing on
how no broke tho town on plugged 10
cent piece you can gamble that that man
Is heavyweight liar
"You can't beat tho little box If you
stay with 1t, and the wild winnings that
you hear about AFRO made mostly by the
nOyices, and tho amount Of tho winnings
increases in the same ratio that the story
grows.
'Dink Davis Is one of tho few old gam
blcrs who ever really made big winning
and did not go and lose it the next day or
the next week
"Thcro was method In his madness. Flo
Is tho only man that l know who knew
enough to leave tho gamo alone after he
had beaten it.
For two straight nights he played it,
and ho played it hard and fast, but they
wero coming his way and while they
came he stuck to it. Those two nights
have gono down into history now. No one
before or since has bucked the tiger with
such indomitabc courage, backed up with
such marvellous luck. He couldn't miss q
bet, and he called the turn with an ease
that paralyzed them all.
No one will ever forget the night Dink
began his wild plunge. He was such u
skullcap that lie wears now was pulled
down over his cyes and he placed his bets
with such modesty that the harsh words
that wcrc on every ones lips failed them,
and they could only cash his winnings
without u grumble. All night long no
played in the samo way. He seemed to
have the little silver box hypnotized, and
all tho dealers In town could not break the
spell
"They tried them all, too; called them
In from different houses, and in lis quiet,
unpretcntious way he laughed at them all.
If he played tho ten spot to win, it was
dead open and shut that tho ten spot was |
going to win Every play was punctuated |
by quiet emphasis that made the usual
gibes and comments ridiculous and COM
monplaoc
''He was playing the old system, double
out-that is, two cards were played to win
and the other two to lose In the ten spot
only he failed on tho first two plays Each
time the number lost when he was playing
it to win, and on tho third one he tripled
tho bet, md the dealer almost had nervous
prostration.
His winnings that night have been cs-
timated at all the way from $4,000 to
$4,000, but l know that all he pulled out
of tho game was somewhere between
SIC, 1000 ard $4,000. Dink' s was tho best
winning that have ever known of, and it
has become n unit OF measure but l have
seen equally as good money pulled out on
the capital invested.
"Ono night II young Harvard chap came
into Davis place in Twenty eighth street.
He had just 10 cents to pay his car fare to
the Grand Central station, and he left his
hotel with the firm resolve of keeping It,
He had two hours, however, before his
train left, and he decided to play his sur
plus with Dink and get u good dinner
along with his plunge
"He came into tho room without any at.
tempt at concealing his free lunch scheme
md announced frankly that ho was going
to play 10 cents worth and then go down
and eat up the dinner. He put his dino
IN No. II on the roulette table, and we
gave him stack Of quarter chips.
He had sand, and on tho next spin he
his quarter chips all over the
board and caught fiat foot That gave
him good start, and he followed it up.
Before either he or We knew it he had won
$50, and then he decided to cash in and go
Town to dinner.
after dinner no found that he could
atch later train to Boston, and he gave
$50 to friend and spent tho remaining
10 in stack Of blues. never saw luck
un the way it did for him that night He
ouldn't miss Il fiat foot If he tried
"Once he left SO uncovered and just bc-
ore twirled tho ball he dropped the last
our chips ho had on it and it jumped up
ust as If it knew what sucker it was
'ucking against. He won about $40 on
hat bet alone and had the sense to cash In
nd go home. On that one 10 cent piece
10 had got dinner chat was worth 50 and
100 in cash besides
He has been hers dozen times since.
nd suppose I've have got that $50 back
many times, but he doesn't know it. He
5 living still on the strength of that win
nd fondly believes that he Ia away ahead
( the game. New York Press.
HunDVpr prnsbvtpriup ThurrI