Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-17
MEN WHO BREAK THE BANK
An Old Dealer ssl Says They Don't
Often Do 1t,
I, - go s;sss'Ns
LUCK OF 4 HARVARD BOY
He Only Had Dime, but He Made Big
Winning-Dink Davis Big
Play.

New York Press man, S he INDUCED in a
quiet retrospective smile, "a great many
of 'em used to labor under that same de-
lusion-eome in with the sheestring and
go out with the bank roll. That was
their overmastering ambition, and it cost
them barrel of money humoring 1t, but
they never lost hope and they Tipped
away their salaries and incomes in
dimes and quarters with never muir
muir. 1t was the 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 I was dealing bank in that
Sixth avenue shop above Honest John
Kelly's our biggest play used to come
from those same cheap, would-be bank
breakers! On Saturday night especially
the place was full of them, and 1t kept
eight of us on the jump from 8 O'Clock
until next morning raking In their lit
tie two-for-a-cent plunges.
IA great many of them were bankers
and brokers' clerks. and they were the
sons of rich men, who purpoSe1y kept
them on small allowances in the hope
that they were learning to rough It, as
they had done when they were boys.
Those young chaps would watch their
employers shooting dice and playing po-
ker after the exchange had closed, and
by Saturday night they were ready to
you now that of all the men have seem
around roulette or faro layout none OF
'em could touch those brokers' clerks
and college boys for pure, raw nerve.
Car Fare the Test.
"Your $1,000 plunger is all right, but the
$25 and $50, which was all these fellows
had, meant just as much to them, and
they would watch their car fare home
wiped away without a vince or change
of expression. When you get man re-
duced to playing his car fare on the turn
of the card or the spin of the wheel and
he loses 1t with ease and grace, you have
got man who some day will make Wall
street squirm, or else will wind up in
Sing Sing.
.The little faro box and the old roulette
wheel are faithful servants, and they
never betray their masters in the long
run, but sometimes they will get thought
less for SPELL and l have seen some
marvellous winnings made off of almost
nothing. The cases are few and far be-
tween, though, and when you hear of
a man discoursing on how he broke the
town on q plugged Decent piece you can
gamble that that man Is heavyweight
liar.
You can't beat the little box If you
stay with 1t, and the wild winnings that
you hear about are made mostly of the
povices, and the amount of the win
nings increase in the same ratio that the
story grows.
"'Dink' Davis is one of the few old
gamblers who ever really made a big
winning and did not go and lose it the
next day or the next week.
There was method In his madness.
He is the only man that I know who
knew enough to leave the game alone
after he had beaten 1t.
This Was His System.
"For two straight nights he played 1t,
and he played it hard and fast, but they
were coming his way and while they
came he stuck to It,. Those two nights
have gone down to history now. No one
has bucked the tiger with such indomita-
BILE courage, backed up with such marvel
GUS luck. He couldn't miss bet, and he
called the turn with an ease that para
lyzed them all.
'Dink' began his wild plunge. He was
such quiet, unassuming chap. That
same little skull cap that he wears now
was pulled down over his eyes, and he
placed his bets with such modesty that
the harsh words that were on every ones
lips failed them, and they could only cash
his winnings without a grumble. All
night long he played in the same way.
He seemed to have the little silver box
hypnotized, and all the dealers in town
could not break the spell.
"They tried them ALL too, called them
unpretentious way he laughed at them
all. If he played the ten spot to win 1t
was a double open and shut that the ten
spot was going to win. Every play was
punctuated by a quiet emphasis that
made the usual jibes and comments ridic-
ulous and commonplace. He was play
ing 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 the first two plays. Each time
Il
to win, and on the third he trpled the
bet and the dealer almost had nervous
prostratlon.
Won $40. 900 or More.
His winnings that night have been
estimated at all the way from $4,000 to
$4,000 but know that all he pulled out
of the game was somewhere between
winning that have ever known of. and
1t has become a unit of measure, but l
have seen equally as good money pulled
out on the capital invested.
"One night a 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 re-
solve of keeping 1t. He had two hours.
however, before his train left. and he
decided to play his surplus with Dinlx
and get a good dinner along with his
any attempt at concea!ing his free lunch
scheme, and announced frankly that he
was going to play 10 cents worth, and
then GO down and eat up the dinner. He
put his dime on No. II of the roulette
table and we gave him stack of quar-
ter checks.
"He had sand and on the next spin
he scattered his quarter checks all over
the board fiat foot. That gave him a
good start and he followed 1t up. Before
either he or we knew II ne had won $50,
and then he decided to cash In and go
down to dinner. After dinner he found
that he could catch q later train to Bos-
ton, and he gave $50 to friend and spent
the remaining $40 In u stack OF blues
never saw luck run the way 1t did for him
that night He couldn't miss NAT foot
If he tried
aOnce he left SO uncovered, and Just be-
fore twirled the ball he dropped the last
four chips he had on II, and 1t jumped
IN Just as II 1t knew what sucker Il
was buckine against. He won about $40
on that bet alone and had the sense to
cash Ia and 20 home. On that one 10
cent piece ne got dinner that was
worth s. and 500 In cash besides,
HE has been here a dozen times since
-. IL