The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-04
Gated in the alley rear pearborn

Gated in the alley near Dearborn
street.
John Condor. sam Dahl and Harry
Perry were later eccegsdOas to Ma l-'a1l
gambling fraternity, conducting houses
up to the time of the reform n.3 e
ment three years ago at Il Quincy
street. IS Ra,iClCl street aud 1z5 g q
119 Clark street ,rge HankinS, after
the building at ~ Clark street was
torn down, removed 10 ia Clark street.
where ne conducted his G.nler-i d,
game until forced to close up by the
civic federation
The gambling CT today is eonqined o
craps, poker and pool rooms. and it is
with this sort of gaming that the sole
remaining EleCnbGrs of tle iauOls
t1atnl1ins trio has to content himself.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AL HAN
KINS.
Al Hanl.ins. whose recent death re-
calls the good cid days locked and
talked more like a. farr?eg. talan a, g7srl
bier BE was a good athlete in his
time, q, splendid wing shot and great
chicken fancier. He would bet more
money On q. cock fight than on any
other kind of sport.
At the old Garfield park race track,
where he made books for many years,
he was not TO 81 for taking ahV
chances with his money, but preferred
/ to cater to tina small gambling and to
make a ''shcw' book Sii1I, ne never
made any pretenslons to being plum
Ser, and so had no reputation in that
! line to sustain
While never heavy gambler upon
the green elo:h, Farmer Al" was never
Known TO accept his losses in other than
the proverbial acknowledgements
spirit OF the born gambler. Even when
he had been beSted al his own game
cheated by some smooth individual at
poker or at q, crap table-he never was
known to make q 'ho,ler,'' as the gam
ing fraternity would express it. Farm
er Az was q shrewd gambler and well
| able TO protect his money from the
wiles of the scheming ''grafters," who
are continually trying to cheat .he
knights of the green cloth at their own
game, but still, even if he mas been
, cheated upon more than one OCCASION
and when he found out that ne had re-
! ceived the worst of it he only laughed
that
One gambler who succeeded in beat
ing AL out of quite a sum of money by
reason of his own superior cleYernesS
was a crap shooter named Pence. VINO
wa smore generally known as the In
daanapoliS kid.
This Pence was remarkably clever at
years ago ne beat the gambling frater-
nifty of Chicago out of several thousand
dollars. Pence was the dfscoVereT of a
new wrinkle in the art of shooting
craps
1t was a peculiar way of rolling the
| dice that can scarcely be explained to
one not thoroughly posted in all the tns
and outs of the favorite negro game,
but which gave the shooter a large per-
centaSe of winning chances in his IA
/ NcT a percentage which was bound to
! win in the long run against any kind
! of a bank roll
The successful manipulation of the
! dice to secure their perfect action in
! this new way of rolling them discovered
! by Pence required months on constant
practice. 1t was not the old way of con-
! trolling enc dice that was used by
| cneateT5 SIX or seven years ago and is
/ Still used where it is not known. but il
! was something altogether new to crap
/ dealers and gamblers in general.
| Fences handling of the bones was 50
I natural as to excite no suspicion. and
| before he was through with Chicago in
IN the winter of 1S93-94 he had cheated
nearly every crap game in the town.
| Al Hanklns' game on Twenty
| street, near State, was one of those that
! suffered by reason of the skill of the
Indianapolis kid One night Pence
: 'A7A~ON u-iI f'ieatSr anu. dlIGT losing IN
! the neIghborho0d of $50 at the faro ia
! bic, started over to the crap table and
| started to play
His luck from the outset was appar-
! entity phenomenal, and, as his winnings
! grew, his waSers increased, until he
| was soon betting the limit allowed by
| the house. The dealer and stick mani,
employed at the game fumed and per
spired, for the losings of the night at
! the table had been heavy.
| Finally the stick man" impatient at
! Fences wonderful luck, began to OBJ
Ject to his way of handling the dice.
he could see nothing wrong, but was
! only suspicious. Farmer Az finally
overheard the wrangle and came over
to see what the trouble was.
What's the matter with that roll?''
ne asked the stick man." after he had
watched the game for a few minutes.
I don't know" replied his employee.
1t wins too often, that's all"
Wei, It's good enough for my money
and it's my money that's in the bank
roll, said Hankins, and that settled
the argument.
Pence shot crops that night until the
day dawned and when he finally cashed
in he was many hundreds Of dollars
TlcilcT than when he started Farmer
Az watched the play all night, and
often bet Pence on the outside that he
would not pass" or make some par
ticular point, and in this way he in
creased the sllrewd gamblers winnings
$500 or $500.
Next day Pence was tipped Off
down town by some one who knew him
and his work, and the news spread
about among the gamblers like Wild
fire. Al Hanloins heard about it, and
only smiled, and said nothing when
told he had been Skinned"
That night Pence came back to play
again. Al met him at the door and
said: Not tonight, Kid You were too
smart for me last night, but maybe
some day III get even. Good night"
NOT LACKING IN GENEROSITY.
Farmer Al" while known to be pru-
dent in his money affairs to the point
OF stlngineSs, was not ungenerous when
a case Of particular hard luck appealed
TO him.
Four years ago a. pretty English girl
earned her living by singing and dane
ing in the saloons and concert halls that
abound in the district about Twenty
ssooud street. Sweet Marie" was the
name She was known by, and her re-
finement OF manner and speech amid
her disreputable surroundings gave evil
dence that she had seen better days.
One night Hankins, who was seated
with a marty of friends in one of the
concert halls near his gambling house
heard her sing and became interested
in her.
She told him her story. She said her
people were WeN-to-do in England, and
that she would be again received by
them if she could only get back again.
She had cJne to this country to visit
a relative, but lost her way in New
York, fell in with bad company and