Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-07

He alone, of ALL looks quite cool, COM
PLEASANT. Occasionally, one of the men at
the tables, after final visit of one of the
table runners. looks up vacantly, seeing
nothing. He is broke. 1t takes him a
moment CT SO to realize it. Then ne slowly
rises from his seat, puts on his coat, ana
goes out into the night His stake has
probably not been much; but it means as
much to him as the thousand louis of a
Russian prince thrown on a Monte Carlo
rouge ct noir table with the nonchalance
OF moujik chucking out dogs meat. The
winning men make no apparent rejoicing.
The rejoicing is deep in their hearts-for
the gamblers fever is not lambert. There
Is no visible difference between the coIn-
tenances of the men with the great stacks
in front Of them end those of the men who
are afess.y, from the oitiable size OF
their PMS, suspended over the gulf of
broke dem.
Craps and Roulette.
In the adjoining room there is more
quiet, for. with the door closed, the calling
of the keno numbers is hardly heard In
this room the intense calm of the crowd is
thing to study. Only at the craps table
is there notable movement and sound-the
fierce, lightning casts of the crap shooter
and his SaSplng root Come SEVEN
come eieven-baby wants new silk dress,'
On the streets, in alleys, on cotton docks
down IN the southern country, such ejacu-
lat1ons, Kissed out by half-clad lads with
single shirt for the crowd, while they de-
scribe arcs and curves with uSe-yelloWed
dlce, are not much worse than amusing;
Tor broad allowance is given to the natures
OF the players and the enthusiasm of their
Compartments. But when this sort of voo-
200 work. Come eleVen-come SEVEN
must have a new hat."-is heard issuing
from the lips of full-grown man, at east
dressed in the habilimentS of civilization
whose speech elsewhither betokens sense
and reason, however perverted-there is
something weird about it. He stands at
the end of the green table, casting tum-
bling bones" with the sharp movement of
enid hurting top torpedoes to the pave
ment on the Fourth of July beautifully
oblivious that he is as queer picture of
lnconSruity as gyrates under heaven.
mere is quiet intensity at the roulette
wheel-so much of 1t that when the hard
featured manipulation shoots the marble
with the deft twist of long practice the
sharpness of its clatter as it whirls about
the sloping circle is startling. When it
finally, after aggravating indecision, falls
into its slot-almost always, apparently,
the very next slot to that wherein the bet
tors want it to fall-the low mutters of the
men around the wheel have the quality of
Sayageness in them. A very heavy man,
much bed1amonded, and three parts drunk,
is doing the most of the winning, probably
because he sees three wheels instead of
one, ard, on account of the recklessness of
his condition, abjures system playing.
He seems quite unable to lose and even
when he leaves his stack upon a number
from pure carelessness or indifference, the
marble almost magnetically obeys his be-
logged will. A mere lad, with delicate fea-
lures rather twisted with pain, is feverishly
stalking large SumS-much larger than the
wagers of any of the rest-upon his belief
in his poor, trivial SYSTEM" and he is
losing with the persistent steadiness of the
system player. The marble shooter smiles
upon him indulgently and encouragingly.
You're up a little, amt your says he
to the lad. The boy makes no reply-not
probably hearing-and digs again into his
pocket. He plays three numbers all at
once with the whole remainder of his pile;
loses On all of them, and for moment his
eyes appear to be somewhat moist. Then,
his mind working, he remembers the neces-
sity for sport to appear game" gives
himself a sort of shake, and goes to the
dingy liquor cabinet, presided over by
taciturn old negro, and, on this boiling hot
night, drinks off heaping glass of raw
whisky. Unable to tear himself away, he
goes over to the faro table to watch the
game.
An Eastern John Onkhurst.
The most striking thing about faro
game, everywhere in this world, is the
calm inscrutability of the dealer and the
lookout; the infiexible calmness of them,
the immobility of their features. the chari-
ness of their speech. the dizziness of their
eyes and hands. This dealer of the faro
game in the shack on the Virginia hill Is a
j
spirituality" of countenance. Like Oak
hurst his frame seems to have been COM
pletely Shorn of nerVeS-but he is heavy
man, smooth-faced and weil-complexioned,
with a singularly handsome classical coun-
tenance, and a cold gaze from his serene
blue eyes such as must have proceeded
from the eyes of rich Roman outworn in
his youth. His hands are models shapey
white, long-fngered. with aforementioned
nails; and he caresses the box in front of
him between bets as a woman strokes a
kitten. His eyes are never raised to the
faces of the players-to him they are au-
donations; his placid gaze takes in only the
table and the heaps of chips lying the
cards therein embedded 1t is the business
of the lookout, sitting in revolving chair
at the dealers side, TO exercise the sharp
powers of observation over both players
and table; and he does it thoroughly per-
fectly, without ever making a mistake
while looking like a man more than half
asleep. He is a grizzled man who looks as
If he might know tale or two of the
"hells' of Creole and Cripple Creek Tired
ness is placarded all over him; and he
locks at the kaleidoscope of the table with
the bored gaze of a man watching the an
tics of a frolicsome dog. Yet nothing es-
capes him, and when disputes break out,
as they occasionally do among the players
he arbitrates with the low voice of man
talking near sick room.
All Sorts end Conditions.
Who are the players? Take a city direc-
tory, and pick out all of the avocations of
men therein given: in the course of week
or two you might perhaps find at least one
man of most of these avocations at this
faro table. At the table tonight there are
two professed race followers; but the re-
| mainder are men who. for all one may
know TO the contrary, may go to church o.
Sundays. Certainly you occasionally see
them sitting on the steps of their homes on
warm evenings, and meet them going to
their offices in the morning. And If any of
them are laxative men under ordinary cir
oumstances. here at the faro table they are
sparing enough of their speech. The in
tensity of players at a faro table Is as
great as that of jurors in a murder trial.
When one man, perhaps trifle in liquor,
| mil.al@