The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-09
Ahead of the Game $4,000.

1 asked Tom Fitz, who, during the Hop
kinS administration, owned one of the big
gest gambling institutions in the city, his
highest winnings and losses in a single
night at faro. says a writer in the Chi
cago Times Herald. Said he: In those
days l took my meals at the Boston Oys-
ter house. A certain red-headed waiter
served me. He was kind and attentive
and his tips were not small ones. Besides,
ne received a fair salary. But as regularly
as saturday night rolled around l would
ma MIN in front of one of my tables, and
ne never got away with a cent. l watched
MN play for two years, and finally one
night l tod him that / didn't care for his
money. In other words, l barred him from
the game. Well one Saturday night while
l was busy in another part of the build
ing, this waiter bought a stack of chips
from a dealer and by the time got back
10 the table | saw him raking in the chips
as IL there was no ceiling or roofing to
Inc building and that some cloud from
above was raining them down. OF course,
1 couldn't then object So L let him play
along, expecting every minute to see his
luck change. But il didn't. He couldn't
In less than an hours time l was count
ing out white chips to him at $40 apiece,
and the yellows were $500.
AT daylight l estimated that he had
won about $4,000. His luck seemed so phe-
ncmenal that [ sent out for another deal
er, hoping in this way to break his charm.
still the chips went his way. 1 dealt my
self for a little while, but he would whip
saw me at every turn. l quit him and
turned him over to one of the luckiest
bank dealers that could be procured in
Chicago. But he couldn't beat him He
would put his bets down bindly and the
play 'sodas' nor single outs nor double
outs. He put chips down and they went
back to him twice fold. He called the
turn a half dozen times for the limit.
a 1xrln oil ho oa1
ers We're tagged out, and it looked as if he
would own the shop in a little while,
called for his chips. L had had enough.
BY that time he was fairly drunk. He
tried to count, but he couldn't. In fun
ping with his chips he knocked more than
5000 on the floor to be picked up by hang
ers-on. He was ahead of the game $46,700.
| took him aside and explained to him that
if he went out of the building with that
much money he would be robbed. He con-
scented to let me keep il for him-all but
the 800. gave him this much in big bills
and told him that any time he wanted the
remainder and would come sober he could
get it.
Three days elapsed and 1 heard nothing
of him. l became alarmed and sent one
of my men out to hunt him up. His where
abouts could not be ascertained. But
about closing time on the following We'd
nesday night he walked in. OF course, he
was broke. He had forgot how much he
had LETT with me, and when l counted him
out $40 GOO he seemed dazed He acted as
II sober. He got to the steps and hesitated
Then he walked back He bought $500 in
chips and commenced to play. AT first his
former luck ran with him, but in the
course of an hour he struck wrong
streak. and before daylight 1 had every
cent of the $4,000 in the drawer and il
belonged to me. It is a fact that outside
of whisky and a few meals he had bought
he hadn't provided himself with a single
thing. In the way of personal apparel he
hadn't bought even shoestring. As he
arose from the table he looked at me ap-
pealingly, as good as to say, Won't you
buy drink? l handed him $40 and told
him to go home. The following night he
served me at the restaurant again.