Evening star., 1898-12-15

my watch and pocket book behind. There
was no danger. The rooms were hIlcd with
negroes and negresses. mulattos and Chi
namen. Some petty criminals Were doubt
less among them. but these people were not
of the Violently vicious class. They pre-
sented the ordinary mixture OF poverty
ana mild crimina..ty pathetic in its aspect
OF hopelessness and aeiplessneSs our en-
trance caused slight stir then a moment
OF dlstrnst and nnally a good-natured well
come The illustrious American. who made
one or the three. tried TO maintain an atti-
tude OF dignifed reserve. but soon unhent
and placed himself on the same plane Of
SOCIAL equality with the rest of us.
NOW Tor business. A smart young China
man was seated at desk writing queer
LOOKING slips of paper and taking in small
sums sums OF money in exchange for them
W ma, was the charade that afternoon We
ASKED III WAS given us.
Playing the Charade.
The moon will shine brightly when the
sallor hunts the deer with the English dog
tonight"
These and other names were represented
by numbers. l bought three numbers at "A
total cost of II cents. NV first request was
Tor il-i-H but the Chinaman and all the
payers in chorus explained that tn. num-
hers We're limited to 36. So I tried 3-lI-3g
one OF my companions who does not he
!leNe with Rory O'More that there's luck
S-l A
= ehlilaman and the players pointed 10 the
hsures IL which were hung up on the
wall. This meant that is had come out
a! the previous drawing and could not he
, p,SSeu again that day. The tendency Of the
payers to play a winning numher'is so
strong mat when a repeater did appear
would be SO heavily backed that the
profits would be lost. SO the game nro-
tects itself by barring repeaters
A selection OF 6-16-as was made and tho
thlrd American compromised between his
own belief in even numbers and a hot ar
gufnent over the virtue of odd numbers hy
selecting o-l3-16 Then we stepped out into
the street for fresh abr. bootblack edged
past us and called gleefuly To his fcIlow
that ne would win, for he had the moon
launarywoman exhibited her ticket She
aISo ha4 the moon, which was number l6.
My companions were elated Each of them
had the moon i'm his combination Thay he
gan To feel sorry for me and 10 tell me- So
Nv numbers included the sailor. th, buz-
zitrd and the deer. but not even he dark
OF the moon. In their elatiuu th,., began
to figure out their gains. which hv som.
process they calculated to be in tho pro-
portion of - to l. the charade reScrv ng To-
itself out of 36
This calculation took some time and
caused a sharp mathematical dispute.
When the dispute was cnd.l ami va
stepped back into the room th,. drawing
had been made and the winning nImbor
was hung up on the wall II was 30 Ia
brightly that night when the sailor hiint.d
the deer with the English dog. II was in
eclipse. Except in "A Chinese charado I
don't know where a Persian cat wolld be
SUSPECTED of deer hunting. Morallzing in
this way We softened the chagrin of losing
and gathered further information about the
gambling habits Of the poorer classes of the
Havana population.
just Like Policy.
Perhaps my explanation Of this Chinese
charade has not been clear. Why and how
We played certain combinations of numbers
may not be undels stood. / don't know
much about it myself. hut persons who
read the law books and the police court
news in the daily papers will be able to
understand. Persons who have not this
primary education would need a long course
of instruction to familiarize them with it,
Briefly. in all the larger American cities eN-
cert Boston. which has no vices there is a
game of chance in which the chance OF the
players depends on the generosity of the
owner of the game in letting certain num-
bers appear 1t is played very largely.
though not entirely. by the colorcd people
and is known as policy" II flourishes
with greater or less yigor according TO the
thoroughness with which municipal ordi-
nances are ignored or enforced 10y the au-
thorties.
Policy" in Chinese garb in a Cuban city
is poorly disguised. So far as my iuforma-
a
game is policy and nothing else Its
owner is Chinaman, who is immensely
rich. His wealth is probably greater than
that OF the policy king OF New York city.
Successive Spanish officials have grown
wealthy out of their share of the plunder.
The main house where the drawings take
place has "sucursales" or branches in all
parts of the city. The business is said to
be honestly conducted as such things go.
because if ii were not its patronage would
be lost. People to whom gambling of
some sort is part Of their daily life must
have a certain proportion OF chances
You do win sometimes" said Antonio,
the barber, to me. "Once hit that game
for 30 cents " He had spent 80 cents many
times over before he made his winning.
and he has lost ~ cents many times since
that fortunate hit. Though the patronage
is steady the number of patrons is greatest
during periods of misery, when the poorer
classes are in the most distressful state.
During the blockade the Chinese Charade
was patronized to a larger degree than
ever before. The interesting question now
is whether it will gain increased 2atron-
age when the lottery ceases. The govern
ment maintained the lottery and as OFF,
set ii maintained ''montes de prdai" or
government Dawnshops. Both these in
stitutions are to go. How long the chinese
charade shall remain will depend on the
American military authorities Some
grounds exist for thinking that before IL is
attacked the gambling practices which are
so prevalent among the higher classes in
Havana should be assaulted The reasons
for this belief are reserved for a future
Letter CHARLES NJ PEPPER