The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-07-12
WOMEN AS
GAMBLERS
They Do Not Plunge as
Boldly as Do Men.
APT AT DISSEMINATION.
Many Professional Gamblers VIII
Not Play With Women.
APT AT DISSEMINATION.
HOW RICH MEN PLAYED POKER

"No, 1 have never had much expert
ence in playing poker with women,
said the gray-haired man TO Philadei-
phia Times reporter. IL am firm In an
opinion, however. from what expert
ence / have had and from what can
learn from professionals who nave
played much with women, that women
are naturally better gamblers than
men. Women are not such bold, piung-
ing players as men are, but they are
apt at dssimulation. l know great
many professionals who will not gam
BILE at poker with women. The richest
professional gamblers are women.
There is Sonora Almarez of the City Oh
Mexico. She pays taxes on s4oo'ooo
worth of property. She may De seen
gambling at her house in the CITY Oh
Mexico almost any day in the year.
Then there was Amy Cantine, the IA
nous woman gambler of Virginia CITY
25 years ago. She made more money
from faro than some men did from rich
lodges of gold bearing quartz.
"The biggest gambling j ever saw
was in Virginia City, New, at the time
the Bonanza ledges on the Comstock
were being developed. That was along
I'm 1872 and 1873. There are multitude
of gamblers nowadays who are IN
credulous of the truthful stories or the
games played every night in the week
for about a year from June, 1872, TO
July. 1873. / confess that 1 sometimes
wonder whether i was really par
1aU =
ing. or whether have dreamed all tnat
/ recollect about them. When 1 was
i'm England few years ago heard OF
some big games in Australia along In
the sixties, bHt none compared with
those we had I'm Virginia City.
You remember that for months tne
OUTPUT of gold from seven mines on
the Comstock yielded together soo,vvV
clear profit every day. Jonn w
Mackay. James G.. Fair and James
| Flood become multi-millionaires In IL
| months. while Sharon, Hobart, Ralston
| Cobb. OBrien and a dozen other mer
| leaped from poverty TO millions IN the
same time. Common laborers anc
| camp cooks of few years before mac
| incomes from mining stocks or $lo0 ane
$500 a day for two years. Lots or min
| ing laborers who could not read ol
write had bank deposits in Virginis
| city i'm those wonderful days of $lO,OO
| and $4,000. 1 never saw gambling ~
/ common and so open as in Nirglnli
| CITY. There were 40 or so gamblini
games running there day and night.
THE most superbly appointed gam
bling place 1 have ever seen outside o
| France and Austria was there. 1t wa
owned by Hiram Gentry and Dan i
Crittenden. They were both men
education. Crittenden was nepheS
of United States Senator Crittenden
Kentucky. They had credit at tn
| California Bank, In San Francisco, 10
$500, 900. For about year their Dali
| deposits averaged $4,000. have see
cowboys and miners in great, rough
muddy boots, with pistols Tapping q
| their hips and spurs at their heels
| come stalking across velvet carpet
| there that cost $40 a yard in those day
| and throw their feet on polished table
| worth 800 each.
II have sat in games of poker in tn
house many a time when the cheape'
chip was $40. / once played Tor ie
hours when the chips ranged from y
inward, but Ii was too big for me
| play my best. l was so nervous that
, | could not Judge my opponents as
should Several times l saw pok
| games there that lasted all night, whe
the chips ranged from $40 to $2O0 eac
: Perhaps 20 or 30 times j have know
| men to get up ITOIii al aii-iheh. PoA
game with $4,000 winnings. Winning
az $4,000 i'm a night or an afternot
= were not uncommon at Gentry & Crl
. | tenden's. Once I heard of gambl
named Jack sherwood from Detro
: Mich. who went away from Virgin
$ city with about $4,000 that he had w
In two weeks.
{ "The biggest game ever saw was
g | Gentry a. Crittenden's in the summer
I lS72 Lucky Baldwin, now of San Fra
e cisco: Henry M. Vance, who made
o fortune with Meigs in the Andean IA
y road: senator Bill Sharon and a m
L | from ST. Louis sat I'm the game. L
n game began at about o'clock o
g | evening. The chips were from 500 U
d ward II lasted until in the mornii
There were jack pots started at
and $1,000. III the deal went around
table once there would be $2O00 q
perhaps $4,000 In the pot. Several TIN
tbe deal went around twice, and tn
"a was $4,000 in the pot one pot contaii
$4,000 when\it was opened. Not
u word was spoken, and the silence '
a onpressive. Those millionaires hand
AZ Thousands as common cheap gampi
do halves and quarters. Raises OF
Svere common, and once i saw the n
e, Misc each other s2500. There was $
9. ooo in that one pot. i saw three II
win $4,000 that night. Once i saw >
ator sharon raise Lucky BALDWIN ~