The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-31
ONE REASON FOR KEEPING VERY
COOL AT CRITICAL MO-
MENTS.
TOM NASEBY BREAKS BANKS.
MADE BY STALKING
THE MONEY OF OTHER
PEOPLE.
How Burbridge Beat a Wild West
ern Capitalist Out of Some
100000.

WASHINGTON, JAN 2S-'T happen
TO know that a considerable number
of the most famous professional gam
blers in this country made their repu-
tation with other mems money" said
a Rocky mountain man of large eXper-
fence. These men have had their
names heralded far and wide as the
stakers of thousands, and even hun
dreds of thousands upon the turn of a
card, and innumerable yarns have been
spun as to their cool, John Oakhurst-
like manner of scooping in a table full
OF money upon the smashing of
bank, or of calmly lighting their CT
CARS and strolling out when fortune
went against them. So far as the
stories are concerned some of them
are undoubtedly right; but all of them
leave out the very essential fact that
the men were simply players of other
mems money - table OUTS we call
'em out West. I suppose it is a rea-
sonable proposition that it is a whole
lot easier to risk another mans money
at the table than it is to endanger
your own. Of all the men I am telling
you about hardly a one had enough
luck at the tables to keep himself warm
When putting up his own coin; perhaps
1t was owing to the extreme caution
of their play under these conditions
and the far greater strain involved in
the hazarding of their own money.
They could take another mans money
the money of a man who probably
did not know the difference between 90
and 80 in a wheel layout, but who
could afford to venture almost an I'M
limited amount of money on a game
and in at least eight cases out of ten
they could run the initial stake up into
a pile that would mean for themselves
a rake-off or percentage of thousands
or tens of thousands; but in venturing
their own money | have seen few of
them who were any good in the matter
of keeping their nerve under rein.
Back in the sixties Tom Naseby was
generally considered the most danger
Gus man at faro table on the Pacific
slope. Bank after bank, from Port
lana to San Diego, went to the wall
under his system of play-or lack of
system, 1 ought to say-and at the end
the San Francisco banks shut him out
altogether, so that he was compelled
to start lay out of his own Among
Naseby's smashes that were famous
on the coast was that of breaking
Byron McGregor's Kearny street in
slltutlon TO me tune OF $3.50, 600; of hit
ting Up Tillottson's $4,000 limit game
in San Francisco for $100, 900 and clos
ing the doors, and of banging Ned Jor-
dams bank in Portland for $125, OOO all
within the space of three months. Yet
NaSeby told me himcelf that on none
of these plays was. he venturing a sou
marque of his own money-that it had
all been handed over to him, the initial
stakes for each big play. that is, by
Ralston, the million San Francisco
banker who c0mniitted suicide. Out of
each winning Naseby- of course got a
big cut of the money, for Ralston went
into the thing for the sport of it and
was a very generous man Naseby
who belonged to the tribe of savers for
rainy day, hung onto these rolls
Naseby played faro with just about as
much skill as a Zulu yields a war club,
and he frankly confessed that his coups
were simply the result of unlimited
confidence and unlimited backing allied
to bullhead luck.
Frank Burbridge, the most famous
poker player that Portland has ever
brought out, was another man who
made his big reputation as a gambler
upon the strength of the vast winnings
he hauled out upon stakes furnished
by wealthy men. Some of these rich
hackers of Burbridge remained behind
eilo ScieeH etliu- oiily received FRANK S
reports as to how he made out in the
games for which they staked him, but
others came out into the open and sat
alongside Burbridge when he was play
ing with their money-nOt for the pur-
pose of watching him, for he was
strictly on the level, but just for the
fun Of watching the game. One of the
big contractors for the building of the
Oregon Short Line, man worth many
millions of dollars, was one of Bur
bridges clients who liked to watch the
expert poker player play the hands. He
was constantly stalking Burbridge for