The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-21
GAMBLING IN M|SSOULA
The Kalamazoo Machine in Full
Blast.
IT'S CONSUMMATE FRAUD
AL Of the Suckers Played 1t and the
Banks Were Swept Clean OF
Nickels Plainly Violates
the Law.

Missoula, Jan. 2O-Greatly to the sur
prise of the frequenters of the district
of the city known as the semi-tender-
loin, divers and sundry nickel-in-the-
slot machines made their appearance
in that neighborhood to-day. The sem
sation was as simultaneous as it was
sudden and not until the insidious con-
trivances were in full operation did the
boys realize just what was up. In at
least four of the resorts on Front street
We're the machines in evidence, brought
here and placed in position, it is stated,
by one of the ubiquitous promoters of
the device whose rendezvous, up to the
present, has been in the more preten-
the day the report had been indus
triously circulated that the games
would be placed, though few believed
the report until convinced of the fact
that the machines were there and doing
business with a rush.
The device is what is commonly
known as the Kalamazoo, sort of a
wheel contrivance operated by crank,
and which is supposed to pay the win
IleI ally SuIu IfUfIl HlChel up " %
when he WINS, which he seldom does.
The contrivances are a lot of worn-out
concerns which for years have been used
in Butte and Helena, and brought here
as last resort, under the impression
that Missoula has gone long enough in
its religious observance of the gambling
law. OF course everybody played the
machines. They were a novelty and the
temptation to test them was irresistible.
Nickels galore poured into the slots and
they stayed there until the machines
became so clogged that the operator
was obliged to unload them with a
shovel before the game could proceed.
At intervals it was stated that the ma
chine was out of order and would not
work. In this respect the manager was
mistaken-it did work. and it worked
to a charm. 1t worked the suckers,
who drained the two banks of the city
of the metallic substances requisite to
operate the machines. Nickels were at
a premium and the play only stopped
when the circular particles could no
longer be procured and the machine,
through sheer exhaustion, failed to
longer perform its mechanical functions.
In brief, the contrivance is a consum-
mate fraud, pure and simple, and aside
from the moral and legal features at
tending the proposition, it is beyond
ordinary comprehension to understand
why people will go up against it.
Legally viewed, the operation of the
device is strictly against the law,
hence the surprise shown at the auda-
cious manner in which it was intro
duced, and the only excuse offered, for
it's presence is the fact that the fake
is permitted elsewhere in the state, the
law to the contrary Notwithstanding. So
much for the fimsy prextext., How
ever, in justice to the proprietors of the
respective establishments where the
games are in operation, it is only fair
to quote their excuse for permitting
them. One of the owners of the most
prominent resort on the street, says:
The installation of the game in my
premises was about as great a surprise
to me as it was to those who first saw
it. The whole thing was done so sud-
denly that I barely gave the matter a
thought. While I knew it was against
the law, I was in a manner assured
by the agent of the device that it would
be. all right to introduce it. Gambling
of every nature is going on at Butte
and other places, where faro, craps rou-
lette, stallion poker and other games
are in full force. The agent had intro
duced the machine in other resorts of
the city and presuming I had the same
privilege I permitted it. So far as / am
personally concerned I prefer that the
machine was out of the house, and
whenever the authorities, whose duty it
is to look into those matters, order it
out it will go. Nevertheless, l do not
look seriously upon the proposition, for
the nature of the scheme is such that it
will play itself out in a day or two, and
that will be the last of the nickel ma
chine. The city attorney and city mar
shall, as doubtless all the rest of the
authorities, know of the existence of the
machines. 1t is for them to take ac-
ton"