The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-10-27
TOLD BY A NEGRO GAMBLER
UISH BIRTON'S EXPERIENCES
 HERE AND IN MEXICO.

Gratifying It-A Former Slave Wtti
 an Aptitude for Poker-Great Gaming
 Days After the War.
 Charles Washington Barton, who i'
 probably the richest professional negro
 gambler in the southwest, and is one o1
 the most famous in the fraternity 1T
 the United States, is spending a fe"
 days at the seaside resorts in southern
 California. He has been in the City o1
 Mexico and Monterey, Mex, for nearly
 year, where he has participated in
 some of the giggest poker games ever
 the Paris exposition in a few weeks
 and return to Mexico for another win
 ter of gaming. He speaks Spanish as easily as he does English, He owns
 tract of valuable land in the suburbs of
 San Francisco, he has a block Of stock in the water company at San Antonio, Tex he owns one-half of a brewery at St. Joseph, Mo, where his wife and
 children make their home. Roughly estimated he is worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
 "The Mexicans are the greatest gam- blers in the world" said he the other day. "Even the most ignorant peons down there seem to know the permuta- tions and probabilities of sets of cards better than thoughtful, intelligent peo- pie in the United States. Monte and faro are their great games, and thou sands of them set apart a certain part of their weekly earnings for gaming Gat O The Mexican women are the greatest gamblers of their sex anywhere. Eve rybody down there loves to take chances of winning money, and the most exciting games I have ever seen were those about the monte and faro tables in Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico. Thousands of business men spend a certain number of hours each day in gambling, and one of the first questions they are asked upon going ho@le is how they fared at the green taWe that day. In all the large Mexi- can cities there are several big gam bling games that are run as regularly as national bank S in the United States. The game opens each week day a a certain hour and closes exactly on time, no matter whether the game is running in favor of or against the house. On Sundays the length of the game is doubled, but it is all regularly conducted and has been for years One game at Monterey has missed but three days in twenty-two years, and game in great gaudy hall at Guadalajara has been opened and closed at the same hours for forty years, except in times of political revolutions and public ca- lamity. Several of the big gamblers in Mexico are strong political leaders and are the most esteemed citizens of their cities
 ''The greatest of all Mexican gam bling Is done at Tacubays, suburb of the City of Mexico. I doubt If any gambling in the United States ever that at Tacubays. The spot is a beautiful one and tens of thousands of dollars have been spent in beautify- ing it with are, architecture and land scape gardening The monte game there is practically unlimited. That is, it is limited to the sum the dealer of the house has in front of him. Often these stacks of gold run as high as twenty-five thousand dollars in value
 
 a man can win by successful coup is thirteen hundred dollars. but at Tacu- baya the limit is the ceiling. Ameri- cans are always impressed by the po- likeness of Mexican professional gam blers. The old hidalgoes down there are fine sports. Each of them Is out for good time in the capital, each is clad in the typical rich Mexican cos tune and each is accompanied by a couple of peons who trundle red wheel barrows about half the size of the American barrow. In these are roul- eaus of one hundred silver dollars, with leather or tarred canvas on the outside, and tightly sealed with black wax at the ends. The wax bears always the impression of the fidalgo's seal He seats himself opposite the dealer and B space is cleared for him on either hand. Habitual players drop slightly to the rear, because they know that a duel is on. The dealer decorously bows his had and says: I wish you good known in the republic. He will go to fortune senor. The hidalgo says: With all my heart I wish yours The red wheelbarrows have been placed on each side of the player. He takes from one of them rouleau and lays it upon | l card. In his dark face there is only a | mild interest. The battle will continue l lntil all the rouleaus are gone or some l thousands have been taken from the | gamblers pile. Whether winning or ! osing the old hidalgo never forgets his | 1olitenesS. He asks pardon when he is | dow in placing his wagers and he | hanks the dealer when he gets his win lings.
 "How's gambling in the western tates nowadays? Very dull, except in l Montana and San Francisco. There Ire no big games anywhere in the Un- on nowadays, except occasionally in New Orleans. I have recently talked | with gamblers who have been every where here in the west seeking places where big games are they all say the tagnation that has come over the 5estern gaming fraternity is the most eneral and complete they have ever nown. The same thing obtains in the astern states. I know personally of of the old-time gamblers who re broke and cannot get even a chance a foothold to climb into easy cir again.
 How long have I been a gambler? | ractically all my life. I was born ave on the Hambill farm in southern