The Washington weekly post., 1900-03-27
Young Man with Loud Hose
Had His Own System.
NOT DETECTED UNTIL YEAR LATER
He Broke Int Savannah Professionals
Quiet Place and Pretty Nearly Cleared
Things Out with Hi. suave Manners, His
siIken Stockings and His Luck on Com.
bination Which He Played Sysfcmaiicai.
b-Dice Were Changed. but lie still Won

Make II 'hoss and hoss,'" said the old
| telegraph operator, as the crowd lined up
at the bar. and the dispenser of cocktails
I handed out the small leather box. ''Of
course, 1t don't make any odds between
friends" continued the man OF the key
but 1 took vow four years ago never TO
| shoot crap dice under any circumstances
with friend or stranger for love. money.
or drinks. or course, IL a man wants to
get done brown in quick oven. he can
get accommodated by almost any profes-
SIGNAL dice man at any old sort of game.
But saw turn in craps down in Savdn-
nah that let me out of that game for
good
There was a nice, square old party
named Odell, running a quiet place down
there where you could get anything you
wanted from stud 10 faro. Everybody
around town knew him. and | guess he
was on the square if ever a gambler
was. | saw him come to scratch on one
deal where II cost him 500 to make good
for one OF his sheet writers, though that
don't bear on the crap game.
ut was while Capt. Carter was doing
the Savannah harbor-and the govern
ment. Odell was running a pool-room
across the street from his luck joint. and
| was working the wire for him. One of
the civilian engineers named Gardner
came in off the river front with a wad Of
bills fit to close a rainspout. He'd
swapped some of them for booze before
he got to the pOOl-room. and was just pig
headed drunk when he got in and saw the
odds chalked up for the first race. Well,
there was a horse running at New Or
leans that day named Esther Bell. She
mo & 20 ehn al ha 1iexf,t oil
have been hundred Gardner sized up
the entries and said Esther Bell, Esther
Bell. seems like ought to know her. On,
yes. l know. Got a sister-in-law named
Esther Bell. Mighty fine woman. ought
TO be good horse. Guess I'll take $25 on
Esther
Wouldn't Write the Ticket.
"The day clerk knew Gardner and saw
he was drunk, so he tried to persuade him
be didn't want to play that race. But
Gardner was stubborn drunk and swore
he'd play so on Esther instead of S25. He
pestered around about five minutes, curs-
ing everybody connected with the house
because he couldn't burn up $50 on a to
shot that he'd never heard of before.
But the cashier would not write him a
ticket, and just about that time the race
came off and Esther Bell won by three
lengths.
Then Gardner was mad and swore the
house had put up game to rob him, and
that they knew Esther Bell was better
than to l because she had the same
name as his sister-in-law. Odell came in
about that time and just gave Gardner
$50, and told his cashier il any more fools
came in, drunk or sober, with money to
burn, to loan them a matchbox.
1t was some time after that / saw
Odell get the high-sign over his own crap
table, and he took 1t just as cool as he
had the money Gardner got off him.
There was a young fellow showed up at
the gambling house one night and dropped
about fifty at faro. / recollected him be-
cause / noticed him hitch his trousers up
just as he sat down at the faro table He
was dressed very quietly, all in black, al
most looked like a preacher, but when he
pulled up his trousers to keep the knees
from bagging, / saw he wore a pair Of
the wildest-looking rainbow silk stockings
1 ever set eyes on OF course there wasn't
any felony in gay hosiery. but it fixed my
attention on him.
He lost a hundred maybe at roulette
the next night, but he eyened up on stud
before he quit. and the third night he
drops thirty or forty at faro and then
saunters over to the crap tablo
He started playing a system, betting
on the six and the eight and the come
man would stand just about as much
show jumping down a well as playing any
such fool game as that. He bet the limit.
ard pretty soon the house had him for
about 500. Gardner was playing at the
same table, and this fellow would bet on
~ ct tVr
On his own. Finally, things started to
come his way, and he won himself out
and about 500 more
The hid Won Hands Down.
1.-THE banker was looking pretty sick
when Odell strolled around and got be-
hind the table himself That didn't cut
any figure, and in about an hour this kid
had all the chips on his side of the table.
and old Odell keeping tab of his losses
with a lead pencil on his cuff. The young
fellow had about 81 100 ahead, when Odell
says to him: My young friend, you've
got all the cash there is in the house to-
night, but II you want to keep this up,
I've got plenty more subject to check
Your check is good enough for me-
says the kid very politely, and with that
assurance he dug into the old mans roll
guessed he'd quit for the night, and OdeII
handed him out 81 $50 In cash. III give
you my check for the rest said he, and
you can cash IL at the bank or get ii from
me In the morning
"'Oh, never mind the check says the
youngster, and pulling out a pencil he
wrote $50 on q white chip and tossed II
ever TO Odell. You can keep that for a
memorandum says he and I'll see you
in the morning.
Sure enough he did and Odell was so
taken with his pleasant. easy going way
that he dug up the $50 without murmur
and stood out a bottle OF his private
whisky on the bar into the bargain.
The kid drifted out Of town that night.
taking $50 out Of the stud poker game
just for the house 10 remember him b..
But after he was gone the more Odell
thought over IL. the more he didn't see
how anybody but drunken man or an
idiot could win nearly {l,500 on a run OF