Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-08

that I am an expert on the policy ques-
tion. I know that not only men, but W.
men and children, are the victims of the
game. I have known women to give their
last cent to the policy writer. and in
stances where shoes were pawned and
the proceeds taken to the policy shop.
Rent, food n clothing remained ur-
paid; dispossession, starvation and mis-
cry were i'm sight. but the only ready
money had to go to the policy writer in
the hope that a big return would be the
result.
POLITICAL SUPPORT.
1.-THE evil would have been stamped out
long ago If 1t had not received political
support. Three years ago. when I PROSE
ecuted Martens for gambling, the repub-
lican leader warned me that he would
break with me If l insisted on going
ahead with the prosecution. I went
ahead, however, and had my man con-
victed. and now I nave the satisfaction
of seeing many citizens ready to help me
fight the evil who three years ago were
afraid to do 10.
THE holiness of the job the horror
which the workingman feels for depriv-
ing another of employment. has kept
them from giving testimony against the
writer's, hackers and promoters Of the
policy business. 1t is hard to get a
wOrkingman to deprive another of his
job, even IL that job is one k that
Of the policy writer, which does tho
whole community an injury. The bill
which we van passed will make policy
playing limos impossible. because It
will be SO dead easy for the police to
get evidence that there could be no ex-
cuse for allowing the games ia run. At
present the police can make a great show
nf 0nfiNifvy without f1nfnr ro,1oh 1o~po -
the policy game.
A BILL THAT WILL STOP THE
GAME.
eff the bill which we have presented
becomes a law, the keeper of the place.
the writer and the landlord will still be
liable, and In addition any person who
has any Of the policy paraphernalia in
his possession will also be liable, and will
come under the same head as people
who are arrested under the Burglars
Tool act"
ut will deprive many a man of a good
job" is urged ON the other side, land
will not stop gambling"
"The man who can write policy" said
a, mar who was in the business several
years. 'if he is honest. will have little
trouble i'm finding a job, where he can
make more money han at the policy
books. What he gets is almost nothing
the big 'wad' goes to the backer.'
1t is believed by men who have studied
the question that there are about 700
policy shops in New York. These are in
cigar stores, express offices, laundries,
saloons, restaurants apartment houses
and out-of-the-W way places. The average
income is estimated at $25 a day, or, for
them all. ST., 500 a day. which for one
year of 300 hundred working days would
amount to $3.50, 900. This vast amount
~ 10V1or oo~,N.. -, ~ .
more h a 80 per cent is the hard earned
money of the lower and middle classes.
MY shop was a little one" aid an ex-
policy writer, "and it was in the poorest
part OF the city. My receipts averaged
about $40. Out of that I had to pay a
certain amount to the police. rent. my
own commissions and my share Of the
runners wages. and In the seven years
ohat l wrote there was never a. week
when the profits were not large. We did
not worry about newspaper articles
warning people against policy. The
hackers always considered
talk a good. advertisement. Publicity
brought us new customers, some or
whom invested Just for fun and Others
to try their luck. Once a man starts,
that Is the end Of him, for not one in a
hundred ever drops the game. I have at
times backed the game myself"
SA4S L lklXNOI.s 10 . -
Managing or backing a policy game is
an experience, however, hat scarcely
falls to the lot of an ordinary writer. be-
cause the business is in the hands of a
policy ring, a close corporation. which
depends on n man for inspiration.
funds, projections and business rules.
This potentate has in New York about
80 assistants or partners, who have a
share In the profits, and for these thew
manage a certain district.
The game of policy is nothing more
than betting on three numbers out Of
70. 1t is supposed that twice a day these
numbers are put into a box. from which
certain numbers are drawn by a blind
girl and a record made of the order in
which they are drawn. A group of three
two is a saddle and if the numbers
on which the policy player has staked
his bet come out in the order in which
he .ha taken them he gets large returns
for his wager. There are supposed to be
w lotteries, the Kentucky and the
State: the drawings TAKE place at Cow
ington and Lexington. and the results
are telegraphed to the various policy
shops. A gig in one lottery pays 200 for
l. and If placed in both 1t has a chance
to draw 100 for 1. The morning drawing
Is supposed to take place at noon, and
the afternoon drawing at 5 O'Clock. but
the returns are not made public until
about two hours after the books are
closed, and that is the anxious time with
the poor. deluded players, who, guided
by dreams, fortune-tellers, superstitious
signs and the sayings of expert dream
Interpreters, have placed their sadly
needed money on gigs Of various compo-
sition.