The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-10-20
DESPERATE INDIAN GAMBLERS
THEY VIII BET ON ANYTHING
AND VIII RISk ANYTHING.
One VINO los, wives After stalking Every
thing Eise whole Villages some
times the Wager Travelling Pro-
f~essionals Gambling Gsmes M In
dians Have Taught Themselves.

fessionas Gambling sames the In
dians Have Taught Themselves.
The group was sitting in the smoking
room OF an uptown hotel and the talk had
turned upon a s'in game Of poker played
the night beforc. Every one had a high
play story "a tell. Finally the old Indian
fighter, who won his title Of Colonel before
ho left active service behind hun. took his
cigar from his mouth and plunged into the
conversation
You may ialk ahou, your dead. game
sports and your nervy gambler, he said
In n quick. cracking Noic. that sounded
like rife fire. but you don, know any
thing about 'he gambling MANN unless
you've lived among indian believe
they are torn with the gambling fever
raging In their blood They'll bet on any
thing they'll play anything they'll stake
anything I've sceu a whole village stark,
staring mad over play What's more.
I've known a whole village to be- lost at
play houses. horses. catilr. wiycs. every
thing ~ value the place held
Indian gambling isn't what l. ur@d 80 -.
"" Government haS imposed restrictions
that hold the ,irr within limits hut the
passion l. there. iur, the same. and In most
" tho tntcs the Indians would rather play
poker or monte than do anything else m
IN. world
They ar" good loscrs, IN say th,' for
them I've seen thorn lpse everything
they owned IN the world without making q
sign. and g. away unusually cheerful
They seemed TO 'hink they had had ticir
moneys worth Of fun
-Oncc up North three lniuns from a
settlement twenty miles away came into
our village and went up against three
Hurons al platter. They PLAYED all night and
hall Of the nest day The visitors got nd Of
everything POTABLE they had except their
clothes, aud finally they pu' w their beaded
lcggings The leggings were added 10
the HON. players pile. and the three losers
went home harclcgged through three feet Of
snow. but IN the lest Of spirits
Out among the Iroquois. one night. a
young brave played hubhuu until he los'
four horses. all hi. money. hts gun and
knives and blankets anu prov i-ions and
las two wives Then he started In on his
and got down iu hi clothes
and never stopped PLAYING until he stood
~ naked A. " hen b" cam" into 20" world
lie didn't want to bot up 'hcn. He
offered 10 stake himself. To play for his
~eryitud" for a certain length oftime. That
wasn't an unusual thing among indian
gamblers In the old days hut this Young
froquois opponent wouldn't have II. 30 IN"
game had TO stop.
What's hubhub.- asked one 81 the
listeners, as the Colonel stopped to nur-o
hiS cigar.
oh, us a dice gan The whites taught
the Indians 10 use cards, and poker ana
monte are the great games now on the
reservations but the whites didn't teach the
Indians 10 gamble. The ndian knew all
about that. long before they ever saw n
white face. Each tribe has It's owl games
and they Ne" n good many of them yet.
They arr all variations Of the hons
games or straw games. The northern
indians went m for platter. They took "A
wooden bowl and put dice Ia IL. usually six
dice. though the number varied. Ordinarily
tho dice wev made Of bone, colored DIFF
ferenty on the two opposite sides
A crowd lines up two lines facing each
other. aud the two sides elected casters OF
throwers Some Injuns had crack rcpu-
tations a. casters. They were supposed
To own very powerful fetiches. or have
some sort Of magic power over the dice.
A caster took the bowl. thumped II on
the ground till the dice jumped and then
twirled u fast 80 that the dicc went SPIN
lining around. Everybody ~, up a howl Of
Invocation and charm. Come -"ben. CON.
'lebeu. isn't IN It with n platter eNhortatlon
When tho bowl stopped t~irling the
side whose color was shown most ia the
dice won Tn" system 81 counting points
NAflfla NNtDfNlIffN " Ntr 1FFIlFfNlburAN |
complicated I've known a crowd 81
Indians 10 stick al a platter game for d
week a. a stretch.
-Hubhub was a dice game. too. but the
dice were thrown from the hand. more IN
crap fashion, and everybody yelled Hub.
hub, huh. all the time You could hear n
huhhub game half a mile N
The women w-rr great On huhhuh. ton.
The squaws were a. dat' over gambling
a. IA" men were, Ia many Of the tribes,
lV Nl..s g.sa.W lul ftattYIt TNRfsnRg g. lsZa
~ they had To play a low limit.
-Ten-Cpn' monte h. the -puav's game
in the Southwest. and penny ante poker
suits the Northern Squaws. but the braves
out In Oregon the Indians play with
beaver teeth or muskrat teeth
81 bone dicr. aud the DakolRs used
w. Use plum stones The Utah. liked 80
up a. II they vere going TO play platter.
but. inst cad, the couples facing each other
played together on their own hook, throw
ing hand dicc
sThe Nez Perres were gamblers from
rack They ouldn stop az any
thing Family or group gambling was q
rp~scialty with them. family against family
know. and they didn't -tick at gamb-
ling themselves into slavery.
There are other bone games besides tho
dice ganH- The Chinook- and Chilkats'
faNoriie game was 10 take two sinai bones
pne marked and one unmarked. shufl.
hem IN the hands. and then let the opponent
yucss under which finger and In which hand
he marked hone was
Almost all tho IN - ha some game
" that sort and they'd play the foolish
simple game hv the day and 60 Wild over IL.
Thew are rt-t natural horn gamblers.
That's a fact. The II b~t on anything
THEY'LL put NY their last cent On a horse
race or a foot race, and they'll bot on toma-
anything that has au element
II nance l II