The age-herald., 1901-11-10

From the New York Journal.
 @ HE favorite pastime of the pop V~ ulation of the Buffalo EXposi-
 ton Midway is gambling.
 S Throughout tho summer the title of king of the Midway gamblers has been in dispute. It is settled now The king Is the Navajo silversmith. the eagle- faced Indian who squats all day before his fire, smelting or moulding or carving the white metal.
 The Indians play poker. They deal we'll and their cunning in uIvining another's g hand is wonderful. People passing a silent tepee whose flap Is closed do not know that inside there is a full-fledged ,-Slter game with four, five or six stolid br.Nes squatting around a blanket on the earth. Long ago the Navajo siiversmith demonstrated his supremacy over the gamblers of the forty-one tribes. It was like finding money for him to sit in the game. and finally he was barred.
 After cleaning out the Indians. the Navajo silversmith went up to the Streets of Mexico. He watched the Mexicans in the monte game. and when he was in- Tted to sit in did so quickly. Evening after evening he played. His winnings were not large and no one noted his los- ings if he did lose. It was on a July Sunday that he made his big killing in Las Gales de Mexico. It was a big kill ing too. He simply took all the money there was around the blanket The gam bling fever was on the Mexicans and they played their dollars against the Navajo recklessly
 He learned baccarat and the games of Carlo. the puzsling games that are play ed upstairs in the sioe streets of the Orient by the natives on Sunday after moons and after midnight. It was late in August when he made his killing in Carlo. Few heard of it, for when the Orientals realized that they had lost to greener gambler, they lapsed into silence, save among themselves. In their own talk they praised the silversmith Any man wno could beat them at their own game was deserving of their re- spect and admiration.
 The Filipinos were next. They are the most inveterate gamblers on the Mid way. Gambling and cock-fighting are the joys of their life. Over the cards or dice their little beady eyes sparkle and their teeth gleam and their features grow like upto those of excited sper- rels. They met the Navajo silversmith They had heard of his skill and his wig ard-lke success but they were unbellev- ing. An Indian could not beat Fili- pino.
 The silversmith was cunning. He play ed evening after evening, and sometimes he won and sometimes he lost, never much, whether winning or losing The Filipinos grew to believe that the stories of his skill had been exaggerated. The Navajo was patient. In the end he was rewarded.
 Tn. silversmith waited for fever niane," as he had done in Carlo and Mex leo. A fever night among the gamblers of the Midway is when those gambling are seized with a feeling that makes them more reckless than at other times; that causes conservatives to become rash radicals; that makes tight players loosen and raise the stakes until a sort of insanity seems-to have seized on all who are around the blanket. These nights come at uncertain intervals. The Maya 1o waits for them and his triumphs al- ways come when they arrive. Such fever came and the Filipino brothers are in gloom.
 The darkies of the old plantation have not met the Navajo. The darltes are ex- pert on craps and coin-tossing. The Ma vajo has been busy in other fields. He played once with some of the gamblers in Darkest Africa in their coin twisting. but he did not appear again. The game was not worth his time.
 The Navajo was beaten once. It was in