The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1902-10-18
SARATOGA HIGH LIFE
JULIAN RALPH DEsCRlBEs AMER.
ICA'S MONTE CARLO,
Wall Street Magnates and Profess
sionai Gamblers Woo the Goddess
OF Chan<e Together-Immense
Sums Won and Lost.


Sums Won and Lost.
The faro games attracted tie great
players and the high play. Ds was
difficult for an ordinary man who
earns his living BY the sweat of his
hands or his brow to comprehend
what sums of money were represent
ed by the chips upon these tables A
great Wall street operator sat in a
Napoleonic attitudes. with head down
on his breast, hands folded on his
stomach, and hat titled over his eyes,
at tire head Of the table with half. a
dozen Idlers behind and beside him
one an employee of the place, on: a.
high stool, watching all that went; on.
And this stock exchange nabob was
one Of the men who were playing.
The stacks of ivory lozenges in 'front.'
Of him represented $1,000 for each
pile. The casekeeper, with his little
Chinese frame of ivory markers, tai
lied each card played by the dealer
opposite, who dealt in the most leis-
urely manner, stopping to- rake in or
pay off the bets, and taking, some
times;. seven minutes between deals.
There comes stage in faro when two
similar cards cannot or areanot likely
to- be- played one after another, and
then the strong play begins. This
stage had been reached, and all the
players were betting heavily, putting
$500 here; $1,000 there, $3.50 else
where-and topping pile Of chips
with a. button now and then. to; bet
against instead of on a card. The
stock exchange nabob was on the
other side of the casekeeper, and
veteran gambler was on the other
side betting hundreds where Wall
street staked thousands.
A long, lean, thinfaced young man,
evidently from the west, wearing: a
1ounging suit of blue flannel lightly
striped with white, lounged along, sat
down by the Napoleonic onlooker, and
pulled from trousers pocket a. thick,
flat pancake of bank notes. Every
note was a $100 bill. He threw out
five of these, received twenty chips,
lost them with promptness and dis
patch, and then threw upon the green
cloth $1O0 more.
"Who?" I asked.
Johnny of Denver, a book
maker"
Getting rid of his days winnings; at
the races?" I ventured.
mo; he was hard hit at the races
today He always has stacks: of
money"
What an enviable man! What
delightful reputation and condition.
May he come to no grief, and may the.
last man to whom he tosses' a. $500
bill be stone-cutter, who shall grave
upon his headstone: Here lies John
ME Dash of Denver. He always: had
stacks of money" 49,
l do not understand faro. Z cannot
master it ION the salary get," as
Frederic Remington, the artist, would
say. I saw so much money paid out
and paid in and moved about i'm little
ivory columns of so many colors-au
without the faintest idea Of how or
why it came and went or why SO much
of it dwadled idly on the board as
in no other game I ever saw, where
quick and agile croupiers knew their
business-that came away hopeless
ly befogged. I paused a moment by a
roulette wheel. A mere boy with the
touch of a mothers caresses still on
his chubby cheeks, came by my side,
and, rolling up $100 bin into pei
let, flung it on number. The crou-
pier knew, his calling and gathered it
in. The youth crump1ed up another
yellow rag and tossed it after the
first. His aim was true, and it fol-
lowed it's mate, nimbly, into the till.
Five times he did this, and then, 1av-
ing made his sacrifice upon theAaltar
of the ruling deity of the village, he
lighted cigarette-with a match
not bank note-and went beside me
into the street.-Julian Ralph in the
New York Times. = al