Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-18
THEIR KEEN MEMORIES

Upon the arrival, not long ago, of one OF |
the army transports at Sab Francisco from
the Philippines, the word got out that there
had been some pretty tall gambling among
the men during the voyage, and couple OF
the soldiers We're stated to have won SS,ooo
and $4,000, respectively, remarked an eA-
chief petty officer of the navy recently.
Those figures sound pretty sizeable, but
I've seen bigger killings in the American
navy One, IN particular. is still a subject
of fo'c'sle comment throughout the sea
service. The man who accomplished the
killing was a New Yorker, faro dealer
who had got down to cases and VINO hao
heard what good things the for ard enos OF
American men-of-war are for money. he
shipped as a buck private in the Marine
Corps at the Brooklyn navy yard ABOUT
thirteen years ago, and after ms lev
months in the awkward squad at the yaru
he was sent on board one OF the snlps I!lGn
lying in the harbor. This was only little
while before the big naval review that was
held in New York harbor on the occasion
of the celebration over the centenary OF the
Constitution. A private marines pay is
small and, besides, most OF It IS WtnHeiu
during the first few months of the marine
enlistment for uniforms and so on. How
ever. upon proper representations as 10
how easy it was this New York profession
al gambler secured the loan of 500 BANK
roll from a New York pal, and then he be-
gan to play draw with the moneyed hatIee.
on board his ship. OF course, he won from
the beginning. He knew how to win
Gambling is, of course, prohibited IN tns.
navy. 1t is in the army, but all the salne
the gambling. mostly poker goes on Iurl-
ously on board American men-o'-war every
time money is served out. Inc tars pay
poker right under the officers eyes, at tna.'
and nothing can be done about It. Inc reg
ulations permit card playing at ceitdl
hours of the day. when the smoking lamp
is aglow. The sailors and marines tear
packs Of cards in two and use the haltes
of the pasteboards for chips. no" can tns
officer who sees a game of this sort soins
on know that the men are not usihs tne
torn cards simply as markers? me men men
o'-war games are wordless and almoSl
weirdly silent, and when the game Is au,
iourped the players repair to a screened
and secluded corner of the ship ana MAKE
good for the pasteboard chips In goia, oa
The faro bank dealer who had dohheu
the government straight uniform or sea
soldier for the purpose of efectlnS Cream
up was pretty nearly $1,000 strong by INC
time the ships began to slip into New I'm
harbor for the big naval review. me JacA
tars-coal passers and landsmen ana sta
men first until he had got his hand IN, hau
felt of the naval game, and the more cpu-
lent petty and chief petty officers later on
were the merest poker infants ALONGSIDE pl
this rather loutish looking chap, with the
eagle and globe symbol on the front OF MS
cap, and he sent them glowering to tnelr
hammoCks in sets Of fours.
wv hen the memo war began u piic IA
for the review the scientific marire vert
ship visiting. Money had been served out
to all hands on board, all of them for ND
erty trips after the review and every man
had more or less burdensome packet OF
gold suspended from his neck and beneath
his shirt in a bag. The New YORK probes
sional didn't, of course, go after these neck
bags one by one. but he waited for the boss
poker players on each ship to win out the
bulk of the ships money. Then he set :
course for the boss poker players. Ihey
weren't crafty enough to set ur the "repel
boarders!' yelp when they sa" MINI iot
he was loutish and moon-faced and Clumsi
looking. and his game seemed to be so
awkward and bungling that they had no
warning. 80
AN American jack tar with savings viii
stand the back-and-forth raises for 500
clip if he thinks he has the goods until he
hasn't got the price of cap ribbon or
rating badge left. And so the New Yorker,
in the rig of sea soldier. logged through
the ships assembled for the review on the
double. He had pair of hands that looked
like hodcarriers. but there was no part
Of the deck that he couldn't deal them from
when he needed to- Seamen, gunner or
master-at-arms, coal HEAVIER or water ten
der machinist or yeOman, quaIternaster or
bo'sun's mate, they all looked alike to him.
Fellows from the Mediterranean or China
stations each with a thousand-doilar roul-
eauX ION the books" drew Their savings
from the paymaster and tossed the money
into the lap of the marine who knew now:
when he had shredded the fleet and
was about $4,000 on the right side the
marine with the knack concluded that he'd
had about enough sea soldering, and he
went to a number of Tammany men whom
he knew and asked them to get him out of
the service. They tried to do 1t, but, as
general rule, a marine is in the outfit to
stay until the last day of his time has run
out They were still trying when the ma
rines ship was suddenly ordered around to
the Pacific station, and as all liberty was
stopped he had to go along with her. On
the cruise down the east coast of South
America the marine picked up another
So 900. making his service winnings about
S15,0 But one evening when the ship
was lying in the harbor of Montevideo coal
ing the marine was guilty Of the contre-
temps. in the dim light of one of the berth
deck alleyways in which the game was In
progress, of showing up five kings. That
brought the game to an adjournment, or
course, and the marine with the knack and
the money knew that the first time a bunch
of his victims caught him ashore they
would come near rendering him into pulp
that there wouldn't be any fun in 1t. SO
he arranged terms with the helf-breed bum
boat man. and on the following night he
went down the anchor chains in the dark,
climbed into the bumboat with his winnings
on the cruise-the bulk of them were in
New York bank-and on the following
morning he watched the man-o'-war pull
out of the harbor He IS in New York now,
prospecting as a gambler, but he has grown
a bushy beard Even with that hrsute
disguise to this day he edges away nervous
ly when he espies a gang of on-iberty jack
tars in the offing. He was In the naval
service long enough to find out that the
fat-feet have acute memories"
London Borough Socialism.