The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30
TBEFARODEALER' SSTRAWHA
IT'S PART or THE GAME, JtST
LIKE MS SHIRT SLEEVES.
As superstition II Is a Tradition Among
Gamblers Players Who Object to
Clocks Ticking and 10 Diamonds
While They Bet-Othcr Queer Notions.

VIM opyV't y"
Clocks Ticking and 10 Diamonds
While They Bet-Othcr Queer Notions.
"Why do wear it," repeated the faro
bank dealer. rather surprised Al the qIcs-
ticn. Il dunno"
He removed thC h II from his head and sur
veyed il affectionatcly. He had just turned
the box for the hight, he last pair of players
having cashcd in and departed. and so he
had time for sentiment.
The hat was an od-fashoned. straight
brimrned straw affair. hole about an inch
III diameter and circular had been cut in the
middle Of the crown With ps nhI.ife. II was
just the sort Of hat that the majority of faro
bank dealers wear while they re dealing.
Il don't know why wear the old cont APP
tion,' went On the dealer. retiectively,
! thumbing the edges of the hole in the
crown MOSTLY h, bt. ! guess. and for the
rest, tradi, ions OF The business.
I've been wearing this old vet. while
dealing of and on, all over the country. from
| Arizona TO Albany and from Baker City Ia
! Boston. for fourteen years. Before that |
| wore another one Just like II, but that one
| got away from me i'll train wreck.
Il wouidn u feel al home, dealing without
| that old soldier on my mead. Inc game
wouldn't run right. The box would crank,
| or something I'd as lief deal with coat
| on IA deal vi, bout that hat ON my head aud
| never dealt bank wit a coat on IL my lite.
| ard never will
cit : Unnatural can deal for three or four
hours at d stretch and forget all about taxi
| ing a smoke or a drink, but m positive /
| couldn't deal for five minutes without that
| lid. or its mate.
Il suppose, after all, habit has the most
| to do with it. When | first began to deal
| Vii ~
| there weren't any such thing as these mt,i.u
| featured eye-shade weren't any. AT al,
| events. dow. in the southwest. where first
took up the business Of slipping EN- out OF
the box. 50 1t was customary Tor all dealers
| TO wear their hats.
| Some dealers just sat down. wearing
1 their regular every day street hats, but
most Of them, for cool sss and lightn.ss,
| dug out their straWs and wore en-. Then
| followed the trick Of cutting the hole ID.
| the crown of the hat to admit the air and
stavc OF baldres' and the d'alsis have
teen wearing the hats that way while at
| work ever since.
! The straw hat with the hole cur in the
| crown has really come to be- the badge Of
| the faro bank dealer now all over the coun-
! try, although of late years lot Of bank
! hucking ferds, fellows who 90 up against
| tho game every night Of their lives wherever
they may happen to be. have got into the
, habit of fixing themselves out with old
| tor plavlng
In that cupboard over here in the corner
| there are half dozen such hats, bclon ging
| TO regular Customers who drop W every
night while they're in town. They fetch
| EN- along here ard leave them SOS they'll
be- handy for them when they drop in
| None of them haS been used to- light
| thCuoh. for the owl ers Of them are all down
| in Washington al the race.
L never saw faro bank dea Ter or player
tlar
| prej'idiced against the things. for some
| res son or other
| THE dealers in The swell dress-coat plants
| are, Of course, not permitted to wear their
| old straks, but rather than wear eve
| shades they 60 without any protection
for their eyes, and the strain is pretty
heavy at that for a long evening of il .
even with frequent relcfs,
Il know a crackerjack bank dealer in this
town, working now in ore of the quiet
plants frequer ted chiefly by the hookies
who's been offered iohs time and again in
the big stores whore oil hands of the
crow. as we'll Al the PLAYERS admitted, are
REQUIRED 70 wear ever ing clothes. Fur
the oli-timer won't accept any of these jol $
| simply because they won't stand for his
WOO -rp his ~ s,raw lid
He was willing, he told them, TO stand
for the evening toys, much as he hated TO
do business with anv kind Of a coat on.
but he told them fatty that they'd have
| 10 1--WE W" li''V on WIFIl II came 10 MS
wearing his old straw hat Said he was
used to II, and it was used To him, and that
he'd he so nervous without II that lie
wouldn't know split from sri'z dog.
The proprietors Of the big stores
wouldn't hear of his wearing his old sun
burned lid while twisting en- out Of the
box for the nobs and so all Of the dcker>
fell 20 the ground, But III bet an apple
that they'll come to him vet, he's Sucha
star at his trade. and ask him to deal for
| them, straw siv piece and all
A dealer naturally becomes more kinky
| and peculiar all the time as he grows older.
but the old-time faro bank buckers have
got ten twistv notions to one Of the most
crotchettv dealers, dozen or SO OF wears
OF rapoin9 the bank or irving TO rap II will
do things to almost anv mans nerves
There's one man who's been coming in
here about three nights a week regularly
for five or six years, except, Of course .
during such times as we were temporarily
out Of business owing to the pernicious
activity OF tho new captains and their cops.
He's business man that YOU wouldn't
suspect knew the difference between a
faro layout and box Of boneblack
This man simply won't play al all while
there's clock ticking in the room. See
that big eilt French clock on the nantel
there? Well. its tick is mighty soft and
soothing, and ! never notice II, nor does
WOODY else. but all the same. il has TO be
yanked OF the mantpl and removed from
the room every time that man comes in
and sits down with stack az his side
We found out his pcculiaritv wears ago.
so that now, when he passes the word at
the door to get in, the coon outside always
follows him in and takes the clock away.
He saws that the clock sounds Ia MIN ike
ten boiler-rivetters az work. although YOU
can hardly hear it tick now while we're
talking.
-Of course. it's all imagination with this
customer, but he's been fooling with the
case -cards for 40 many years that he +
developed this kink. az we all develop EN-
He Is In other respects the least cranky
at all. as most players do. when a fellow
Tolls over the back OF his chair, but he can I
and won't stand for the clock
Another man who often drops In after