The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1902-09-12
SARATOGA HIGH LIFE
JULIAN RALPH DEscRisEs AMER
IcA's MONTE CARLO.
Wall Street Hagustss and Profss-
sionzi Gamblers Woo the Goddess
Of Chance Tosether-Immense
Sums Won and Lest

The faro games attracted the great
players and the high play II was
dfhcult for an ordinary man who
earns his living By the sweat Of his
hands or his brow 10 comprehend
what sums Of money were represent
ed BY the chips upon these tables. A
great Wall street operator sat in a
NapOleOnfc attitude, with head down
on his breast, hands folded on his
stomach, and hat titled over his eyes.
at the head OF the table with half a
dozen idlers behind and beside him
one an emplOye OF the place. on
high stool, watching all that went on
And this stock exchange nabOb was
one Of the men who we're playing
The stacks Of ivory lOzenges in front
Of him represented 81 900 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-
ureiy manner, stopping to rake IN or
pay or the bets. and taking, some
times, seven minutes between deals
There comes \ stage in faro when two
similar cards cannot or are not 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 a pile Of chips
with a button now and then. 20 bet
against instead Of on a card The
stock exchange nabOb was on the
other side Of the casekeeDer. and a
veteran gambler was On the other
side betting hundreds where Wall
street stakcd thousands.
A long, lean, thin-faced young man,
evidently from the west, wearing
lOunging suit Of blue flannel lightly
striped with white. lounged along, sat
down by the NapOleOnic OnloOker, and
pulled from a-trcusers pocket a thick,
fat pancake OF bank notes. Every
note was a 800 bin. He threw out
FIVE Of these. received twenty chips.
lost them with DTomDtncss and dis
patch and then threw upon tho green
cloth 800 more.
.'Who?' 1 asked.
. Johnny -- Of Denver, a book
maker"
Getting rid Of mis- days winnings at
the races?" I Yentured.
No; ne was hard hit at the races
to-day, He always has stacks OF
money"
What an enviable mani WHAT a
delightful reputation and condition!
May he come 10 no grief, and may the
last man TO whom he losses a 800
bill be a stone-cutter. who shah grave
upon his headstOne: Here lies John
ME Dash Of Denver. He always had
stacks OF money"
do not understand faro. cannot
master it "on the salary I get" as
Frederic Remington, the artist, would
say. ! saw so much money paid out
and paid in and moved about in little
ivory columns OF so many cOlors-all
without the faintest idea Of how or
why it came and went or why so much
Of it dwadled !dly on the board as
in no other game 1 ever saw, where
quick and agile croupiers knew their
business-that 1 came away hopeless
" befogged. paused a moment by
roulette wheel. A mere boy with the
touch Of a mothers caresses still on
his chubby cheeks, came BY my side,
and, rolling up a 800 bill into a pei
let, flung il on a number. The crou-
pier knew his calling and gathered il
in. The youth crumpled up another
yellow rag and tossed it after the
first His aim was true, and it fol
lowed its mate, nimbly, into the till.
Five times he did this, and then, hay-
ing made his sacrifice upon the altar
OF the ruling deity Of the village, he
lighted a cigarette-with a match
not a bank nOte-and went beside me
into the street-Julian Ralph in the
New York Times.