The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-28


-There was rough-and- ready customer
flying high in San Francisco In those days
named Tom Tobin, who had made large
fortune by selling to the Comstock people
a number Of claims that were supposed to
turned out to be Of no account whatever.
He came to be Known in San Francisco az
Tune-up Tobin because OF an expression
that he always used In connection with
peculiar habit whenever he fell to bucking
the bank. ii,
"Jllst tune up the seven for me, will
your Tobin would say to q faro dealer
and the dealer who knew Tobin would under-
stand what that meant. -.
eThe dealer would request the regular
lions for awhile. Then he would take a
fresh deck of cards and slip them out OF the
box three or four times, while Tune-,lp
Tobin would watch the conduct OF the
seven or any other card that he wanted TO
have tuned upAthe seven was his favorite
Then, after imagining that he had got q
line on the card that he had picked out, he
would begin to buck that card for 5000
a turn.
II saw Tunc-up Tobn do this at Burt
Majors faro bank, the Tuolumne CLUB,
one night, when he lost 600 In lees than
the seven for five turns. and 1t won hve
times running.
aThen he licked the copper off, and the
seven lost four straight times. That MAGE
him sore on the seven for the night. He
wrote a check for $4,000 and handed it to
Major-he always cleaned up his losing
account on one card before he began TO toy
with another.
Now tune me up the ace. Jack, he said
to Jack Gaskins, the dealer, and after
watching three or four box'uls slip out
Tobin went at the ace.
"He picked it right open and coppereti
for half a dozen deals and was $4,000 TO
the good when he quit. In the long run,
however, that tune-up system OF Tobin's
tuned him up for his whole roll, and he knew
Chinese truck gardener at days wages
before he died.
SIN those days most of the bonanza men
with homes in San Francisco used to own
hou 'eboats on the San Joaquin River UP
around Stockton and they'd spend the
hou ,eboats. Jim Mursatroyd was the gam
bier who first tumbled to the possibilities
of this situation.
.He had a magnificent houseboat uilt
in San Francisco, rugged it up as faro
bank and had it towed up the San Joaquin
alongside the pleasure Households of the
highfyers. They couldn't be shooting
ouck and snipe all the time Jim knew.
They welcomed his scheme with enthu-
sias'n and gave him their play.
"Jins floating faro bank hadn't been
anchored in the San Joaquin near Stockton
houseboats were huddled at anchor around
it, and from that time on the ducks and snipe
alighted fearlessly on the housebOats.
They had nothing to fear. The owners
Of the houseboats were too busy bucking
the tiger on M,rgatroyd's faro boat to think
Of wing shooting.
"Murgatroyd cleared $500 900 before the
Stockton authorities put stop to his game
on the ground that he was diverting money
from the town by annexing all Of the boz
nanza mems velvet himself. One after
noon during that season George Farnham,
who had made his pile dealing In mining
options, had his houseboat poled alongside
Murgatroyd's floating faro bank
Jim, said Farnham to Murgatroyd,
do call the turn for $4,000 or not''
=" Depends on your luck whether you
coolly Games open for you to try it en-.
If that's what you mean
Well, I'm on, said Farnham. and Muir
gatroyd went in to deal the box himself
-Farnham lost out on his $4,000 call.
He sat down quietly at Murgatroyds desk,
wrote a check for $50 200 on the Bank of
California and handed it to Murgatrovd.
Its case of all in with me, Jim. Farm
ham said without any visible excitement.
and then he stepped back onto his house
boat, locked himself in his cabin and put
sMurgatroyd went down to ssn Fran
cisco from Stockton on the stern-wheeler
that same evening, He found that Farm
hams account at the bank consisted of just
fifty thousand and some odd dollars He
drove out to a convent, outside San Fran :
cisco, in which Farnham's only daughter and
only living relative was getting her edu-
cation, and placed the $4,000 check In her
hands.
.ol. % 70 n, ,t-;f 10
explanation to his friends of this generous
deed-and he didn't mention a word about
it. either. until they had found it out
"The preliminary whistle footed by the
San Francisco-bound boat fifteen minutes
before she left Stockton was just sound
ing one evening when Joe Parrish, who was
then engaged IN sloughing of the millions
that his daddy had made in the Chinese
trade, pulled alongside Murgatroyd's faro
boat in skiff. which was being pulled by
boat crew. Parrish hailed the Murgatroyd
craft, and Jim himself came out and an
swered the hail.
Going down to Frisco and I've only
got two minutes, jim said Parrish, hur-
riedly. Just fetch box out and deal me
a turn, will you, from where YOU stand-I
feel whole lot lucky with the eight to-day
"Murgatroyd went in and emerged in
a minute with faro box. He shuffled the
deck, slipped the cards in the box, and
fATTlSn, Suing III tne shiu sdll tIldl He
would take the eight open for his for three
turns at $4,000 turn. The eight lost
three times IL a row.
Hand me out pen and ink, Parrish
said to Murgatroyd, and when he got the
writing tools he pulled oheckbook out Of
his pocket. scrubbed his check for SIC, 900,
passed 1t up to Murgatroyd, and then had
his two men pull four bells for the Stockton
dock to enable him to catch the boat for
San Francisco. Ten years after that Joe
Parrish was just about making living
running a roadhouse down IN San Luis
Obispo county.
Jim Flood, one of the Big -Four Of the
Comstock lode, used to have frequent
faro lunches, and when he couldn't get
action on them in any other way he played
them by wire. One day he was down In
San Quentin visiting former friend who
had been imprisoned in the big California
pententiary for a series of forgeries.
"Flood happened to arrive at the prison
in time to see three Mexican murderers
hanged in a row. He Immediately tele-
graphed from San Quentin TO Tom Van
bru9h, proprietor of The FL Dorado Club
in San Francisco:
Three knaves, coppered, at 5000 the
turn
"Vanhrugh understood he had received
faro kilograms from Flood before. He
called in couple of Floods friends and
dealt the cards. The jacks came out right
for Flood three times in succession, and
H. l. o. .x-t-- l.