Arizona republican., 1903-03-12
UNSOLVED FARO MYSTERY
No Che Ever Learned If Keefer Was
 Dealing Brace.

Stories of brace dealing and other forms of crooked gambling recall ex- porienoes of the early days of the southwestern and bonanza mining camps" said 2 man who in his younger days was a pioneer in the western mines to a group discussing the possi- bilities Of crooked dealing at faro with out detection. Brace dealing origi- mated in the west. although the men who turn the tricks now may never have been beyond the Mississippi Con nected with the crooked play of those days is the memory of the killing of Johnnie Keefer. probably one of the most sudden and unexpected tragedies even for that time e sudden taking off. At that time brace dealing was q mighty uncommon thing in those west e,n camps.
 Johnnie keefer had. both the nerve and the skill. and in addition he was 2 strong example of the truth that you cant tell bad man Dy his outward appearance. Johnnie was plump, short
 lad good natured face and one of the hiandest expressions ever given a man.
 A stranger would never have suspected Johnnie of anything tougher than play ing marbles, and could have readily be | licved that he would have been shocked ct the idea of playing even that game for keeps Yet in the whole southwest there probably wasn't a man who could deal brace better. and had faced death Cftener. O. had q more utter disregard for human life when in a corner. Had
 it not been for the treachery of q wo-
 man he probably would never have been caught and might have retired with d big stake. although that was q fate which generally awaited few CT the old time professionals.
 Its all well enough to talk of me- chanical devices for dealing brace. but to do it successfully needs a mighty ] clever man behind the little box. This
 was especially true in Johnnies case.
 Even after we understood his methods ; it was 2 good deal of a mystery how he
 had succeeded so long without detcc-
 ten. In the back of the box he used
 was a little slit, or. more exactly, two of l them, so small that they were scarcely ! pecceptible even to persons who knew
 theJ were there and were looking for 1 them. Then Johnnie had made minute marks on the cards. so that these marks
 showed in the two cards below the one i exposed on top of the pack. It must
 have taken persistent practice for him [ to be able to see these marks, but he could do it all right. Then when he dealt a turn Johnnie, by some dexter ! ous sleight of hand, could make the ] shift so that these two cards came out i not in their natural order, but in the order which would be to the advantage i of the house. When you appreciate ! that this shift must have been made ! right under the eyes e perhaps two score men who were watching every
 motion, it will be seen what skill was
 required by Johnnie's method. Of ! course, unless the bank was being hard
 hit or the play was very heavy, Johnni7 ] dealt straight. But he must have
 made that little shift of the cards thou
 sands of times when the least false
 move meant instant death.
 ! Where Johnnie came from no one
 knew CT cared, it not being etiquette in
 those days tC inquire into mans past. | He drifted into cur camp in the boom
 times and began dealing for Len Town send. I don't know whether Len knew l Ee was crooked, but it wasn't long be- l fore Johnnie was drawing the highest
 wages of any dealer in camp. After d little while he started up a bank of his i own. It was a success from the first,
 and Johnnie was making big money
 when the entanglement with the Mexi- 1 can girl that led to his death came.
 The girl was one of the scrt com
 mon in camps of that day. Occasion ally she used to take a turn at dealing
 bank iH one of the halls for the purpose
 of drawing trade, as she had all kinds
 of good looks. Finally she tired dealing
 on her own account, having saved up quite little money. But she had a run