The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-16
THE MAN WHO
| WON AND QUIT.
An Exception to the Rule That
Money Won at Gambling Gener-
aIly Goes Back to the Bank.

-
Square wheel or crooked he declared,
there never was a system yet that would
overcome the( regular percentage in favor
of the bank. There's no money in roulette
or any other gambling game except for
a1e bankers, ana sooner or later they get
II all.
-Of course, you hear every once in
while of some lucky chap who has made
a bundle at one game OF another. But IL
never sticks. They all get back at the
game again and then the money goes back
TO the bank roll. Or If it isn't blown IN
that way it is in some other.
Il remember seeing two cowboys do up
a bank in Cheyenne one afternoon twenty
wears ago in a fashion that was spectacular
They came in off the ranch with their years
nav in their pockets and went down to
Lew Morison's to throw things around
little. When they had about enough
aboard they sat down to play faro.
Everything was coming their way
Every one OF the dealers took whack al
those cowboys. and finally Lew h'msen
sat in to deal But it made no dif1erence
Luck was with the boys.
"They we're not playing any system or
even attempting it. 1t was just hit ana
miss and let 'er go Gallagher all the time
and whatever they touched won.
AT last the thing got too much for even
lew TO stand. Il was only about 5 O'Clock
IN the afternoon when he called the halt.
I'm sorry to spoil good thing for you,
hovs' he said But luck seems to be all
one wav and you have gone into me as far
I a
rest for few days
with that he shut up the place and II
was two weeks before he opened out again
Those two cowboys had hit him for better
than $40 900, and that was a big roll for
CHEYENNE in those days. But they let it
all 10 again before Lew was ready with
another roll to try another whack at them.
ar he had shut down before he was
broke he could probably have got his own
and theirs, too, the next day. But he was
too slow getting his new roll and the other
gamblers had skinned his lambs for him.
aThat's the sure way. I never knew
but one man who actually quit gambling
when he was winner and that fellow
hadn't won enough to start Me average
man up in peanut stand.
1T was down in the Gold Room. that used
10 run lust across the street from the Baptist
church. I dropped in there one night to
ace how things were going along and saw
fellow standing at one Of the roulette wheels
who evidently was a newcomer. 1t was
plain to every one in the room that he didn't
know anything about the game, and 1t very
soon became apparent to me that he was
more anxious to win than most men l had
seen who played just for the excitement
Of the thing.
aHe was railroad man, a fireman or
engineer, judged by his CLOTHES, and he
was going home from his run without hav-
ing taken of his running rig. l figured
il out also that he had just been paid OF
that day, for his pocket jingled with money.
and he played with it instead OF buying
chips.
He had his dinner pail hanging over
his arm, and he showed his way up to the
table, where quite a number OF men were
PLAYING, and watched the game for some
time before he made bet. | thought he
was trying to g ct the hang Of it and that
he had never seen it played before.
BY and by he got his courage screwed
I'D to the sticking point and hauled coin
out OF his trousers pocket. Ihe wheel
was spinning when he reached out and
slapped his money down on the nineteen.
He kept his hand over his coin until the
wheel had almost stopped and when he
lifted It he left silver dollar on the number,
There was an air of deadly determination
about the man, and such serious earnest
ness in his manner of playing that it stopped
the smiles Of amusement that began to go
around the room at seeing the size OF his
bet for he had played it as If IT were the
house limit and he was certain OF breaking
abe bank before he had gone very far. But
nineteen did not win, and the dealer grabbed
I'D the chips he had won and scattered
around those he had lost.
"The railroad man stood looking at the
performance with perfectly blank ex-
Yressiop on his face, az if he did not under
did not win. Then the new bets were
placed and the wheel was spinning around
again when he seemed to recover con-
sciousness
ale came to with a jump and thrust
his hand down in that pocket again. He
brought it out and with resoundlng slap
banged another coin on the nineteen. Again
he held his hand over it until the wheel
was nearly stopped. When he removed
II the coin revealed was, as before, silver
dollar.
"By this time half the room was watching
the man, and it was plain from his express
sion when he lost again that for some
reason it would mean great deal to him
TO win | know that for one ] began to
speculate as to what was the trouble and to
coniure up all sorts OF pictures OF trouble
at his home that brought with it an i'm
mediate and pressing need for extra money
besides what he could earn.
But he did not. Again and again he
planked down his dollar on the nineteen
and every time the dealer raked it in.
Each time it was placed after the wheel
had started, and the hand hung over it
until the wheel was nearly stopped.
As the losses continued the railroad
man began to show the strain of the worry.
1t seemed to me now that he was not only
anxious about the money he hoped to win,
but that he was beginning to be fright
ened about what he had lost.
"Nc one said anything TO him, and he
SPOKE to no one. He kept steadily at it,
PLAYING always the nineteen, as if he had
figured it out that it must turn up before
long and then he would get back all he
had played.
But The nineteen was perverse. Time
after time the ball landed in the next
pocket or the next but one, but never did
It stop in the one that would have meant
so much 10 him. q.
IT noticed that as the man kept diving
down after that unfaling dollar the money
in the pocket jinglcd less and less, and
I wondered what he would do If he got to
turned up, for had become so much in.
terested in the man and in the case had
imagined IA being his that | would have
hoan mora han wi1liup To sta kp him IN anV