The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-06
GAMBLERS LUCK.
Queer Stories of the old Pacific Tim,


 There was rough-and-ready cus-s toner flying high in San Francisco in those days named Tom Tobin, who had Comstock people number of claims that were supposed to tap the main streak, but that afterWard turned out to be of no account whatever. He came to be known in San Francisco as Tune up Tobin because of an expression that he always used in connection with a pe- culiar habit whenever he fell to bucking the bank.
 Just tune up the seven for me, Will?' Tobin would say to a faro dealer and the dealer who knew Tobin would. understand what that meant
 The dealer would request the regu- lar players around his table to sus-l pend operations for awhile. Then he would teke fresh deck of cards and slip them out of the box three or four times, while Tune-up Tobin would watch the conduct of the seven or any other card that he wanted to have tuned --the seven was his favorite. Then after he had got a line on the card that he had picked out he would begin to buck that card for s5.000 turn
 I saw Tune-up Tobin do this at Burt Majors faro bank the, T,iolumne Club. one night, when he lost s45,00o in less than fifteen minutes He kept the cop- per on the seven for five turns. and it won five times running.
 "Then he fiicked the copper off, and | the seven lost four straight times. That made him sore on the seven for the might. He wrote check for s45,o00 and handed 1t 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 boxfuls slip out Tobin went at the ace.
 He picked 1t right open and copper ed for half a dozen deals and was COCO to the good when he quit. In the long run, however. that tune-up system of Tobin's tuned him for his whole roll and he knew what 1t was to work with a shovel for Chinese truck gardener tat days wages before he died.
 "In those days most of the bonanza men with homes in San Francisco used Ito own houseboats on the San Joaquin River up around Stockton and they'd spend the duck and snipe shooting sea- son on their houseboats. Jim Murga-i troyd was the gambler who first turnb- led to the possibilities of this situation.
 "He had magnificent houseboat built in San Francesca, rigged 1t up as d faro bank and had it lowed up as a
 Joaquin alongside the pleasure house. boats of the high-fyers. They couldn't be shooting duck and snipe all the time. Jim knew. They welcomed his scheme with enthusiasm and gave him their play. #5s
 'Jin's floating faro bank hadn't been anchored in the San Joaquin near | Stockton for week before all the bon anza mems houseboats were huddled at anchor around it, and from that time on the ducks and snipe alighted fearlessly l on the houseboats. They had nothing 1 to fear The owners of the houseboats were too busy bucking the tiger on
 Murgatroyd' s faro boat to think of wing ] shooting.
 | "Murgatroyd cleared $500,000 before l the Stockton authorities put a stop to his game on the ground that he was di- verting money from the town by annex I ing all of the bonanza mems velvet him. self One afternoon during that season George Farnhanl, who had made his pile dealing in mining options, had his houseboat poled alongside Murga-
 troyd's floating faro bank. 's3= \ | "tJim,' said Farnham to Murgatroyd,
 do call the turn for $50,O0O or not?" ! $" Depends on your luck whether you I do or not, George,' replied Murgatroyd. Ecoolly Games open for you to try it on Eff that's what you mean.,'
 Well, I'm on,' said Farnhan, and
 Murgatroyd went in to deal the box | himself. s@& @ | "Farnham lost out on his $50,000 call. | He sat down quietely at Murgatroyd' 8
 desk wrote a check for S50,0OO on the
 Bank of California and handed it to
 Muratroyd.
 '"'I Its case of all in with me. Jim
 Farnham said without any visible ex- citement, and then he stepped back onto
 his houseboat, locked himself in his l cabin. and put ball in his brain. l "Murgatroyd went down to San
 Francisco from Stockton on the stern-
 wheeler, that same evening. He found
 that Farnham's account at the bank
 consisted of just fifty thousand and some odd dollars. He drove out to a 1 convent outside San Francisco, in which
 Farhnham's only daughter and only liv- ling relative was getting her education, l and placed the S50,000 check in her hands.
 There's no fun for me in money
 that takes a mans life along with 1t,
 was his explanation to his friends of this generous deed--and he didn't mem
 tion word about it. either until they
 had found it out. f
 .fThe preliminary whistle footed by l the San Francisco-hound boat fifteen