The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-26
now ALADAMSS RICHES GREW
The POLICY KING AND HIS WAYS
or RODBING THE POOR.
a.x.n as . Runner for simmons, Who
t.,ented the Gsme-Iias $500. 900
IN real Estate and Arge Interests
An ewcries-Dey oted TO His Children.

he took hold Of that business hassought
- tsep hiraseli personally unknown. His
me has been a byword Tor years, but
even In the Tenderloin, know the
IAN nv sight. His business has always
saen conducted from some eminently
,ssnectable real estate Office, run in The
,.me of some one OF his dummies. In the
,ssr he has had his own private Office. on
Inc door OF which has simply appeared
mir. Adams
As the owner OF some 81 80 900 worth OF
real estate in this city Adams has had to
have some one attend TO this interest for
him, and the various persons who have
acted in this capacity for him have always
been used az a shield for the criminal.
Il was in such a real estate Office that
Adams was arrested in the big raid, two
years ago, and there much OF the evidence
an which he was convicted was found.
In appearance Adams il a tall. heavily
built man, with iron-gray hair and an IRON
gray mustache He dresses plainly. always
wearing black clothes and white linen.
He looks for all the world like prosperous
but conservative business man.
Adams has been famous for years for
his close-fstedness. He has never been
kIlONu w OhVi a VI VI CtkdI W
man The men he employed In helping
him run the policy game In this city were
poorly paid. the ave rage salaries OF his
sheet writer's, runners and tabulating
clerks being in the neighborhood OF S25
o week.
No man among all the Thousands who
have worked for Adams in all these years
has worked as hard as the policy king,
however. He has spent all Of his time
working. going TO bed early nights, 80 as
70 be the earlier at Il n the morning. and
rarely being seen in public places. 1t is
said Of Adams that for years he never took
more than twenty minutes out Of the middle
OF the day for his luncheon and that he
never allowed any OF hts employees more
than half an hour.
Adams's one weakness has been his
family. His sons and daughters he has
INDUCED in anything they wanted. and the
failure Of the daughters to make friend
ships at the fashionable schools to which
be has sent them and the failure OF the sons
70 break into the college societies have al
ways been a bitter disappointment to him.
Adams has always been ambitious for
bis children. and he really thought that his
enormous wealth would win them places
In society. In but one other direction has
Adam, been liberal. That has been with
Adams got into the policy game in the
Tweed days. The father OF the game
was a shrewd Yankee, named Zachariah
Simmons. Simmons came to New York
from New England, hung around with
professional gamblers for awhile and then
made up his mind that millions were to be
made out OF some game that the poor
could play with their odd cents, nickels
and din,s.
So he invented the game Of policy, and
introduced IL to the poor Of the East Side
He laid the foundations OF Al Adams's
Enormous fortune when he opened his
orst shop.
compared to that which Adams has oper- ,
ated Simmons at least had honest draw
ings and IL a man selected a winning gig
he got his money. Not 80 under Adams.
For at least ten years there has not been a
after all Of the betting sheets were In and
looked over. Then the numbers that came
out we're the combinations by. which the
least possible amount could be lost with
the betting as IL was.
Adams was brakeman on the New York,
New Haven and Hartford Railroad when
Simmons gave him job as policy runner.
A policy runner carries the manifold sheets
from the various shops to headquarters,
sends out the winning drawings and is
Adams was much brighter than Simmons
knew, but the latter began to realize It
wien one fine day he found that Adams
vas doing little writing himself on the
Smno ns didn't like rival, but he couldn't
kick Adams out. That young man went
ahea1 writing policy until he built up
It'll" capital. This he used to gobble up the
entire business after Simmons died and
his brothers who had also made fortunes,
retired
From that dav up to the time that the big
raid on Aiams's headquarters broke the
backbone Of the game in this city, Adams
has been the absolute boss OF policy in this
city His writer's have been in Thousands
Of snail shops. principally cigar and candy
store, on the East Side. and no wager has
been too small for them to accept.
The bulk OF the. policy business Is done
In bets Of from one cent TO nickel and
among the gamblers have been thousands
Of mere children.
The phrase policy fend- is an apt one.
for 1t describes the policy player perfectly.
The PLAYERS Of the game are crazy over II
and men and women have sold the clothing
from their backs to get a few cents to bet
on some favorite gig or saddle:
The fascination OF policy Is hard for q
person TO understand who has not played
II. The numbers from to rs inclusive |
Kentucky lottery and the State lottery. |
Each lottery has two drawings a day, |
system which gave the greedy Adams |
two chances at his victims to Simmons's |
one.
Al the morning drawing. twelve num- |
bers are drawn out OF wheel and those |
constitute the drawing for the Kentucky !
lottery. Thirteen are drawn out OF another
wheel for the State lottery. These num- !
bers, whatever they may happen to be. are !
arranged in four columns as they are drawn,
two columns for one lottery and two columns
for the other. The order In which the num- :
bers come out is what decides whether
better wins or not.
There are 20 many different ways that
iend can bet on these sevent sight
numbers that Il would be impossible to
tabuate them. The most popular way,
however, Is for player to select four num-
bers, all OF which must be drawn, and three
Of which must appear In one column II ne !
Is TO win. II this happens he gets odds
OF 100 TO l.
A single gig. that Ia one number, may be |
played at odds OF 90 to ], but 70 win that the
bettor has got to name the column In which
i will appear. About once In 800 times a
bettor will win on the single gig. Two
numbers may be played in the same way at
odds OF 100 to 1.
The bettor on this has the privilege OF
having one come out In each column OF one |
lottery, both In one column or one IN the