Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-10
JACKSON CITY GAMES


that has history for rough-house per-
formances. in WHICH some men of note in
their day figured. remarked a citizen of
Alexandria. There t8snt much visible
chance that Jackson City will ever climb
cut of the gambling slough in which it has
been mired for SO Many years. The town
as few people nowsre ,tSs mber-was founded
during the administrator of Andrew jack
son. The projectors oflthe settlement cal.
culated upon buildings city on the south
bank of the PopmaG that might rival
Washington. and the Iscneme looked SO
promising at the time that President jack
son was pleased to preside at the formal
founding of the place and to make speech
in which he predicted that the town named
after him had great future
But Jackson City. as all Of we Alexan-
drians know too we'll never went aneao.
The gamblers got hold of 1t very early ih
its career. In those remote: days the JACK
son City gambling gaines were wnaI Is
known as on the level Then the crooked
crowd Of gamblers took possession. ana
Jackson City gradually sank TO the low
level 1t has occupied during the past two
decades. When the sharpsr and tinhorners
got in there brace games. so-called, De-
came the order. and Jackson City became
Il worse eyesore than it had been even
before.
In the days when the games over tneTe
were conducted 'on the square the JAG <son
City faro banks were put out OF business
by high-rollers quite number, or times.
About thirty years ago man who aIter-
ward became a United States senator from
the Pacific coast and gained great fame as
the owner of IA string of celebrated race
horses. closed the whole town out In the
course of three nights high faro play. he
passed from oank to bank bucking the
tiger and when he got through the blinds
m a he oct n hlispyv, oy,t.
the proprietors hustled for new bank rolls.
LESS than fifteen years ago senator
from state beyond the Mississippi, VINO
sfterward became famous as much for MS
tremendous faro plunges at Long Branch,
Saratoga and other places as for his fine
Cratory. drove over to Jackson City from
Washington one night in a barouche after
pretty good and long-drawn-out dinner.
him.
"All of the Jackson City games were then
exclusively on the brace or 'phony' order.
II Is probable that the senator knew this.
but he perhaps calcula ted that the people
in charge would recognize him and give
him chance to- divert himself with a little
square bank.
'They didn't recognize him-he hadn't
been in Washington very long then-and
they merely regarded him as a good thing.
The dealers dealt the cards for him out OF
the bogus boxes. just as they did for other
good things who came their way. The
senator knew what he was getting, but he
didn't complain. The multiplicity Of splits
to the deal seemed rather to amuse him.
He watched one of the dealers working the
double slip-out on him with considerable
curiosity, not unmixed with admiration for
the nerve of the box manipulation.
THAT senator was always noted for his
strong sense of humor. When he had drop
ped $1,000 worth of chips he rose from his
seat at the table, yawned, stretched his
arms. and then threw his remaining $50
Whats the use Of Working SO hard?' he
inquired of the dealer with an amiable
smile. I guess You need the money and
he strolled out and stepped into his waiting
barouche, leaving the $500 note on the table.
"A representative from Texas, huge
man. who performed some supplementary
athletic feats right under the Capitol dome
while he was representing his constituency
here, wasn't SO cheerful a loser at Jackson
City's brace games. He went over there
one night in the eighties with a couple OF
robust individuals from his district who
had come up to Washington on business
and to have a little whirl with their men,
ber.' y he go
''They had covered the town pretty well
for three days and nights before the repre-
sentative took it into his head that he
would have to play little faro bank or
explode. He had general idea that Jack
son City was a haven for all that was brace
In games of chance. but. like the. senator.
he too figured that the Jackson City folks
to him 'on the Square
but the Jackson City folks didn't appear
to have any more familiarity with the fea-
lures of the representative from Texas
than they had with the lineaments Of the
senator from beyond the Mississippi. So
the gentleman from Texas and his two
friends got the same old crooked game.
"It didn't take them any time at all to
see how the game was going When they
saw it they merely exchanged glances and
rose In their places.
1.-The representatives two constituents
suddenly yanked out their shooting irons
and put all hands in the room under their
guns, and then the furious member from
the lone star state proceeded to kick the
whole establishment into splnters at the
same time announcing that he was a piZen
cruel individual from the Bad Lands. When
he got through with his heavy footwork the
gambling gear in that faro bank was worth
about fifteen cents. 1t had been worth a
couple of thousands of dollars a few mo-
ments before. Then the representative and
his two companions backed out and drove
across the Long bridge to Washington.
About twelve years ago, when the scien-
tific swindling method of cheating faro
banks by Ticking the 'coppers' off stacks of
'coppered chips by means of an invisible
wire or magnet came into vogue, a couple
of Chicago gamblers who knew the scheme
raped Jackson City pretty hard before the
proprietors of the plants tumbled to the
dodge. -sr1.
1.-The scheme-which is still practiced-had
to be cleverly carried through The man
'coppering' big bet would watch the cards
as they slipped out of the box. Getting a
lightning glance at the edge of the cards
making their appearance, and perceving
that his 'coppered' bet was coming out on
the winning side, he would reach over UNI
der pretense of arranging his chips, and by
means of the fine wire or the magnet flick
the copper from the stack. When the Job
is done right, I am told. it Is calculated to
fool the ShrewdeSt faro dealers or look
outs, and an organized gang of manipula-
tors of the scheme is said to have cleaned
up hundreds of thousands of dollars in faro
banks all over America only a few years
ago by this method. The two Chicago gam
blers who worked the plan on the Jackson
City layoutS were pioneers at the dodge
They threw an intense and painful surprise
into the Jackson City plants by winning
several thousands of dollars for several
nights in succession, Notwithstanding the
crooked character of the banks
''They were working in one of the largest
Of the Jackson City banks on the night
when an awkward move on the part of one
Of the copper hickers exposed the scheme.
The dealer and the lookout went after
their guns, whereupon. the pair of Chicago
gamblers promptly kicked out the oil lamps.
setting the place on fire, and, dropping on
all tours in the darknaSs, crawled to a sec
ond-story window. leaped out and crossed
the Long bridge 5at "a ilope. They got away
with many thousands, Of dollars of Jackson
City money. to fhe acute joy of the unfor-
tunate Washington pikers who had SO often
been cleaned at the brace jackson City
games" mi 81