Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1905-01-12
MEXICAN GAMBLING HOUSES
Every Provision for the Accommoda.
ton Of Players Who Think
They Can Win.

ton Of Players Who Think
They Can Win.
III you visit the CIV OF Mexico" said
a returned New Yorker, according to the
Sun, you will hear them talking about
reform. They will tell you that the
old capital is going to put on the lid
as New York has done, and then they
smile.
Then you are asked if you would like
to see the game that is played In Monte
Carlo, and your host, gracious club
man. conducts you to the palace. Its
furnishings are rich. Purple hangings
adorn the walls. There are replicas of
the LAGOON and of the Venus of the
Capitol. d. .,M
'The orchestra renders the sensuous
music of the ball room. The atmosphere
is fragrant. Everything necessary to
make the player linger is there, even
to the occasional winning. But the end
. comes to all who, having entered sit
out the game.
But the great game of the city is
American poker The American visitor
can find poker esta blishments at every
turn.
Special pains are taken, so the player
is assured, to give him the same sort OF
entertainment he would find at home.
He meets with varying success until the
period of fascination begins.
Then the player wants to stake all
be has. The dealer seems to know just
what is wanted, and the player gets four
of LINDSAY four tens. Now that sort
of hand in New York would make an
American feel as if he owned whole
string of automobiles with an English
bulldog in each.
in Mexico it makes him feel like one
of the Montezuma family. While he is
under the spell another player at the
showdown smiles, as only q Mexican
can when he has a sure thing, and lays
down what is called four typewriters.
''Such instances as this are quite fire.
luent in the Mexican card house.
But the game which seems to hyp-
notice, that draws the bloods as we'll
as hoi polloi, is viga. Ever hear Of it?
"A canvas sheet hangs back of coun-
ter. The figure of a mans head with a
big mouth is drawn upon the sheet. The
player throws q ball at the cavernous
opening.
''The ball falls upon q sloping board
that bristles with nails 1t meanders
through the maze of spikes. There are
three pockets.
Zone is marked red, one white, and
one with a star. If the ball rolls into
the red pocket the player wins; IT it
drops into the white the player loses
If it finds itself in the star hole the
player has won, conditionally. 1t is al
most certainty that the ball will never
get into the red hole, but it does trek
quite often into the stellar receptacle.
"That is what catches the fly. The
player has paid a quarter for this ball
Ten dollars is put up by the house. The
player is told that he has won this
conditionally.
In order to take it away he must
again throw the ball and land it in the
red pocket. This costs 50 cents. He
throws the ball again and it lands in
the star hole. 49,.
1.-THE house puts up $50. That also is
the players, conditionally. The throw
for this costs 81. The player takes an
other chance.
1.-THE ball finds the star hole as be-
fore. The player loses. When he quits
he is, to use gamblers expression,
skinned to DEATH
las he backs out q peon drops in,
hurls ball and it makes a straight race
for the red pocket. This is done for the
benefit of the victim who has seen the
first player lose. When the peOn throws
the counter is so manipulated that the
ball finds it's way to the winning pocket.
"Such a game could not run at Coney
Island or even in the best manipulated
districts of New York, but it fourishes
In the City of Mexico day and night.
And although no one ever beats it, the
barefaccd swindle seems to fascinate all
classes addicted to gambling. 1t has
more patrons than the whi]om lottery.
when your host has shown you all
these games he takes you back to his
club, and while he rolls cigarettes he
says to you:
1--WE are going to quit bull fighting,
and then we are going to import MN
like your Meestair Jerome, and he will
put the lid on all that nave shown you,
may be, some day, when all these people
you have seen tonight are dead, and
when you Americans come no longer to
visit U.S.
Between Friends.
Gladys-I refused Ferdy two weeks
a l.. ]. L L.. L..