Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-07-09
AAkAAAAAAAAAkAAAAAAEA6 i HOW A COMPASS 5 REVEALED A SWlNDLE. t
[Original.]

gOurd, sprang up in a night and. like Sodom, disappeared as suddenly. though Julesburg's extinction was from the establishment of new ter minus farther on. at Laramie. My headQuarters were in Julesburg. and more thorough exponent of all that Is vile in human nifty never bloomed on the face of the earth All night could be heard the sound of fiddles in the dance halls, "One more lady in this set" "Keno!' and other similar cries. On the evening of my arrival, curious to get glimpse of what was going on, I visited the different places Of hilarity, finally bringing up in heap of boards that had been nailed togeth CT for gambling den. There were faro, keno, roulette and in one corner a table at which two men with heaps of money before them were throwing dice. noticed that this table was not improvised, like the other furni- ture of the place. It was of polished black walnut and ornamented. One of the men throwing dice was pock- marked, red headed man with sin ister countenance, the other fine type of the rugged, honest, fearless plainsman I looked on the game for awhile and was astonished at the way the dice rolled for the plainsman's ad- versary. I had heard of loaded dice and the skill with which they could be thrown, but had never dreamed of anything like this. It seemed that the red headed man could do with them intimated that all was not fair. The other, instead of resenting the imputa tion, called on me to throw for him for awhile. I did so and met with the same astonishing luck as himself
 Handing the dice back to him, stood wondering how the trick was done, for I did not doubt that it was q trick. Of course the pockmarked man lost occasionally, but it was plain to me that such losses were intentional At times his luck seemed to be very poor, while that of the plainsman was never very good or very bad. How the dice could be manipulated, as I was sure they were, could not conceive. but while I was racking my brain to discover the plainsman had lost sev eral thousand dollars, and the pile be- fore him had been reduced to nearly nothing.
 While in that country I carried no Tn nn0lyof I had silver watch worth perhaps S. Having an appointment at 10 o'clock, l pulled out my watch, as I thought, to note the time, but instead drew forth a pocket compass, an article l needed constantly. What was my astonish ment to see the peedle vibrate feverish ly, and when it settled, instead of pointing to what I had supposed was north, it pointed due east The men at the table were so immersed in their game that did not ask them where the north pole lay, but turned to man be- hind me- He told me it was where l supposed it was.
 Here was new food for thought looked at the table and saw that under its top there was an inclosed space about foot square, l wondered why a place like that should be in a dice table. Then it occurred to me that there was something in it to influence the dice. From that argued that this something also influenced my needle. therefore it must be magnetic.
 Stranger" I said to the pockmark- ed man, whats in the box under the tabIe?"
 He glanced at roe without reply The plainsman bent down, then, putting his hands to the table top. gave lift. The top came off and exposed the in terior of the box. There in plain view was horseshoe magnet, or, rather. a telegraphic machine. The plainsman whipped out revolver and covered his antagonist.
 Thank ye, stranger" he said to me Please look into it while see that you have fair play. Hands up. please" to the pockmarked man.
 The order was obeyed, and I made the examination. Inside the table, be- sides the magnet, was battery con- nected by insulated wires running in- side leg of the table, with button about midway down. On one face of the dice were metal disks. When the gambler wished these disks to fall face on the table he would press the button with his knee, turn on current, and the magnet drew them down. With out the current they fell by chance. Over the disks was a thin coating the color of ivory
 The plainsman kept one eye on the man he covered, while with the other he reappropriated all the money he had lost There was no disposition on the part of any one in that country at that time 10 punish such rascality, and as soon as he had got his own he went out, asking me to go with him. When we were alone together he said:
 Young man, I've got thousand dol. lars to give you for the secret you found out about what was inside that table,"
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