New Ulm review., 1908-07-15
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
! HOW A COMPASS
REVEALED A SvvINDLE.
VVvVVVyVVVyVVVYVVV
tOriginal.l

On the Union Pacific railroad, then
building The western terminus was
at Julesburg, a city that, like Jonah's
gourd, sprang up in a night and,
like Sodom, disappeared as suddenly,
though Julesburg's extinction was I
from the establishment of new ter
minus farther on, at Laramie. My |
headquarters were in Julesburg, and a
more thorough exponent of all that is
vile In humanity never bloomed on the
face of the earth. All night could be
heard the sound of fiddles in the dance
halls, zone more lady in this set,
sKenov' and other similar cries.
On the evening of my arrival, curious
to get a glimpse of what was going
on. 1 visited the different places Of
hilarity, finally bringing up in heap
of boards that had been nailed togetb-
er for a 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. 1t was Of polished
black walnut and ornamented. One
Of the men throwing dice was pock-
marked, red headed man with sin
lister 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 pla1nsman's ad-
| yersary. I had heard Of loaded dice
and the skill with which they could
be thrown, but I had never dreamed Of
anything like this 1t seemed that the
red headed man could do with them
as he liked Finally the plainsman
| intimated that all was not fair. The
other, instead of resenting the imputa-
ton, called on me to throw for him
for awhile did so and met with the
same astonishing luck as himself.
Handing the dice back to him, I
stood wondering how the trick was
done, for did not doubt that 1t was a
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 [ was
sure they were, I could not conceive
but while I was racking my brain to
discover the plainsman had lost sew
eral thousand dollars, and the pile be-
fore him had been reduced to nearly
nothing.
While in that country [ carried nc
valuabes. In my trousers pocket
had a silver watch worth perhaps SIS
Having an appointment at 10 O'Clock,
pulled out my watch, as I thought, tt
note the time, but instead drew fortt
a pocket compass, an article I needed
constantly. What was my astonish
ment to see the needle vibrate feverish
", and when it settled, instead O.
pointing to what I had supposed wa
north, it pointed due east. The men a
the table were so immersed in thei
game that did not ask them where th
north pole lay, but turned to man be
hind me. He told me it was where
, supposed it was.
Here was new food for thought.
looked at the table and saw that unde
it's top there was an inclosed spac
E about foot square wondered VIII
:, a place like that should be in a die
7 table. Then it occurred to me tha
there was something in it to infuenc
' the dice. From that I argued that thi
U something also influenced my needle
e therefore it must be magnetic.
= stranger" I said to the pockmarl
D ed man, whats in the box under th
tabIe?'
He glanced at me without reply. Th
;, pIainsman bent down, then, putin
= his hands to the table top, gave lif
y The top came off and exposed the il
y terror Of the box. There in plain vie'
!, was a horseshoe magnet, or, rather,
u telegraphic machine The plainsma
u y whipped out a revolver and covered b
= antagonist
"Thank We, stranger he said to m
Il "Please look into it while I see ths
/ you have fair play. Hands up. please
to the pockmarked man.
The order was obeyed, and I mad
,. the examination. Inside the table, b.
= sides the magnet, was battery col
=. nected by insulated wires running il
~ side a leg of the table, with butto
'e about midway down. On one face {
the dice We're metal disks. When tt
q gambler wished these disks to fall fat
- on the table he would press the butte
!, with his knee, turn on current, ar
~ the magnet drew them down. Wit
ie out the current they fell by chanc
u Over the disks was a thin coating tt
color Of ivory.
et The plainsman kept one eye on Il
~ man he covered, while with the 9th
he reappropriated all the money he hs
u lost. There was no disposition on Il
Is part of any one in that country at th
time to punish such rascality, and
" soon as he had got his own he we
~ out, asking me to go with him. VIII,