Bisbee daily review., 1908-06-17
TENDERFOOT AS
CARD SHARP AND
A FIRE EATER
Lose thousand Dollars and
Gets Experiences - Decks
With Six Aces Figure in the
Game-Tries to Eat Fire.

An incident that reminds the old
timers of Tie di triet o. early days Is
being repeated with much gusto In
tAe Offices and on iha str-ets of the
city. Tie proyerLial ealthy young
man and his ambition to be a sport
at cards form The bass of the story.
"Negru' Brown as hs is called, who
is quite local Character, is the best
men 10 get to tell the sorry Brown
may add a few incidents 10 the actual
occurrence. but mons of them but
a. embellishments rather than draw
backs 70 the tale.
The young man. accord'ng to the
story. had been hanging about a place
resorted by both n gro-s and
whites. and finally became ambitious
to take a hand in the card play him
self. It not take the profession
ais many minutes to get next to the
fac. taat he was "e'sV money. Fhe
game was Black Jack
The young man it'll the money
was allowed TO deal pre- umably 20
assure him that here was nothing
crooked about in the game. The
first round he lost about $50. The
thing looked so good that there was
trouble in accommodating at the table
those who wished to sit in. All kinds
of tricks wee played with the cards
Brown says one negro who was ~
the game had aces and kings up his
sleeve Another preferred to place
taem in reserve in the back OF his
neck, where he reached for them as
the exigencies of the game required
Aces were also kept lying con-
yeniently near on the iioor and at one
time there were six winning hands,
each with an ace in It. The tender
foot could not deny that each hanG
was good one and paid them all,
Some Of the negroes won as high as
5000 and were wearing diamonds the
next day. Brown does not deny that
he entered the game and got his
share. In all about $1,000 was Won be
fore the game ended.
The entertainment. il such il migat
be termed, wound up with an eTni-
bftion of magic by the young man
At least 1t would have been magic II
it had worked He told the crowd
that he was a fire eate., and was
master of the art by which the trick
was done. He asked if there was any
kerosene that could be secured.
Brown ob'igingly stated that he would
secure him what he wanted, and
handed him a bottle of gasoline
which he used in cleaning the shoes
of his customers.
The fire-eater took a big mouthful
and fired up. The result was astound
ing and to be properly appreciated
should be heard from Brown, who
was an eyewitness. While his decla-
ration that a stream of fire eighteen
feet long issued from the magician's
mouth is probably an exaggeration. it
must have looked fully that long TO
the man at the end of the fame. The
ca soline had trickled merTily uU@ IA
the chin of The performer, and upon
ignition had a point of vantage which
gave the flames easy access TO the
end of his nose. Assistance was rem
deed him and he was rescued frU.;'
the flames without serious injury. II
IS declared by those who were pres
emf that when the show was started
By the application of a match. an ex-
nlosiou ensued which Jared the
building. This ended the young mans
experiences and he has not been 9een
since He is soreiy missed by those
who taught him the rudiments of the
game of Black Jack. and should he
ever return, still laden with corn.
will be received with open arms and
given additional lessons in the art OF
Separating the INITIATED from the
Mazuma