Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-11-11
CAMS LAYouTS
GO UP IN SMOKE
Sheriff Using Confiscated Par
aphernalia for Fuel at the
County Building.
ON ADVICE OF THE COURT
Kittilsen Told by fraternity That
Protection Money Was Paid
Asks Who Got It.

Gambling paraphernalia and devices
and appliances of all kinds valued al
most at $4,000 went up in smoke to-
day with Sheriff Edward Kittilsen act
ing as fireman
All of the stuff which was collected
in the raid of Tuesday afternoon was
burned up under advice to that effect
from the court. The paraphernalia
consisting of faro tables, roulette
wheels, poker tables, crap tables, a
klondike table, several hundred decks
of playing cards, thousands of poker
chips. and dice galore besides Exit
ties and other gambling fixtures were
taken to the boiler room at the county
JAN and used for making steam.
All Practically New.
Practically all Of the conf1scated
goods was new. The roulette wheels
especially were fine pieces of work,
being inlaid with different kinds Of
wood and polished to high state of
perfection The other tables were
valuable also and the former owners
who watched the smoke curl out of
the Jail chimneys almost died with
sorrow.
The poker chips themselves were
of no mean value, as all OF them were
of a good grade and valued up as high
as $50 a thousand. There were thou
sands upon thousands Of these chips
and the total value would reach into
the thousands Of dollars.
Showed Prosperity.
The grade Of stuff which the gam
bIers supplied their rooms with was
proof of the prosperity which they
were enjoying here. When they
opened up after the raid which pre-
ceded this last one they thought thsy
had things fixed and the result was
they laid in a goodly supply Of stock
and all of it was of the best
sherir's Eyes Opened.
'T had not the slightest idea, not
even a dream, that such gambling out
} fits had ever been harbored in Rock
Island county as we found in our
raids" said Sheriff Kittilsen, convers-
ing with The Argus last evening. IF
there is any kind Of layout that was
not In operation here 1 would like to
have someone describe it to me. Take,
for instance, the den over the Park
saloon on Twentieth street, which l
visited personally. On entering the
room, not a large one at that, there on
the right was klondike; on the left,
a roulette wheel Just beyond this
was a faro outfit. Still further along
were the craps tables, and further
down the room the poker tables. A
man could set any old kind of game
he wanted there. l was told by one Of
the gamblers there that the outfit we
confscated in this place cost at least
So, 500, and the same man informed me
that the paraphernala we seized in
each Of the other places was worth as
much. It is on the estimates thus fur
nished me that base the statement
that the property we carted away was
worth in the aggregate $4,000, the
least calculation
Paying for Protection.
'T am told that, made myself very
ing the raid, but that is not bothering
me IN the least. One gambler, in fact,
had the bold effrontery to inform me
that I had no right to interfere with
the gambling that has been going on
here; that the fraternity had paid good,
hard money for the privilege of con-
Quoting their business here, with the
absolute assurance that they would not
be disturbed, and that that applied to
me as much as to anyone else. This,