The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-27
WINNING
. WENT AS QUICKLY
Coppcring the High Flay at Faro
Proved Safer Than Den
Yer Poker.

lit is "a long time now sinoe have BEEN
in Denver Col. said the gray haired young
looking man in the club smoking room.
! and from what | read and hear about
ths city il is now most desirable resi-
dence in many ways. When wns there
il was not. That Is. IL was not the sort
OF plac- n quiet man would be likely To
select m which - bring mp family OF
youngsters.
Recent discoveries Of silver among
the moInta ms IN the neighborhood had
attracted great numbers of Adventures.
There were a good many gamblers among
them; professional gamblers. mean, Tor
il seemed sonnet lines IA il almost every
body there was more or less Of a gambler.
and among the professionals there were
some who were fairly To lie clas~eti as
d.sperados's
Gambling houses. and n good many
OF them. were run with little pretentc OF
secrecy, and there were frequent cases
Of highway robbery. to say nothing Of an
occasional homicide IL was good rule
il a man understood the Use of a revolver
To carry one when IL was necessary TO 90
abroad after dark. and the best place to
carry it was in the right hand overcoat
pocket. where il could be- used with.
out the delay OF drawingit.
There was an acquaintance nj mine
named Merrill. from Chicago. who hap
pened To he in Denver when went there
the last time. and he and ] esteemed
/ ourselves lucky when We secured large
room Mt "A good hotel for the two Of us.
Rooms were in demand. and it was almost
impossible 10 yet one all To yourself.
Keeping togssher. "a We did. outside
Of business hours. we went around town
n good deal to see the sights and Merrill
after n few days was inclined To make
light Of warnings as to the dangers Of the
streets.
.One evening he did not show up at
supper time. and not caring To go out
alone spent the evening waiting for him.
Then when he did not come in | went
to bed early and soon fell asleep. About
midnight however. he entered the room
and struck a light
When I looked around at him I was
startled. ne was ghostly pale and his
hand was shaking.
OF course I asked him what the mat
ter was and he said frankly that he had
been terribly frightened Don't You
think I had some reason to be-? he said,
with a laugh that was almost hysterical,
IA he smpted his pockets. And l was
Obliged to confess that he had. when he
counted up great stack Of bills and
showed me that he had something like
81, 600 in cash.
- should think anybody would be
merry ous about carrying THAT amount
Of money through the streets | said.
If he thought anybody else knew he
had it
That's Just it, said Merrill. There
was a whole roomful Of people and they
all knew had it.
Il went into Ackerman's place to-
night he continued. without any idea
OF playing. but simply to look on. Then
when got inside saw the heavie~ play
AZ faro that ever saw. There must have
been mt least a dozen playing at once.
and after | had watched the game a few
moments l saw that Alderman had made
IN. limit sslo and that several of the
:layers were betting the limit. not every
time but quite frequently.
II wasn't fool enough 70 suppose that
the game was on the sqaare unless some of
the players were professionals who knew
A. much about IL as the dealer did. and
| didn't know any Of them. So | didn't
know whether they were or not. though
ir's likely enough that they were. hut as
| watched the play an old idea cam. To
me. which was that Of coprering the
losers.
Nv. known % that being done two
or thra. times in crooked game 10y
SOME fellow who knew that the bank
was getting the hest Of some blg player
Saw the plun ger has put $50 ON card
and il il reasonably sure that the dealer
will do him out Of il It's very easy to
copp.r the same card for s. or SO. and II
the deal is crooked the copper is likely
to win
-'Of course it's n risky thing 70 do.
for IN. dealer will get on 20 the game II
It's PLAYED steadily. and more than that
a good MANY players get nervous u they
SEQ q piksr playing against them. hut
il it's done adroitly man il pretty sure
TO mako a little money. and the notion
struck me 70 try 10.
II figured that II the game a. crooked
some OF these heavy players AZ least Were
certain 10 lose. and even II il was straight
thu. banks chances were better than the
plavers' so thought Id back the bank
in a small way. | had too much sens.
TO pick out any one player and buck
against him. but I started in. taking ia.
banks side here and there wherever
saw bet that thought was going
to lose.
II took a 500 stack TO start. thinking
I'd either lose ie or double it and then
auit.
Il noticed in the first place that some !
Of the players were using coppers occa-
sionaily and that others didn't copper
any Of their bets. 80 l coppered mine
all the time. making no straight bets
and being careful not 90 play against
any one individual too frequently. But
" saw two or three bets on one card
at the same tgne would copper it for $40. |.
We'll. l WON four out Of five bets and
saw pretty plainly that il wouldn't
do to play that way exclusively. So |
made a few bets without regard - any
one eise's play Not many. but enough /
to divert suspicion. and coppered every
net made 10 as TO make il seem a part
Of my system when ] coppered on some |
On rJ that tho other. wers glayinU 10