The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1911-01-16

PASSING Of The GAMBLER IN
OKLAHOMA NOW IS CERTAIN
Oklahoma City, Jan. 16.-With the
passage of the proposed new anti
gambling law, making the mainten-
ance Of game of chance felony, the
gambling gentry of the country will
have made their last stand. When an
air-tight lid has been screwed down
in Oklahoma, there will be no place
left for the three-card man, the manip-
ulator of the ivory roulette ball and
the bank dealer to ply his trade.
At no time since Oklahoma was
opened to settlement has gambling
been closed. In the early days Okla
homa City rivaled Goldfield, Reno and
the camps of Roaring Fork in their
QdiLulS6I Ady AT tnClC ut Z
few games in the capital and they are
all operated ION the quiet" though it
has not been many weeks since the
whirr of the spinning ball and the
cries of the crap dealer could be heard
in halt hundred or more places.
Gambling is nearer closed in Okla
homa now than ever before, but there
are still places notably Ardmore, the
home of Governor Lee Cruce, where
the games of chance are never closed,
where the "chumps" are "cool pack
ed" and there is no limit to the stakes.
When settlers began flocking to Ok
lahoma years ago, the gambling fra
tarnity saw green pastures in the new
country and fiocked here from all parts
of theh continent The mining camps
of Nevada and Idaho, the lumber
regions of the north. sporting circles
of the south, and even far away Alaska
contributed to the talent" that found
its way to the ungrazed fields.
They were not disappointed. "Busi-
ness" was good in the early days, and
it has remained fairly lucrative up to
the present time Now they are hav-
ing rather hard picking" Soon, it
would seem, they are to be ousted al
together
Several years ago when the reform
wave swept over the country, taking
saloons and the various forms of vice
down before it, the gambling man felt
his territory narrowing. The game
"pinched out" in Montana and Idaho
and now Nevada has placed the ban
on the goddess Chance. Several years
ago Arizona and New Mexico drove the
gamblers across their borders and the
lottery business caused the ending of
big play in Louisiana. Oklahoma
was the only place left and they flock
ed to the place they felt was less re-
stricted.
Oklahoma's wild days are over. The
asst traits of the woolly west are dis
appearing. The morale of the new
state has reached higher plane as
the better class of immigrants have
come to make it their home.
What viii become of the gamblers
now? None of them seems to know
They do not know where to go or what
to do Few, II any, of them know a
trade or have means of gaining a live
lihood except by manual labor And
the gambling man, used to the lux
uries that come with "easy money" is
averse to anything partaking of the
nature of arduous toll
This is the finish, said one of the
pioneer gamblers of Oklahoma City,
in discussing the situation. "The day
of the gambler is over. Society is
against him and with just cause.
He produces nothing and is a leech
upon any community Turing men to
ruin and doing nothing that will add
to the welfare of humanity. There are
thousands of gamblers, but the high
play is over and there is nothing left
but for them to seek some new means
of making a living. Few gamblers
have saved anything from their win.
nings. There are 500 of the 'profes.
sion in Oklahoma City today unable
to turn q trick and without funds
/ parhanS M state In tha ,nion hae