Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1911-11-03
Noted Resort
Now Closed
tMontana Daily Record)


es, the pop of corks and the chatter
of painted faced women be heard in
the old Capital Music hall, which
for years was one of the most noted
dives in the west. No more will
diamond bedecked gamblers. race
track touts and tin horn sports CON
gregate and wait for prey from the
sheep camps and mines, and no
more homes will be disrupted be-
cause of its evil influences.
The Capital Music hall was known
from coast to coast. Thrilling ac-
counts of some of the great gamb-
ling games which have been carried
en- within its walls have filed the
columns of papers in nearly every
city in the United States. That was
in the days of the so-called Free
West" but since then there has
been change. The better element
has come to the front, and the days
of honkatonks have passed. Such
places as the Capital Music hall
was once are no longer known in
the west.
Stories are told of how "Swede
Sam" formerly a resident of Hell
ena, but now residing in Butte, and
for a long time known as the
Gambling King" nearly bank
rupted the place, and would have
done so, had not the management
secured fresh supply of cash from
some unknown source, and thus pro-
longed the game until Sans luck
changed and the house won back
the thirty thousand dollars which
Sam had on the table in front of
him.
In this hall thousands of dollars
changed hands over night. The
click of the chips, the buzz of the
roulette wheel, and the whizz of the
cards could be heard at any time of
the day or night. Hundreds of men
sat or stood about the gambling ia
bles, and while the games were go
ing ON, the popping of bottles, min
gled with the dissipated mutterings
of the crowd Of men on the floor a
bove and the chattering women in
the boxes, or the muffled sounds of
the orchestra, echoed through the
hall. Often times fight ould be
IN progress, but these were of such
frequent occurrence that they did
not attract attention, the FOUNDERS,
merely passing a glance at the bat
tered victim as he was carried from
the hall or showed under a table as
the case might be. In one corner
group of prizefig and their re-
tinue of trainers. bottle holders, etc.
might be congregated and in loud
voices telling of their respective
victories, while in another corner
group of race track touts, a crowd
OF miners, or gang of toughs, might
he observed. Stories are told of
how one of the female beauties, and
how others threw handfuls of dol
! lars from the boxes to the girl on
the stage.
These gambling games, beer drink
ing and the stage performances con
tinued for long time unchecked
and unbridled, but dozen years a
go there came change. The strong
arm of the law struck a blow from
the shoulder and for a time the in
stitutiOn tottered, but in the course
of a few weeks it regained its equil-
ibrium. An understanding was
made with the management that the
place could run, but the gambling
must stop. About this time the
owner either realized that his bust
ness was doomed or wishing to en-
bark into other branches of indus
try, embraced the opportunity to
sell ont to Mark Good, the latter
continuing to run the place until "a
few years ago, when the arm of the
law landed solar plexus blow,
which put the place down for the
count.