The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1913-02-07

"You have been good loser; I'll put in with
you and play hundred thousand against your
claim"
The prospector lost the claim.
Now will play you for your services tomor
row to show me where the claim is and where to
open the For that will consider that you
have five thousand on the table,"
The prospector lost that
The next day he traced out the lines Of the
claim for the winner, who organized company.
with stock of one million, the shares OF which
went for sixteen dollars each!
Millions were taken from the mine within a
few years. 1t became of the most famous
in the entire Rocky Mountain country.
In the early days of the Comstock Lode, in
Virginia, Nevada, some men made money SO fast
that they did not know what to do with it. Those
who not making it spent their time devising
ways and to talk the others out of a por
ton of their wealth Gamblers were in full evil
dence and there some big stakes; but 1t
remained for a bunch of Mexicans to play for the
largest stake record in the United States
without the of cards.
One of the many claims located in the midst
of the district, had not shown any Even the
men who had millions hesitated to sink a shaft
on it, The people were in fever OF excitement
The Mexicans owned practically nothing. In fact.
the "greasers" could not get look in" Alto
gether 1t very dscouraging-to them.
Then it occurred to bright genius to
capitalize the labor of the Mexicans. Gathering
a bunch of them together. 1t proposed that
they sink shaft of the wellknown
claims which twelve hundred feet in length
For each foot you sink, we will give you
one-foot surface interest in the claim" they were
told" provided you sink to ORE"
In other words If they abandoned the work at
any time before reaching ore, they would get
nothing and the owners would have the shaft.
1t looked like a cheap way to prospect.
The Mexicans powpowed and jabbered at one
another for half night and then started to
work.
Everybody laughed. They comparatively
poor men. They could Ill afford the expense they
were undergoing They drilled by hand, fought
the hard granite and gradually lowered that
shaft They bailed water that flowed in so fast
that 1t threatened to drown them, but they stuck
to the work with desperation.
At three hundred feet they uncovered the rich
est portion of the world-famous silver deposit
and from the vein they opened, more wealth was
taken out than from any other portion OF that
richest single mile of ground In the world
The Mexicans' share was one-quarter. Nearly
one hundred million dollars came out of the hole
they sank! 1t gamble pure and simple.
They played for high stakes-and won
In the Occur dAlene, of Idaho when that min
ing region was the center of the earth there were
some big games. The story is told of one man
who conceived the idea that he could make
money in gambling faster than he could take II
out of the ground. 1t much easier. With
what cash he had after selling his mine, he could
count up to one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars.
He had evolved wonderful system.
81 simply can't lose." he told his friends.
His plan was to play steadily for sixteen hourf
daily and, by complicated series of bets, t
retrieve when he lost.
Everything went along swimingly for the frs
few days At times he much as twenty
i've thousand to the good
Nine days after he started top lay he suddenl!
found that he was just where he had started
he had one hundred and fifty thousand dollar
when the cards a certain way, which wout
involve, according to his system. betting the en-
tire amount a single turn" He played tn
queen to win, and the tickle creature played falls
to him.
Women the of all trouble anyway.
he muttered as he rose from the table. Il ough
to have known better than that, for that was tn
queen OF spades and should not have made tina
bet except when all the queens except the quee
of hearts out"
1t the irony of fate that. when the quee
: of hearts came out of the box. it so happene
that 1t
a In the days when Cheyenne. Wyoming. tn
headquarters for the cattemen of the northwes
+ gambling wide open When the cowboy
came to town they made things hum None
grew on trees. The gaming spirit was In the al
dealer standing behind roulette table OF
night suddenly motioned the proprietor fe
moments later he paid OF II Is customal
l. to pay a gambler his salary at the end Of eaC