The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1913-05-23
MYSTERY or THE
DICE EXPLAINED /
Trick of a Gambler Revealed
by a Compass.

1T JulIpDN'.sJ q SitJ t'it'tS 1hS oOheAA .
gourd sprang up in night and.
like Sodom, disappeared as suddenly,
though .Julesburg's extinction was from
the esta blshment of new terminus
farther on, at Laramie. My headquar
teis were in Juesburg, and Il more
thorough exponent OF all that is vile in
humanity never blooned on the face
of the earth.
On the evening of my arrival, curious
to get glimpse OF what was going
on, visited the different places OF
hi,nrity, finally bringing up In heap
of boards that had been nailed togeth-
er for IL gambling den. There were
faro, Keno roulette and in one corner
II table at which two men with heaps
of money before them We're throwing
dice. noticed that this table was
not improvised, like the other furniture
of the place. 1t was OF polished black
walnut and ornallented. one OF the
men throwing dice was Il pockmarked.
red headed man with sinister coun-
tenance. the other n line type of the
rugged. honest. fearless plainsman.
looked on the game for awhile and
was nstonishcd ut the way the dice
rolled for the plnilsmans adversary.
had heard Of loaded dice and the
skill with which they could be thrown.
but had never dreamed OF anything
like this. 1t seemed that the red head
ed man could do with them as he
liked. Finally the rlainsnlan intimat-
Il al ,t.n fair nina Ntlnr
instead OF resenting the iinputation.
called on me to throw for him for
awhile did SO and met with the
same astonishing luck as himself.
Handing the dice back to him.
stood wondering how the trick was
done, for did not doubt that 1t was
trick. or course the pocknlarked man
lost occasionally. but i. was plain to
me that such losses We're intentional.
At times his luck seemed to be very
poor while that of the plaI sman was
never very good or very bad. How the
dice. could be manipulated, as ! was
sure they were, | could not conceive.
but While was racSing my brain to
discover the plninsinan had lost sew
eral thousand dollars. and the pile be-
fore him had been reduced to nearly
nothing.
While in that country | carried no
valuables. In my trousers pocket
hatl a silver watch worth perhaps So.
Having AN appointment at 10 o'clock l
pulled ont my watch. us thought, to
note the time. but instead drew forth
Il pocket compass. an article ! needed
constantly. What was my astonish-
meln to see the needle yibrate fcverish-
~, and when ii settled. instead Of
pointing to what had supposed was
north it pointed due east. The men at
the table were SO immersed in their
game that did not ask them where the
north pole lay. but turned to man be-
hind me. He told me 1t was where |
supposed IT was.
Here was new food for thought.
looked at the table and saw that under
It's top there was an Enclosed space
about 4 food square | wondered why
II place like that should be in dice
table. Then 1t occurred to me that
there WAS something in 1t to influence
the dice. From that ! argued that this
something also influenced my needle,
therefore ii mast be magnetic
''Stlanger," said to the pockmark-
ed man, whats in the box under the
tableY
lie glanced at me without reply The
plainsmun bent down, then, putting
his hands to the table top. gave a lift.
The top came off and exposed the in
terror OF the box There in plain view
WAS IL horseshoe magnet, or. rather, Il
telegraphic machine. The pIninsman
whipped out revolver and covered his
antagonist.
"Ihank We, stranger" he said to me.
please look into ii while see that
you have fair play. Hands up, pleased"
to the pockmarked man.
The order was obeyed, and made
the examination. Inside the table, be-
sides the magnet. was battery CON
nected by insulated wires running in
side leg OF the table, with button
about midway down. On one face of
the dice were metal disks. When the
gambler wished these disks to fall
fnce Oh the table he would press the
button with his knee, turn on cur
rent, and the magnet drew them down.
Without the current they fell by
chance Over the disks was thin
coating the color of ivory.
The plainsnan kept one eye on the
man he covered, while with the other
he reappropriatcd all the money lie had
lost. There was no disposition on the
part OF any one in that country at that
time to punish such rascaity, and as,
soon as he had got his own he went
out asking me to go with him When
we were alone together he said:
Young man, I've got 81 900 to give
you Tor the secret you found out about
what was inside that table"
replied that | never gave nothing
for something. but he was welcome to
the secret, and told him how my COM
pass had been influenced by the bat
terry. He seemed very much interest
ed and pleased, remarkng that he
must have ''one O. them pizen p'intn'
little things" himself and offered me
the thousand dollars for mine. | de-
clned this new method of rewarding
me for saving his money from the
pockmarked man. who. by the bye. was
connected with the gambling den