The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1913-01-31


This dealer took a seat In front Of the table
and in the course of a few hours had won fifty
dollars. Then he stopped, He would pass IN
and out a dozen times a day, play a little here
and some there, but always he would bring up In
front OF the roulette table, and more often than
otherwise left 1t winner, His luck was amazing.
He started a bank account, He was saving ha
money to get into business with, he said,
He won 30 steadily that II made the proprietor
Of the place shiver every time he came in.
One day, while the ex.dealer was playing, an
old man dropped in and, g~lancins around the room
for a moment, asked:
Who runs this placer"
Il DO" answered a bewhisksrad individual
who was watching his former employe rake In
the cash.
win you 90 me the favor to tell me where
you got that wheel?" he asked, pointing to the
one that proved ouch a hoodoo.
Il know It's a Jonah. That fellow over there
wins all the time"
"Sor" said the stranger.
He walked over and watched the man lay his
bets.
Returning to the proprietor, he said. a. ha
passed out a card:
\ represent this house. which. AZ You see.
deals in gaming devices. ! take 1t that the man
sitting at the wheel makes q Killing every dayT"
HE does. stranger, TO the tune Of fifty or a
hundred"
For a thousand l can tell you how 70 bust his
luck and make him look the living picture OF re-
morse. You would have to agree to purchase y
new wheel from me-, also" III "
IF you show me, I'm game
IT'S a bargain" said the drummer
Walking over TO the wheel, he waited until the
ball dropped, stopped 1t. and turning to the pro
prietor asked:
See anything strange with that wheel2"
mo"
Well, see, there are two nineteens and two
tventy-threes on this wheel. They are unusual
numbers--so that the fellow who plays them has
about the same percentage In his favor, on those
numbers. that you have when a man plays on a
regular wheel. We made this wheel more than
thirty years ago, 1t was sold to a house by a
couple of sure thing men, who almost broke tho
outfit. Then we lost track OF IT,"
The ex.dealer had noticed the double numbers.
and therein was the secret OF his luck" How
the numbers had escaped attention 30 many
years Is one of those mysteries OF gambling that
can never be explained.
When Seattle was the big noise in the North
west gambling world, and the priImeval forests
were cAser to her doors, some big games we're
played.
One night a stranger stepped into one of the
principal houses and took Il seat at a faro table.
An hour later he had lost more than Ave thou.
sand dollars. The proprietor sent him a fifty.
cent cigar. a few moments afterward the
stranger had a couple Of hundred dollars. and
within an hour had regaIned bis I'VE thouaand.
Then commenced a streak OF luck that has sci.
dom been witnessed in any gambling house. The
roof" had been raised TO the sky" and Mr..
Stranger 'coppered" the king and doubled a bet
OF ftTe thousand He tried IT again for a repeat
sr. with ten thousand. and drew back twenty vel,
low chieps, worth one thousand each.
After that he made bets Df a thousand each.
and before he had smoked the cigar he was tween
ty-eigat thousand to the good! Then he quit.
Who he was, where he came from, where he
went, no one ever knew. His coming and going
were as mysterious as his winnings were sensa-
tional.
Probably one OF the greatest stakes ever hung
up was raked down on a mule rnee in Arizona
A man owned q hole In the ground" He was
satisfied that IL was worth a fortune. His
friends thought he was crazy. He refused to 20
to other "disgings" where the prospects were
better, He was more than twenty-five miles
from water, which had to be carried In on the
hurricane deck Of a mule, He worked away,
nursing his claim and sticking It our alone. Then
he went to a settlement some distance away. He
became excited over the performan ces OF a mule
owned by another man. and in a moment Of on.
nberance bet hts claim against one owned by a
proSpector from another section that hts mule
could outrun the other fellows, He lost.
lie had the privilege Of plotting the winner to
the mine and saw him take more than seventy
Thousand dollars worth OF silver, net, out Of a
pocket. almost on the surface OF the ground,
Since then the property has ~preauced millions.
1t all came about because ore mule could not
run so fast az another.