Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1913-03-14
MYSTERY or THE
DICE EXPLAINED
Trick oi Z Gambler Revealed
bj a Compass.

I
at JuleSbulg, a city that like Jonah's
gourd, sprang up In Il night aud.
like Sodoin, disappeared ms suddenly,
though Julesburg extinction was from
the establishment of new terminus
farther on. at Laramie My headquar'
ters We're in Julesburg. and more
thorough exponent of all that is vile In
humanity nevef hloomed on the face
of the earth
On the evening OF my arrival curious
To get a glimpse Of what was going
on, visited the different places of
hilarity finally bringing up in heap
OF boards that had been nailed togeth-
er for u gambling den. There were
faro, keno, roulette and in one corner
a table ut which two men with heaps
Of money before them were throwing
dice. noticed that this table was
not improvised. like the other furniture
of the place. II was Of polished black
walnut and ornamented. One of the
men throwing dice was pockmarked.
red headed man with n sinister coun-
tenance, the other Il fine type Of the
rugged, honest, fearless plainsman.
looked on the game for awhile and
was astonished nj the way the dice
rolled for the plainsmans adversary.
| had heard of loaded dice and the
skill with which they could be thrown,
but | had never dreamed of anything
like this. II seemed that the red head
ed man could do with them as he
liked Finally the rlainsman intimat
ed that all was not fair. The other
instead Of resenting the imputation
called on Inc 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 II was
trick. OF course the pockmarked man
lost occasionally. but II was plain to
me that such LOSSES were intentional.
AT times his luck seemed TO he very
poor while tha, Of the plainsman was
never very good or very bad. How the
dice could be manipulated, MS | was
sure they were. l could not conceive.
but while was racking my brain to
discover the painsman 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
had a silver watch worth perhaps So
Having an appointment at 10 O'Clock !
pulled out my watch, as | thought. to
note the time, but instead drew forth
a pocket compass. an article needed
constantly. What was my astonish
ment TO see the needle vibrate feverish
ly. and when IL settled. instead OF
pointing TO what ! had supposed was
north. 1t pointed due east. The men at
the table were 80 immersed in their
game that did not ask them where the
north pole lay. but turned TO a man be-
hind me He told me ii was where
supposed il was
Here was new food for thought.
looked at the table and saw that under
its top there was an inclosed space
about food square | wondered why
place like that should be In dice
table. Then Il occurred TO me that
there was something in il to influence
the dice From that argued that this
something also influenced my needle.'
therefore II must he magnetic.
Stranger" said to the pockmark.
ed man. whats g. hr box under the
table,
He glanced at nIe without reply. The
plainsman bent down. then putting
his hands 60 the table top. gave lift.
The top came off and exposed the in.
terror Of the box There In plain view
was horseshoe magnet. or. rather. n
telegraphic machine The plainsman
whipped out revolver and covered his
antagonist
Thank We, stranger" he said TO me
Please look into II while | see that
you have fair play. Hands up, please!'
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 a leg Of the table. with a button
about midway down. On one face Of |
the dice were meta disks. When the |
gambler wished these disks to fall |
face on the table he would press the
button with his knee, turn on q 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 plainsman kept one eye on the
man he covered, while with the other |
he reapproprlated all the money he had |
lost. There was no disposition on the |
part Of any one I'm that country at that |
time to punish such rascality. and az
soon as he had got his own he went /
out asking meto 90 with him When |
we were alone together he said.
Young nHn. I,Yr got 81 900 to give
you for the Sc re- rou found ont about
what WIS ins'ie .hat tahe"
relied iui never give nothug
fs.s4 o..