He Was Well Posted

1895

The Stranger Had Quite an Acquaintance With the Smooth Box.

A young man walking along Dearborn street with his coat collar turned up was slapped on the back and heard a voice: "Say, that tip you gave me on Bessie Bisland was a good thing, I don't think. Where've you been?"

The young man turned around and said: "You must be mistaken. I don't believe I ever saw you before."

"Get out! Ain't you a race horse man that was out at Harlem?"

"No."

"Well, you're a dead ringer for him. Come and have a drink. Come on and be a good fellow."

The young man was led around into a place fronting on an alley, and as soon as they went in the bartender recognized the sport, and it leaked out in the conversation that a few evenings before they had been shaking dice and that the bartender had lost.

He demanded satisfaction, but the man who had lost on Bessie Bisland was cautious. He said he would go in for a quarter a corner. The victim who had been hauled in from the street was invited into the game.

He put in his quarter, and when the box came to him he said: "Gentlemen, I want to show you a little trick with this box. You see that on my first shake I have two sixes. The ace is always on the other end from the six, so I put in the three remaining dice, with the ace spot on each against the side of the box, and they slide down without changing position. This is a smooth bore box, lined with patent leather. The dice do not tumble around. They slide over the smooth surface, and so I know that when I let these dice slip out they" —

"Look here," demanded the bartender, "do you think there's any cheating going on?"

"Oh, I'm next to you," replied the visitor.

"That's right, Bill," said the roper in. "We're wasting time and talent on him. He's all right too. If a man's on, he ought to say so."

Thereupon the visitor departed with the best of feeling all around. — Chicago Record.