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Show I I Revelations by an Ex-Speaker IT AN EX-SPEAKBR OP A STATE LEGISLATURE. (Copyrlfffit, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowlna.) Th great American game of poker ha3 bei used moro than onco to "safely" -pay ior votes in a Legislature). Thcro urc "BTaftorn" In a General assembly who aro over-MnnlUvo as to the manner In which the "boodle" la to bo "slipped" to them. ThU nicety Is duo to their cowardice. They aro not afraid or ashamed to corn-Bit corn-Bit a proat crime, but nre afraid of bolng found out, Thoy stand willing to sell their votes, but their tonder consciences will not permit them to tako the cold oaih In an ordinary way. To moot such qualms tho agent of the vote-buyor soinc-tlnxco soinc-tlnxco Is forced to adopt method which, te tho unthinking, may eeem entirely unnecessary. un-necessary. Tho general run of "boodlers," when they havo sold their votea, get their, money, and thor don't coro how thoy Got I It bo It Is handod them with no "out-idera" "out-idera" to wltnesB Uio transfer, and with no bills marked. Some of them Btlpulatu that the money must bo In tha shape of mall bills, a the possession of new, crinkly hundred-dollar notes might awaken awkward suspicions. But thero are nomo boodlcrn who think that dead vails havo eyes and bare lloors havo ears, 80 to meet their needs the method of paying pay-ing bribes ovor a poker tablo was In-Ttnted. In-Ttnted. lime hanss heavy on the hands of moHt members of a Logli'lature. To speed the low hourn tho members play cards, and o It happens that In every State capital, "when tho Lcglslaturo Is In session, there arc numerous poker games running. Somo of them aro llttlo penny ante, nickel limit fames, and In somo tho celling alone Amite tho height to which tho pot may reach. It was whllo watching one oft the high games that I saw several hundred dollars distributed without even a suspicion suspi-cion of tho transaction until toward tho last of tho game, and then I could not have sworn that I had seen anything but an ordinary gnmo of draw poker In which ltrgo stakes were played. The game was ono of a dozen running In tho hotel that evening; tho players T"cre four members of the Houso and an attorney who represented large corporate Interests. No attempt was made at concealment: con-cealment: the "bellboy was called In at frequent Intervals to fetch cigars or drinks, men dropped In, watched tho game for a few moments and left. I sat In the rocm behind tho attorney for an hour, looking on. Nothing occurred to exclto my suspicion at first. While I knew the yellow chips were worth a hundred dollars dol-lars each and bluo ones were worth JCO, I saw nothing out of tho way, for such stakes were not rare and for all I know flnntly able ot mako largo bets on their hands. I noticed first that tho attorney was a steady loser. Ho would gather In a small pot occasionally, but lost every Jack-pot. and- tho jack-pots wero good fat .ones, but as tho attorney was banker. It was difficult to say how much he was losing. Then I noticed that tho other players did not scorn to win from each other. Tho attorney came Into every hand; ho stayed with every Jackpot Jack-pot The rulo of the game called for a Jackpot Jack-pot when throe of a kind or better wore shown, and such a hand having been called and shown the next deal meant a jack-pot, I saw tho cards In. tho attorney's attor-ney's hand. He was dealt three kings, an aco and a ouccn. Ho gently rapped tho tablo with his knuckles and said: "I can't open It," when, as any player knows, ho had a hand which has opened countless Jack-pots. Tho man to his left opened iho pot by tossing a yellow chip on the table. The other members laid down, but tho attorney, saying, "I'll come In, but what's the use; I can't win nnythlng," threw a yellow chip Into tho pot and called for one card- "Maybe I can fill a belly straight," ho said, with a laugh. He caught another ace. He hold kings full on aces and I said to myself: "Ho'll rakV In that pot. sure, this time." I grinned to myself when tho lawmaker stacked up live yellow boys and pushed them to tho center. I could Just see thoso chips coming toward tho lawyer. Ho looked at his hand a minute; then, saying' say-ing' "Well. I'll see what jou have," he shoved $500 worth of chips Into the pot. Tho legislator threw his hand down and showed ho had made a "bluff on two llttlo pair. "That's to6 big for me," suld the lawyer, and pushed his klng-full-on-acea into the discards, whUo tho Houso member mem-ber gleefully pulletTnll the chips to hlm-Belf. hlm-Belf. For a moment T thought the lawyer had taken too many high-balls. Then, nil In a flash. I saw through the scheme. He was deliberately losing to tho members of the lower house, and but ono Inference, could be drawn he was "cutting a melon." I left tho room and later In the evening, meeting tho attorney, ho said: "Tho bovs combed mo good and proper, but luck was against me tonight." It must have been torture for that attorney --to lay down tho good hands ho hold that night, for ho was a first-class poker player, and. like all thorough pokor mayors, had a mighty respect for good hands. Ills passion for the game got tho better of his regard for the ethics of his profession one night. He sat In a "melon cutting" game and after having made tho "divvy proceeded to win all tho money back again. It chanced that the moil hn wnv nnvlnp Ji li.lkn. A over tho poker tablo wero rather sporty, so they paw tho merit of his claim that having given them tho money ho owod them ho was Justified In winning "on tho squaro' bo long as they sat In with him. ilH ' There was a popular bartender In tho B e&pltol who mado a good deal of money ono session from his "rako oft" no stakc-holder., stakc-holder., Ho was tho agent employed to distribute boodlo by tho betting method. The vote-buyor and tho vote-seller having agreed on the prlco would go to tho sa-loon sa-loon In which tho bartender mixed his famous cocktails. Tho two boodlers, got-ting got-ting Into a discussion, would mako a bet. 'the size of tho bet being the amount of H money which tho member was to receive for his vote. The monoy then would bo placed In an envelope and the envelope put in tho hands of tho "atakeholdor." After the roll call tho man who sold his vote would go to the stakeholder, who H "would give him the envelope ho had won H tho bet. Good fortune, however, turned k tho bartondcr's head, and ono day. hav-B hav-B lng In his posnesslon a largo number of stakes, he packed his grip and loft with all tho boodle. Nor did any Interested 1 party dare go after him to domand tho H monoy he had won on a "cinch" bet. The 1 bartender know too' much, kkkfl An adroit lobbyist corralcd a dozen 1 votes for his bill at a cost of a hundred H dollars each by making what Is known H as "fool bets." A count of noses had H shown him that he lacked half a dozon H votes. He knew of a group of legislators H who had adjoining rooms In the principal 1 hotel and who wero not to bo bought. 1 They wero men who did llttlo In tho 1 houso but vote; they wero plain, ordinary 1 lawmakers, but honest. They played H their little games of penny ante, hearts. H cinch or euchre, occasionally had a social H glass and wero not adverse to making H email bets on trotting horses, Tho H lobbyist went on a atlll hunt for votes In H this group with poor success until ho con-H con-H celved tho' Idea of warming up their sport-H sport-H lng blood. H He managed to get an Invitation from H one of them to Join In a game of euchre, H nnd while In tho room led tho small talk H to a discussion of tho bill in which H ho wa Intoreatcd. By degrees ho dc-1 dc-1 volopcd tho conversational discussion Into 1 a heated argument as to whether the bill 1 would pass and, taking tho ncgatlvo sldo, 1 for nono of them knew ho had any par-1 par-1 tlcular Interest In tho measuro, ho n-H n-H ccrtcd with great posltlvencss that the H bill could not get an afflrmatlvo majority In the Houho. Fulling oiit a roll of bills H he stripped off a hundred dollars and H offered to bet that hundred against a H dollar that tho bill would not pass tho B Xfiutr Ono of tho members took him up IHow Bribe Money Is Trans- I forrcd to Purchased Legisln- 9 tors in Poker Games Tho I Betting Expedient A "Stake- j Holder" Who Decamped A lobbyist's Clever Betting- Maneuver Ma-neuver An Envelope Deliv-' Deliv-' ered to Wrong1 Party Pew "Squealers." ' nnd the monoy was placed In tho handa I of another momber who was selected ' stakeholder. Then tho lobbyist, apjoront-ly apjoront-ly gottlng excited, offered to take all the bets on tho odds of 100 to 1 they would offer. Tho odds wero so great that tho others could not resist tho temptation, nnd boforo ho loft he had mado bets with ten of them. . Tho lncvltablo result followed; the ten members, to win a hundred dollars each, voted for tho bill and It punned. Tho lobbyist, of course, lost his monoy, but got his voton and got them cheap Tho simplest way of paying a brlbo Is to tako the. vote-seller to a secluded corner cor-ner and hand over tho monoy. As tho only witnesses to tho transaction aro tho bribed and the briber, and as each is as guilty a3 tho othor, this also Is tho safest method. Every onco In awhilo ono reads of aldermen or legislators who form a line and march Into an offlco whore each Is handed an envelope. This cnvolope la supposed to contain tho price of his voto. I very much doubt If nny boodle has been distributed In auch a way. Tho envelope with tho mysterious number on It which has figured ao often In stories of boodlo Is not used by practical bribers. Mutual confidences between tho bought and tho buyer Is an essential prerequisite In the. purchase of votes. It is a strictly " 'pon honor" transaction. Tho legislative bood-lcr bood-lcr promises to voto "ayo" or "no" for so much money, the business man boodlcr promises to pay tho agreed prlco when the vote Is dollvercd. Sometimes a certain per cent of the prlco Is paid In advance, tho balance to bo paid when the roll-call Is a matter of record. Both parties to tho transaction want no "middle men." Neither wants a scrap of written paper to bo brought forward as an accusor or witness. And it will bo found that most boodling transactions which aro brought to light aro given publicity first over a bar. Somo ono gets drunk and talks. It Id Goldom that any letter, tHlegram or written paper of any kind Is brought forward for-ward In court to testify against a boodlcr. bood-lcr. Very few vote buyors commit tho In discretion which brought confusion upon a certain member of Congress, who, when a candidate for United States Senator, In-1 In-1 advcrtentlv dropped his check-book In the hall of tho hotel. Tho man who picked It up examined tho stubH and discovered thcro tho names of a dozon members of tho Ixjfflolature, with the amount of tho check written on each stub. For Gorrio yoar3 there reposed In tho safo of a high State official an onvclono, a common Manila papor onvolopo, which contained five ?100 bills. This envelope, carefully scaled, was found by a member of tho Houso on his desk In tho legislative legisla-tive hall Acros3 tho cnvolope was writ ten his last nomo. Ho opened It ana found tho enticing now bills. Ho belonged be-longed to tho unpurchasablo, but a member mem-ber of tho samo Houoo, bearing the samo name, wao looked upon with nomo suspicion. suspi-cion. Tho man who found tho envelopo on his desk sought out tho other man and offered him tho envelopo. Tho "other" man Indignantly denied that tho money whh for him and refusod to accept tho envelope. That ovonlng tho "other" man was heard Houndlv lecturing a well-known lobbyist for hl "fool action" In giving tho right envelopo to tho wrong person. Tho man on whoso desk tho envelopo was placed turned It over to tho Stato official and. no one claiming tho monoy, after somo years It was turned Into tho "conscience "con-science fund" of tho Stato Treasurer. Thcro Is whoro tho onvolopo method worked the wrong way Fow boodlerH, as compared to their number, havo ever been found out, or, If found out, have beon sent to tho penitentiary. peniten-tiary. That is becauso thero have been but few "squealers." Doubtless tllore havo been many vbte-sellers who, because be-cause oi an accusing conscience or a de-slro de-slro to mako rcpentaneo effectlvo by works, would havo gono Into court and given State's cvldenco woro It not for tho fact that even honest men dcsplso a ' "squealer." |