Vignette Vol.2 No.3
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Charley Maynard1918. Noxon. Excerpt-Ever since men arrived in the Clark's Fork Valley, card playing had been a favorite pastime. Rummy and solo were played for drinks, cigars or chips in saloons. At Noxon, Charley Maynard's pool hall on Main Street was just east of the store Henry Larson bought from Dr. Peek in 1918. Lumberjacks from logging camps on Rock Creek hiked to town and enjoyed fellowship with town dwellers, playing games of chance in the evenings, and also on Saturdays and Sundays.
The pool hall issued "hickies," small, pasteboard chips worth a nickel apiece, as winnings for the games. Rummy and pangeni were preferred over poker and other games.
Enforcement of the law meant abolishing the games, or the proprietors could face a stiff fine and imprisonment. Included were monte, dondo, fan-tan, studhorse poker, craps, seven-and-a-half, twenty-one, faro, roulette, hokey-pokey, pangeni or pangene, draw poker or the game commonly called round-the-table-poker, or any game of chance played with cards, dice or any device.
Outlawing slot machines, punchboards and other devices followed, under the anti-gambling law. Sheriff J.L. "Joe" Hartman warned that raids would be made. The penalty was a $100 fine, with imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.
Under the provisions of a law passed by the legislature, and approved by the governor on March 3, 1918, it became a misdemeanor for any proprietor of a saloon, drug store, pool hall or other business establishment to permit these games to be played on his premises.
Opinions were voiced cautiously. To speak out in protest of a law was to risk censure, or even being branded as a traitor. Patriotism fever flamed as hot and charring as kerosene lamp wicks, during 1918 when valley men were being drafted to fight WWI, and loosed self-serving attitudes and actions.
Deviation from majority sentiment brought swift penalties.
Visit: Five Star Review
[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume II ]
Please visit often, and share with friends and acquaintances. If you find anyone with family ties, please leave a comment and contact information and share a memory to grow your family tree!
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Charley Maynard1918. Noxon. Excerpt-Ever since men arrived in the Clark's Fork Valley, card playing had been a favorite pastime. Rummy and solo were played for drinks, cigars or chips in saloons. At Noxon, Charley Maynard's pool hall on Main Street was just east of the store Henry Larson bought from Dr. Peek in 1918. Lumberjacks from logging camps on Rock Creek hiked to town and enjoyed fellowship with town dwellers, playing games of chance in the evenings, and also on Saturdays and Sundays.
The pool hall issued "hickies," small, pasteboard chips worth a nickel apiece, as winnings for the games. Rummy and pangeni were preferred over poker and other games.
"Kids, whose mothers weren't particular where they spent their idle time, used to hang around the pool hall real handy. Some of the fellows, winning a handful of chips, was bound to share generously", Carmen Moore said.This scene from an always popular local entertainment at Noxon is titled "Stick-'em-up" from the play titled "D.F, Tablu Beer Joint", with Kelly Thomson seated at center of the table being the only identified member of the cast in the unidentified location that could have been in Brown's Pool Hall, date unknown, courtesy Ruth Mercer McBee collection.
Enforcement of the law meant abolishing the games, or the proprietors could face a stiff fine and imprisonment. Included were monte, dondo, fan-tan, studhorse poker, craps, seven-and-a-half, twenty-one, faro, roulette, hokey-pokey, pangeni or pangene, draw poker or the game commonly called round-the-table-poker, or any game of chance played with cards, dice or any device.
Outlawing slot machines, punchboards and other devices followed, under the anti-gambling law. Sheriff J.L. "Joe" Hartman warned that raids would be made. The penalty was a $100 fine, with imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.
Under the provisions of a law passed by the legislature, and approved by the governor on March 3, 1918, it became a misdemeanor for any proprietor of a saloon, drug store, pool hall or other business establishment to permit these games to be played on his premises.
Opinions were voiced cautiously. To speak out in protest of a law was to risk censure, or even being branded as a traitor. Patriotism fever flamed as hot and charring as kerosene lamp wicks, during 1918 when valley men were being drafted to fight WWI, and loosed self-serving attitudes and actions.
Deviation from majority sentiment brought swift penalties.
Visit: Five Star Review
[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume II ]
PDF copies of Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III are available on a DVD - $50 S&H included, plus author's permission to print or have printed buyers personal copy of each of the approximately 1200 page books which contain about 1,000 photographs from homesteaders personal albums.
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Order here:
Mona Leeson Vanek
13505 E Broadway Ave., Apt. 243
Spokane Valley, WA 99216
Email: mtscribbler@air-pipe.com
TO HAVE AN EXCERPT PUBLISHED IN BYGONE MONTANANS ABOUT A PERSON WHO MAY BE MENTIONED IN THIS REGIONAL MONTANA TRILOGY Email mtscribbler@air-pipe.com
Please visit often, and share with friends and acquaintances. If you find anyone with family ties, please leave a comment and contact information and share a memory to grow your family tree!
