Front:
SAWDUST
CORNER
Ⓒ-1947
SUICIDE TABLE
So called because three previous owners are reported to
have committed suicide because of heavy losses over this table.
Originally a Faro-Bank table brought to Virginia City in
the early 1860s. The owner, supposed to be one "Black Jake"
lost $70,000 in one evening and shot himself.
The second owner, whose name is lost in history, ran the abie
for one nights play. He was unable to pay off his losses
One report has it that he committed suicide and another
report has it that he was saved the trouble.
The table was then stored for some years because no one
would deal on it. It was finally converted into a "21"table
sometime in the late "90s", and it's black reputation seemed to
have been forgotten, until one stormy night.
A miner, who had been cleaned out in some other gambling
house stumbled in half drunk. As the story goes, he gambled a
gold ring against a five dollar gold piece, and won. He played
all night and by morning had won over $86,000 in cash, a team
of horses and an interest in a gold mine. Everything the
owner of the table had in the world. That caused the third suicide
Now this old relic is in play once again. Fortunes have been won and
lost on it. Many famous men have gambled for high stakes.
leaning on the green cloth, watching the turn of a card..
Virginia city is now a town of relics and memories and ghosts
of the past:
Suicide Table is truly a relic that is replete with memories of the old
town, and, who knows, perhaps the ghosts of the old timers are still
leaning on their elbows, watching for the turn of a card.
VIRGINIA CITY NEVADA
OLDEST FARO TABLE IN NEV
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Photo by Eastman's Studio B-5166
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Gambling
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