The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-03-30
A BIG CAN'T OF DRAW.
An Interesting Incide MT of Life on the Mis-
sissippi During the War.

=
sissippi During the War.
! They were, says the New York Sun,
sitting around the table in q Fifteenth
ward faro bank that is temporarily close d
through some misunderstanding with
the police, and, having tired of short
cards, they fell to telling stories. "You
may have heard this one, " said square
jawed, firm faced, gray whiskered man,
sfor it was printed briefly at the time !;
but / was there.
In the latter part of "a I made
trip down the river. There came ON
board at Cairo young paymaster, who
was ON his way to pay a brigade of troops
somewhere In the neighborhood of Vicks-
burg. 1t was very quiet on the boat,
and on the first night below Cairo the
paymaster spent good deal of his time
after supper walking up and down the
saloon. There was also walking
up and down the saloon g
trim, square-shouldered man, who
seemed to be suffering from the
same tediousness; and when they had
met few times the stranger smiled
little at the paymaster and said;
"sDull.
"tD- dull, said the paymaster
SIS Suppose we have q little game of
draw, said the stranger.
"'Good idea, said the paymaster, and
they sat down and went at it.
"Both of them were playing merely
to pass ti1ne-at least the paymaster was,
and the other man seemed to be. They
had it one way and the other for an hour
or two, playing about SIS for top bet,
and neither of them winning or losing
much, but still getting more and more
interested. Finally each seemed to get
big hand, and they began betting
heavy In the most natural sort of way.
The fire had been smoldering, you see,
and it broke out apparently without their
knowing it.
"Neither of them seemed disposed to
lay down, and they kept on raising and
raising till they were making bets of
5000, $500, $500, and they got the pot
to about $1,000. Then the stranger
rested his eye on the paymaster for
moment, and made an estimate of the
amount of his pluck and the probable
size of his pile, and the result of his OBJ
servations seemed to be belief that he
could bluff him or freeze him out, for
he threw his hand down on the table,
and leaned over and pulled a bowie
knife out of his boot and drove the point
of it down through the cards into the
table. Then hetooka big walletout of his
breast pocket, and counted out twenty
one $500 notes. He saw the paymaster's
last bet of $500, and then hauled re-
volver off his hip, pushed the twenty
other bills into the pot, and said i:
&C. raise you $4,000.
"The paymaster looked at the gam
bier about two seconds. Then he
beckoned to his colored boy, bright
young fellow who had taken the thing in
from the start, and who would have Civ
en- his master the wink if he had ever
happened to look In his direction, which
he hadn't. But he frightened up when
he heard the word, and walked right
straight off for the paymaster's state
room. He disappeared a moment, and
then showed up again, backing through
the door, dragging q trunk after him I;
and he came down the saloon rolling
that trunk along on its end, just as han
DIV as though he had smashed baggage
on through line all his life. The pay
master took key out of his vest pocket,
threw up the Lid of the trunk, sheet Of
sole leather that seemed to serve as a
sort of binder for the bundles of bills
underneath. He took two big packages
out of the end and laid them upon one
side of the table. Then he began taking
out the other bundles and stalking them
upon the table In front of him. He kept
taking out and stacking up till he had
built a big triangular-shaped pile, Like
two pairs of stairs meeting at the top
and filed in solid underneath
.'Then he threw his hand down on
the table and pulled bowie-knife out
of his boot and spiked it down through
the cards, and while the handle was still
shivering he handed two bundles into
the middle of the table and said: I see
your SIC, 900 here he braced himself
back against the pile and began showing
it up the table, continuing to talk all the
time and I raise you $175, DOOR and
then Che did it so quick that couldn't
see when it was done) he had pistol off
each hip and was resting an elbow about
half way up on each side of the green
back stairs, both shooters covering the
gambler, and holding them very straight
and steady, too.
"Now, the gambler was an older man,
and of much more experience than the
paymaster, and under any sort of ordi-
nary circumstances he could have ham
died him ten to one, and he knew it, and
had no thought of laying down, even
then, and he seemed to revolve the thing
in his mind for about quarter of a
minute, and when he had settled what
to do he looked up, ready to act, but
one glance at the paymaster made him
change his mind; for he could see, shin
ing through the young mans face, all
the accumulated, unused grit of years,
and man with half an eye could have
seen that he meant business.
"The gambler realized that fact. He
pulled his knife out of the table, stuck
| his pistol into his pocket, and walked off