The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1877-09-05
Throwing Up his Hand and his
Life-An Incident of
. Circus Life. =
#I Clipper


II reckon said the old canvas
man, as he helped himself to a liber
al allowance of tobacco, 81 reckon
that ifsome of those fellows what
write poetry had got hold of the sto
ry of o. Joseph Beggs, they'd have
made nice thing Of it,
"What was that?' L asked.
Take q seat, and I'll tell it tc
you .aaass.a .z.a, .fv Shah
So / sat down upon the dancing
barrel whilo the old canvasman re.
lated to me the story of Q. Joseph
Beggs. .. .....
That's what We always called
him." he began-"O. Joseph. The
o. stood for Oliver. 1 believe. 1
don't know how he got to part bis
name in the middle that way; but
every body in the company spoke of
him as o. Joseph, and it seemed to
please him nightly. Occasionally
some new member would call him
Joe OF Joseph, but Beggs would
look 30 panied like at such times
that his friends stuck to the 0. He
was nothing but groom, you un~
derstand, but everybody liked him,
and treated him kindly. He must
have been sixty years old, and from
the time he was toddling kid he
has scented the sawdust. He was
trained for a rider; but he met with
a bad fall when he was about twen-
ty or thereabouts. and that knocked
him out of the ring. But 1 believe
he would have stuck to the canvas
somehow if he'd had TO stand up for
a center pole. f- 5-e
sit was the season that Horton
took his company down the Miss
issippi may be you remember it?
We travelled on little wheezy steam
er which Horton had chartered, and
pitched the canvas along the banks
of the river wherever there was q
settlement. The company was no
great shakes but the field was a
fresh one in them days. and we did
a good business. o. Joseph had
charge of some of the horses, and I
was experimenting the canvas.
Some of the company had got into
the habit OF playing poker, in order
to kill time while on the boat. One
night they had persuaded o. Joseph
to SIT down to little game. There
were three others playing, and
among them was Tom Long. He
was hurdle rider a very good
one, although he would blow more
about his performances than any
other man you eyer saw. 1 never
liked the fellow, for he was regular
bully. saw him beat his ten
year-old boy one day until the
youngster could scarcely stand, and
that was enough for me. A man
wratll abuse woman or a kid amt
fit to live Them's my sentiments.
Well. as [ was saying, O., Joseph sat
down to play along with Tom Long
and a couple of other performers.
The boys had just got their salaries,
and were tolerable flush They play
ed along for an hour or SO, and then
o. Joseph got three kings dealt to
him. He drew two cards and got a
pair of sevens. / was watching the
game; so [ know the hand came to
him fair and squar. The other two
players went out on the deal. but
Tom Long took one card. Then he
and o. Joseph began to bet. They
run the pot up to twenty dollars,
which was the extent of Begg's pile.
t'NVhat have you got?' asked 0.
joseph. ,-ssa b-ar a-.fzs
"A full hand, with queen up?
says Tom Long. And he was just
about raking in the stakes when
o. Joseph said in a quiet way
Il beat You, Tom, mine is a full,
with kings uplll'' .1a -nst..s
/ ssAt thus Tom got mad, and began
10 swear like pirate. lie said
Beggs had cheated him. and that
nobody could play skin game on
him. Then suddenly he jumped mp.
and struck o. Joseph stunning
blow Under the eye. He was going
to hit him again. but the rest of US
interferred. Beggs picked himself
up, aud never said word He even
didn't claim the stakes which he had |
fairly won, but took simply his own
money. 1t was a blasted outrage,
and if T could have had my way
about it I'd thrasked Tom Long on
the spot. o. Joseph never played
another game Of cards after that.
sf5d Gat rassAsA e-aas