The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-20
CLAY AS A POKER-PLAYER.
An Albright Game with Il Once-Prominent
Indiana Senator.

An Albright Game with q Once-Promtnent
Indiana Senator.
Washington Correspondence Baltimore Herald.
Eyes, sir, that's the very same table on which
Mr.. Clay used to lose the greater part of his
congressional salary. AS l said. Clay and
Bright sat down to play at 8 o'clock. Now,
Bright, said Mr.. Clay, as the game began, 'un-
derstand that l cannot play later than u o'clock.
l promised to attend church in Alexandria to-
morrow morning, and 1 don't want to 90 there
looking as if l had been up all night
The blind was half a dollar, "a dollar to come
in and no limit to bets. In those days there was
no limit, as there generally is now. All a man
could demand was a sight for his money. The
was a noted card-shufler. He could hold his
hands four feet apart and fly the cards from one
to the other without a single card falling. His
favorite style was to mix the cards from the end,
and not from the sides, holding q half deck in
each hand, flirting the ends with his thumbs,
and mixing them into a perfect pack with one
movement. He usually dealt with one hand,
with scarcely a perceptihle movement of the
arm, his long, muscular fingers enabling him to
throw each card to its proper place. But Clay
was not a good poker player, Like most intel
lectual men, he played for the excitement, not
for gain, and, as a rule, he was SO careless about
his bets that he come out loser. He had a pas
sion for big bets, and he rarely failed to straddle
the blind or raise the bet after the game got
fairly started. So, if the luck came his way, he
would win heavily as long as it lasted. But he
was a great buffer, and bet high whether he had
the cards or not. The men he played with found
this out, of course, and he never came out of a
prolonged game without being feeced.
'For nearly two hours that night Clay had
everything his own way with Bright. If he
didn't hold a king-full four times hand running,
followed by a jack-full, then L hope l may be
shot for lying. Bright tried his best to catch
Clay in a bluff, but it was no use. Clay came to
the front every time with a hand that nothing
but fours could phase. At 1890 Bright had lost
81, 800, and had borrowed $500 from John Han
cock. After that Clay's luck deserted him, but
he failed to recognize it. He continued to bet
as high on a pair of duces as he had been betting
on an ace-full. BY midnight he had lost all his
winnings and s., 900 besides, all the cash he had
with him.
II guess we'd better quit, said Bright, as you
want to go to church to morrow"
"Oh! blow the church" replied Clay; do you
suppose | want to hear a man preach right on
top of losing 81, 900 at poker9 Not much. You
jest lend me $500 and let the game go on"
$50 the game proceeded, and at daylight Clay
was in debt to Bright to the amount of 81, 500,
and that is the way it stood when the game
ended. 1 heard afterward, from Hancock, that
Clay liquidated that debt by giving Bright a
deed to 800 acres of Kentucky land and trans.
ferring to him six shares of stock in a Louisville
bank"
so Clay didn't go to church that morningp'
the old timer was asked.
''Well, 1 was just going to tell you about that.
| am not responsible for the story, as | was not
there and have no personal knowledge of it.
But, as told then, Clay went to his room that
Sunday morning, shortly after daylight, to go to
bed. But he took a sudden resolution to go to
Alexandria anyhow and keep his church engage
ment. He went in the carriage of a friend.
Quite a crowd followed him when he went out to
get in his carriage. There a number of people
were presented to Nj. Clay, among them the
rector of the church. The s>Nry was that while
he was talking to the reverend gentleman Clay
put his hand in his pocket to pull out his hand
kerchief, and in doing this a pack of cards was
suddenly spilled on the GROUND. Clay was not
the least abashed, but deliberately gathered up
the cards, replaced them in his pocket and re-
marked to the minister and others who were
standing there that a friend had put the cards in
his pocket as apractcal joke"