The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-01-09
a MANNED BIBLE.
It's Singular Story Told by a
Melancholy Gambler.

WD1le saul terlng through the up
per rooms o. the White Elephant, q
curious character was pointed TO re-
porter. says the San Antonio Light.
He is p constant hatitue of these
rooms, is missed IL not there every
evening, yet has Fever been known
to wager \ penny He was accOsted
by the Light scribe, and being asked
why he never tempted fortune. being
nightly mixed up among her thrOng
of vOtaries, he said: II never gamble.
A Bible only Can make me play, yet
q Bible arrested me when l became a
confirmed player"
Upon being requested to explain
this apparent paradox he continued:
well, ii is q kind of q long story,
but Gospel truth, every word Of it.
You see I came to Texas from India
ma a few years ago. L left as pretty u
girl behind me as e. er saw a hoop
pole. Before we said our last farewell
she pushed a little Bible into my
breast pocket. She told me to read
it and wear it Tor her sake. She was
a deuced pious little girl, she was. 1
struck out for New Mexico and loi-
tered around SocOrro and Albuquer-
que doing, till the lining Of my jeans
could no longer rub against y saw
OuCh AOU 1CdI uCO uOW W pay |
cards, and some of the sports WHO |
pity on me and showed me Short
card tricks, how O stock the deck,
etc. 1t had a powerful charm for
me, did gambling. Then l drifted
along Ell Paso, reaching there q few
months before the Southern Pac. fc
shook the dust off the sage brush on
her streets. There were lively times
then, L tell you. There were killing
and robbiDg on bolh sides of the riv-
er. Sometimes two OF three would
pass in their chips OH asingle night.
One afternoon late l started to 20 to
Manning's to put up a skin game on
q sucker I had been shadOwiDg. I
placed q deck-lt was a 'ccld' M I
tell you-it was trimmed to order.
This [ put in my bosom, right where
I always carry my Bible, but between
it and my breast. There had been Il
row in the town between some of the
old policemen and some OF the new
p. licemen, and the gamblers got
mixed up in it. just as / was about |
entering the gambling saloon some
forty odd shots were fired. l took it q
all in. Six lie fell in the street-a,l r
died. / had just time to count them 7
when down 1 dropped, just feel ny F
the hot blood dripping down my legs. 9
I had been wounded twice, as I af. er- 81
wards discovered, in the ri.ht wrist,
and in the neighborhood of the groin.
! was picked up unconscious and
carried to my room. The boys took
good care of me, and in a few DAYS | G,
was allowed to ask for parti .uiars. :,
They told me that three balls rad :,
bee" sent at me during the 1fracas, ..
two OF which my wounds could ac> i,
count for. But how about the third ~
one? l asked. They explained this q.
by saying that in taking off my shirt II
they found my little Bible and my 4
short deck of cards lying directly r.
over my heart. These saved my =,
worthless life. They showed me the ~ -
Bible. Lord! how it was bored. ~
examined it. There was a tunnel w
made by a forty-five caliber ball as II
big as Billy Kersand's mouth. l ex- n1
amined 1t all the way through. 1t =,
pierced the first lid. went plumb :.
through Genesis and the Garden of -.
Eden, it raised Cain with Deuterono- II
my, vent whizziyg through Kings ",
and Samuel, PLAYING the hurricane m
with SOlomon's gil Is, it sunk a shaft da
SO deep in jeremiah you could not WI
hear q groaA. Further on, like a ", W.
hurricane on a spree, it cut the guy W.
ropes of Elijah's chariot, making the od
old prophet dismODnt. Then it mr.
struck out and went bowling through ihat
the new book, upsetting the Gospel nv;
reporters there till il eye. oned its wav ~
through Revelations, and passed d. W.;
rectly through the fifty-one cards be- w. w
hind it, and only wanted a little Ii,
more breath TO go through the last 49,
card and make an end of me-" Cd,
"What was the last card that saved b~'
yOu?' inquired the light man. baa
1T was" replied the narrator. nf
the nine spot of clubs. Only that M,
little piece of ~pasteboard between me naia
and death. But I'll tally you some iias
on this in o few minu eau 20
SWELL" continued the interviewed thr
when 1 looked at the Bible with IN;
the big hole in it I sorter began to ho,
mediate. l thought I would reform JJryy
stop ivory turning forever. NV d;ss
was in the hospital. l couldn't GOO
write, so 1 told one of the sports ""o
who was so kind to Inc to write to nro
nv girl in Indiana, tell her of the r. :
circumstances, serd her the little ~
'iddled Bible, but to say nothing of
he cards. And then l told them to
make it read kind of pious like, and TIL
ay l owed my life to her prayers.
They wrote the letter and sent the
'ook, and you can judge of the dam n
,er the reform movement in nv 1
leart met with when in two weeks, ce'e
inle back came the answer from NV and
title Hoosier gal: If you owe so VIII
much to my prayer-slinging, I'll Wer
|uit doing it any more. The man n
Who wears Hoyle's Games on his abr
cart as the Lords shield and buck. A n
sr can't have Melinda Jane Rogers crea
the very words. 1t almost pee
rOke me up. I found out the whole sers
when the boys gave me meT
ack my Bible. They found a copy mar
HOyle's Games in my room, and nve
,r a lark they sent it instead Of the whe
.vingsGospel. Why. they practiced scht
days on an old Patent Office Re II
ort with their shooters before they In
lit competent to put a natural hole i've
ito Hoyle. in'e
I got awful blue, still carried NV +Hnnes
'ible in my pocket, and borrowed q ;".
!, stake. l tackled old King Faro. tnS
had a fancy for the nine-spOt now, euu
Oh can bet, 81 I put my chips on the eea1n"s'
ine-spot, and l won and won. 1t WY
Of oyo., &C.. -- year
sp thon tu,n h",,rs 10y r aaln, aug IN only
NJ E~orv INV" No. was y au sl'- lisht
,,,ok nhnt ,;"% as. nlSneu at the
None of my money was f f
ken; only my Bible was missing U IJni,
his staggered me, but now 1 know a.aa'
THAT BIBLE BRINGS LUCK War
every one that carries it, and cop mon
RS the nine spot. The next night Whli
lost all my money. There was a WA
u, nobSy sport playing next to me. parts
e PLAYED the nine-spot for ali il wss pros
orth against old Dnhlin t;li ba shnt close
D shop in disgust. a few thousand
inIor He OlnNnd Alo -