The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-01-02

THE "T.ssUE PAPER RACKET"
The Originator OF That Brilliant
Idea In "Conndenee'' Card Playing.

New York Timesl
Red Shirt was product Of life among
the pennsylvania coal mines, and when not
engaged in working railway trains he made
things expensive for the rural visitors at
county fairs. He was the originator of the
brilliant idea in cards known as the tissue.
paper racket His favorite role was
that of man bored to death with
the monotony Of riding on a rail-
road, who was anxious to find congenial
Iartners for social game at euchre In
those days the newsboy with his cards and
lapboard to hire to passengers had not made
MS appearance on our railroads, and card
playing to pass the time was comparatively
. now thing. Red Shirt, who would readily
have been taken for the easy going son Of q
wealthy father, overburdened with both
time and money, always had a dainty, brand
new pack OF cards in his valise, and he sell
dom had to wait long to get up game, and
ne rarely failed to manage to select players
who had blood in them The game of
euchre seldom progressed far before Red
shirt would say, in a careless, finland way,
and apparently speaking more to himself
than to anyone else:
BY Jove! this'd be a beauty Of a hand
in a little game of drawr
whenever Red Shirt reached that stage
OF the game you could make pretty big bets
that his hand wasn't the only one around the
board that would be beauty in q game Of
draw and that other hand never failed in be-
ing four aces, cold. The man who held that
hand never failed to be Just game enough to
remark that his hand loomed up pretty fair
Tor poker hand, too. Then Red Shirt
wouldn't say anything more about it, but
make out as If he was about to proceed with
the euchre game Now, a man with four
aces in his hand, who has had the value of
hands as regards poker suggested to him,
Is not a true-born American citizen IL he
sacrifices 1t at euchre, and nobody knew this
faot better than Red Shirt The man with
the four aces would invariably pro-
pose that they test the value of
tie two hands in the usual way. Red
Shirt would at first prefer not to bet,
but finally would back his hand. The other
man would raise him, of course. And so it
would go, back and forth, until it suited Red
Shirt to bring the matter to a close, when he
would call his opponent
-Four acesr that lucky person would saw.
@'Whatr Red Shirt would exclaim, ex-
citeily. Let's see 'emr
The man would throw his cards down.
Red Shirt, picking them up, would run them
over quickly, and then rubbing his thumb
on one of the ace cards would shave eff a
covering that revealed two more spots, max
ing 1t tray spot
Look here my FRIEND he would say, in
dignantly, thought was playing with
gentlemen You can't run in any of your
Chicago tricks on met
"Then he would throw down a hand that
ways beat three of kind, and before the
."~' recovered from their astonishment
tha pnon-y would be in his possession, and he
would make a break for the car door. Hs
nsvsr failed to time his play with the move
msnts oi the train, and when the climax
cans the cars would be slowing up for a sta
ton- u ~as no trick at all for him to get
OH trata moving fifteen or twenty miles an
hour. And ha navar got caught but once that
know Of Then he was followed close by
his victim, and they both got Off the train
together. Red Shirt was given a most beau
sful trouncing, but the man did not get his
$500. 1t happened that as
Red Shirt was hurrying out of the car he
mes John Baily on the platform coming In,
sasd quic.s as flash he passed the money, ali |
up in a wad in his hand, to John.
BED Shirt made thousands Of dollars during |
his career, but he died in Pennsylvania |
poot-house Of consumption few years ago. |
l think his name was Brown.