The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-10-01
TAKEN IN BY A "PRINCE."
Culpeper Jones, the Champion Poker Player or
Florida AStonished.

the interior and stopped at the big no.
tel OF a small town. Col. Culpeper
Jones was the proprietor and had
characteristics that marked him as n
man more prominent than any OF his
fellow townsmen. When | registered
the colonel came in and noted that !
was from New York. He unbuttoned
his linen buster, put his wide-brimmed
straw hat on the desk, and welcomed
ME:
"Glad you've come; we arefull, very
full, but III make room for you. We
keep swell hotel and have only first
class people"
How long he would have continued
to puff his hotel / have no idea; cut
him short by asking him to come and
have a drink with me. He stared at
me in amaZement,
There amt anything in this town
but Jamaica ginger to drink; AMI
amt got nc cramp, said he, in a sad
voice.
/ answered hat my stomach, too,
vas free from pain and wanted no hot
bath. added sarcastically: Colo
mel, | never knew a swell hotel to be
without good Shiskey."
He never replied, but took my arm
and marched me out on the piazza. He
ther stood before me in a proud, de-
fiant way, slowly buttoned his linen
buster and pulled his hat far down
over his eyes. Marching up closely he
whispered: II have good whisky, but
few know it. That clerk OF niue does
not know it; ! keep it hid in jugs"
We soon tried the contents OF a Jug
on tap. The Colonel became commu-
NEGATIVE and said that he had a fine
young man boarding with him who
had been looking for checks for two
months.
"He is a prince, sir; dresses well,
shoots true to the mark, and doesn't
care for expenses" he added, to coun-
teract the effect his remark about
checks might have made.
you don't mean a prince OF nobili-
ty, a real article, do your" | asked.
He said no, only a prince in his
dashing way and style. | concluded
the young man was simply beat and
would never receive any checks.
Colonel Culpeper Jones was a widow-
er, and had one daughter, old enough
to vote. She had red hair. Hername
was Melvina Fay Jones, but the boys
in the town called her "0ld Cuts
daughter She danced we'll, and read
Seaside library novels, and played a
little on the piano. Ii the Colonel
loved anything better than a stiff
game of poker it was his daughter.
Nobody in town could beat the Colonel
at poker, and he was acknowledged to
be the best player in that section, il
not in the State. Every night after
supper he gathered about him a few
novices and taught them the mysteries
o poker az 5 cents ante and 25 cents
limit.
IN just teaching these fellows, and
OF course | don't play a sure game.
Of course. | win the littledabs put up;
! could shut my eyes and do that you
know the colonel would say to the
bystanders.
He had a colored boy trained to
wait upon the card-table. Whenever
Culpeper was dry hecalled tor Jamaica
ginger. and You boys haveadrap?"
he would ask, shutting the cards.
They all took "a drap,s but the
colonel drank good whisky all the
same, while the boys gulped down the
fiery Jamaica ginger. became deeply
Interested in Colonel CuIpeper's daily
diversions and the young man who
acted ike a prince" After a weeks
stay / discovered that the young
prince affected q fancy for Miss Melvina
Fay Jones and that she reciprocated
his royal attentions. The prince
wasn't bad looking az all He had
q good address, and imagined
that he was some wealthy mans
son on q lark. He called Colonel
Jones Colonel Cul." and breviated
the names of all those he came in
contact with, even addressing Miss
Jones as Miss Mel, He got along
swimmingly. Colonel Gull" loaned
him 5000, besides the two months
board bin he owed. lie monopolized
the Colonel's buggy, but that was all
right, because he always took the fair
MisgsJones with him. | never saw the
prince playing poker with the Colonel.
The hotel clerk explained it by saying
that tit aln't policy for a good poker
playcr to loan money to those he
plays agln.v He further added that
Kernel Culpeper didn't want to rob
his guests; that no man in Florida
could hold him q hand on draw
poker"
( wondered how the prince would
manage to settle his board bill. He
owed the Colonel $500, counting
all his expenses. One evening the
Colonel was entertaining his pupils 1T
draw poker when the Prince gaily
tripped IN, and said:
"Ah. there, Col. CuP?v
Before the Colonel could answer the
Prince continued. uN+ou aonf n,a ~,