Morning journal and courier., 1886-04-12
THEIR LAST GAME.
Faro Jack Deals and His Friend, tn. old Man, Plays and Wins.
 From, the PauI Gloha

Faro Jack Deals and His Friend, the
 old Man, Plays and Wins.
 From the St. Paul Globe
 A short and lean man stood in front of one of the windows of the Union depot and looked out into the street. His face was pale his cheeks sunken and his eyes had an unnatural brightness. A smile played over his pale face and brought into greater promi- hence his black bright eyes as an elderly man walked up to him.
 sEDid you take that medicine, Jacks" quer- jed the new conner.
 'No," replied the invalid Jack, with some difficulty. 'sIt makes me sick. I don't see no show for my life on that lay, anyway"
 The elderly man chided him for his lack of hope and soon Jack was encased in a heavy overcoat, and, assisted by his elderly com panion, was moving out in the depot in the direction of a train on the Chicago, Milwau- kee and St. Paul road. A third party stepped up, St. Paul gambler he was, and shook the invalid by the hand, and was in troduced by the latter to his elderly compan- ion.
 "Oueer business that" remarked the St. Paul member of the sporting gentry as he stood in the depot and watched the train bearing the invalid and his friend move out.
 "The sick man is Jack Talbot, one of the sleekest faro dealers that ever handled a deck or raked in chip. He's known gene rally as Faro Jack,' and his chief lay has been in Louisville. His pal is a reformed faro flat and is Jacks best friend. It's 8 purity good thing for Jack to have such a roll to play to now that he's getting near the end of his life's game. Jacks sick man and guess he's about ready to pass in his checks and end the last deal. But he's grit to the very last and will die like man when it comes his turn.
 "The old man lived in Louisville and got to gambling. I guess he always played po- ker, but faro hit him so hard after he first played it that he could not let it alone. He played it every night and was 8 big loser He kept losing right along, as he struck a bad streak of luck and couldn't win single bet All the dealers got on to him and the regular players got to coppering the old mans bets, so sure were they of his losing He quit betting big and after a while went broke after dropping few dollars. He was getting hard up and was seedy. His clothes looked tough and he was generally run down. Jack handled the faro box at the place where he dropped most of his money. In those days Jack was one of the best-Iooking men in Kentucky and dressed like 8 king. He was a great hand for the women-Jack mean-and was a dead masher. One day Jack was coming down from the rooms whe,e he had just been dealing. It was his turn off. He was dressed to kill. As he came down the stairs and out on the street young woman in black with veil attempted to pass him and force her way up stairs.
 "Jack was interested in second, and stop ping her, asked her errsnd into the gambling rooms. She told him her story; how her father was addicted to faro and how he had lost everything and had pawned her dead mothers wedding ring, and was then up in the gambling rooms. She showed her face while she was talking and was as purity as a picture, and when she asked Jack to send her father he agreed to it quicker than you can say Jack Robinson. Right back up those stairs Jack went, and catching sight of the to him and told him someone down stairs wanted to see him. The old man and Jack went down on the street. I don't know how it happened, but Jack and the girl became friends, or at least she tried to get Jack to quit playing, and also made a play at him to get the old man to stop. She died. I guess her death was brought on by her fathers disgrace and their changed mode of living, for the old man was used to live in bang up style. When she died shs made Jack prom ise to quit playing and to get her old man to quit.
 'sThey buried her and the best layout of flowers on the coffin came from Jack The old man was kinder broke up and so was Jack. Of course nobody ever knew just how it happened, but Jack and the old man had talk: they both felt down in the mouth and Jack gave the old fellow a pointer about quitting. The old man said his luck must change, and that as soon as he made a win ming he'd quit. Jack dealt his last night, for he'd given it out that he was going to get out of the business. The old man was play