St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-22

ment about the big games of faro and
roulette which occupied much of the
spare time of cow boys and statesmen
and the business man or raIfch owner,
who could Ego call his cattle hOme''
from thousand hills. Poker was
entirely too slow a game for the
Nevada City boys, albeit there was
generally quiet game going on at the
two leading gaming houses in the city,
at which such men as William Nye, the
famous New York politician, first gov
ernOr and then United States senator
from Nevada, with his attorney general
and the other leading political minds.
were ever ready to make an all-night
poker game, which generally began
with s. ''limit' and ended when every
man was broke save the man. with a
"bOb-tail flush" who raked in the pot
toward morning, and sometimes the
game lasted two days and two nights in
succession, and the ''blear-eyed gambler
homeward bent his steps" only when he
went broke.
81 FXORTCNES WON AND LOST.
The most famous gambling house in
Nevada was operated by Gentry IL Crit
tenden. Gentry was long, lean Texan,
relative of Meredith z. Gentry, the
aforementioned Wing orator and
and friend of Jimmy Jones, once gov
ernOr of Tennessee, and longtime
member OF congress, says the Philadel-
phia Times. Strange that the one an
ecdote, which best pOrtrayS the impul-
Sive character of Gov. Jones, of Ten
neSSee, connects his name with Sergt.
5. PrentiSS, the most wonderful orator
this country ever produced. And, by
the way, Rev. DR.. Prentiss' life of his
brilliant and marvelOuSly gifted brother,
Sergt. s., i'll two Volumes is work of
thrilling interest, now out of print and
almost forgotten. PrentiSS, the states
man and lawyer, won and lost at faro
six fortunes and one night, after a
scholarly and profoundly eloquent ad-
dress TO THE New England society,""
i'll New Orleans, where Mr.. PrentiSS
practiced law after leaving Pittsburg,
he bit a piece out of champagne glass
and died from swallowing the broken
bits OF glass.
In the palmieSt days of Harry Clay'S
name and fame, Sergt. S. Prentiss was
found by some of his thousands of Wing
admirers at the old Merchants hotel ,
Fourth, near Arch, then the favorite
hOStelry in all Philadelphia, at whic h
the Democratic and Wing StateSment of
that period delighted to pause for the
entertainment OF man and beast" for
much of the travel of that time was done
Oh horseback. Here, with the elder
McKibben, prince among hotelkeep-
erS, James Buchanan, the "Sage of
Wheatland,' was wont to stop for
weeks, and from the upper piazza of the
Merchants, the elegant and cOurtly
once, held spell-bound with his South
ern OratOry, as rich and persuasive as
that of Leon Gambetta, the fiery orator
of France, his friends, retainerS and adj
mirerS among the unterrifed Democracy
of dear Philadelphia.
PRENTISS IN PHILADELPHIA.
But to return to our PrentiSS mutton.
1t is said there are no friendships Sc
lasting as those of politics, nor any hat
reds more enduring. Respectfully re-
ferred to Statesmen Leeds and Nc
ManesI After political love feast at
the Merchants hotel, at which the lead
ing Wings of that day fingered with
their idol, Mr.. PrentisS, till the hour
when churchyards yawn, the political
leaders separated, with the understand
ing that Sergeant S. Prentiss should
make speech in front of Independence
hall at high noon. PrentisS was then a
member of congress from Missis-
sippi, and had just defeated Gov
FOOte, of Mississippi, with whom he
had fought bloodlcss duel the year be
fore. PrentiSS was never in Philadel-
phia but twice in his brief but brilliant
career, but the Wings were too proud OF
their champion, who had met and de
feated Jeff Davis twice on his own
Mississippi ''dung-hill." 1t was given
out briefly in the few morning Journals
of Philadelphia that the gifted orator
PrentiSs would give reason for the
hope that was within him, as an old
time Wing, at noon Of that day. Nor
ton McMichael, who told the tale a
Henry G. Carey's house, Walnut street
above Eleventh, one Sunday evening
before Gen. Grant and the late Senator
John p. Hale, the WittieSt of American
senator's, said:
| A SPEECH TO THE MULTITUDE.
Long before - O'clock an immense
audience gathered on Chestnut street
between Fifth and Sixth, blocking VI
the entire street. PrentiSS, who had
Greek face, clear cut features, was as
handsome as a picture-he limped like
Lord ByrOn-came leaning on the arm
of friend a little before noon. A wild
shout went up cheering PrentisS to the
echo. for every man who loved Henry
Clay admired and even idolized hi;
chosen and dearest champion in all the
South. There were 5000 people pres
ent. Some enthusiastic Wing, thinking
the stone steps of independence hal
not high enough for the orator, man
| aged to push through the crowd larg,
| dry goods box, and upon this box Mr.
PrentisS was lifted bodily by his enthu
| siastic henchmen.
II have heard Clay and Webster" con
tinued that famous raconteur, Mayor
| McMichael, ''but never heard from the
| lips of mortal man such overwhelming
tide and torrent of political invective
brilliant word painting, wondrous clio
quence and scathing denunciation of his
political adversaries. Prentiss spoke fol-
two hours and never heard the words Of
any orator now living or dead so thrill