Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-07-21
GREAT MEN AT CARDS.
SOME NOTED STATESMEN OF THE
PAST AND PRESENT.
Cards In the capitol-The Cheeky Propo-
sifion Of = Tex.s Gambler-Clsy as
Card Player-Minister schenck's Unjust
Title-The Games of To-day.

Card Player-Minister schenck's Unjust
Titie-The Games of To-day.
Especial Correspondence.l
WASHING TON, July 16.-This city is one OF
the great card playing eenters of the United
States Nearly every statesman can play
well at whist and poker, and some very high
stakes are bct every session. The justices Of
the supreme court play whist in the most
scientific war, and the same is true of SEN
ators Sherman and Edmunds Justice Brad
ley is accounted one of the best whist players
Of the United States, and Miller and Gray
understand all the ins and outs Of the game
Senator Thurman is a good whist player,
and in the supreme court circle rarely a week
passes without some important game. Stan
ley Matthews is quiet player. and there are
card lovers here in Washington who would
rather play than eat
Some OF these card playing statesmen will
play for nothing but small stakes, and the
stakes at the poker game at ex-Minister
Schencks house are limited to five cent
ante. There are few public gambling houses
here now, and such gambling as goes ON is at
the clubs or in private rooms. During the
deadlock at the Capitol last winter there
were number of games played in the COM
mittee rooms, and the antics of some Of our
statesmen who pose as saints at home would
surprise the Methodist element Of their con-
stituents
Speaking of gambling in the:Capitol, when
Wintersmith was elected sergeant-atarms be
received letter from noted gambler in
Texas urging him TO enter into partnership
with the gambler and to run game in the
Capitol.
"You can run the men in,n said the gam
bier, land will see that We get our share Of
their piles. As doorkeeper you viii know
when they are paid of, you are acquainted
with them and we will make cords Of
money" It is needless to say that Col
Wintersmith did not enter into the combina-
tion-
l met last night one of the old retired
statesmen Of the Capitol, an inveterate card
player and a man who, though wealthy now,
has in the past played some very bold games.
he was in congress number of terms be
tween 1866 and 1882, and be comes from one
Of the western states. He has visited WASH
ing:on during nearly every session of con-
gress for the past forty years, and be can
today play as good hand at poker as any
man In Washington. Said be:
81 don't think there is as much gambling
now as there was during and before the war.
Then every one played, and we had whist
parties and card parties at which the gold
lay on the table, and it was at Bodisco's, the
foreign minister's. that games were played
night after night, with 81 900 in the bank as
q starter. One Of the leading gamblers of
the past was Pendieton. He kept a place
here In the ante-bellum style. He furnished
dinners and suppers to his guests and he had
the best cooks In the United States Hehad
house here, one In New York and one In Belti-
more, and it was the regular thing for con-
gressmen 20 60 to his gambling rooms He
had all kinds Of games-faro, roulette and
poker-and it was here that Humphrey Mar
shall, who had been appointed minister to
China, lost his outfit. In those days it was
not disreputable to gamble, and Henry
Clay was an inveterate card player II you
will read Carl Schurz's new book you will
dnd how John Quincy Adams noted down
the games which Henry Clay played while
they were the treaty commissioners at
Client, and suppose Adams intended to use
the information against Clay at some time
In the future. Clay liked poker, and be used
to often play at Hancock's, on the avenue.
It was at Hancocks that jefferson Davis,
John c. Calhoun and Webster got their apol-
linaris and wines while they were in the
senate, and it was favorite resort of forty
years ago. It is said that Clay lost &, 900
here in one night, but he won as a rule in
stead Of losing, and he was one Of the best
seven up players in Kentuckyn
How about the Kentucky congressman of
todayf'
Kentucky men are ns a rule good card
players They like poker, seven up and
euchre, and Senator Beck can handle the
pasteboards as well as any man in our house
Of lords Joe Blackburn is strong in euchre,
and Carlisle plays O very fair hand at whist
Frank Pierce was a good card player, and
George Washington himself played whist.
President Cleveland can play almost any
hHd Of game, though he has not done so
since he has been in the White House His
favorite game is, l see by the papers, a new
tangled French play with long name which
do not remember"
do many ladies play poker in Washing
toni"
''Not many; but there are some who
handle the cards as they bet on races. They
are not fond of large stakes, however, and q
penny ante suits them. / don't believe in
women playing for money; they grow ex-
cited tco easily and get angry, and 1t costs
more than it comes to
There was some time ago gambling den
In a very respectable part of the city. 1t
was kept in one of the best houses, and the
man who ran it get in by representing him
self as q state department clerk He had
good references, and the family took him in
as boarder. He proved quiet and gentle
manly, but it was noted that he had great
many visitors during the late hours OF the
night, and the owner of the house was finally
told that his boarder was running faro
bank in bis house. He investigated the mat
ter and found il TO be true, and straightway
gave the man notice to leave. BE took rooms
In smother part OF the city and played the
saine game there. and for all know be may
Be running his game yeti
~ suppose the best poker player In Wash
lpgtn Is Minister Schenck, Is be notf'
t"I Go not think so,n replied the statesman.
sschenck Is not the man that the people Of to-
day think him to be- BE Is q man OF great
oalture, Of wide reading and extraordinary
mental capacity. BE hos had o wonderful
history, and there is nothing OF the gambler
sbout him. He plays cards for the fun Of
ths thing, and bis nickname Of Poker Bob
Is most unjust one 1t was given him by
one Of lis enemies, o newspaper man in Lon
don whom be bad slighted when he was min
lister there. This man telegraphed home to
the United States that Minister Schenck bad
written book on Poker as the Great Amer
&can G.-r1e,' ci.d had had it published in
England The 1tory went the rounds Of the
Eess The photographers dubbed our nainis-
0er ut London Poker Eob.' The name caught
ani il sticks to Schenck to this day,
s.The truth of tie matter was that Schenck,
in discussing the beauties Of American
games, end especially poker, with duchess
at ono OF the queens receptions, interested
her co tint she asked him to write out de-
scriptioD OF poker and the rules for playing
a.. IIe did so ard she pUas 80 Dlensed with