The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-18
GREAT MEN AT CARDS.
Brooklyn Catisen.


 playing contres of the United States, according to correspondent. Nearly every statesman can play we'll at whist and poker, and some very high stakes arc bet every session. The justices of the supreme court play whist in the most scientific way, and the same M true of Senators Sherman and Ed munds. Justice Bradley 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 circles rarely 6 week passes without come important game. Stanley Mat thews is . quiet player, and there arc card lovers here In Washington who would rather play than eat.
 Some of these card playing states- men will play for nothing but small stakes, and the stakes at the poker game at ex- Minister Schenck's house are limited to . i've cent ante. There are few public gambling houses here now, and such gambling as goes on Is at the clubs or in private rooms. Dur ing the deadlock at the capitol last winter there were a number of games played in the committee rooms, and the antics of come of our statesmen who pose as saints at home would sur prise the Methodist element ot their constituents.
 Speaking of gambling in the capi- tol, when Wintersmith was elected sergeant-at-arms he received a letter from a 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," said the gambler, land will see that we get our share of their piles. As door, keeper you will know when they are paid of, you are acq quainted with them, and we will make cords of money" It Is needless to say that Colonel Winter smith did not enter into the cOmbina- tion.
 Imet last night one of the old re- tired statesmen of the capitol, an inveterate card player and man who, though wealthy now, has in the past played some very bold games He was in congress a number of terms be- tween 1866 and 1882, and he comes from one of the western states. He has visited Washington during nearly every session of congress for the past forty years, and he can to-day play as good hand at poker as any man in Washington. Said he:
 "I don't think there Is as much gam bling now as there was during and be- fore the war. Then every one played, and we hxaSswList parties and card parties al wkAS the gold lay on the table, and it wasNat Bodisco's, the for eign ministers, that games were played night after night with sl ,000 in the bank as @ starter. One of the leading members of the past was Pendleton. He kept place here in the dnte-6ei- lum style. He furnished dinners and suppers to his guests, and he had the best cooks in the United States. He had house here, one in New York, and one in Baltimore, and 1t was the regular thing for congressman to go to his gambling rooms. He had all kinds of games-faro, roulette and PoAOA it Was ucSc tAht luu- phrey Marshall, who had been ap- pointed minister to China, lost his outfit. In those days 1t was not dis. reputable to gamble, and Henry Clay was an inveterate card player. If you will read Carl Schurz' new book, you will find how John Quincy Adams noted down the games which Henry Clay played while they were the treaty commissioners at Ghent, and suppose Adams intended to use the information against Clay at some time in the future. Clay liked poker, and he used to open a game at Hancock's, on the avenue. It was at Hancock's that Jefferson Davis, John C. Calhoun and Webster got their Apollinaris and wines while they were in the senate, and it was 6 favorite resort of forty years ago. It is said that Clay lost S2,000 here in one night, but he won, as 6 rule, instead of losing, and he was one of the best seven-up players in Kentucky"
 "How about the Kentucky congress- men of to-day?"
 "Kentucky men are, ss 6 rule, good card players. They like poker, scven- up and euchre, and Senator Beck can handle the pasteboards as well as any man in our house of lords. Joe Black burn is strong in euchre, and Carlisle plays a very fair hand at whist. Frank Pierce was a good eard- player, and George Washington himself played whist. President Cleveland can play almost any kind of game, though he has not done 70 since he has been in the White House. His favorite game is, see by the papers, . new tangled French play with long name wbich do not remember
 Do many ladies play poker in