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

| panama nat ana TOOK from MS DreaSC
| pocket small vial, containing some
! elixir, or possibly small glass of old
| Otard brandy. Gov. Jones himself told
me the story thus:
4 "FOr two mortal hours this orator,
greater than Bolingbroke and with
| more fascinating wissiery of speech
than Charles James Fox possessed,
| whose Silvery elOQuence no man
| ever correctly reported, Sergeant S.
| Prentiss held this vast audience SPELL
bound in the tightening grip of his fiery
eloquence. He talked like an angel.
| He argued like Lord Bacon. I
| lone moment the great crowd was in
tears, and the next moment mems hats
| were thrown in the air and the women
| for the fair sex abound at Southern
fumed handkerchiefs in the breeze.
The speaker never paused. He rose
! from SplendOr TO SplendOr, and carried
| his audience in the mid-heaven of his
! magic eloquence. His audience bowed
their heads and wept at his pathetic
| bursts of oratOry. or shouted themselves
hoarse at his terrific phillipics, as he
! eyiSccrated and annihilated, with in
/ Spired eloQuence, the enemies of the
man they all loved-Henry Clay"
| HE DIDN'T DIE.
lie had spoken for over two hours;
and in one of his grand climaXeS, Ser
geant s. Prentiss' spirit, which ''o'er in
| formed his tenement of clay" left his
/ body, and he fell fainting in the arms of
Gov. Jimmy Jones.
The governor, with tears chasing each
| other down hiS,faee, while the breath
less audience rose Oh their feet, clasped
the glorious orator to his bosom and eX-
claimed:
die, Prentiss! die. What a glorious
hour for statesman's apotheosisr'
But PientisS didn't die. The scene
beggarS description. But the fame OF
that speech travelled by the strange and
rapid transit. the free masonry of mind,
from hill to valley, all over Tennessee,
and it carried the pending election.
Two years later Prentiss did die in New
Orleans. AS BolingbrOke left no speech
equal to his fame, neither did PrentiSS.
One great congressional speech remains
in which he won his right to seat in
congress against jefferson Davis, but
this speech won by the power of argyll
ment alone. 1t is to be regretted that
there is no enduring monument left to
perpetuate the immortal memory of this
greatest and most maryelOusly gifted
of American orators.
THE VIRGINIA CITY, GAM BLERS.
took the place of great hotel in Vir-
ginia City. The capital of the gamblers
was S20O,000. and the game knew no
t limit. The sum of $1,000 week was
set aside for eyendi ct bibindi, for wine
flowed as free as spring water. A
frame house, inside splendid gambling
palace, was rough in exterior, was only
of one story and four rooms. One was
a sleeping room, and next to that was
the poker room, for state officials and
their elite friends, for the presence OF
leading men gave dignity and semi
official character to this, the best and
biggest gaming house of the far West.
The front room opened boldly from the
main street of Virginia City. was bar
room, whose rough Splend0r of brussels
carpets, solid silver gOblets and rareSt
| cut-glasS decanters and priceless paint
ingS rivaled the Hoffman bar room Of "a
quarter of century later.
The next room contained two faro
tables and two roulette wheels, and at
6 p. III. the poker room suffered a trans
formation into a dining room, where
cards of admission were needless and
where the rarest and coStliest of the
''WineS divine of ZanZovene'' graced the
| table, and a French cook rivaled and
even equaled the rareSt and richest
dishes at DelmOnicO'S cuisine or the ele-
gance of the Cafe Green in our own
Philadelphia.
A better did not ask. if there wasa
| limit to the game. Its hackers counted
their millions as-Eastern gamesters
| count their thousands. In October,
1868, a burly ranchman, John Timber-
! lake, worth a million, came up from
| New Mexico. having heard of the fame
of Gentry IL Crittenden's faro palace,
for it was known from British Columbia
to the golden slope of the Pacific.
| Joe Timberlake was known as a mill
| iOnaire, in good standing with tue San
Francisco banks and bankers. Timber
lakes telegram was good with Mackay,
| Flood d O'Brien for $500.000.
| A NIGHT OF GAMBLING.
The old ranchman, with his corduroy
| pantaloOnS tucked in his boots, was a
welcome guest. He chatted an hour
with Gov. Nye at the table d'hote din
ner, and after getting two bottles Of
POmmery Sec inside of him, the old man
Sauntered into the faro room.
GIVE me stack of $1,000 fish,
| (chipS). said Timberlake.
certainly, all you want" replied the
suave Crittenden, a nephew of the once
Kentucky United States senator of that
name.
One thousand went OH the jack. It
went where the gentle woodbine twin
| eth. Undertake lost $4,000 without
winning bet. III swOre like our army
III Flanders, and got outside of another
bottle of Sec. Luck changed, and at l
a. m. the old gentleman was $4,000
ahead of the game. Flushed with vic
tory Undertake ordered wine for the
house. But the genius of faro is as false
as tickle to the WOrShiperS at her
| frilH hrin 10 nj do II
with a LEGO bill and picked up S., 600.
| But luck failed him from that moment.
Not another gamester Staked doll ar,
such was the absorbing interest in the
| great game.
At break of day the burly ranchman,
without handing in dollar, playing a
well-established credit, was out Just
! $4,000. =.
He was cross as a bear with a sore
head, but tried to smile. Zone thOuS-
and on the ace" the cattle raiser whis-
pered, nervously. 1t lost. Old Tim
berlake rose up and without changing
| feat, he said, slowly, as if each word
weighed pound: ''Crittenden. reckon
I've had enough fun for one jamboree, -
and after ordering basket of wine for
the house, sober as a judge of the SUI
preme court and without tasting his
own wine, he seated himself at Gentry
ebony desk and cool as cucumber,
drew check on Mackay's bank for
$4,000.
The game closed and Undertake be-
took himself to his New Mexico ranch
in the first train. Such grand games,
even in Virginia City have now fallen
into inROcuOus desuetude and Nevada
gamblers limit is now 500.
But Nye and his attorney general
and Crittenden and Gentry and Tim
berlake have gone to the sweet by and
bye.