Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-05-08
SENATOR VESTS JOKE.
low Che Missouri Statesman CAnao q
Emigrate from Kentucky.

SENATOR VESTS JOKE.
low the Missouri Statesman Came TO
Emigrate from Kentucky. = +
While Polk Laffoon was waiting for
lis train last evening he entertained a
>arty of friends in the rotunda at AL
,xanda''s Hotel by relating several
tits of uuwritten history about some of
he big guns as Washington. One story
n particular will be of interest to the
.dmirers of Senator George G. Vest, of
Missouri. It illustrates how trifing
Kings turn, at times, the whole course
# mans life. Mr.. Laffoon said the
tory was told to him by Mr.. Vest him
elf.
"Vest was raised in Owensboro,"
laid Mr.. Caffoon, land when he was
!oung man he was far from being all
nigel. In fact he was very much OF
AXE, and ardently addicted to both
:ards and whisky. About the time
Vest was indulging his taste for the
oaste- boo rds most unrestrainedly, one
If those spasmodic moral waves struck
)wensboro, and all the gamblers and
gambling places, then enjoying a
leydey of prosperity, were BAN
shed. The boys were hard up for
place to satisfy their thirst for poker,
Ind they looked about for some place
20 play, without running the risk of
being seized by tho dreaded hand of
he law. An old fellow, who had some
'ort of nondescript craft anchored at
;he wharf, came to their relief, and the
Boys were in the habit of playing in
The cabin of his boat every night, As
happens everywhere where cards are
played, there lived in Greensboro a
shark. He played close and generally
Won, letting no chance escape him.
Every time he got about $25 or $50
winner he would suddenly remember
that his wife was sick and had sent
him for medicine, or would have some
other excuse for quitting. One night
Vest and a friend, both of whom were
broke and about half full of corn-juice,
;auntered down toward the boat where
heir sheckles had disappeared into
The old sharks pocket They saw
rom the light aboard that a game was
n progress, and they knew the old
shark was playing. Vest and his COM
oanion both blessed the squeezer in
The unstinted manner their condition
would suggest, and finally Vest said:
I'll fix him. Taking out his knife
ne severed the cable which held the
ooat to the shore. Out into the
liver the craft drifted. When it
lad gone about five miles down Old
Shark made his usual excuse and rose
20 go. Out of the lighted room into
The darkness he went. He made step
where he thought the gang plank was,
out it was, of course, not in it's place,
md with a yell he went down into the
liver. The others heard his cry, and
oy means of ropes rescued him. The
game had been so absorbing that no
,ne had noticed the motion of the boat
after it's release from the wharf. When
The shark reached shore, wet and mad,
ne secured a buggy and drove back to
0wensboro. 1t was that fellow Vest
that did this said he, and I'm going
20 kill him. He secured a double-bar-
relied shotgun and started to lool. for
Vest. The old shark was dangerous
man, and Vest being warned by his
friends, concluded he had nothing to
tie him to greensboro, so he left at
once. He went to Missouri, where he
had a cousin who was clerk of one of
the local courts. Vest went into his
office, there began to study law, and
later commenced to practice. He be-
came a leader in politics, was elected
TO one Office after another, and to-day
is one of the ablest men ever in the
United States Senate. If he had stayed
in Greensboro he would probably have
gone on in the old rut and never
amounted to a hill of beans. BY the
way, Senator Vest never drinks now.''