St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-01
Some Big Games OF Poker
Played Recently at Cape
HAY.
Thirty-TWo. Thousand Dollars
SWooped in by a Gotham
ite on Treys.
Nelson's Hint That No More
Crooked Playing Would
Be Tolerated.
a Game That Excited All the
Sports at the Sea-
shore.

railroad extended only from camden 10
Glasboro. and the remaining sixty
miles to the sea at Cape May were
necessarily traversed in numbering
stages or by private conveyances. says
Cape May y. j. correspondent TO the
ST Louis Globe-DemOcrat. But TO the
sporting public Cape May, with her an
tiQue ana romantic history, the oldest.
and most famous Of American watering
places. next TO Newport aud Nahant,
possessed more charms than the more
pOpulOuS summer resorts
There were two gambling houses at
the Cape. both known to fame. One was
a large three-stOTy double frame house
near the Stockton house. built by Mr..
Lehr, once famous as a negro minstrel.
Here. with negro servants and buffet
supplied with the Tarest OF foreign
wines and liquors. the sporty boys"
from Baltimore ana Washington and
from New York city spent July and
August. and most of them lived by
''ShOrt cards.
John q. ". Ware. the oldest alderman
on Cape Island. tells a good poker story,
the hero OF which was Bob Nelson. a
kentuckIan. and a relative of the no.
fOriOuS Bully Nelson. an officer in the
Union army. Bob Nelson had driven
pair OF dappled grays over from Baiti-
more 10 the Cape. and was rejoicing IN
his summer dolce far niente. StTOliing
over after dinner at the OLD Congress
hall. he was asked 10 take hand with
IOur strangers at Lehr's gambling house
in 4 game OF stud poker. This game
hits a genuine Kenluckian where
ne lives and the very name
of the game recalled TO sporting
Bob Nelson the pleasures OF the blue
grass cOuntTy at home. Nelson had
pOckeIful OF 500 bills. and being full
himself with the divine air OF the
beautiful summer night did not at first
perceive that his partners in the game
were on very Intimate terms with each
other and never lacked for the right
card with which to gather in his dueats-
Bob lost steadily until midnight. but as
he sObered up the exact character Of the
situation dawned on his mind. He
gathered together all the stake he
had remaining from one or more pocket
books. spread the 500 bills out in pile
before him he had 5000 in alb,
smOothed down the package OF bills as
though he loved the bank notes. and
than slowly pulled out huge navy re-
vOlver. and, laying il on the pile Of
greenbacks, said:
a gentlemen's game. but l don't want
this money 10 blow away"
The hint was sufficient After that.
in sight Of the cold iron. il became
thorough 'gentlemanly' game. and
Bob Nelson succeeded not only in win
ming all his money back. but. by day
Light. quit winner over $1,000.
Bob Nelson says now that lie has
never played with strangers since at
-fx-
shooter. as II materially assists IN Sc
curing a square game.
One day this week carpenter while
repairing the bath house adjacent 10 the
lawn of the new Congress hall (the old
frame building with its romantic his
tory. where Henry Clay and Reverdy
Johnson used TO spend the month of
August. having been long ago burned
10 the gTOundl. found stack Of blue
''chips" wrapped up in the faro layout
in q pair of fisherman's O.l-skin panta-
looms. 1t took the Oldest inhabitant on
the island TO tell the nature Of this
strange find" The blue chips and
green baiZe was all that was left of the
famous Blue Pig a neat little two
story cottage erected at the northeast
corner of Congress hall lawn. 1t was
built and nam, the blue Pig 10y
Harry Cleveland. most famous gam
bier in the DAYS OF Petit bone. Joe Hall.
Ned FendletOn and Cool Martin. Moth
ing but solid silver was tolerated by
Harry Cleveland. and the walters al
WAYS wore swallOw-tailed coats at din
ner. and no plebeian could enter the Sa-
cred portals OF the Blue Pig" because
chips Of a smaller denomination than s.
were not tolerated.
congressman senators. cotton plant
ers and New York bankers much az
fected the Blue Pig" No higher play
was ever seen anywhere at the sea
shore than that which nightly occurred
at Harry CleYeland'S. where the
gamblers listened TO what the
wild waves were saying while
they played poker, deyOured yellow-Ieg
plOver or listened to the music of the
T0ulette-Wheel. Schuyler Halsey, a
well-knOwn New York gambler. who
for years ran a game in Fulton street In
the metropolis. was frequent visitor al
the Cane and a patron of the BLUE
Pig" IL was all ideal gamblers haven.
with none 10 modest or make afraid.
Among the many casual visitors 10
the Island was that arDiter Of elegance
among the sporting men of New York
city. Mai. Crump. CT the Shakespeare
club. who has had nearly fifty wears
experience on the turf. Yesterday the
major. who IS a guest at the "Chal-
fOnte'' in this city. in giving some in
teTesting recOlIectiOns OF the Blue
Pig said:
1T was IN 1875. the year Buchanan
was elected president. l spent my DAYS
at Congress hail during midsummer and
my nights at the Blue Pig.-Neyer have
1 seen such elegance audzsach cuisine
elsewhere as Cieyeland'S cook put be-
fore his guests. Harry was absolutely
rolling in wealth, and July anil
August at the shore was his
time 10 play the matured magnifico. and
YOU may be sure he did n with a row
ally lavish hand. / saw the biggest
game OF poker at the Blue Pig in SO
that ever saw in my life. There we're
five at the table-Cleveland. SCHUYLER.
Halsev and his friend one OF the Phila-
delphla Whitneys) and TWO Southern
planters.
The pot was opened with s. ante.
and all the five came in. Cleveland
'straddled the blind with $40. and still
all the other four stayed. The draw
was dealt. Whitney only drew pair of
jacks. and went out. as did one of the
planters, who drew nothing better than
an ace high. The second planter
soon followed suit. although he
had four tours in his hand. This
left only Cleveland and HalSsv in the
game. and each. with check-bOOk in
hand, eagerly scanning the pot saw
each other and went many thousands
better. The game soon grew intensely
eXciting-not only to the players. but
also 10 the 0nlOokers-and it was plain
as pikestatf that one Of the two would
20 broke at the end Of that game.
cleveland looked confident, but not
less so than HaIsey. who finally. in re.
spouse to a 500 raise Of Cleveland. nom
ebaiantly tossed upon the table a check
for 5000. After a moments delay
Cleveland saw it and raised Halsev
$1,000 but the sUaYe New York gambler
smilingiy went Cleveland 81, 600 better.
and his face was a study for a sphinx.
Cleveland could not stand the pres
sure, and angrlly threw down his
cards. while Schuyler Halsey, his face