The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-22
A BIG POKER PER-
Vho Hanse In Which tho Mersy I'm tho
| Treasury Was Put I'm.

Une Came I'm Which tho Morsy In tho
Treasury Was Put Up.
!. a group of gentlemen were discuss.
ang the national game of poker at the
city hall the other day, giving instances
OIL the big hands they had seen or heard
OF. Among. chem was u onc-armed yete-
ran OF the late unplensantness. sNNelI.
gentlemen, remarked the latter. ..the
biggest hand ever played in this coun-
Try or In any other as for that, was
one saw right here in Washington
shortly after the close of the war That
game was played where you would
never have dreamed Of"
Where was that?" he was asked.
In the vault of the treasury" he re-
Piled AT that time" he resumed. 81
was in command of numb Der of vete-
rams, not one of them complete man,
as regards the usual complement of
arms and legs allotted by nature, who
had been, together with myself, select
ed by the war department, at the re-
quest of the secretary of the treasury,
to guard the treasury vaults. Some
half dozen of these men were nightly
locked up by me in the vaults The
time, as you may imagine, passed slow
ly and tediously enough for men not
long returned from the danger and
excitement of war, and one night a
pack of cards was produced to while
away the time. Very naturally, the
game suggested was the seductive one
OF poker. None of the boys were verv
flush, SO the limit was placed at a very
low figure.
The game continued right through
the night until about three O'Clock in
the morning, when about the only man
pecuniarily able to keep on was a one
legged fellow from somewhere out
west. There were two others, how
ever, who. although broke, were very
anxious to continue playing. One was
a one.lcggcd chap from down east, and
the other was man from New York.
whose left arm was missing at the ell
bow. Both of these men were. how
over. opposed to borrowing, SO the
Yankee suggested that each man should
supply himself with certain amount
of Uncle Sans millions which Law
about the vault securely scaled in pack
ages containing from several thousands
to millions of dollars, and play but one
hand. The novelty Of the idea caucbt
them at once, and in moment or two
himself with $4,000. OOO
1t was agreed that 500, 900 should be
the ante and $685. the limit The
New Yorker got the deal and the fell
low from New England coollv slammed
down his ante of 100000 When the
cards had been dealt the New England
er called for three, the Westerner said
he was satisfied with what he had, and
the man from New York gave himself
TWO cards There were three antes of
Sl00 900 each in, when the fellow from
the west made his bet another 500.
600. The New Yorker droppcd
in enough to raise that insight
ficant sum just double, while the
Yankee came in ut the limit There
was then something over IL cool million
in the pot The Western chap then re-
marked that he had them right there,
and suggested that the limit be dis
pensed with. The Down Easter at first
'demurred, but finally agreed. The
Hoosicr-l remember now he was from
Indiana-pitched in fve-million bet,
which the fellow from New York, saw
and raised another half-million. The
New Highlander made himself solid and
rested. Blood was in the eye of the
Hoosier, SO he clipped in five millions
more. The New York chap was game,
and responded with raise of couple
of millions. The Yankee hesitated
right there, but once more made him.
self square. The fellow from Indiana
then pitched in what he had left. The
New Yorker remarked those were his
sentiments exactly. There was moth
ing left for the Yankee TO do but TO
stay in to the finish, which he did. A
show of hands followed for the pot of
S+5.OOo,O0o To the surprise of every
one, the man from the cas-. raked it in
on a pair of kings. The New Yorker
showed pair of sevens, while the
Hoosier's great bluffing propensities
were shown when he disclosed the fact
that he had nothing whatever. Right
there, gentlemen, took possession of
the pasteboards, and no other pack
ever made its appearance there again
while was in command. Imade the
boys swear to keep it mum, and guess
am the first fellow to give it away
Washington Star.