Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-07-27
A POKER STORY.
Ralph w. s:mpISins, Lnrimore, N. ID.

one with a seemingly disinterested
yawn, suggested quiet game of draw
poker in a secluded place.
The proposition was received with
favor, as it was put to each one in
turn, but just before it came to me
portly man who hitherto had been
rather silent, put strong objection
on his part.
Just little game with a flve-dOllar
limit, and Il man may withdraw when
he Wishes" urged the originator, well
knowing that n mans couSeniality
rarely allows him to pull out of Il game
unless he is forced to by lack of cash
and then-well, the other fellows new
CT object.
~ can look upon no game Of poker"
responded the pOrtly gentleman, "wlth
n limit less than that of death itself
since -
"Since you dropped your last wad
eh?' put in an insurance MAJ, who was
little irritated at the mans refusal 10
play.
mo. sir, since / saw death as the
result of game. suggested under cir
cumstanccs similar to these-a human
life sir, sacrificed at the gamcsters'
altar of pleasure and excitement"
/ always like to hear poker stories,
well told, and imagined that this man,
although not deemed talkative by the
rest of the crowd, had good one on
hand, and l fanciod he could dress 1t
out in fitting style, so l asked him to
relate the incident.
One or two of the others became in
terested, and as a result he consented
to tell us about ii.
1T was natural enough" he began.
"Sitting in the Office Of hotel In one
of the Western cities were drummer
for wholesale liquor house, collector
for an Eastern firm, two other drum
mers whose line l do not recollect.
and myself, then the representative of
q Cleveland playing-card manufacturer.
at was in the evening, and as we
had been together pretty much all the
afternoon, the conversation sagged.
"Some one proposed game of poker.
No one objected. and we retired 10
room where we would be free from OBJ
servation. The materials for the game
were quickly produced, as also was
table, which looked suspiciously like
one which had been used for similar
purposes on many previous OCCASION.
None of us We're professional gam
blers, ut least 1 am sure l was not,
although / liked little game once in
while, just for the excitement II
afforded. And right here / may say
i do not think that since that fatal
game one member of that little COM
pany has ever touched Il card for the
purpose of gambling.
1.-The game progressed finely. None
| of us were losers Of any great amount
| and the pots seemed to be distributed
| about equally among us. That was all
right for n starter, but poker game,
as YOU all know, does not get real in
teresting. nor does the excitement reach
,ne highest pitch until the players be-
! gin to buck one another on the freeze
out plan.
This point of the game came along
rs slowly and surely as fate. Shortly
after midnight. \ Jackpot was made
and the liquor man opened it. Every
body staid and drew cards.
Somebody l do not know whom,
moved that we take the limit off. That
oil excepting myself were well fixed
with cards l knew 10y the eager way
they gave their assent.
THE first drummer to my left-it was
my deal-had drawn three cards; the
second drummer two cards and the col
lector and the liquor man, who sat
next in order drew one card apiece.
"As for myself, held up two cards,
! Jacks, and drew seven spot OF dia-
! monds, 1O-spot Of hearts and queen of
spades. That settled me l passed up
my hand.
1.-The first drummer opened the Skin
mish with n twenty. The second drum
mer raised him thirty dollars and was
in turn raised by the collector. The
liquor man did not show any lack OF
interest and he saw the collectors bet
and raised him n hundred.
This made two hundred in the pot.
I was out. Of course, and on the next
turn around the first drummer signi-
fed his intention of passing. The sec
ond drummer raised the pot fifty dol
lars and the collector saw him and
threw in two hundred to kind o scare
out the liquor man, but he didn't scare
worth Il ounce and he raised the col
lcc:or back Il cool two hundred and
fifty
with $3.50 in the pot the game be-
gan to get interesting and was made
even more so by the collector ringing
for the clerk.
"When that worthy came he was in
structcd to fetch UP an envelope the
collector had deposited in the hotel
safe during the day. With the arrival
of that the game began with renewed
intensity.
1.-The second drummer threw up his
hand. This left 1t to the collector and
liquor man. The former tore open his
envelope and extracted therefrom n
large roll of bills, evidently his collec-
tons for the month.
ut was then that the game of poker
stopped and the game of freeze out be-
gan. The liquor man had plen.y of
money, and raised each other back
and forth until there were fully $1,000
on the table. Then to my surprise the
liquor man called.
"He evidently had just enough left
TO do so and it was a fatal mistake OF
the collector in not throwing on his
whole pile in the first place, thus forcing
the liquor man out.
For moment they eyed each other
and then laid down their hands as cool
IL