The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-07-11
WHY HE SUCCEEDED.
AsENAToR's GOOD FORTUNE BEGAN
WITH A GAME or POKER.

AZ - ~ ss4Ns
AsENAToR's GOOD FORTUNE BEGAN
WITH A GAME or POKER.
For Him to Go West and Grow Up with
the Observation-Disclosures Of tho Bar VINO
Esasd to RAst the Pet Law Of the Town.
''My seat in the senate and all have
besides haa root in game Of poker"
Here the senator gazed benignantly
about his small audience. He was in .
reminiscent mood. He was wise, deep
sea little senator, as sapient as ever
went into executive session. Now and
then he liked to talk about the past.
''It sounds queerly to say it," the
senator continued, "but it was poker
game which lost me to the east and
gave me to the west, to become in time
senator. This is the story: I.
II was born and brought up in
town in Kentucky. It was small
town. You could throw lariat about
the whole outfit and drag 1t with q
pony. But it was highly moral town.
A 4 community It had pet law. It
made speciality of enforcing the stat
utes against gambling. No games Of
chance could thrive in that community.
And no matter what the position in life
Of an offender, were he guilty Of gam
bling he would be dealt with. Such was
the impartial boast Of the town. Indeed,
as one citizen observed:
"'They would admire to catch q
Judge or prosecuting attorney violating
the law merely to demonstrate the Pur-
itan fairness Of local sentiment.
''It was the June term Of the circuit
court. There was a crowd Of lawyers in
town. The judge himself was from
down the Ohio river. During the noon
hour quiet game of poker was talked
over as one of the happy methods of
passing the pending evening. The town
had a habit of going to bed at 9 o'clock,
and it all promised to be graveyard dull
to the visiting lawyers and the judge.
Whispered word went about, therefore,
that game Of cards, with meek and
lowly limit, would bea good way to
ward off care. But there was no place
to play,
''The hotel would never do. A light
in any room after 10 o'clock would have
provoked the most baleful surmises and
investigation as well. The prosecuting
attorney was one Of the foremost in ar
ranging the coming speculation. It was
he who, in the fertility of his nature,
suggested the fatboat. His father was
proprietor of "a fatboat Of ample cabin
accommodation. Just then it was moor
ed, bow and stern, at the foot of the
levee. A couple of games were pro-
grammed. to come off that evening in
the cabin CT the flatboat. It would be out
Of sight and hearing Of the testy little
burg which made speciality of punish
ing gambling.
It was 10 O'Clock. The night was as
dark as the interior of a COW. Two
games We're going on in the cabin of the
fla Tie judge, the prosecuting at
&C I'D some nine members of the
! engaged. It made two nice
l. Everybody was bending to the
/, nth all Of the native ardor Of a
gentleman. 1t was about this
.h. in company with a friend,
ii 81 the levee in the vicinity of
Cpet. I was 20 years Of age and
ouey. My friend was equally
ID. Our youth and our poverty
+, lie anything like poker so far as we
laerued. On discovering the old
aus charmingly engaged taste
lnoIous swept over us. We were
Tents; they were lawyers. That
eascn enough for. the joke. As the
aud fell on the swell and slack
e4opes we cast her loose Silent
;. uo drifted away over the dark bos-
Ike river. The ioyial gamesters
a.. --,. 1lled and straddled and raised
AID ailel, all unconscious. At 2o'clock
LIE morning Colonel Stebbins had
, 3.o. It was in Mexican money.
Il lad sinkered it about his honest
.4.o in half a dozen pockets. It
wcs about all Of the money at that table,
SID Cclonel Stebbins concluded he
et.t better go. He murmured some
ming about cold feet and promising his
wife 20 ca4ae up to the hotel early and
90. The rest jeered mildly and
II gdious remarks after the fash
j.. hgse.s at poker just as the game
/ up. But Colonel Stebbins was
il e,oia He put on his hat, bid ev-
good night, stepped out into
ii ~ darkness and carefully picked
- oyerbOard
= s.Ser was 20 feet deep. The sill
i out drowned the colonel, how
.asJ ne was fished out and laid
Darrel to evict the Ohio river
fir, fstom. The whoops and yells
of gers at last brought sleepy
!, 20 their aid. They found them
q. miles below the town. For
& lionel Stebbins' gains the tug
" re party back.
arTived at 2 o'clock in the aft
g. and found the town sullenly lin
ing tue leyee waiting for them. They
woto one md all promptly indicted. In
t,i54. enthusiasm Of youth my friend
and related how we had cast these
poker games adrift on the Ohio. We
made grave mistake when we told
this story Publicly we were threatened
with Indictment; privately we were
menaced with death by the gentlemen
we had betrayed to the river. We took