Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-06
DONALD'S LAST BET.
MIKE THE MOVERS LONG RUN OF
HEARTBREAKING LUCK.

The Silver Dollar He Found on the Trail
| Brought Him Luck at Last. but 1t Came
| Too Late to BE of Benefit Either to
Himself or His Starving Wife.
! a big gang had gathered at Japanese
| Tommie's gambling pavilion, in the Greek
! Indian country few weeks ago. The
place was filled with men in all stations
of border life, who were trying to carve
out a fortune through the high card.
| Hardly any one noticed the entrance of a
| seedy, broken down man, who took Il scat
at the faro table and began to play. He
had the unmistakable look of man who
had been pushed to the wall and was stalk
| ing his last cent. An old sombrero shaded
eyes that were undorlaid with heavy, dark
rings, and the gambler dropped into his
seat as though his body had been weighted
with lead.
| He threw silver dollar on the high
card. slouched his hat down over his eyes
and became motionleSs. The high card
won, and the dealer paid tho bet, pushing
| the money over toward the player. He let
it remain, and the high card continued to
win until a big pile of money lay in heap
before the foriorn looking stranger. Still
the player never moved. The deal went
steadily on, and still the high card won.
"Shake that fool up" swore the dealer
at last.
A half breed Indian first shook the
player and then pulled off his hat. The
| face of L dying man greeted his close scru-
| tiny. The dealer reached for the heap of
money, and 4 dozen pistols We're drawn
upon the instant.
"Hes as good as dead" said Faro Dick,
the dealer. Money won't do him any
good, and no one knows him."
~ DO" said Cherokee Sam, an Indian
police officer "His name is Mike Donald,
| and they call him 'Unlucky Mike, the
Mover, on the border. His wife and fam
| lily are camped down on a creek near here,
| and heard today they We're literally starry
ing"
In ten minutes Donald was dead. Apo
plexy had killed him. At once half doz-
en- willing hands bundled the winnings of
| the corpse into n handkerchief and started
| to the wife's camp, to see the widow and
| turn the money over to her One or two
| stopped to buy some provisions for the dis
| tressed ones. They found the forlorn lit
| tie camp without much trouble UnlUcky
| Mikes wife was there, but she was dead.
| She had died of starvation and exposure.
| The rough bordermen-many of them
| professional gamblers and killers, perhaps
| some of them express robbers-were hor-
| ror stricken.
| They brought the husband to the creek
and buried the two together in one grave,
| a converted Cherokee Indian preaching
| the funeral sermon. -Four little children,
| hungry, dirty and cold, were taken in
| charge by a committee the money won in
| the faro bank by their dead father was
| placed to their credit and they are now
| being furnished with good homes.
Mike Donald was noted border char
| acter Six or eight years ago he first APP
| pearcd in the west with his wife. They
| had a good team of horses and II new wag-
| on. Whenever a new country was opened
| to settlement, they We're there, ready to
| make the run to secure Il home. Down in
| No Mans Land, in 1883, Mike became a
| squattcr sheriff near Beaver City. The
| United States did not recognize that there
was such a country as No Mans Land,
and the settlers organized themselves into
q government Of their own. They selected
| their shcriffs, judges and other court Off
| GERS. Outlaws from all over the west
| flocked in, and soon No Mans Land be-
came u muruanC paradise.
While Mike Donald was sheriff he killed
| Whisky Dick at Beer City over Il game of
| cards, and from that TO the time of his
| death he was unfortunate His stock died.
| and he was never able to keep a good team
| of horses. Either they were stolen or dis
| ease carried them off. He left No Mans
Land and Travelled up to Kansas. An I'M
easy demon appeared TO possess him. He
became known rs Mike the Mover because
he was never long in one place. He was
one of an army of people who had been
fitting about over The border in covered
| wagons for years past.
A year or two ago, when cid Whirl
winds band Of Cheyenncs killed several
settlers and were on the warpath, Unlucky
Mike was near at hand and was arrested
by the federal officers, charged with sell
ing the Indians fire water and melting
them to a rebellion. 1t took him Il month
to clear himself of these charges, and by
that time his family had wandered away
and We're lost to him.
On foot he trailcd them over the Indian
country. Once he got track of the wagon
it was no trouble to follow its mcander-
ings. Any one who ever saw it would not
soon forget it. The wheels were held to-
StlllSI Nltll WIN iliIl JOpt NTdpplHg, the
bed was in splinters, and the old canvas
| top was a mass of shapcless ribbons
BY the sUperstitious the man bccameyis-
| olatcd from the humanity. When he found
his family, down upon the banks of the
Cimarron river, they were almost starved
to death. Together they continued to wan
der over the wild country like rudder-
less ship at sea. Mike had three old crow
bait horses when he first went into his last
camp, but it is said that he killed one of
the animals for food. On the day of his
death he found "A silver dollar on the trail
leading to a town near by. With this
money he determined to tempt Dame For
tune for a last time. 1t was this dollar
that he risked at japanese Tommies tent.
His little daughter Nellie told thelcom-
mittee of the finding of this dollar and
her father starting to town after some
thing to eat. Once upon time Mike had
been gambler in a small way, and doubt
less when he was passing the gambling
house his desire for play drew him in.
The wife died soon after he left tho little