Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-08-15
WHY HE SUCCEEDED.
se,A7oR,s GOOD FORTUNE BEGAN
H7H A GAME OF POKER.

a.
.;des had root in game of poker. :
usrs the senator gazed benignantly
~ his small audience He was in a
an,iniseent mood. He was wise, deep
~ little senator, as sapient as ever
81 INFO executive session. Now and
nm he liked to talk about the past.
m sounds queerly to say it," the
.nator continued ''but it was poker
anne which lost me to the east and
80 90 me to the west, TO become in time
senator. This is the story:
IT was born and brought mp i'll a
,own in kentucky. 1t was a small
Nm You could throw lariat about
.5e whole outfit and drag it with "a
Inv But il was highly moral town.
& y community it had pet law. 1t
-ado a speciality of enforcing the stat
M against gambling. No games of
nance could thrive i'll that community
And no matter what the position in life
e Al offender, were he guilty Of gam
hin, he would be dealt with. Such was
M impartial boast Of the town. Indeed,
as one citizen observed:
o'They would admire to catch a
! ,ndge OF prosecuting attorney violating
! he law merely to demonstrate the Pur-
4 IAN fairness Of local sentiment.
at was the June term of the circuit
court There was a crowd Of lawyers III
town The Judge himself was from
down the Ohio river. During the noon
bour a Quiet game Of poker was talked
over as one of the happy methods of
nassing the pending evening. The town
lad habit Of going to beaat O'Clock,
and it all promised to be graveyard dull
"a III visiting lawyers and the judge.
Whispered word went about, therefore,
that game of cards, with a meek and
lowlv limit, would be good way tie
ward off care. But there was no place
to play
1.-THE hotel would never do A light
IA any room after 10 O'Clock would have
4 rroyoked the most baleful surmiSes and
investigation as WELL The prosecuting
attorney was one Of the foremost i'll ar
/ ranging the coming speculation. 1t was
\ he who. in the fertility of his nature,
4 suggested the fiatboat His father was
A pronrietQr Of fiatboat of ample cabin
accommodation. Just then it was moor
. ed. bow and stern, at the foot of the
A leree A couple of games We're pro-
. gammed to come off that evening in
.hecabn Of the flatboat 1t would be out
I Il sight aad hearing Of the testy little
|barg which made speciality of punish
mg gambling.
II was 10 O'Clock. The night was as
ozark as the interior of cow. Two
games were going on i'll the cabin of the
failat The judge, the prosecuting at
&tnmay and some nine members Of the
#bar were engaged. 1t made two nice
#tabes Everybody was bending to the
game with all Of the native ardor Of
Kentuaky gentleman. 1t was about this
#tima When, III company with a friend,
] stgolled CT the levee in the vicinity OF
[the hatboat was 20 years Of age and
had no money My friend was equally
well fixed Our youth and our poverty
farhade anything like poker so far as we
were concerned. On discovering the old
folks thus charmingly engaged a taste
20 be humorous swept over us. We were
aw students they We're lawyers That
was reason enough for the joke. AS the
bmtroSe and fell on the swell and slack
ened theropes we cast her loose. Silent
y She drifted away over the dark bos-
om q the river. The jovial gamesters
drew and filed and straddled and raised
and called, all unconscious. At 2 O'Clock
p The morning Colonel Stebbins had
wan $l0 1t was i'll Mexican money,
ihd he had slnkered it about his honest
10 frame III half a dozen pockets. 1t
vas abautallo of the money at that table,
4na Colonel Stebbins concluded he
fnisbt better 60 He muImred some
nls about cold feet and promising his
VIE 10 come up TO the hotel early and
'f2.e 70 g. The rest jcered mildly and
raade lnYidlous remarks after the fash
on 81 losers at poker just as the game
breaks Up But Colonel Stebbins was
nheAble. He put on his hat. bid ev-
tfoody good night, stepped ont into
~ inky darkness and carefully picked
PAS way overheard.
lne water was 20 feet deep The sill
" au bat drowned the colonel, how
~ AZ last he was fished out and laid
fssS barrel to evict the Ohio river
.ni ms system The whoops and yells
sAt Ne9agerS at last brought a sleepy
trg tethelr aid. They found them
.at' miles below the town. For
Y y Colonel Stebbins' gains the tug
1eea The party back.
iAsy arrived at 2 o'clock in the aft
moon aud found the town sullenly lin
Il" sa1ee waiting for them. They
0he and All promptly indicted. In
.'aliA enthusiasm of youth my friend
fa.aied how we had cast these
ae adift on the Ohio. We
crave mistake when we told
Publicly we were threatened
Flnent privately we We're
with death by the gentlemen
'Iayed to the river. We took
opr Woes and without await.
afst Went west. This was all
years ago. My partner in
a.W Q United States Judge,
.A n the senate. We often dis
N'lnles and lay everything to
dt poker game. Washing