Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1895-05-23
sTAkED ON A GARD.
sE3aNFFs|PltBSt. ssi1s3lA y'lGss Two as-

4 o" NY PCnVt game unu won tnOu-
banas'of dollars on royal flush, which
he held against another mans four
3 jacks. Every time the circle OF ancient
,nndl honorable recounters of adven-
lures gathered in that corner of the
q club the major was sure to spring one
Of his marvellous poker tales upon tho
party, and on this occasion he had
quite 'outdohe himself and likewise UNI
done himself, as was evident when the
wcsterner aslcd.a t,t.
What kind of d deck were you us
inglin; that game. maiof?n q;
aA Why, a, regular deck, sir, regu-
Tar deck. Same as any other poker
deck" ,u
. Then either You or the other man
must have had jack up his sleeve
Twas tho westcrner's conclusion, 'for
there lwere-eyidently five jacks out in
that handr";l ~ ptl~ lAtt "
a roar Of laughter at the majors ex-
pense greeted this announcement, and
IL Was redoub1ed when that veracious
raconteur got ratified and endeavored
To. explain that he, meant four tens.
= Perhaps itiwas with view to cover
Ing the. majors embarrassment that
the, Westerper struck in, when the
noise, subsidized, with a poker story of
, his own. 49,.
- would venture to say" he began.
''thhtino man living ever sat in game
WHOM, more wins alta stake on the turn
.ofa gard than in certain game which
once played I'M Frisco.
Five of us sat in and we all had
plenty of money to stake, but before
the game was over money was q matter
OF secondary interest for three of us
had sat back and seen card thrown
on which the life of one man, and prob
ably pf'twp. depended. ~.
81 say we all had plenty of money,
but that isn't SO, for young Harry
Randall, who was then cashier of a
bank, was, rs knew at the time, play
ing with money which meant ruin to
him if he lost. Before tho game began
] tried to keep him out, but he said to
me: i 49,: 8 a
''I've got to make heavy win to-
night orwell, they'll have big head
lines on me in to-morrow's papers,"
by that / knew that he was in
volved too deeply to stop there, and
the game began. Next to Harry, on
his left, sat Mort Henry, man who
should have been professional gam
bier, for he played better polk er than
any man ever had sat down to q table
with before or since.
/, 'Ie was fanatic upon the subject,
and any interruption or irregularity in
the game made him furious and even
dangerous, for Mort was, in quiet
way, bad man, and more than one
man had fallen before his revolver
HE was clear nerve all the way
through, and during the week in
which the same five of us had played
every night he was big winner, TAX
ing chiefly from Harry Randall. l sat
next to him on his left, and next to me
was q mine owner named Smith, who
would have lost thousands instead of
hundreds but for his great caution in
play.
IA wealthy, retired physician was
the fifth member Of the party. lie
and Smith werc going east on the fol
lowing day, so that night was our last
play, and it started high.
"Thcre was no limit, and though
was pretty well fixed in those days,
began to get uneasy at the pace, but
my cards kept me about even. Smitl
and Mort Henry were winning, the
doctor was losing heavily, and Harry
was pctering out his chips little by lit
tic, the most maddening thing IL
poker, and getting up very nasty tenn
per over 1t.
"Whislsy was going pretty lively an(
Harry was taking more than his shar'
of it. This made me the more uneasy
because the more he drank the NOR,
ugly he became, his temper being di
rected toward Mort Henry, who wa
taking it good-naturedly.
Gas time went on and Harry became
more abusive, saw an ugly look CONF
into Morris face, and once or twice
managed to slip in word, quietl,
begging him to overlook the young fel
lows remarks, for l was afraid o
trouble.
"Well. the trouble came soon enough
and along with it the most stupendou
and splendid bluff | have ever seen
Harry had lost quite little none.
through the evening, and the pla,
was steadily getting higher under tn
forcing tactics of Smith and Henry
who kept winning steadily.
Sat length it came to big jackpot
Mort Henry dealing. Iopened it wit
three good ones, and was rather IL
clined to exult when Smith raised me
but rather less inclined when the doc
tor raised him, and positively doubtful
when Harry lifted him with good
big stack of chips.
snort dropped out, not feeling qua
flied in putting up SO much on me
dium-sized pair. l stayed, Smit
STAYED and the doctor raised, only t
be. hllsed back by Randall, who wa
stalking his all on lucky chance, q
We dlbCA WoAN 1870
= my three wero too good to thro'
down, and / stayed until after the pc
represented enough money to hav
made up all Harry had lost during th
week. the final call was made by til
doctor, and. the draw came. <
!: .ssof course my draw was two card
"Afortdeait them out slowly, and the
kdidn,t help my hand any. 1t wa
Fg'snnith's draw, and l began wenderin
Tif' ny,trio wasn't better than his.
ssI'll play these said the: doctor
steadily, and l saw Harrys mout
eT@fiich had become little; tremulor
/. = with drink, set firm as he called for on
card. My estimate of his hand wa
...i'that he held.a bob-tailed straight flus
open at both ends, for reclSoned thJ
he wouldn't have raisa1u 1