The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-04
STORIES OF WHIST
English Clergymen Who Played
With the Ctfin as a Table.
LORD SLIGO'S COOL GAME
One Chance In a Hundred and
Sixty Billions of Holding
Thirteen Trump
Hand.

Many strange stories are told of
whist playing. but none can excel
this:
Some years ago there was a whist club
in Somersetshire. England, composed
mostly OF clergymen. They met every
Sunday evening in the back parlor of a
barber. Four of these were acting as
pallbearers at a funeral OF a reverend
brother, when a delay occurred, owing
to the grave being not quite ready and
the coffin was set down at the chanceL
BY way of Willing away the time. one
of them produced a pack OF cards from
his pocket and proposed a few hands Of
whist. The rest gladly assented. and
they were deep in their game, using the
coffin as a table. when the sexton came
to announce that the preparations were
complete.
Goldsmith tells of an old lady who
lying sick unto death, played cards
with the curate to pass the time away.
and, after winning his money. had
just proposed to play for the funeral
charges when she expired.
Metternich. the great Australian
statesman, owed to a single game of
whist the greatest sorrow OF his life.
One evening, while he was engaged in
his favorite game, an express arrived
with dispatches from Galicia. He
placed the papers on the mantel piece
and went on playing all that night and
far into the morning. When the party
broke up he was Mortified to discover
that upon his immediate reply to the
dispatches depended the fate of 1000
innocent persons. Had Matternich
loved whist less passionately, history
had never recorded the Infamous Call
clan massacre.
1t is said that when the revolution
broke out in Paris repeated and frantic
a. t..
forming him of the state of affairs. The
king was engrossed in cards, however,
and not to be disturbed, and each time
the reply came: His majesty Is play
ing whist
Another cool whist player was Lord
Sligo. When the news arrived that his
magnificent residence was on fire, he
stopped only a moment to ascertain
whether or not his presence could be
of material service on the scene of the
confiagration. Finding that II would
not he calmly took up the hand which
had been dealt while he was talking
with the messenger, and resumed play
ing.
Does whist playing cause or encour-
age heartlessness? When Lord Thanet
was in the tower for the O'Connor riot,
three friends-the Duke of Bedford, the
Duke De Laval and Captain Smith
were admitted to play whist with him.
and remained till the lookup hour of
IL o'clock. Early in the sitting Captain
Smith fell back in a At of apoplexy and
one of the party rose TO call for help.
stop" cried another. I'VE shall be
turned out IL we make a noise; let our
friend alone till IL o'clock; we can
play dummy. and he will be none the
worse. for i can read death In his
face"
A case where a single game of whist
was responsible for a good deal was
that In which G. II. Drummond of the
famous Charing Cross banking house
OF London lost 100000 at a single sit
ting to Beau Brummel. When his loss
became known to Drummond's part
ners they decided that a gambler was
an undesirable associate in a business
requiring for prosperity the confidence
of the public in its managers. They
therefore forced him to retire.
Unless Espartero and his foe, Ma
rota, are much belied. their quarrel was
settled by game of cards in a farm
house at Bergara. where they met to
arrange truce between their respect |
i've forces. No sooner did Espartero en-
ter the room than the Carlist chief chal- |
lenged him to game of tresilio, a |
challenge the Christine commander ac- |
cepted with alacrity. Espartero first |
won all Marota's money; then his own |
conditions for the truce, article by arti- |
the Carlist army. Within "a hours Ma |
rota had paid his debt and the fierce |
Carlist war was at an end
Marlborough hand is a hand i'm |
which there Is no card above a nine |
spot. The name given to this hand is |
derived from a certain Lord Yarbor- |
ough. who used to offer the attractive, |
but very safe, wager of $1,000 to CT
that hand of this sort would not be
dealt. His lordship may have worked |
out the chances or he may not, but the
fact Is that such a hand occurs only
once In 1.S27 rounds, although Penn
bridge says he has held three Yarbor-
oughs in single evening. His lord
ships wager. to be quite fair, should
have been e1.S27 to e1. 1t is said
that he won his wager many thousand
times.
According to a recent report. a Young
lady at whist party held 10 of the Is
trumps. Such a hand is exceedingly
rare. AS for the chances of holding a
13-trump hand. they are calculated TO
be 100, 600 GOO. 900 to l.
At the Union club of Boulogne some
years ago the dealer dealt the 26 red
cards to himself and partner and all
the black cards to their opponents.
When we come to realize that the odds
against such a round of hands are
s.OOo.OOO,OOO to i, We must admit that
this was very remarkable deal.
Louis Philippe. while playing whist
one evening, dropped louis and
stopped the game TO look for IL, where
upon foreign ambassador one of the
party, set fire to a billet of / 900 francs
to give light to the king of his search
under the table. The ambassador evil
IDENTIFY had money TO burn.
Colley Cibber was once playing oppo-
n M ~la.a