The age-herald., 1897-10-10

would saN Show me-" tr y
 'eThe man would show her how monte was played--the thing was a craze ltioe pigs-n+clover out west at that tims. ann every man could throw the three cards after fashion-and Kate's eyes would grow big with interest
 .sOh, let me see if can't do it." she would exclaim in her pretty, enthusias- tic way, and she would take the cards and make foolish attempts to fool the victim. After awhile, though, she would exhibit more proficiency, so that she could puzzle him in about once in three times.
 t'Now we shall bet upon itr' she would say in her ecstatic way. T love to bet! win lots and lots of money from my brothers. Now I will bet $10 you cam not pick the right card
 "The victim would, of course, demur at winning @ womans money, but she would insist, saying, oh, have lots of money!' and finally he would give in, resolving to give the girl her money back if he won right along, as of course heseKpected he would.
 The first throw the victim of course won, and he would take the girls $1O gold piece and put it in his pocket as if it were forever lost. though he intended to fish it out for her when the game was over. The second thrown he would win, too, and take the $10 gold piece with a snlile.
 can't guess the card! Kate would ex- claim. I will wager you a hundred, a whole two hundred that I can!
 That was the beautiful craft of Rates game She was so expert at the .Ir- could fool h6z at it, and yet if she won it would seem to the victim quite acci- dental.
 "'But, child he would say, it would be quite impossible for you to do 1t un- less by pure guess work. And why ven ture your money so recklessly?'
 No, mo- no, I like to play-it is such funp And the man, still with the reso- lution, of course, of returning the monsy he won. would throw the cards. Of course she would pick the card unerring- ly, and th= vid i'm would get a, little red over the size of his unexpected loss. The girl, quite artlessly would clap her hands with glae.
 "'Now, you may win 1t back, she would say. Another two hundred, and then we stop
 ''Confident this time that he could re- coup, the victim would make another throw, and, of course, lose agin. Then he'd stop, perhaps with a little suspl- . cion, if he wasn't total chump, and per haps not. He'd pay over his losses like a little man, which Kate would throw into ;her travelling bak with the excla- maition oh, what Ia lot of money and there you are. 1t was the slickeSt mente game that was ever played in thls coun- try by man or woman, and Kate Stork made a mint out of it. At length, how ever, the railroads got onto her, and She had to quit the monte scheme.
 '"Then she took up short poker l don't suppose the man who taug'h- her how to play the game had ever done a bout of poker on the level in his life, for Jack iStork was a chap who would cheat himself at solitaire. He was apparent ly as good an instructor as he was player of short cards, for Kate was a magician with the deck Her method of working poker was a little more elab- crate than her monte scheme, but the results were even larger Her opera tions were carrid on chiefly at the big resorts in Southern California and the noun tairls of Colorado. She would USclllate between the two sections according to the seasons. It would take her quite a little while to work up her game, but she always won out
 She would take swell apartments in the swellest hotel in Santa Barbara, for instance, giving the impression that she was "a young widow lately out of mourn- ing, arid resting up on the southern coast after her first onerous social sea- son since her husbands death. She would spend money faviShly about the hotel, always maintaining uhe proprie- ties ito an eminent degree. and after a while the women of the hotel would be gin to form her acquaintance Natural ly, then, sine would form 1he acquain- tanee of the husbands, and she usualIy contrfved that women with whom she struck up intimacy were provided with wealthy husbands She was a brilliant p ;Oa1Ie-ipian nf fa,,d Just the sort of wonban other wctmens husbands would feel disposed to be ga1- Nant Ito. and dt would not be long before she had the cream of the moneyed DOT iuon of the hc'-eps guests just where she Wanted it. There would be exchanges of visits among the women, and after while she would make her inevitable suggestion: And can't we have a little game of cards?
 Nothing easier cihan that. And she would always play with the wives of her victims in the game, so that what ever suspicion might arise should have some palliss.don. For several nights the game would be for a Emal limit, and Ka-e would raise it only by small de- grees. The women with their husbands in the game would wince little when they saw th6tm beginning to lose alarm fngly, but, if they satd anything, would be told to mind eheir own business. Kate would lead up to one big night, making d. WIfWAany ufl2N WOulu Often rum 1ntO the 'thousanGis, quite complimentary ac- cept the disipleasure, not to say the de- n1rrIc1ation of the victims wives, and start for ether fields. The men, unwil- ling ito acknowledge even to themselves that they could be 'done' at poker by a mere woman, would insist to their wives That Kate was all right. only that sine had a marvellous run of luck, and absolutely forbid their saying a word arc rrld the hotel concerning their losses. Thus when, as often happened, Kate would return to the same hoteil the next seacrSon she would find no barriers up against her, and would be as welcome e gueEi, as before, with a new set of vic tims to be plucked.
 T suppose the most exciting night in Kate StcrlS'rs career was rthe night she went up agatriyt Byron McGregor, the famous San Francisco faro dealer in "a poker game without knowing it until he told her at the finish of the game who he was. Kate had never met McGregor, as they were in different lines of busi- ness and anyhow Kate never made a practice of going with folks who fel- lowed any branch of her own profes-