The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-07-02

three or four hours play l was satisfied
that he took in a fairly large pot on
bluff. 1 had nothing in my own hand
either time, and didn't care to pay to
see his cards, but I felt sure that if he
had bluffed twice successfully, as was
positive he had, he would do it again
presently he tried it. Of course l
could only suspect him unless l called,
but I decided to risk it, though l had
only a pair of sevens when L came IN
| after the jackpot was open, and hadn I
bettered in the draw. 1t had been
| opened for $500, and my antagonist had
| raised it a thousand before the draw
That's what made me come in on so
small a hand, for 1 concluded he was
trying to steal the pot, which was big
enough to Justify the attempt, for there
was over thousand in it before he
spoke.
81 stood the raise and SO did the
opener, who stood pat. My IAN drew
two cards and I drew three. AS said,
1 caught nothing. The opener bet
thousand and my man went back at
him with another thousand. l simply
made good, but the opener lost his
nerve and laid down a small straight
without calling. My man had evident
ly reckoned on my dropping out also,
but my bet became a call when the
opener quit, and he showed down two
skies.
We had some little chaff over it, and
the game went on. I didn't know till
next day how near ruin had been just
then. When I went to my Office in the
morning I found that my cashier had
gone to Canada, and that instead OF
having several thousand dollars in
bank, as 1 had supposed I had, my &C
count was overdrawn. That does not
sound like ruin, confess, but was the
trustee of certain funds amounting to
about $4,000, and I was called on for
settlement that very day. If it hadn't
been for my winnings the night before
I wouldn't have settled, and if it hadn't
been for winning that pot on pair OF
sevens | would have had to quit the
game, for 1 was loser before that
hand. The consequences would have
been frightful.
another narrow escape I had was
from being married man. Twas en-
gagged to be married to a lady who
broke the engagement because she
had learned that I had played poker.
Perhaps I ought not speak of this as
an escape, but know that she made the
man she afterward married most mis-
erably unhappy. What would have
happened if / had married her l can't
say, and don't enjoy thinking about
it.
''The most wonderful piece of luck
that ever happened to me, though, was
in poker game in San Francisco, when
the stakes were not particularly heavy.
In fact, we were playing five-dollar
limit, and nobody won Or lost more
than a couple of hundred i'll the game.
The men in it were all members of my
club and were supposed to be gentle
men, though one of them, as it proved,
was not. We had played till after mid
night, and there was nobody but the
five players in the room when we
caught this fellow cheating.
''The accusation made a row, of
course, and the fellow drew a revolver
and attempted to shoot the fellow who
had accused him. Another man struck
| at the pistol as he fired, and the bullet
grazed my temple. That was as close
a call as anybody could want; but the
luck of it lay in the fact that was ris-
ing from my chair as the shot was fired,
and my foot slipped as I was in the act
of rising. This caused me to lose my
balance and in falling back, my head
just moved out of range, SO that had
only a grazed skin on my forehead in
stead of a bullet in the brain, as I would
have had if had not slipped.
SIN order to save a scandal we al
lowed the fellow to resign from the
club, and the story was never made
public. thought the thing over pretty
seriously, though, and after a time I
concluded, that poker was rather too ex-
citing for me. I think I got supersti-
tious about it; But anyhow, I have
never played cards since."-N. Y. Sun.
Why He Was Excused.