The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-24

taught her tho game OF, poker soon nfter they
f foSy tho had fun S't 81 the 'f fRRinr, = But s%sf i was n% so s ES%T
STAKES. as they did. in all carncstness play when
the game was well under way, that this Butte
man rclished the play enormously, lie quit the
faro banks altogether, and devoted all of his
spare time 10 the attempt TO boat his wife
" IF i succeed in breaking her he said to
In hand back to her all of the deeds and SC.
%curitios constituting her o%no-third that she has
ii?ISmTlS made de-, oy ond 10 % pls;in BI IT, shS ,o doc m
80 my fun Is not diminished a PARTICLE
no soon found that his attempts 10 beat his
wifo's game and hcr luck were not banning out.
The whole truth of tho matter Is that hG was
u better pokcr player than he, hut what man
Would do EYER b oWn him EP' at tf tGe r tS nim M Gr;w that nat o his
| other kind OF II game OF cardsi In the first
place, sho was about 100 per cent. more cool,
n kccnCr appreciation of the value ui lunds;
in the third place. she was II buffer; and In tho
fourth plncc,:shc knew her husband ike "A book.
and could figure down nat from the cxpros,ion
OF. his face just what his hands We're worth.
When YOU throw in with all OF these advan.
tagcs the natural intuition of n woman, and the
instructive bunch she has to do the right thing
Just vt tho right time, you can perceive that
such Il show az he thought he had when no
talked to HIS friends about restoring all OF his
wigning? 3 his wife at tho Yind.np; ,,u a,
tho very first. night they started play. Az the
end Of q month, rs Tom told me himself, it.
ttlltl " VT nv pllkNl q VItSllDl US " NulN IL
of the two would come out Hilcad on n nights
p!ly; but simply a question as TO how much he
MnI Ho iS3s aoo At w tine en "a Of LIS SIX d months IS. his Is wire htr
compartment of their safe deposit vault.
Loser said Tom to mo about this time.
Holy smoke, sho doesn't know how to loscl
She'll hayo me a paupcr before | know where l
am. And bluff! Say. she bluffs me, out of
there are thousands Of dollars in the pot. Then.
when | conclude TO put a stop to this blutiing
and raise her up TO the ceiling by betting whole
| Elnthara nf ,p,,pN m rnully tTnpl InnIa I "a
pen TO hold. she holds tours or a straight
flush. There's no way. l know of to get II line
me so deep in the mole now that I've got to see
the game through.
Well, at.thc end of a year this ncrvy little
woman had not only captured all that portion
of her husbands. income that had formerly
helped to enrich the grccn-cloth men of Butte,
but She had gathered in about an even half OF
his %caritnl. 1t was all his to manipulate and
do business with, as I've told. you; but IL was
in her name. 1t took he another year to break
him, but she made n mighty slick job If it Mt
the end. 1t was almost exactly two years to a
day after they had started the game when the
had to sail the sponge and acknowledge that
he was AL up. Each of them had on n corner
and other properties. with the money values
noted, that they individ ually owned. and they
had devised a system of checking this list OF
with u pencil rs the securities were wngcre'i
Of Of each Week they Would have a settling day,
/ and on these settling days, nine times out OF
ten, the securities and real estate deeds would
he transferred wholesale from the husbands tC
the wifc's side of the safe deposit vault. Oh
the nj yht that she broke him fiat she had been
blutiing so pcrsiStcntly that he concluded hi
would call u halt to that sort Of thing n sooI
rs he got Il good hand. His opportunity ar
rived when he gave himself three jacks. and
then another Jack on the draw. His list OF
securities beside him was pretty we'll checked
off by this time, hut he thought he had a good
enough hand to do u double or quits turn, ant
so. when he saw that his wife was inclined tc
raise him in the betting, he Just fired the Who'll,
list in the middle of the table.
" II | haven't got YOU beaten this time
Jimmy he said, 1 might as well go broke
We'll, that won't break you. you know, shc
replied swcctly. You've got your diamonds
yet, haven't your
-" oh. I'm too strong this time to let 20,
bluff me out that way. Jimmy said he. i
you have the audacity TO think you've got M
beaten this time and will stand for the raise b!
checking off an equal value on that little lis
everything ! own in the world except my dud
and this watch and chain that was given to III,
ut ZONE when ! was u boy
And tho value OF what you've got lcIt!
she inquired, cool as n cucumber.
" Well said Tom. 1 guess my rings anC
pins are worth 10000. and YOU can apprais'
my wardrobe at about 81 200
THE little woman calmly took the pencil
and checked Off 81 900 worth OF securities oil
her list.
% 4 oall YOU said she.
Tom smiled as he spread out his hand.
" Too bad, Jimmy, he said. -Four jacks
-" Too bad. Tommy said she, spreading on
her hand. -Four queens"