The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-15
PIRATES DARLING BLUFF.
A POKER GAME THAT KNEW NO
LIMIT BETWEEN RECKLESS
PLAYERS.

RUSSIAN Nobleman. n Young Eng
Iishman, the Governor of a West
ern State and the Railroad Mag
nate Were the Players.
From the Philadelphia Times
Everything was wide open on the train,''
said the gray-haired, young-looking man.
Ordinarily. the P. D. Q. Railroad Com
pany was conducted much after the fash
ion of other corporations pretending to re-
spectability, and trip in one of its fairly
well-equipped sleeping cars was no more
exciting than any railroad trip is likely to
be. There were, it is true. long stretches
of travel through some of the widest parts
of the west, and timid people were some
times perturbed by the possibility of an
attack by Indians or train robbers, such
as had been made more than once during
the time of the construction of the road.
Nothing serious in that line had occurred.
however, since the passenger service had
fairly begun, and no particulars had ever
been published of the earlier troubles so
there was nothing to make one really ner-
vous. 1t was not quite a frst-class road
even for those days, but tolerably good
bluff had been made and the advertising
did the rest, so it was of fairly good re-
pute, and had become a favorite foot ball
in Wall street
by some means never clearly understood
outside of that street, one of the bold buc-
| cancers who prey upon commerce there be-
came possessed of a controlling interest in
the stock of the company and therefore
sole and indisputable owner of everything
/ belonging to it, from the seal of the cor
| poration 10 the last spike in the ties. That
| he had any equitable right to anything
| whatever was not pretended, but for the
| time at least there was no way to prevent
him from doing anything he chose with
| the whole concern
| His little game was to sell 1t outright
| to a syndicate of plutocrats from the old
| world but being young man of peculiarly
| liberal ideas when he played on velvet
| he used the road for a while as a play
| thing. And as 80 per cent. of the whole
| business was velvet to him, the sport he
| had was little short of imperial An en-
| terprising man can get good deal of fun
out of railroad, when he controls it alb
| solutely, and he was certainly enterpris-
| ing. The fact that he was commonly all
| luded to as The Pirate troubled him not
whit, even if he was not secretly proud
| of the title
Ordinarily, as I said, things were run
on the P. D. G. r. R. about the same
| as they were on any other railroad, and
| poker, if 1t was played at all on the
| trains, was comparatively harmless
| game in which no outrageous sums were
| likely to be won or lost, and over which
| the conductors exercised enough watch
| fulness to make sure that no card sharp
| could make a fortune on a single trip.
In fact, 1 don't think the game was al
| lowed on the trains.
| This, however, was a special occasion,
| and almost everything went. The Pirate
| had special end in view, and all pres
| sure was on, with the safety valve but
| toned up tight. That may not be techni-
| cally correct, but it wasn't a technical
trip. The Pirate had ideas of promotion
| and publicity that were enough to make
| Maj Handy pluck out fist-fulls of whis-
| kers and turn pink with envy, and this
| time he outdid himself. The trip was
| journey twice across the continent. The
| train was a long string of the most sump-
| tuous apartments that then ran on wheels.
| The appointments, including the edibles
| and pOtables, were of the choicest known
| to mankind. The party was a large one,
| and, while it was the most herterogen-
| eous ever saw, it had been carefully
| selected. Not a man was there whom the
| Pirate had not picked out for q purpose,
| but scores of them would have jumped
| off while the train was al top speed rather
| Il
| suspected that they were being used.
| There were a dozen titled aristocrats, in
| GLIDING two of royal blood, one of them
| being an eastern potentate, a despot in
his own small realm. AS many repre-
J sentatiVeS of our own government iuclud-
| ed one cabinet official and three United
| States senators. Capitalists from all parts
of Europe were in the party. One was
| known 10 be a Representative of the
| Rothschilds, one was jew from Arme
MIA with an uupronouncable name; some
were successful spectators from Paris,
London and New York; and there were
mine owners, cattle kings, diamond mer-
chants, railroad magnates and promoters
| till you got tired counting. AT least fiftys
| men on the train could have had their in
| dividual checks cashed for million
| apiece a their own banks. And there was
a picked contingent of newspaper men
| from half dozen capitals.
"Ostensibly it was a trip of inspection.
! Really it was a VIGOROUSLY eXtravagant
revel that closely resembled an orgie at
| times, and almost resulted in a physical
| breakdown of the entire crowd before we
reached the Atlantic coast on the return.
There was no law but individual incliua-
ton aboard the train, and no order but
choice.
| Naturally, there was poker playing in
| almost all the cars, and some of it was
for big stakes. IN some Of the smoking
rooms the play was continuous, day and
| night fire sh players sitting in as those al
the table dropped out exhausted or broke.
There was no such thing calm to be
had anywhere, but, as might be expected.
the most excitement was around the card
| tables.
u sat one night until breakfast lime,
however. watching a gome that exceeded
| in interest any other / ever saw, no only
on account o. the amounts ut stake from
time TO time, but by reason Of ihe way IT
was played. I dent think the story Of it
was ever told, and it wouldn't be now but
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