Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-06-04

When l was told that he was th
chief engineer of one Of the big Par
anna boats didn't have much troubl
in figuring out where he got hold 0
the big sack of gold coin he had wit
him; for in those days, you know
the chief engineers Of the west coas
ships used to have charge of the coal
ing of their vessels, and they consid
cred it quite legitimate to make
rake-off of several thousand dollars
every time they coaled, for coal cos
from $50 to $50 ton, and the chiei
/ engineers had the making of the re-
port of their bunker space and en-
tered into the arrangements with the
ship coalers on the Mexican coast
1t was the custom of the day for the
engineers to feather their nests in this
way, and everybody appeared to think
nothing of it,
"This chief engineer had just been
transferred from the east to the west
coast, which accounts for his igno-
rance of the California game of poker.
When l turned up l found out that
he had been jabbing Prindley pretty
hard since the beginning of the game;
but the two different brands of poker
played by the two men had not yet
come into conflict. You see, they
don't play straights on the slope;
and the sloper who has not travelled
or played poker with eastern men
doesn't know what the word straight
means as applied to the game of draw
Prindley, of course, knew all about
straights, but he never played 'em
with anybody, and 1 think he had
a right to assume that any man who
played draw with him in his own
territory ought to know the rules of
the game in that territory.
"There was a big jackpot in the
center of the table when l went up
stairs to witness the game. 1t had
been sweetened probably half dozen
times, and already contained some
thing close on to $1,000 in double
eagles. But neither man seemed to
be able to catch openers. 1t went
around II times altogether, and every
time it passed both men sugared it
for half a hundred. The chief en-
gineer dealt the twelfth mess. Prind-
ley was one of those cool chaps who
picked up his cards one by one, and
when he had picked up his first two
cards on this deal he calmly jolted
5000 in gold into the pot, remarking;
It's open before looking at the 9TH
ers.'
"'This hand of mine is worth $500
MORE said the chief engineer, who
was a pretty self-contained chap him
self, showing the yellow stuff into the
pot
"'Then you want to play it for
keeps said Prindley, discarding two
of his cards.
"The chief engineer took one card
himself. He picked it up, locked
at it for a second or two, and then
carefully closed the hand up like a
fan and laid it on the table in front
of him.
edo your blufing,' said he to
"How about $1,000 WORTH in
CURED Prindley, Ticking that many
eagles from his stack into the pot.
Thousand more'n you,' said the
engineer.
And another murmured Prind-
ley when he drew cards, and when I
saw him catch a pair Of mines to his
three kings I figured that it was all
over, especially as the other fellow
had drawn one card, which looked
like a case of flushing or two pairs.
But the way the sailor man kept hit
ting back at Prindley finally got me
to guessing, and by the time he had
scooped out nearly all of the coin
from his sack / had almost begun to
believe that he had caught pat fours.
When the 81 900 raises had gone back
and forth several times, and there was
nearly $4,000 in the pot, the chief
engineer, cool as a mountain trout
in a shady hole, emptied out his coin
sack, and found that he had little
more than 81, 900 left. He shoved his
$1,000 to the center of the table.
"'Call you,' said he.
''Prindley spread out his king full.
" No good, said the chief engineer,
spreading out a seven-high straight
flush of diamonds, and reaching for
the pot.
"FHuh? What's no good? Hands
off that pot! What the devil do you
mean? Since when did a flush beat
a full house?
"'A flush don't, but this thing OF