, 1897-10-19
LOST BET AND LIFE,
A TURN THAT CLOSED THE GARRETT
OF LONG HAIRED BROWN.

A System ut Faro Bank That Wa. ALWAYS
Played Through Until It Went Against
Gams Where Laughing Ed Was Deal.
Ing and Ready to shoot.
There are very few forty miners" said
the returned Californian. who do not no.
member the WhiPrle tnys. and reckon
there are n number of men living besides
myself who were present. at the tina when
1t was IA question Of life and dentI, bet ween
the youngest of the three brothers and
Long Haired Brow n. us he WA called.
steve Wlipple was one Of the first who
went to the Pacific coast from Boston
when gold was discovered, hut he didn't
go out with any idea of. digging gold out
Of the ground. He had been II gamliler ut
home. and believed with r,uson that he
could win tho gold dust faster ut his own
fnro table than he could wash it out with
. pan. So Ee opened one of the man,
gambling bells that tlourishcd In those
days His ilenrished n~muzingly, and us
he was u prudent sort of person, he uccu.
mulatt.l Property rapidly. He soon owned
Il stock farm Mt San Matco and sundry
houses IN Frisco. and everything hr
touched seemed to turn to money.
His hrnth,- Albert followed him after
u little and took to stock speculation, and
re WAS lucky So it was not unnatural
that Ed. the youngest. should join them "A
little later Ed was Il bright, dnshiny
young fellow, with less stability than the
Others. but with plenty of self possession,
and.n ms the event proved, plenty Of cour-
age Steve leaked after him. and Ed was
soon knnwn ms one Of the hest faro dealers
IN the state, Naturally he handled the
box for steve. He had n slight and very
curious twist on one side of his mouth
which could not he called IA drformity, hut
which gave him the appearance Of smiling
perpriu ally so that he was soon nick
named Laughing Ed.
"lrown VAS II bad, bad man. There
was no doubt about it. for he had an actual
record of four or five men whom he had
wuntonly murdered before he stacked up
against Laughing Ed. Don't ask me why
he wnsn { punished 1t Is too well known
now that those things were not punished
excepting by individual avengers for IL
good while utter the rush began.
He wore his hair unusually long when
long hnir was affected by II good many
otherwise sensible men, and got his nick.
name from Tint. of course He was tell,
slim N dark visnRcd. with conl black
eyes. and dress. conspicuonsly even
among men who studied unconventional
ity He IVES an all around criminal and
an inveterate gambler. He was generally
lucky. too. hut he had u peculiar way Of
trying to fnrSe the luck when 1t ran
against him that made him unpopular.
He would go up to u faro table md throw
a gold piece on some card. 1t would gen.
orally te II :2O piece. II the cnrd lost, he
would throw iOwn another on the same
pur1 unft ~ tf lnct ,,,ni, la, ,rnpIl th-,,,,
down another with the remark addressed
to the dealer. II that loses. I'll kill you
The strange Jnrt of 1t was that he had
done this repeatedly and Ind killed four,
and ! think five, men under exactly those
circumstances The gamblers had come
to know him. however, and more than
one Of them had determined to shoot first
II It came to u third winning from him.
Steve whipple used always TO have n
bnnk going in any town where there was
anything else going ON to attract II crowd,
and on this occasion he had u game ut
Aarysville. where there was some sort Of
u fair IN prngress 1t was next door to the
thcater. and was from the time 1t was
opened thu ~tavoritc game In town Laugh.
ing Ed generally dealt One night he was
tehind the table us usual when Long
Haired Brown came in Steve was stand
iuH uToNiUi "NiGiitS thIHRS ReIltThiIs ahu
saw Brown come iii. He WAS not u fight.
ing man himself. hut he made up his mind
10 take II nnnd in any disturbance that
might occur. 50 he took care to stand close
by when Erown began playing as usuni.
lie threw n seq piece on the five and stood
watching u %ithnut II word Ono five Ind
already been played. so there werr three
others In tho lox The five lost. Ho then
threw another SEQ m the five mud that lost
Ihen he pulled II slug. us the t50 piece WAS
called and threw that on the five. which
WAS NOW n ease card
IF TINT loses. you smiling son Of Il
gun. he Exclaimed, IN kill you.
probably there wasn't u man In the
room who did not know what he had al.
ready done. but IL WIS II matter between
him and the dealer. and the others, except
ing steve. drew away n little Stove drew
II little nunrcr
Laughing Ed emile did not fade away
IN any degree, perhaps because 1t couldn't,
hut he looked up pleasantly, and with n
iiRhtningliko motion Of his right hand lie
Juggled tho money drawer just n t%riis,
and then hi Kept on dealing. possibly n
little more slowly than before.
The i've Of spades was still In the box.
Sc WAS the four of spades. and the crowd
looked unxiously for the five to appear. As
Laughing Ed slid ono card after another
from the box each one revealing the next
IN turn. ull eyes were looking for the two
black pips thnt would show first Pres
entity they appeared, and ! think every
man In the room held his breath while the
card was slowly uncovered, for 1t was the
losing card, hut there was "A general rustic
when u proved tn Le the four.
Brown never moved or spoke. His
eyes were ns intent MS every ono else's, hut
he innkud ~ cool as Laughing ED did
Slowly and still more slowly the cards
cn,ie ont Till m the next to the lust turn
the five showed up. thu loser.
"%IMIgiinu ed had uncovered 1t 80 slow
" TINT Ii,s eyes were the first to catch the
Llark edges Of the two pIps on the side of
tn. card bur the Instant he saw them he
slid ,nr top card oil ike lightning, and
iufor. II hnd lett the box he Ind shot
Brown directly imtween the eyes. As the
lmd man fell laughing Ed exclaimed,
inn iusr. brown. and actually raked In
lsrnwn a Mt before Brown WAS dend, and
be died almost Instantly.
A he Tell Steve Whipple fell beside
him. suf when with soine surprise they
picked him w they found that be had only
faintcd The coroner was In the room.
md IN five minutes time he had impan-
eiesi u Jury and heard their verdict, which
wns not simply an generation, but a
hearty commentator Of Laughing Eds
quick shot New York Gun.
He Cosid was Hh an.
Jean I}uptiste vorre. n iahorer, 10 msn-
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