The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-03-18
A VALUABLE SHIRT.
It Was a Relic of : Poker Game and Was
Worth 500.

Worth 500.
Talking about very expensive
clothes" said a business man to
party of friends the other night, st
wore q shirt once that was worth
800. don't mean to say it cost
any such amount of money, but it
was worth 800 to me, and 1 cashed
it in for just that sum in gold and
greenbacks.
An incredulous smile went around,
and some singing inquiries were
passed as to what. new brand OF
hop was on the market, but the
speaker never f1inched.,
Crack away, boys" he contin-
ued, "but when come to explain
the matter you will see that it is
really simple affair and some
thing which might happen to any
man who was similarly situated.
One night in the fall of the Worlds
fair year party of six gentlemen,
of whom I was one, was playing
poker in hotel on Dearborn street.
AS the night was warm and the
room small and close all of us threw
off our coats and played in our shirt
sleeves. AT first the game was light,
the ante being a dime and the limit
80 cents. 1t was an all night session,
and late in the evening the limit
was raised to 81, and money changed
hands freely.
My, how the cards did run that
night! have Eever had such luck
since and can't Reasonably expect o
repetition of it.. I would stand a
raise and draw four cards to an ace
in big jack pots and get two more
with it. Once l picked up my
hand and found three small cards
and the ace and king of clubs. There
was fat pot to fight for, so 1 came
in and, discarding the small cards,
asked for a draw of three, at the
same time turning my ace and king
up on. the table SO all the players
could See them. The draw gave me
the queen, jack and ten of clubs,
making a royal flush. There was a
number of strong hands out against
it, including one set of tours and a
full.
Everybody, of course, played me
for holding an ordinary flush or a
straight and thought I was burning
up my money when kept meeting
all raises. l was too foxy to do any
of the fitting myself. BY simply
meeting the raises it was easy to
conceal the real strength of my own
hand and make the other players
think had got tangled up to an ex-
! tent where it was imperative to pro-
beet my interest in the pot against
possible bluffing. When the plsy
was over and the hands shown
down, what howl there was! One
man, gccd fellow and clever
card player, by the way, was SO an
CRY at what he called fool luck
that he tore up the cards and kicked
his chair over.
In settling up the man nearest
! to me reached over and wrote on
my shirt front his l o y for his in
debtedness. The example was con
tagious, and the other players fol.
lowed him. The zine lasted several
hours long@,, and asmy run of luck
held good and the losers continued
to write their % US on my shirt
that garment was soon covered with
value memoranda. At the close OF
the play the shirt bore evidence OF
an Indebtedness of $500 due me by
the five gentlemen with whom had
passed the evening.
1t was some days before any of
them gave "a sign of settling, and
how I did guard that garment in
the meantime! In those days I was
fairly well fixed financially and had
safety deposit box in the vaults
under the First National bank. The
first thing I did when the game
broke up was to put ON a clean shirt
and lock the $500 garment carefully
away in the vault. 1t was week
before all the debts were Cancelled.
Every time one Of my debtors came
to the office to settle / would take
him over to tho safety deposit vault,
unlock the box and erase the amount
of his payment from the shirt. By
the time the payments were all
made the shirt was in pretty bad con-
dition, but kept it at home as SOU
venir until housekeeping time last
spring, when a fresh domestic, ig-
norant of its interesting. history,
used it to scrub windows, and one
Of the most valuable shirts ever
worn by mortal man thus came to
an ignoble end. "-Chicago Tribune.