The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-21
BULLHEAD LUCK AT POKER.
4 CONVINCING CANE PLAY IN a
STOP OYER AT MOJATE

Wasn't Really Much OF y Player, Any.
how. and Had Only Dim RecoIlections OF
the Game when He sobered Up Next Day.
wAsHtNGToN. Aug. 20 Which I am hero to
assert and TO maintain. that there is such a
thing as drunken luck In poker. Just as there is
such a thing as drunken luck in fallinG safely
downstairs. or In not being run over by n
brewery wagon. or in a whole lot OF other things
hat l could mention" said the breeder OF thor
oughbrcd horses from Warrenton. Va. when
his turn came around. Until q couple Of years
ago / myself believed. like some Of you fellows.
that what is called luck didn't cut much OF n
figure in a well-played game Of draw. 1 re-
Rarded poker simply as an applied science.
and. while l Clipped OF a certain percentage in
favor OF the man with the knack Of
getting hold OF the best cards. l al
ways made a couple OF side steps and SHE'D a
heap when people tried 20 spring pure bull
head luck poker stories at mo. And at that
time ] wouldn't any moro have believed that a
man about three parts drunk, playing on-the-
level poker. and a very ordinary brand Of it at
that. could sit down and. nguratively speaking.
eat the ears OF OF three practically sober men.
and all expert poker players. than I'd believe
now that this glass l hold in nv hand contains
mutton broth. il one Of you fellows 'ud tell me
that it did. But that's precisely what happened
on this occasion that Tn going to tell you
about. and | suppose 1 ought to know. for my
ears were a part OF the spoiis OF the decent
enough. though drunken. young chap who did
the job. ~ 20
As some of you may remember. / took a
string o. horses out to the San Francisco tracks
a couple OF years ago last winter. A few in the
bunch made out pretty well. and as. before l
started West. l had taken a solemn oath that 1
wouldn't play any of EN-. stakers or selling
platers, for money, marbles. or chalk. l man
aged to clean up n fairish bundle OF money on
the Slope. suppose that when l broke away
from San Francisco / had about 5000. mostly
ali Of my own and my strings expenses Tor
SHS Sinf to get sni my bunch oS q t nsSs back
the hnsI sumner mo sn Meetings ssem around ND New York. and lSf
50 | made the start early in May. with about
on to the East. for didn't know how many
crimps might be taken in the roll II l got to
and didnTt feel ike smoking a PIPE. and din
ing Oh gi1ge.rsnaps and milk after got back
pany me back East. Both Of them had alter
mated in making books and plunging on the
too. when they decided to quit the Western
game and accompany me back East-which. by
players from the East ever dol San Francisco.
ID do hor NOW 9s1T Why W. It f, but Sso the bssImn G eti tSo OF
L good and hard. These two fellows. though.
didn't. They had doubled up in a partnership
books they made and their playing EN- on the
side they had corralled nearly 100000 OF good
California coin by the time we got ready TO
leave the coast.
The three OF US sort o. celebrated and batted
around a good deal in San Francisco on the day
Oakland at about = O'clock that night to take
the Southern Pacific train we were more than
slept pretty well during that night, although
along toward 8 O'Clock or so in the morning
some fellow in the same car. with an English
accent, and a very much Jagged English accent
at that, woke lis all up by bawling Annie
L L@nics, at to the tT %s OF @I his S dseP ,b bass SsI H1 ido Tnt 6sr
hunks, and he went out of business decently
enough and let us finish our sleep. We all felt
pretty raw when daylight came around. and
the three OF us did u stuntuf button pushing.
When the porter turned up and told US that
yet. and that our only chance for u difesaver
was at MoJave. an hour or so ahead. we threw
thing along. and it was a bad Job.
We got up and dressed for tha Hojave stop.
which, We reekoned would be l2ng enough for
the three OF u made a rush for the life-saying
office. which was in a corner OF the eating
that there were four in the crowd. No. 4 was
a huge. young Englishman., as We could tell
already out after snowhirds so far as his jag
went. He. had probably been hitting something
mo IN ms e eeFf@i ana h Sio hsd With = 6hS Sin 81 sac shaT ay
T ygs aPn nu St,ea oye @ee s1n nP Nth . T TbssR sSyI b.
ali 81. his iaeT } talk. and we ffEured him out to
be a bad lot of a younger son doing the grand
go along with that sort of thing. He got next
to the three OF US; OF course; right on. and as he
f Tas 6S Sf MANNER nat%tra ab sna h hna we q i let him f i3i and ID
the four OF us stood up 10 it together. We only
intended 70 take one or " and then
got interested In the young Britisher's
spiel-he had Just reached America from
learned Ian4u, about ne thin hin-and we e'i sort O forgot about
the train altogether until we woke up, when we
bling outside on the track. BY the time we
broke for the, door. our train was q, good hun
dred yards down the track and kicking, up
ease OF left, and that's all there was about it.
The worst Of It was that the whole foIt Of us
What! WI the ODDS , said the young English
man. ith.the carelessness OF a man fixed out
We made INQUIRIES Of the ticket man: He
said the next train along was the duplicate of
our train. and that we'd get it in lust Twenty
OF you fellows ever happen TO. see MoJave,
Kern county. Cal. ? For II you did you'd, I'M
Of the San Bernardino Mountains. and the
i it had been hit BY lightning couple Of mil
lion times since last Tuesday. You never ran
into a more God-torsaken place on this CONT
nent than MoJave. Kern county. Cal. I'll bet q
hat. just a big eating house at the station. and
across the street.-the one street-a long row Of
shacks. mostly mesquite rummills and So
flyer banks, anda barber shop or two. and
a grocery store that sells dried herring and
canned tomatoes and not much OF anything
that's all. Twenty-four hours in
well, said one Of my friends. drearily, the
only thing TO do is TO get stin right Of.
- That's right said the young Englishman.
Come Inside and Wen proceed 70 do the same
The station master telegraphed ahead to
Barstow TO the Pullman conductor to have him
our pockets and looked around.
THE trouble about that lost train. said the
Toung Britisher reaecttyeiy, but not looking
much worried at that. is that I've got about
sou sovereigns in one OF my grips that's wide
open on my bunk, Forgot TO have ii changed
INTO AMERICAN gilt before, | left Frisco. | sup
pose therell he a hundred or so Of il left, any
how. by the time the grip is chucked back hero
rom Barstow.
I'VE three looked at the young Englishman
when he said this and put IL down TO his jag.
No sane man. even half loaded. would leave
900 tve-dollar pieces hanging around 4 grip in
4 sleeping car, we thought, But when the