The age-herald., 1898-01-23
THE BIGGEST POKER POT Early Days of Missouri River
 SteambOating. UNEXPECTED TERMINATION The Captain Was Not the Man to Be Bluffed and Stayed as Long as the
 Bakersfield Together


 '"rhe biggest pot ever saw on a poker table in the early days of Missouri river steam boatin'," remarked Ben Jewell, the retired Missouri river pilot, "an' that Is sayin' a good deal. for the game of poker in them days was no penny-ante amuse- ment. I have seen a passenger start up the river from Sioux City or Yankton bound for Bismarck with roll of bills like a city water main and when he reached the middle of his journey he was a-mortgagin' of his good looks and persuasive manners for the loan of little bit of chewin' to- bacco or nip of forty rod; and not be- cause there wasn't plenty of them articles for sale on the boat, neither but because he had struck a cyclone O poker and been turned inside out-strapped, sucked, busted, skinned, and cleaned up and hung over the pilot wheel to dry. It was a glorious game in them days-the great American poker
 "The game was aboard the steamboat Nancy Lee, on her last trip up from Sioux City late in the fall. The Nancy was a hotton hulk, anyway, and I didn't want to pilot her no more than I wanted to pilot a sawlog down the Mississippi in freshet, but it was a case of takin' her up the river or losin' a steady sit with the company, and I couldn't afford to throw up the job.
 "The engineer was a reckless cuss, who filled up the ffrebox every once in while as full as boys stomach on Christmas and let her wheeze and throb and siash through the water like an ocean liner. The smoke poured out of her tunnels like mad, and many and many a night I've sit in the pilot house with my hand on the wheel and held my breath, expectin to be blowed two or three miles into the state of Nebraska or the territory of Dakota by the bustin' of 0 boiler. But we had a streak of good luck and the steamer held together till we reached g. wood yard couple of hundred miles up from Sioux City and stopped 10 take on supply of fuel.
 "When we swung out in the stream agaln 1t was bright moonlight, and l turned the wheel over to the cub and went down into the captains cabin. The night was so clear baby could have managed the wheel, and 1 wasn't afraid of nothin but them cussed boilers, an l couldn't get 'em off my mind. The captains cabin was full and the guests were just sittin down to a game of poker. The captain was one of the nerv- fest poker fiends I ever saw, and the man who tried to run a bluff in on him was a busted spoke. The game run along sort O quiet like for an hour or two. There was a cattle buyer from Sioux City in it, rail- road contractor from Yankton several speculators, and the captain. No big hands had showed up and luck was about an even thing. The trouble started with jack pot, and how it ended l am about to tell you presently.
 "When the cards was delt out the cap tain skinned 'em along just enough to get a squint at his hand, and I saw by his looks that lle had openers, and moderately stiff ones, too. But nobody but me could "a told from his face whether he had a full house the measles The captain had
 l.t.. ,Ial.< when he had good bite. as we used to call it, and I just kept watch of his mustache, and had him.
 "I guess I'll tap her fer about hun dred,' says the captain, showing the stack over into the center of the table.
 ''The cattle buyer looked studious for a minute and fingered over his checks sort O nervous like, as if he wanted to come in. but needed a bracer. Finally he stayed, and the other fellows dropped in with hundred apiece and the draw began. The captain drew one card, and that puzzled 'em. He might "a been drawing to four ,of a kind, or he might "a had only one pair or two pair, or three of a kind, and drawin one to fool 'em. The next man drew two, and the boys had him sized up in a minute as getting ready to bluff on pair of queens, maybe. The other fellows drew all around, till the last man, ana he said he'd stand pat. There was mole trouble. Seein' hundred dollar openin' and standin. pat was sort O disturbin to the others.
 again. as if to be sure he had what he
 again. as if to be sure he had what he thought he bad, and made a bet of another hundred The second man stayed, and the others dropped in with a hundred until 1t came to the last man, and he followed up his pile of a hundred with four more stocks of the same size. The little fish began to gasp. The captain chewed his mustache ;1ro lx-,- rsf A r. tackin' a rubber boot, and swore softly like to himself The fellow had puzzled him.
 "The captains nerve never failed him, but the other fellow set there so cussed quiet and serene like that 1t seemed he didn't have nothin less than four aces. Then he stood pat in the first place.. and that was a worryfn matter, too. It was ticklish situation. The captain didn't want to run up against q snag especially so close to the end of the season, with a cold winter ahead of him. The other fel- lows I could see in q minute, intended to drop out. The current was too swift for 'em. But the captain chewed and chewed and chewed until his moustache was rag ged as a roustabout's shirt, and still he couldn't make up his mind. And that oth- CT cussed icicle set there and whistled like he was at a church strawberry festival or a lawn social, and nothin' worried him but the weather.
 Well 1t was an eXcltln situation. IIey set there for fifteen minutes, and you could a heard pins droppin' at any time. Final .ly the captain reached down in his inside pocket and pulled out long leather pock- etbook and started to unfasten the strap about it. Then we looked for squall, and a considerable one, too. Whenever the cap tain went after that pocketbook 1t meant trouble for the other fellow. There were enough hundred-dollar bills in the book to make a thousand even, and the captain pushed 'em into the middle of the table and waited Not a person said word. The stranger unbuttoned his coat and fish ed up a pocketbook from an inside pocket. It was as full of bills as a legislative ses- sion He pulled out enough to stack up with the captains offer and showed 'em out in the center of the table.
 "T call you he said.
 'sThere was S, GOO or $6,0O0 on the table In the pot, and I tell you, it looked to a poor devil like me the revival of prosperity. If the captain won he had stake to keep him a whole season in clover and nary a trip. We all held our breaths The captain started to place his hand face up on the table h n-Br-r-r-r-r-o-o-o-o-m m-m-m! Talk about the eruption of Vesuvius, or the biggest earthquake that ever quaked! There was roar and a crash, and rattle, like