Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-08-20
THE GREAT NERVE
OF a POKER PLAYER.

nalred, young looking man, was JACK
Atwood's. who. after being shot at
from behind, paused to nail his poker
hand to the table with a bowie knife
before turning and drawing his own
revolver to return the fire.
Atwood was queer fellow in
good many ways. Physically he wasn't
| much to look at, but he had dandified
habits that seemed curiously out of
place in man whose business kept
him constantly in association with the
!; toughest men in the country at that
time-I am speaking of the lumbermen
| on the upper Mississippi thirty years
ago-and who was, in Iact, as wild as
the widest OF them. He was small and
a little stoop-shouldered, and his face
was narrow and sallow, with queerly
crooked nose and little sharp eyes that
were set much too close together to be
pleasing. He was as vain as a peacock,
| though, and dressed always in fashion
plate style shaved every day and wax
ed his mustache, which was a habit
/ nobody else INDUCED in west Of Chi
servation went.
He was a good deal of a politician,
and was suspected Of writing some of
the most violent articles that appeared
III the local papers at a time when
Minnesota journalism was not con-
spicuous for its close regard for the
amenities of life. There had been
great deal Of scandal about a member
of Of the State legislature from Min
neapolis-call him Davis-fcr some
time before the fight that l speak Of,
and Atwood had been among Davis
| most violent critics.
This particular night there was
quite a crowd in Bill Galloway's gamb-
ling house On the east side of Mime
apolis, Oh the old Fort Smelling road.
Atwood was playing POKER with four
other men. Two were lumbermen,
friends of Atwood's, and the fifth was
a st. Paul man, a stranger to me- 1t
was the first game | had ever seen play
ed with $40 gold pieces for chips. OF
course, for the heavy betting they used
paper money, for as the ante was a chip
and it took two TO come in, there were
not chips enough to bet with when the
big hands came. Limit games were
not much in vogue in Galloway's place
at any time, but table stakes usually
meant a few hundred dollars on the
outside, and this was the largest | had
ever seen up to that time, for each
player had a good sized wad and there
mast have been $4,000 or 5000
in sight at least.
Nothing special occurred for over
an hour, when there came jackpot
which was opened for 500, aad some
what to my surprise all the players
came in. 1t was jack for five chips,
nj the first place, and had been sweet
ened once, so there was $500 in the
center before the draw. The second
surprise came when each man drew two
cards, excepting Atwood, who stood
pat They were holding their cards
| close, so none of us around the party
knew what any player had held, but it
appeared later that Atwood had four
! jacks. They weren't playing straight
| fushes, SO his hand was almost sure
| one.
THE opener put up another hundred
| on the strength of his three of a kind.
| The next one raised it hundred. The
til f1i1d lid the same thing, and so did
|
and he had caught Fourth seven spot,
while the others mad not bettered. At
wood made it a thousand to play. One,
two and three dropped out. Three OF
| kind was no kind of a hand for that
struggle, and that'is what Cach OF theln
| had. The st. Paul man was dellgnted,
| though ne tried hard to conceal 1t ana
he came back at Atwood with announcer
thousand He was ahead OF the game,
having about $4,000 in front OF MIN at
the beginning uf the deal, Whlle Al
wood had only about half that. mat
| left him enough to raise st. Paui once
more ard he did it promptly.
at suppose I'll have TO can you,
said the latter, seeing it's table STAKES
hit I'm sorry you haven't more money
'"II have three thousand in the bank
said Atwood. If you care TO take III!
check I'll stand another raise.
"Cbecks were not in great FAVOR a'
GaIlovav's and the st. Paul man nesi-
tated naturally enough, put one Vi he.
woods clients spoke up. 1 IL CASH yout
check fer you, Jack, he SAID, ana JuS'
then the shot came, n, wac
"The entrance to the roCn ""9
midway between the ldlo anu NC ~
Eer table, and Atwood sat WIN nls
hocl toward it. Davis had entefeu
10 = roCm poiselessly, and a as
snor az he saw Atwood. Shooting
from behind will ruin man ID any
co mr. and l dent suppose pa
vie would have done it if he hadn I
baan half drunk and half mad with
r Zoe 81 wen. He probably wouidn t
have missed his shot. though, II ne
hadn't been drinking. | was watch
inc Atwood closely, and hadn't seen
Davis enter. AS it Was | saw the
left end OF Atwood's mustache disap-
near at the instant the shot rang out
and a red streak show on his cneek,
but he didn't turn his cheek. he
reached down as quick as a ferret,
and drew a knife somewhere below the
table top. laying his cards face down
ON the table with his left hand at the
same instant
1.-The game stands as it is he
said. without a culver in his voice as
he drove the knife through the cards
and the baize cover deep into the
wood with vicious stab. Then Just
as quickly ne reached for his hip
rocket. and stood facing around with
a revolver in his hand, leveled at Da-