The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-03
Captain McWhorter's Bout With
Mrs. Fitzgerald.
FORTUNE LOST ON BLUFF
GAMBLING EPISODE THAT EN-
LIVENED A CHICAGO PARTY.
McWharton Is Good Player, But
the Woman Was Too Much
For Him.
(chieago Chronicle.)

Speaking OF poker games, remarked
the doctor, sinking deeper into his easy
chair, and crossing his legs as he
lighted a fresh Havana, did any of
you see the little game between Cap
tain McWhorter and Mrs. Archibald
Fitzgerald? What, never heard of it?
Well, well; we are certainly growing
old. Everybody knew of it back in the
old days.
1T was soon after Fitzgerald re-
turned from Europe and astounded his
friends by bringing home a wife. And,
by Jove, she was a stunnerl One of
those regally handsome women, who
dressed like queen, and carried her
self like one. I don't just remember
where Archy married her, and nobody
ever did know just how it happened,
or who she was before she became Mrs.
Archibald Fitzgerald. AT any rate, she
became leading figure in society at
once, with the combination of FitZger-
AIDS money and her beauty and clever
ness. One night there was a party at
a house that l will not identify, but it
was one you all would know if 1 whis-
pered the name. A jolly crowd that
preferred cards to dancing got into one
of the rooms, and, after awhile, some
body got to joshing about poker, and
one of the ladies wanted to be taught
how to play, and the upshot was that
little game was started at one of the
tables. There were six in it, and one
of them happened to be Mrs. F'itzger-
aid. She was forced in to help out the
game, which was an innocent kinder
garten affair.
THE GAME BECOMES LIVELY.
''The play ran along stupidity enough
on the idea of simply showing the la
dies who were curious the points of
the game. The stakes were merely
nominal; and there was a lot of Joking
over the winnings. Captain McWhorter
was acting as instructor, and if you
remember the captain you will recog-
nize his fitness for the undertaking. If
there was ever a cold gambler on
earth, 1t was McWhorter. [ have seen
him win and lose his thousands in a
game with apparent Indifference At
ter awhile the captain decided to give
them an object lesson in one of the
tricks of the game. Everybody had
come in, and drawn from one to three
| cards, excepting the captain. He had
stood pat Mrs. Fitzgerald had drawn
three cards. There was some $12 or SIS
in the pot-more by far than there had
| been beforehand he glanced at his
hand, covered the bets, and coolly
threw a $40 note onto the table.
II raise you twenty, he said
Ihere was a gasp of surprise, and,
one after another, the players passed
1t up until it came Mrs. Archibald Fitz-
gerald's turn. She glanced smilingly
! at the captain, produced dainty
purse, from which she extracted a. bill.
which she unrolled and threw down.
The ladies and gentlemen leaned for
ward, and as they caught the denom-
nation of the bill. there was another
gasp. 1t was a 800 bill
MRS. FITZGERALD'S BIG PLAY.
will make it $50 better Mrs. Fitz-
gerald said, looking cooIly into the
captain eye. He looked steadily into
hers He was too good a gambler to
let her see anything in his eyes, but. by
! Jove! those eyes of hers, which were
the loVellest blue generally and full of
| lie and expression, were as cold and
gray as his OF course he could do no
less than cover the eighty, but he didn't
have it with him. So he said with a
| lordly air:
Madam, 1 did not come prepared to
play. If you will accept my check. I
VIII gladly play out my hand. If not,
the stakes are yours
Your check for any amount sure
/ ~ she said, with as much manner as
/ he had used in his question. So the
( captain wrote a check for $3.50 and
threw it onto the table.
Five hundred better he said
BY this time the word had been
whispered about regarding the exciting
turn affairs had taken, and the guests
! were crowding about the table. Even
those IN the ballroom came trooping in
and pushed forward to see the strange
sight. 1t was a strange sight. The
] room was filled with ladies in COSTLY
dresses and blazing jewels, and men. in
evening dress. Facing one another an
the table sat the two antagonists both
| self-contained, with steady ewes and
! sphinX-like faces. If ever I saw the
marks of an experienced gambler in the
face of a human being 1 saw them in
| the race OF that handsome woman. a
leader in our best society and the wife
of born aristocrat, for Fitzgerald was
/ that if ever there was one. And Won
| should have seen the expressions on tbe
peoples faces. All were intensely in
trested. Some were SHOCKED
HOUSE AND DIAMONDS STAKED.
Mrs. Fitzgerald looked at the check
ON the table for moment and, then
said, coolly:
Like you, sir, I am not prepared to
play this hand as 1 should like to with
out indulgence. My earrings and brooch
cost $4,000 May I pledge them?'
1t is not necessary, madam, re-
piled the captain, quickly. Your word
| is sufficient
No, prefer to put in the stakes.
Would they be acceptable at, say
$1,5OO?'
THE captain acquiesced, as well he
might. for the Fitzgerald diamonds
4 were famous in those days. So she
raised him $1,000. Then the game began
to get interesting, even to old stagers.
1t wasn't mere amusement any more.
1t was desperate business. Just then
1 saw Archy Fitzgerald walk up. AS
he realized what was going on and saw
the diamonds on the table, and the ex-
preston in his wife's eyes, I never saw
such a look of horror IN a mans face.