Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1899-09-22
ATWOOD. HAD NEE We

! (uyA1Chlly ue WdSuj y HUGH ~ look at, Ou
be had dandi6ed habits that seemed curious
~ out Of place in man whose business KEY
ein constantly in association with tn
peughest men in the country at that time
I ain speaking Of the lumber1nea on the 1T
per Mississippi 30 years ago---ard WAC vs.:
In fact, as wild as the w:lde~t'ot theEl. /
~He was small and littjx stoop-shou
Tered, and his face was narrow and saio,:
with queerly crooked nose, and sharp i:
lie eyes that were set much too CLOSE ;oye.hs
to be pleasing. He was as vain as peac oel
though, and dressed always in fashioi.. ,1l.
style, shaved every day and waxed Ill.,; IL,
tache, which was habit nobody e:s.: u
Aplged in vest Of Chicago in those d;'!s. :
tar as my observation vent.
'He was good deal of politician, =.
was suspected Of writing some Ct tic :r,=
violent articles that appeared in til. ;.,:s
papers at time when Minnesol>: Jou: n3ii ;.s
was not conspicuous for it's clo:c rc;;a.i j.
the amenities Of life. There had been ii ts~
| az scandal about a member of the Sta: iss
| klature from Minneapolis-ca!l him I>@=:
| ,s.:for some time before the fight that spe~
| sA, and Atwood had been among Davis ,:..s
violent critics.
''This particular night there vas c,,;ts
crowd in Bill Gaiowa US gambling ho.s.:
the east side Of Minneapolis, near 'ls Il:
Fort Smelling road. Atwood was r:ay;
1oker with four other men. Two were j,s:e
bsrmen, friends Of Atwood's, AID tie IT,:
vas st. Paul man, stranger to me- Ii,
The first game had ever seen plays: Vs..
30 gold pieces for chips.
"Qf course, for the heavy betting t':c'
used paper money, for as the ante Nu<u
chip, and it took two to come in, there VIZ!
not chips enough to bet with Wien 'he 81:
hands came. Limit games were EJt l..t
In vogue in Galloway's place at any :.:.,:
but table stakes usually meant icr' -:
dred dollars at the outside, and this wa til.
largest had ever seen up to that l.mc il
each player had u good-sized wad, and rner
must have been $4,000 or $4,000 in sig;
IT least. .
Nothing special occurred for over a.
aour, when there was jackpot v;i:r.
was opened for 500, and somewhat 10 Ii:
surprise all the players came in. Il w.. !.
Jack for Eve chips, in the first place, ana ~:
been sweetened once, so there were SCI; -
the center before the draw.
''The second surprise came when cas- l. :
drew two card>, excepting Atwood, WI:
stood pat. They were holding their 22I ];
close, so none Of Us around the party h!:4
what any player held, but it appeared = &;
shat Atwood had four jacks. They wcrc: ,
most sure one.
1.-THE opene, put up another hundred O..
the strength Of his three of kind. The nex'
one raised it hundred. The third did .Iic
same thing, and So did the fourth. lie was
the st. Paul man, and he had caught fourth
seven spot, while the others had IT,: ~:
tered Atwood made it thousand u pa;
One, two and three dropped out. Tu:,. e.,
4 kind was no Kind of hand for tha
struggle, and that is what each of them ,.a@
"The St. Paul man was delighted. :; il nc,t
he tried hard to conceal it, and he CAME Lacl
1T Atwood with another thousand i-c Was
ahead of the game, having abou. $G,o0t in
&ont of him at the beginning of the deal
while Atwood had only about half that
That left him enough to raise St. Paul one
more, and he did it promptly.
Il suppose III have to call YOU said tn,
latter, seeing it's table stakes, but I'm SORT
you haven't more money with you
have $1,000 in the bank said Atwood
If you care to take my check I'll stand an
other raise
Checks were not in great favor at Gallo
ways, and the St. Paul man hesitated natu
Fally enough, but one of Atwood's cient>
spoke up. I'll cash your check for you
Jack, he said, and'just then the shot came
"The entrance to the room was 1aidwa,
between the faro and poker tables, and At.
wood sat with his back toward it, Davis hao
entered the room noiselessly and had fred a.
soon as he saw Atwood. Shooting from be
hind will ruin man in any community, and
! don't suppose Davis would have done it
Il he hadn't been half drunk and half mad
with rage a. we'll. He probably wouldn't
have missed his shot, though, if be hadn't
been drinking. I was watching Atwood
closely and hadn't seen Davis enter.
"As it was saw tho left end of Atwoodt
mustache disappear at the instant the shot
rang out and red streak show on his cheek,
but he didn't turn his head He reached
down as quick as ferret and drew knife
from somewhere below the line Of the table
sop, laying his cards face down on the table
with his left hand at the same iAstant.
i" The game stands as it u.s. he said, with
out quaver 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 he reached for his hip
pocEet and stood facing around ~'i>a a re-
volver in his hand leveled at Davis.
1.-TWO other shots rang out as he ross
They We're frsd by Atwood's friends, bu.
fortunately they bit nobody. Another NAL
had seized Davis gun as he was trying t.
0beo& again, and there was scufe going or
On moment, with three or foa, men on
side, all of whom, however, were trying t
force Davis out of the room.
Atwood held his fire, seeing that xher.
was a group Of men in front Of him, and
1tood still az he saw the struggle going OK.
When he saw. that Davis was being pushed
out OF the door he smiled, but didn't say
Msrd. Perhaps I ought to say he grinneG
Sn1ile is too pretty svord for his face.
when his enemy was outside, and the
door was closed, he put his pistol back in his
pocket and felt Of his cheek carefully, Il
was bleeding very slightly, but he wiped il
OH with his handkerchief and, turning back
b the table, said as coolly as ever: AL
right, Jim. Give me the money, and ri
write you tho check in moment.
He was the least excited man Ia The
coom: The St. Paul player looked at him
headily as Atwood's friend was countina
out the bills, and then exclaimed, with an
cath: I don't believe care about raising
7ou again. It's a CALL 49, :. n :
,