The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-08
BULLET THROUGH CARDS.
And Made n FiVe-SpOt Out of a Four
SDOf


Washington Correspondence ". Y. Sun.
Col Bill Johnson. a noted poker player
from Dayton, o., has been in the capital
for the last two weeks, visiting his friend,
Dave Crocheron, one of the clerks in the
treasury department. In that time he has
participated in a number of hard-fought
battles over the green cloth, and he has
almost invariably proved a winner. To
his new acquaintances, however, he has
been a source of joy from the remarkable
ability he displays as a story teller.
1t was o'clock in the morning, two days
ago, when the game broke up because the
colonel had cleaned out the entire party.
The game had been composed of Croche-
ron and the colonel and three men named
Antilles Dyer and Doran. The crowd con-
graduated him on his good fortune, but
the colonel pulled out his chest.
IT'S a mere bagatelle," said he with a
grandiloquent gesture. But there was
one game in which 1 played that beat any
thing in my life for excitement. Your cou-
sin Joe, Antilles, was in the game, and
am surprised that he never told you any
thing about it, Maybe he thought that
you were too young to talk power TO. This
is a war story and the game was played
when we We're in the trenches before
Vicksburg with Grants army. 1t was hot
work in those days. but your cousin Joe,
myself and two other fellows that messed
with us were all poker fiends. We would
sooner play a game of draw than eat
Whenever the order would come for US to
rest on our arms and get dinner, wefour, in
stead of getting our coffee and salt horse
ready, would get out a greasy old deck
of cards and start TO play. Do you know
what the dead mans hand is?"
Everybody confessed ignorance.
What the Dead Mans Hand Is.
"Wen" continued the Colonel. IAN old
story has 1t that long ago in Western
town there was man who had been los
ing his money steadily at poker for several
days. He was getting down to close quar-
tiers, and one night he said in a Disguised
sort of way, 4 believe if l did get a win
ming hand I'd drop dead The next hand
had barely been dealt and the bets made,
" hen he pitched over across the table
dead. They looked at his cards when the
body had been carried away and they
found that he had held the winning hand,
all right. The hand was aces and Fights,
and since then it has always been known
as the dead mans hand. Some poker
players have a superstition that it can't
lose, and they win play it harder than
they would straight or a flush. Now,
Jack Tucker, one of our poker-playing
quartet, was one OF tnOSe players.
''If there is one thing l pride myself on
il is my wonderful quickness in sizing up
the situation and not being taken by sur
prise, no matter what happens On this
particular day of which | speak the bullets
were flying pretty thick and we had been
fighting like thunder, when suddenly an
order came for us 10 cease firing and to
get something to eat. Out came the newt
able pack of cards. After several hands
got a pair of fives. I drew three cards and
caught four, nine and a ten. Tucker
STOOD pat and so did your cousin, but the
fourth man dropped out determined to
try TO win the pot by bluffing, for Tucker,
the only man of whose hand was afraid,
had a habit Of making a swell play, and II
YOU would come back at him hard, he
would drop without calling you. But this
time. to my dismay. Tucker played 'em
good and hard and finally your cousin Joe
called the pair of US
- I'VE got a pair of aces said Joe, and
I believe that you're all bluffing, and that
it's the best hand out at that
A Very Timely Bullet
"'I've got the dead mans hand shouted