The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-07
.FLOURISHED A
REVOLVER IN
THE PALACE
Demand for Money on
Tom Woodford.
A BLUFF SPEEDILY CALLED
THE GUN-FIGHTER'S IDENTITY
NOT KNOWN.
He Said He Was ''Broke" and That
Woodford Would Have to Put
Up or There Would Be
Trouble.

I'm hard pressed for money, Woodford.
You swindled me out of $500 in New York
and now you dig up. Cough up 500 in
two minutes or I'll blow the top of your
head off,
The speaker was a rather short man,
armed with an ugly looking revolver
The threat was hurled at Tom Woodford,
the we'll known bookmaker, as he leaned
against the railing in the rotuda of the
Palace Hotel last evening about 1880
o'clock.
The short man, whose identity is a
mystery, was laboring under intense ex-
element. Woodford looked down into the
muzzle of the revolver carelessly, but he
did not yield up the cash.
You are crazy, and you'd better put
that revolver in your pocket. 1t might
go off, said Woodford calmly.
The bluff had been called, and, as Patsy
Carroll would say, the short man was
not there with the goods. He put the
ugly looking weapon back in the outside
pocket of his OVercoat and then began to
abuse and threaten the bookmaker
There was quite crowd of horSemen in
the rotunda of the hotel at the time, but
few of them noticed the affair so quickly
did it happen. After quarreling for a few
minutes, the short man pulled the reyol-
yer again and said: ''Woodford, I'm not
crazy; may be drinking little. at that
but I'm hard pressed, and you've got to
give up"
The argument was waxing warmer and
warmer every minute, and the onlookers
his threat Finally he cooled down, hur-
ried out Of the hotel and left Bookmaker
Woodford leaning calmly against the
railing in the same position as when so
violently accosted. Woodford did not
Eeem to take any notice of the danger,
as he followed the man out into the bar
where the conversation was resumed.
AS soon as he saw that his bluff had
failed the man with the revolver said
he would let the matter rest for the pres
ent, but he vowed that he would kill an
other gambling man who, he said had
also robbed him.
his assailant's name or even give a clew
TO his identity. Many racing men who
witnessed the affair were closely ques-
toned. but none of them seemed to know
that the mysterious individual was a
member of the racing fraternity which
fnfests this city during the racing sea-
son.
When questioned last night. Mr.. Wood
ford at first denied the story Then, after
much parleying, the bookmaker admitted
that he did have "a rather exciting even
ing, but he refused absolutely to disclose
the identity of the man who threatened
to take his life.
"He is a good friend of mine. and was
excited when he accosted me this evening
else he would never have acted as he did
The charges that he made were groundless,
and when we went into the bar later to
eettle the matter he admitted that he was
wrong. The fellow is in hard luck, and
he thinks that | am indebted TO him.
Il met him in Butte, Mont. and, to tell
you the truth, I have really forgotten his
name. He wanted me to give him a hun
dred dollars and l couldn't see it that
way. When we talked the matter over
after leaving the rotunda | offered to
stake him and he wouldn't take the
money"