The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-26
HIGH GAMBLING In SAMOA
DUSKY MONARCH FORFEITS MA
MONO ON SET OF THREES.
Foreign Diplomats, However, Force
the American Winner to Surren-
der His Rich Prize-He Received
Its Equivalent, However, In Sa-
moan Products.


pOLu, SdlQ an army
me of stiff game played by pay
master in the navy with King Malietoa
of Samoa several years ago. 1 guess
this was about the healthiest game
ever INDUCED in by foreigner. Male
toa had heard OF the great games
played by Kalakaua, king of Hawai-,
and the Samoan thought he'd like to
take a little brush on this line. l sus-
pect that Kalakaua had done just as
many American poker fiendS-had told
! almost unreasonable yarns about his
| winnings-and his boosted good luck
made others think that the average
/ American poker player was easy to go
J against. Well, Malietoa's opportunity
| to test his belief came one day when an
| American man. mind
which one-sailed into the harbor OF
/ Apia. His stern determination to take
/ the thirty second degree in the mySter-
les of the great American game was
satisfied to the fullest extent, and Tor
years afterward he was going around
( trying to get some one to kick him OF
the island. and declaring that he was
an eighteen karat darn fool with a
French roof Among the officers aboard
/ the man-of-War were a paymaSter, a
| lieutenant and an assistant engineer,
who had burned the midnight lamp
| studying poker at Annapolis, and had
prosecuted the study in season and out
of season ever since they left that
place. In a word they were all three
| just about as smooth poker players as
| you cold find in months travel
There was a trader among the white
residents of Apia who was known to
| come to the front with a pretty stin
game. and Malietoa soon arranged
| through him a game with the officers.
| By invitation and appointment the king
and his friends met the officers in the
| private parlors of a European, and be-
! fore the evening was half gone Malie-
| toa began to feel his oats. and re
| queSted that the limit, a small one, be
taken off The old codger had won sew
! cray pretty fair jackpots and felt his
| Importance and ability to clean up the
whole crowd. Off the limit came, and
| for several hours Malietoa had almost
phenomenal luck, winning jackpot after
| jackpot. The more he won the more
reckless he became, and when some
thing was said about closing down he
entered a large and emphatic protest.
The Game Becomes Interesting.
The game proceeded and the health
lest jackpot of the night was on the
table. Several hands had been dealt
around without anyone having ex-
pressed his ability to open the pot,
when the king, with a look OF surprise
and a smile of pleasure and triumph
combined, announced that he would
I
The paymaster drew three cards, the
lieutenant the same number, the as
sistant engineer took two. and the
trader one. Malietoa showed his blood
by standing pat and putting $40 more
into the pot. The paymaster saw this.
and raised him SIS, while the others
stayed. Then the king raised again,
and the paymaster threw in S25 more.
1t was becoming too interesting for the
other players, and they dropped out.
After the kings last raise the paymaS-
ter hesitated moment. put his cigar
to one side and showed $50 to the middle
OF the mahogany. The king put up the
equivalent in Gillian silver dollars. the
currency of the islands and, drawing
a small sack from his pocket, emptied
its contents before him, and eXcitedlv
placed in the pot the funds of the royal
treasury of Samoa, amounting TO $40
in silver. The paymaSter'S face grew
serious, and he looked at his royal
opponent in a hesitating, puzzled sort
of way. Could this be a Samoan All
Sin he had run against? Had this kingly
copper-colored son of a gun learned y
the art of poker playing from visiting
traders years before, and had he been
playing 'possum all the evening? Hav-
ing six or seven months pay in his in
side pocket. the paymaster decided to
chance some of it IN finding out
Paymaster Wins Manono Island.
After few moments of INDIGESTION
he drew S579 in gold and silver from his
pocket and added il to the pot, which
now covered the table. MalietOa gave
gasp and called for a glass of kava
TO steady his nerves. This he gulped
down. and announced that he was out
of funds, requesting at the same time
that the paymaster take his word for
$500. But there was nary a take. the
paymaster only smiling and looking
fxedly at the pot. Then the excited
monarch offered to put up the island
of Manono, one of the finest in the
Samoan group. against the $500 To
this the paymaster consented. and a
transfer deed of the property, duly
signed. attested by the trader. who was
a notary public. was put in the L0t.
Then the king called the paymasts-,
who slowly laid down four aces and
five spot.
with a look of horror and a Samoan
wall of despair. his majesty exposed
to view three kings. an eight spot, and
a deuce. Then he fell off his chair in
a faint the excitement having been too
much for his nerves. Kava in copiouS
quantities brought him around su:ii-
GENTLY to enable his removal to his
own castle. The paymaster shOveled
his money into a sack and placed it in
the traders iron safe. but the deed OF
the island he carefully placed in his
pocket.
Forced to Return the Deed.
Next morning the details of the big
poker game were known to nearly
every inhabitant of the place. and the
German and English consuls sent Off
cial communications to the American
consul, protesting in most emphatic
terms against the action of the ;S:nS.
in disposing of the island of Man0no
to an American or 10 anyone else, and
warning the consul that unless the pay
master returned the deed for the island
TO the king at once. they would direct
the attention of their respective gov
ernments to the case.
Here was a pretty state of affairs.
The officer had. no doubt. won the is
land fairly, and the kings action vas
binding. but in the tension in which
Samoan affairs were at that time the
German and English governments
would only too willingly have taken
advantage of the circumstances rs an
excuse for international complications.
ending ultimately in a disastrous way
TO American interests.
1.-The facts were fully explained to he
paymaster. and on the promise of Ma
lietoa that he would give the officer
a number of fine mats and other Sa-
moan articles of value. the deed was
returned to the king and destroyed.
BY mutual consent of the conSuls and
others interested, the affair was hushed
up in every way, and was thus allowed
to die out. Maletoa took an oath that
he would never again play poker