The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-23
AN EDUCATED INDIANS END
TURNED POKER SWINDLER IND WAS
SAT on BY the CORONER.
Long Successful at SwindlinG Young Tour
lists mt The Dnlles go His Hand Mark
Left on the Face of Victim who


Left on the Face of Victim who
Complained-An Engineers Vengeance.
WASHINGTON. July 22.-"It happens more or
less frequently" said travelling Inspector OF
Indian Agencies that an educated buck In
dim deRenerates In the long run into a bad
proposition. I'm thinking particularly of an
educated Oregon Indian about three-quarter
blood. who got the big head so bad after he had
been polished of mentally back this way that
he never mixed ND with his people when he re-
turned from the East. He was Umatilla
He was sent first to Carlisle. and when he had
finished there he was passed on to Johns Hop
kins. in Baltimore. to take the law course
there. II was in view that he was to become
the attorney for his tribe upon the conclusion
Of his Blackstone -thumbing. He squeezed
through in law ut Johns Hopkins. and then he
was told Of the nice fat thing that awaited him
out among his own people. He turned the
proposition down cold He said fatty that he
had no intention whatever OF mixing up with
his own bunch at all any more He likewise
remarked that he knew his gait. and that his
intended to follow 1t.
A couple OF months after he quit Baltimore
he turned up at The Dalles. in Western Ore
gon. and settled down to the career OF a short
poker player. Where he had picked up the
game 1t would be hard to say but he certainly
was daisy at 1t. There wasn't kink in the
game that he didn't have the hang OF. Now
The Daes isn't any bad man camp: it is a
very beautiful health resort in the Cascade
Mountains. on the south bank OF the Columbia
River; there wasn't a hard character in tho
place until this educated buck established his
headquarters there; and 1t suited his game
to a T. He made II his business to nail
young tourists who didn't have any
more sense than to sit into poker
,,,tl, Il.
dian. and an educated Indian at that: and he
Just stripped them in sets Of tours for several
years. He was notwithstanding buck and
he dressed as men dress who've got the money
To tog themselves out right back this way.
When he was engaged in the act of getting a
new victim he knew how to throw much cor
dalty and some grace into his manners; but
ordinarily he was a sulky morose bad Indian.
Way down in the deeps Of him he was a rank
coward. for he never tried to twist his tenta-
cles about "A man who he thought would
make "A stand. much less a scrap upon discov-
ering that he was being done he always picked
out palpable lily livers who looked. to his
shrewd eye. as II they would stand for any
thing rather than mix It up with him.
1T did not take the square people OF The
Dalles long to get next to the fact that this
educated Indian. who had coolly taken up his
abode among them, was cheat and a swndler.
and that his sole occupation consisted in
fleeing pulp headed young tourists. They
talked a good deal about giving him the razzle-
dazzle and chasing him out but somehow or
another this suggestion never came to a head
The men at The Daes who had the interest
OF the place at heart would point the swelcr-
inc buck out to young strangers who looked
as II they might be likely victims Of the Indian
short-cnrd fleccer. and tell the young G1sngs
Just where and how the buck stood. 1t may
SOUND lncrpulDlp, Dut even alter being
T b sophG ths 9sh Dt Sh9 ho lot q
proper turn BY him. They were able to
take care Of themselves. they would reply
they'd take hack AZ the indiana game. When
hey got through they'd be smoking, punk to-
thsyd stand Tor their craggy end Of it without
and weighed 30 pounds. and he looked Xix" a
macHra Or from the high ridges SO he was
when they knew the details OF how they'd been
plpcked: One poor little devil of rich mans
one night when the Indian had removed about
$500 from him by dealing from both ends and
the middle OF the deck and he said to the buck
"...rI, Ius,1 hope you've played fair. that's all,
The lndian reached over and struck the
blood-red welt marks Of his fingers on the
drilled for his. life up the hotel stairs to his
room, and the Indian looked after him sardoni-
now that h nahn ana" had "9o0
cheated the lad. hut not one Of them said
word There was a keen-eyed hg-framed.
rrrmaturely gray haired man. stranger.
standing at the hotel desk. reading a Just-ar-
rived letter. when the thing happ"ncd. His
Indian slap the undersiz"d fool OF boy, and
he turned TO the hotel clerk and remarked:
stand fGr that kind Of work on the part q
mud-hided raw-meaterE There was plenty OF
cGnlrThmt in the way the stronger bis sr9se wa
cant undertake to cut in on any of the plays
Of our guests; he nd replied we lust board
game, and we're not asking for any rake
The stranger muttered something bout
chicken liyercd population and strolied out.
s n s" Gr so 2ear When there
wasn't much doing in his Inc at The bales.
ws to 6dSn w sSnrS bs in
rendl"ton. and other Oregon towns in search
Of good thngs End Couple 2f times year he
places H than " did at TTe bns but bur by %SSs
turn on him and working quietly he generally
succeeded in pulling apart at least one Jelly
fish in each Of the towns he took in on these
About three months after he had left the
marks of his fingers on the lambs face AT The
up r one day at Walla Waa He stroled around
the hotel corridors with an eye to business.
and along toward night he met with n young
fellow named HELEN, whose father. wealthy
Chicago man. had recently foreclosed a mort
gage on a big ranch about sixty miles from
Walla Wnlla. The son, n rather raw young
chan. had come out to look the ranch over. and
the Indian got next to him as soon as he struck
the town The buck was an expert billiard
player. and he suggested "A game. OF pin
billiards to the young HELEN chap. He played
OF on the youth, and soon got him to betting
on shots. After losing about dozen 50 bets
on shots. tho, Indian, socked it TO tho young
man from Chicago by betting $500 that he
could execute a certain difficult shot. 1t looked
like board and lodging to the young man that
the Indians $500 would spin into his clothes.
so he put up $500 The Indian made the shot
with c6nsummate ease and took down the pot.
"'FlukeM said young HELEN. I'll go you
another 5000
The buck got this bunch. too. without half
trying 1t would naturally he thought that the
tcnderfoot would have smet a rat by this time.
But he didn't. He had plenty of money. and
probably he considered it piquant To- lose his
coin to swagger- looking. educated Indian.
Anyhow. the two were PLAYING poker in the
car! room of Walla Waas stag hotel half an
hour later.
There were plenty of men in that card
Nh a hat Inr