Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-26
KING STAKED ONEOF HIS ISLANDS

"oSAIA6NOA SVs NCW AoAh ouA'
These stories about Speaker Reed in
dulging in poker while crossing the
pond" said an army officer, remind me
of a sti game played bq a paymaster in
the navy with King Malietoa several
years ago. l guess this was about the
healthiest game ever INDUCED in by a
foreigner. Malieto GA had heard of the
great games played by Kalakaua, king
of Hawaii, and the Samoan thought ned
like to take a little brush on this line. I
suspect that Kalakaua had done just as
many Americans poker fiends-had told
almost unreasonable yarns about his
winnings-and his boosted good luck
made others think tina the average
American poker player was an easy king
to go against. Well, Malietoa's oppor-
tunity to test his belief came n day
when an American man-of-war-never
mind which one-sailed into the harbor
of Apia. His stern determination to take
the thlrty-secOnd degree in the myster-
les of the great American game was sat
lsfied to the fullest extent, and for years
afterward he was going aroun trying
to get some one to kick him off the island
and declaring that he was an eighteen
carat darn fool with a French roof.
Among the officers aboard the war-of-
war were a paymaste-, a lieutenant and
and assistant engineer, who had burned
the midnight lamp studying poker at An
napolis and had prosecuted the study in
season and out of season ever since they
LETT that place. Ia a word, they were all
three just about as smooth poker play
ers as youw ould find in a months travel.
There was a trader among the white
residents of Apia who was known to
come to the front with a pretty stiff
game. n Malietoa soon arranged
through him a game with the officers. BY
invitation and app continent the king and
his friends met the officers in the private
parlors of a European. and before the
evening was half gone Malietoa began to
feel his oats and requested that the limit,
a small ore, be taken off.
me old codger had won several pref
tyfair jackpots and felt his Importance
and ability to clea n up the whole crowd.
OFT 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 something was aid about closing
down he entered a large and emphatic
protest. The game proceeded and the
healthiest jackpot of the night was on
the table. Several hands had been dealt
around without any n having ex-
pressed his ability to open the pot, when
the king, with a look of surprise and a
smile of triumph combined, announced
that he would open it $40 worth. Every
player stayed. The paymaster drew three
cards, the lieutenant the same number,
the assistant 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 S25, while the others
stayed. Then the king raised again, and
the paymaster threw in $25 more. 1t was
becoming too interesting for the other
players and they dropped out. After the
kings last raise the paymaster hesitated
a moment. put his cigar to one side and
showed $50 to the middle of the mahog-
any. The king put up the equivalent in
Gillian silver dollars, the currency Of
the islands, and. draw ing a small sack
from his pocket. emptied the contents
before him, and eXcitedly 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 hesita-
ting, puzzled sort of way.
Gould this be a Samoan All Sin he had
run against? Had this kindly copper
colored son of a gun learned the art Of
poker playing from visiting traders years
before, and had been playing 'possum all
the evening? Htving six or seven
months pay in his inside pocket, the
raymaster decided to chance o.n of it
in finding out.
After a few moments of indecision he
drew $579 in gold ane silver from his
pocket and added It to the pot, which
now covered ting table. Malietoa gave a
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
raymaster take his word for $500. But
there was nary a take, the paymaster on
ly smiling and looking tixedly at the pot.
D%1N, th1 rvtito1 :, o,,o al e NO. - ~,A
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 tie trader. who was a
notary public, and witnessed by the
other two officers, was put in the pot.
Then the king calEd the paymaster, who
slowly laid down four aces and a five
spot.
With a look of horror and a Samoan
wa. of despair, his majesty exposed to
deuce. Then he fell off his chair in a
faint, the excitement having been toe
much for his nerves. Kava in copious
quantities brought him around suf1i-
GENTLY to enable his removal to his owr
castle. The paymaster shoveled his
money into a sack and placed it in the
raiders iron safe, but the deed for the
1Sldnu ne care ully pidteu III MS poCNSl
Next morning the details of the big
poker game was known to nearly every
inhabitant of the place, and the German
and English consuls sent official com
munications to the American consul pro-
testing in most emphatic terms agains'
the action of the king in ~disposing of ths
island of ManonO to an American or tt
an yone else. and warning the consu
that, unless the paymaster returned thu
deed for the island to the king at Once