The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-07-06
A VALUABLE SHIRT.
rt was Relic Of Poker Game and Was
worth e700.

party of friends the other night, =
wore shirt once that was worth
500. / don't mean to say it cost
any such amount Of money, but il
was worth 500 to me, and ! cashed
it in for just that sum in gold and
greenbacks. "
An incredulous smile went around,
and some singing inquiries were
passed as to what new brand OF
hop" was on the market, but the
speaker never fiinched.
Crack away, boys, he contin-
ued, 'but when l come to explain
the matter you will see that it is
really simple affair and some
thing which might happen to any
man who was similarly situated.
One night in the fall of the Worlds
fair year a party of six gentlemen,
of whom l was one, was playing
poker in a hotel on Dearborn street.
As the night was warm and the
room small and close all of us threw
off our coats and played in our shirt
sleeves. AT first the game was light,
the ante being a dime and the limit
80 cents. 1t was an all night session.
and late in the evening the limit
was raised to 81, and money changed
hands freely.
My, how the cards did run that
night have never had such luck
since and can't reasonably expect a
repetition Of it. would stand a
raise and draw four cards to an ace
in big jack pots and get two more
with it. Once l picked up my
hand and found three small cards
and the ace and king of clubs. There
was a fat pot to fight for, so l came
in and, discarding the small cards,
asked for a draw of three, at the
same time turning my ace and king
up ON the table so all the players
could see them. The draw gave me
the queen. jack and ten of clubs,
making royal flush. There was
number of strong hands out against
it, including one set of fours and
full.
Everybody, of course, played me
for holding an ordinary flush or
and thought l was burning
up my money when l kept meeting
all raises. l was too foxy to do any
of the fitting myself. By simply
the raises it was easy to
conceal the real strength of my own
hand and make the other players
think | had got tangled up to an ex-
tent where it was imperative to pro
tect my interest in the pot against
possible blufing. When the play
was over and the hands shown
down, what a howl there was One
man, good fellow and a clever
card player, by the way, was SO an
cry at what he called fool luck
that he tore up the cards and kicked
his chair over.
I'm settling up the man nearest
to me reached over and wrote on
my shirt front his 0 U for his in
debtedness. The example was con-
tagious, and the other players fol
lowed him. The game lasted several
hours longer, and as my run of luck
held good and the losers continued |
to write their 1 o US on my shirt
that garment was soon covered with
value memoranda. At the close of !
the play the shirt bore evidence of |
an indebtedness of 500 due me by
The five gentlemen with whom I had
passed the evening.
''It was some days before any of |
hem gave a sign of settling, and |
how / did guard that garment in
he meantime In those days l was
'airly well fixed financially and had |
| safety deposit box in the vaults
lnder the First National bank. The
irst thing / did when the game
broke up was to put on clean shirt
md lock the $500 garment carefully
away in the vault. It was a week
before all the debts were cancelled.
every time one of my debtors came
o the Office to settle would take
,im over to the safety deposit vault,
lnlock the box and erase the amount
If his payment from the shirt. BY
he time The payments were all