The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-01-19
A TRAGEDY AT CARDS
EXCITING INCIDENTS THAT MARKED
A GAME OF POKER.

Play, Which Was Reckless, RUNE,
. Man, Led to a Resurrection an,
Caused = Suicide,
$50 far as attending results are con
cerned," remarked a retired railroad engi
neer, "the most remarkable piece Of gam
bling Of which l have ever heard occurred
some years ago when was running a To-
cal passenger train on the 9. and w. rail.
road. My train one night was side track.
ed at way station, with a wasbout
ahead and another behind us. 1t was
while We were killing time that this game
was played, and it makes my hair stand
to this day when recall the way in
which corpse came to life in the midst
of the play"
The engineer rubbed big handkerchief
over his brow and filed his pipe. "My
train was scheduled to leave - at 3 D.
IN. Before leaving - we had to make
connection with the through train from
the north, and on account of the bad con-
dition Of the track it got in several hours
late. 1t was o'clock when my train, No.
%, pulled out.
| Gwen have a bad run tonight, am
thinking, said the fireman as he climbed
in the cab and they have deud man in
the baggage car to keep us company. IL
these rains continue, l think well have
more collins to fetch back tomorrow
1--WE Travelled slowly, and when about
| 80 miles out saw dim lantern on the
| track and the brakes were given a sud-
| den jerk.
"'lIi' cried the man who had tagged
us. The trestle ahead has been washed
clean away. There is no chance to cross,
and you'll have to go back
"The conductor gave orders to pull
back slowly to high trestle, ten miles
in our rear. On our side of the trestle
there was long stretch Of straight track
and when two miles away we saw the
headlight of freight laundering down
at full tilt. The engineer ran right on to
the bridge without slackenng his speed.
Just when the freight got midway OF the
bridge there was crash, and bridge,
train and all went down. We pulled up
slowly. There was no sign of life. and
we realized that we were cut off in both
directions. Nothing could be done; so our
train crawled mile and stopped at
siding.
"ln the baggage car there was a tee-
graph instrument, but no operator. The
express messenger said he knew few
calls and he thought he could tell the ST.
perntendent Of the wreck. A loop was
hooked on the main wire and the instru-
ment was connected, but the messenger
was not good at the business, and, after !
trying for 20 minutes he had to stop.
If this guy in the box here was not |
dead said the baggage man, we would |
be IN town. He was fine operator be- |
fore he cashcd in his chips
The most worried man on the train
was Il cotton dealer from New Orleans,
who was travelling with barrel of mon
ey. The man came in the baggage chr
and talked frantically Of the delays Aft
or time. however, he got more cheerful
and stood around and watched us play
ing cards. When we had changed from
seven up to poker, the cotton man asked
II he could get in. and We were all glad
to nave him. There were five in the game
the conductor, express messenger, bag-
gage master, cotton broker and Il news
paper man. The messenger was the best
gambler on the train, and he got Il streak
of luck after 4 time. The newspaper
man and the baggage muster dropped
out. the conductor sticking to make the
three. The messenger, Sprunt, was sit
ting on the foot OF the coffin, and the
hagman said that this was why he was
having luck. The playing got hotter, and
the conductor dropped out leaving i
Sprunt and the cotton man, big fellow,
who introduced himself as Smith. He |
had been losing steadily but he brought
out punches Of new bills every few mo-
mcnts. One or Two pots had been rich.
In one there was at least 1000, and the
one following had fully $500. The two
pots came over to Sprunt.
1T was not long game. The playing
had been quick. though the finish came,
strange to say, in view Of subsequent
events, on deal by Smith. But Sprunt
was SO slick that | am not satisfied to
this day that the thing was square.
When the crisis came, Smith was dealing.
de shuhicd the cards carelessly and roll
ed off ten. Everything was a jack pot.
Sprunt said he could not open it, but
Smith smashed it with handful of bank
notes. Sprunt surprised us by coming
back with a heavy raise, and for q mo-
ment the raising was wild.
"Sprunt drew one card, and Smith
stood pat. The betting continued until
Smith had put up his last dollar. Sprunt
still had small amount, but he said he
would call. Smith felt sure Of what was
in sight when he laid down four delccs,
but his breath stopped short when Sprunt
put down four iives.
IAN the while Sprunt had boon sitting
on the coffin. God, there is something
alive in this box" he said For moment
everything was still. There was a faint
tapping, and the conductor took an AK,
4 uOrknI ihn iii off thnrn th, |