The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-05-19
SCARED BY HIS LUCK.
HOW A SENATOR'S SIS GREW
INTO $4,000.
e Was HIS First and Only Experience
at the Gambling able ind He Was
FrIghtsnsd-Gavs It All Away to Aid
Struggling Yoasg Follows. A

- ~ 1S~AV "'S
FrIshtsnsd-0avs It All Away to Aid
Struggling Yoasg Fsllowa A
An entertaining tale of the gamb-
ling room wat related recently by Col.
! Cole Martin, according to one of the
Washington papers. It has to do with
the phenomenal luck of Henry N Rice,
who was the first senator from Mime
sofa, after the territory was admitted
as a state. Martins story is as fol-
lows: Being a resident of st. Paul
when Rice was elected by the legisla-
ture and having taken a hand in the
fight, I concluded to come on with
Rice to Washington, as in those days,
1858, Washington was a wide-open
town, and faro was as free then as
a beer lunch Is now. OF course, l had
an acquaintance among the sports,
and shortly after l erected my tepee
in the capital the senator invited me
to visit him. While making the rounds
one afternoon we got hungry and l in
vited him into Pringle's. Pringle's at
that time was the finest gambling
house in Washington. The proprietor
served three elegant meals a day to
his guests and patrons without charge.
It was q rendezvous for all manner
and kinds of men with money. You
could meet there in groups a foreign
ambassador, a United States senator,
judges, generals, and, of course, men
like myself, who followed the green
cloth as a profession. / was then in
or about my 30th year, and thought no
more of win or lose $4,000 than 1
would now of a single IS bill. There
were no 10 or Is cent chips in those
days. The whites cost 81, the very
lowest price for them. Nobody
thought Of buying a stack of chips
under $50, and play was high. I was
as high a roller as the best Of them,
for just previous to my arrival in
Washington l had lost as banker in
two nights over $50, 900.
We'll, Senator Rice and myself en-
toyed Pringle's fine spread. 1 intro
duced the senator, and as he had
never played a card, like old Matt
Carpenter, he knew all the boys and
was gracious and democratic in his
associations with them; he felt en-
barrassed over eating such an elegant
meal and not having to pay for it.
Passing a faro layout in the next
room, he threw down a IS gold piece
on a card, expecting to lose it. To his
surprise and chagrin, however, he
won. This made the matter worse
than ever, as he did not want to win,
but to lose the IS as an indirect pay
ment for the meal he had eaten.
While he was in a quandary 1 bought
a stack of chips and soon became alb
ssorbed in the game. The senator was
trying to lose what he had won, but,
in spite Of himself, his winnings in
creased. His bets were placed hap
hazard, he not knowing whether they
were placed right or not, and not car
ing, except that he wanted to lose, and
get out of the place. But lose he
couldn't, and I oon dropped out, be-
ing broke, to watch his play and mar
vel at his ever-increasing pile. He
Don had a crowd around him, which
added to his. embarrassment, and he
appealed to me to help him get broke,
as he wanted to get out, and did not
want to take any of tie banks money
with him. Well, this was the fun
niest snap I have ever experienced in
my life Of ove 20 years. There sat
the senator and myself playing for all
we were worth to reduce his winnings,
and play any way we chose the piles
Of chips increased. I, who had been so
unlucky, caught the fever Of the SEN
ator's good luck, and I won in a
streak.
11The senator's face was as white as
his shirt, and he was as scared a man
as ever I saw in my life. But the play
went on, and owing to the fact that
at that time there was no limit at
Pringle's, the bets were So high, that
the modern 25-cent chip layer would
get the grip If I sheuld mention the
size Of bets.
Finally. Mr.. Pringle called me to
one side, and told me that his partners
objected to the game without a limit.
He was willing himself to play the
bank without it, but he was compelled
to defer to the wishes Of his partners.
and would place the limit at $3.50 Q
bet.
"He said 1t was all right to have me
play on, as he liked me and all that,
but I was the first man who " forced
him to put a limit on the game. When
I returned to the table / quietly in
formed the senator and he looked dis
tressed, as he saw no chance, from his
point of view, in getting rid of his
winnings at a $3.50 limit. We played
until midnight, and the senator at last
yielded TO fatigue, and ordered me to
cash In. When he counted the roll in
his room, our joint winnings were just
$31, 800, Of which sum he staked me,
as my share to $4,000. Said he. when
he gave me the money:
p" Martin, / played a card In
my life before this afternoon, and l
will never play another one az long
as I live. This money! will do come
thing with which shall not Immediate
~ benefit myself or my family
II visited st. Paul 20 years after this
occurrence. and met the senator. True
to his word, he had never touched a
card, and I learned from others who
got wind Of the play in Washington
that the senator's winnings were ex-