The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-09-14

hush like a sick Niger sticks to tn,
Methodi4t church. You couldn't persuad,
him. One day says to him. Look n
here, Pete, royal flush Is most onques
tionabfy good piece o. property, bu
what show hev you got o. gettin' one
You put me out o. patience. Look Al
the pots you might "a scooped with two
pairs an three of q kind II you'd onl,
drawed like a Christian. says l. instead
| o putin your trust In strange gods. an
sacrificin' your good chips an the prin.
| ctpies o the game In a strange an foolis'
endeavor. It's iyin' in the face O. Prov.
tdence.' l says to him. AN you'll go down
to your grave unhonored. unwept an
unhung II you persist in 1t. More'n that.
says. you'll be dead broke all the days
o. your life
But you couldn't convince him. There's
four royal tlushes in the deck. amt there !?
says he. AN them five cards Is just as
likely to come as any other five. amt
they? An II there's anything certain In
this here world o. trouble an uncertainty.
tbs that man'll get 'em sometime, II
he keeps on tryin'. An say! When l
do get en- If the Lord spares me TIL that
happy day, wont do anything but swat
the gang
q The Lord can spare you easy enough
says l, disguised, AN SO can the commu,.
nifty If You go on tryin' to break up our
national institutions by propagatin' sich
revolutionary ideas. It's worsc'n social
ISM 1 says It's ridiculous
but there wasn't no movin' Of him,
an we Just had to leave him to the error
of his ways. an what we thought was the
70 n Ia
boys calculated that bein' as how he was
a self-appointed vessel o. wrath, an
bound to be skinned in the game as long
as he continued to play 1t. 1t was sort o.
missionary work to assist in the skim
min. Most of 'em devoted themselves to
the missionary work. too, with such holy
zeal that Pete was broke most Of the
time.
He was good grit though Nobody
never heard him complain, for he seemed
to be sustained by calm confidence in
that royal flush, an every time he went
broke he'd go back to work as clipper as
a catfish an stick to 1t till he had stake
to sit in the game with.
That was another thing / used to talk
to him about while I was trying to show
him the error Of his ways. 'Supposin' you
do get royal flush sometime l says,
how can you expect to get legitimate
profit out Of 1t If you go broke all the
time tryin' to get 1t? You won't have no
money to bet with I says.
But all he ever said to that was oh,
the Lord will provided You don't suppose
thing Is goin' to be so ordered, do you,
that heavens richest blessin' would come
TO man, an him not have the means to
back 1t up? Which was the next door to
blasphemy, as told him frequent, but
he only smiled. An when the time come,
as 1t did finally, when his faith was justi-
fled, an he reaped the reward of per-
sistency, 1t were developed that he had
good reason to smile, for he had provided
for that contingency with wisdom COM
pared to which the guile O. the sarpent
was as the babblings O. babes an suck
lings. Oh! Pete was q polished article
even IL we did size him up for a deluded
fanatic all them years.
1t went on for matter O. fifteen year
or more an Pete's royal flush come to be
a standin' joke in town. Feilers would
laugh about 1t every time he set into a
game, an 1t were esteemed great piece
O. wit for some Teller to say, I'll bet a
thousand to one in town lots that Pete
won't get royal flush tonight Course
nobody ever took 1t up. but everybody'd
laugh. an Pete would blush, an he'd say,
III get 1t some time, boys, IL don't to-
night
An he did. If ever man won sue
cess by long-continued, persistent strug-
Gin for 1t. Pete Kennedy did, an things
foil out about as he'd always said they
would. It was pretty good game from
the first. for there was a couple o. CROSS
roads gamblers who had come to town
looktn' for blood, an 1t happened that
there was two planters just back from
New Orleans with their money In their
pockets. an they was loolkin' for excite-
ment One Of 'em knowed Pete an liked
him an asked him to join in the game
that was started Just about the time they
got on ct Arkansas City here. an Pete
havin hundred in his clothes, just nat
urally did.
He played lucky from the start. 1t
happened fortunately that he didn't yet
chance to make one Of his fool draws
mora'n once in alf an hour or 80, an,
his play outside o. that was fairly good
pots on Pushes an fulls, besides two or
three that he took In on deuces and
nerve or some SIGH hand.
Anyhow. he had near q thousand In
front Of him when there come a big Jack
pot with nifty In 1t before II was opened.
Pete sat next to the dealer m he passed,
hayin' only . king. Jack an ten o clubs,
not bein permitted to open under the
rules. The next man opened II for nifty.
the next three come In. an Pete raised
1t hundred That WINS his sfon1 ,,I.,,