The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-05-26
$40 PER YEAR.
MURDER HIDDEN BY FIRE

/ Iite game was broken up as it was There
was sideboard in the room AMI q can
able darky in attendance. who saw to- all
! we wanted. and there's no telling how
long we would have. continued to play
II the climax hadn't come. We played
! as before for table stakes. and as before
each man showed a thousand dollars at
the start. 1t was more than an hour,
| TOO, before there was any more money in
/ view, Tor though we used ten-dolIar gold
| pieces for chips, and no Jackpot was
opened for less than $50, the play was re-
markably even for a long time It was
| win and lose all round, and every man
played as carefully as if his life depended
on each deal. We. were there for blood
and we knew that we were up against
a stiff proposition. It wouldn't do to
make breaks. Harris and Hopkins made
no secret of their enmity, which we all
understood by this time, but they were
! strictly observant of the etiquette of the
game. and though we know that a col
lision might come at any time, we knew
also that neither one would break out till
he was ready to quit They were there
Lon business that no personal feeling
would be allowed to interfere with.
| Upton was the first to open his wallet
1 He played a flush against a full that
Jennings caught on a three-card draw
and his perfectly natural confidence be-;
| ttrayed him. Jennings himself was badly
beaten on another full soon after, and he,
produced fNAs roll in turn. We all followed
except Hopkins, and the play got heavier
| right along until there was twenty-oddI
thousand on the table, and it was fifty to-
play each time. Such a game as that isl
| likely to break bank, and if any one Of
| US had grown careless he would have
gone to smash in short order, but the.
| longer we played the closer we watched.
| one another, and if any bluffing was done
| the buffer was not caught. The cards
ran small, too. It was not often that.
two extra good hands were out together,
and playing to the real value of the cards
| as we did mostly, we all kept alive for
| an astonishing time. I, for one, was be-
ginning to feel the strain so much that
+ was thinking of drawing out when the
end came. ''
There was jackpot, and The deal had
gone around twice before it was opened,
SO that there was over five hundred in
the pot when caught kings. 1t wasn't
strong enough hand for me to want
competitors, SO I opened it for five hum
dred. To my disgust Jennings Harris
and Hopkins all came in, and Hopkins
boosted it five hundred. stayed with
reluctance Jennings dropped out with a
pair of mines, as he afterward told me-,
and Harris made good, leaving us three
In the struggle. Upton was dealing I
drew to the strength of my hand. Harris
took one and Hopkins stood pat. 1t was
hard proposition. I looked at my draw
and seeing I had three kings I threw in
one chip. Harris, knowing that Hopkins
would raise, also clipped Hopkins
pushed out chip and a $500 note, and
just then somebody in the house,
couldn't tell by the sound where he was
yelled 'Fire!' So ~. ..-,s-.. s.
| None of us moved, but the darby bolt
ed for the door and disappeared. We
never saw him again. I skinned my
hand over to make sure that it was not a
full, and threw it down. Harris studied
his hand, or pretended to, for little, and
then raised five hundred. Hopkins came
| back at him with a thousand more, and
we knew the fight of the game was on.
Harris raised it a thousand after a little
more hesitation, and Hopkins came back
at him once more. #
"By this time there was an uproar in
the house, and we could hear shouts and
confusion from the street also, but none
of US stirred. I felt uneasy, and thought
| to myself that I was a fool to sit still,
but the fascination Of the game was on
me, and was determined to see the hand
played out. Upton and Jennings both told
me later that they had the same thought.
Before Harris made his next play there
was pounding on the door and some
one shouted to us that the hotel was on
fire. There was a spring lock on and the
| man outside couldn't open the door, but
he tried the knob and shouted loud
enough to wake the dead. Still, strange
as it seems, we sat still. 1t would only
take "a moment more, we thought, to set
| tie the hand.
"Harris called and then threw down
| jack full on sevens. One of the sevens
vas a club. Hopkins showed an eight
Full, and Harris reached for the money.
| We were all rising from the table, when
Hopkins, with a 1ightning-1ike movement,
seized the deck and throwing 1t on the
table face up, spread the cards with
sweep of the hand and picked out a seven
| Of clubs
| You held out that seven he said
With an cath, and pulling his revolver
with his right hand he reached for the
| money with his left
Harris was even quicker than he. His
gun was out first, and as Hopkins lifted
| his he fell back, shot through the brain.
Then, pocketing the money, Harris start
ed for the door.
ut was high time to go The room
was already filing with smoke Jennings
and both made motion to seize the
murderer, but he still had his revolver
in his hand, and as he raised It we both
realized that there was no time for a
scuffie Upton had turned to Hopkins
and found that he was quite dead, or at
least that he seemed to be-
= I reckon it's time to look out for our
selves said Jennings, and we rushed out,
following Harris. who had gone already
How 4 got out don't know I have
confused recollection Of cropping through
smoke and falling down stairs; then OF
more stairs, and finally of Jumping from
q window somewhere broke my leg
and tainted and came to in a hospital.
When Jennings and Upton came around
to see me they told me that Harris body
had been Unidentified, and that no money
had been found In the half -burned clothes
that still hung to him. Whether the bills
had been burned or stolen with the gold
there was no telling. Neither could any
o. US decide whether Harris had held out
a card, or whether Hopkins had himself
mad the duplicate seven OF clubs AS
both men were dead we concluded It was
not worth while to tell the story. =
ss
Victoria presented Lady Roberts the Victoria
cross won by her dead son, says that when
Lady Roberts visited the queen her ma5sY
handed her small parcel saying: ssHwn
MN n