Evening journal., 1900-04-02
SHERMAN'S POKER STORY
MONEY PLAYED FOR ON THE
MARCH TO THE SEA.

The General Tells Why He Did Not
Break Up the Little Party-Nearly
a Million Dollars Depended Upon
the ResuIt--A Liberal Proposition.
The last time General Sherman at
tended commencement at West Point
was in June, 1889. The members OF
the graduating class received the d.
plomas from his hand that year, and
he also delivered the commencement
address. The beautiful summer even
ings that followed the old general
sat on the wide verandah Of the hotel
and told stories.
Il heard of some pretty big games
of poker in the early days out west,"
he said, "and maybe saw one or two.
But the biggest one l ever saw or
heard of was during the war. 1t
would have made your head swim
to have heard the bets that / heard
made that night It was just after the
march to the sea, when we were in
North Carolina. took it into my head
that night that l would make a quiet
round of the outposts myself and see
how things were coming on. In some
bushes in the woods, well within our
lines. 1 saw a light cleaning and
number of forms clustered around it,
all evidently very intent on some
thing. came quietly up toward them
without attracting any attention.
They were all too much absorbed to
notice the cracking of twigs or the
rustling Of leaves under my feet At
last was near enough to distinguish
voices and make out what was being
said. And the first words l heard
were:
az see you 100000 and go you
$250,0O0 better
"Whew! The figures fairly took
my breath away. And they were
privates, too It was easy enough to
make that out. They had a blanket
spread out on the ground and were
all squatted on it or beyond its edges,
some bending eagerly forward peer
ing over the shoulders Of those who
were in front Of them. A couple Of
candle ends stuck in bottles afforded
the illumination. And by this dim
light / saw corded up stacks and
stacks of bills, regular bundles and
bales of them. It was like looking
into a United States Treasury vault.
The sight made me blink with won
der.
"Tll raise you sS0O,O00.'
THAT was the next thing l heard.
1t was said as nonchalantly as though
It were a question of 5 cent chips.
And the players did not look like
i Croesuses, either. You have heard
about Sherman's bummers. Well
these were Shermans bummers. ane
they looked it. OF course, that game
there was just little bit irregular
but 1 could not bear to break it up
got interested in it. felt as though
4 would like to see the limit reached
hear somebody called, and, just foi
curiosity, know who it was who raked
In the million or so dollars that prob
ably would be in the pot when that in
teresting event occurred. I did moi
have to wait long. l have forgotten
Just the amount that changed hands
ii" pul IL Mao 90l4NW ACAN up eAOhAQ
million. The winner tok up an arm
lul Of bills and swept them over in Z
heap by his side.
Nov, I'll tell you what I'll do
BILL he said. I'll put up the hull mil
lion agin a plug of tobacco and pla!
ge three straight games Of euchre-
best two out of three, and leave thu
sevens and eights in the deck
"well. gentlemen" continued tn
general, with his dry little laugh, q
Is no need to tell you that I begul
10 get a little light on the situation
before this liberal proposition wa
made. remembered we had jus
raided town where we had come VI
On ton or so of reb money. and tha
The boys had had the fancy to car
away several hundred weight of IL
The had lots of fun with that money
and am indebted to it for having ha
he pleasure of looking on at probabl
he biggest poker game ever playe
n the United States. did not brea'
ID the little tea party. Poor fellows
ord knows they had been throug
snough hard time to entitle them {
little fun. New York Sun.