The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1900-11-14
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
Million Dollars Depended Upon
the ResuIt-A Liberal Proposition.

The last time General Sherman at.
tended commencement ut West Point
WIS In June. 1889 The members of
the graduating class received the oil.
plomas from his hand that year, and
he also delivered the commencement
address The beautiful summer even.
ings that followed the old general
Bat on the wide Yerandah of the hotel
aud told stories
Il herd of some pretty big games
Of poker In the early days out west,
he said. and maybe | saw one or two.
Bat the biggest one | 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. 1t was just after the
march to the sea. when we were in
North Carolina. | took 1t into my head
that night that would make II quiet
round OF the outp0sts myself and see
how things were coming on. In some
Gpsaos In the woods, well within our
H. s. | saw a light cleaning and a
II ~ T of forms clustered around H.
~ evidently very intent on some
thias came quietly up toward them
without attracting any attention.
They were all too much absorbed to
notice the cracking of twigS or the
rnstling of leaves under my feet. At
last was near enough to distinguish
voices and make out what was being
faid And the first words heard
were:
u see you $500. 900 aud 20 you
$50 900 better
'Whew, The figures fairly took
my breath away And they were
priyate8. too 1t was easy enough to
make that out They had n blanket
spread ont on the ground and were
all squatted on 1t 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 aud
bales OF them. 1t was like looking
into a United States Treasury vault,
III SlblL tHhht Nv Diihh NlNl WIN
der
I'll raise you s300. 600.
THAT was the next thing | heard
II was said az nonchalantly as though
1t were question of cent chips
And the players did not look like
Croesuses, either You have heard
about Shermans bummcrs Well.
these were Sherman's bummrrs, and
they looked it. OF course, that game
there was Just little bit irregular.
but | could not bear to break 1t mp.
| got interested in It. | felt as though
| would like to see the limit reached
hear somebody called. and, Just for
curiosity, know who 1t was who raked
In the million or so dollars that prob.
ably would be In the pot when that in
teresting event occurred did not
have to wait long. have forgotten
just the amount that changed hands,
but It was somewhere mp around a
million. The winner tok up an arm.
ful of bills and swept them over in a
heap by his side.
Now, I'll tell you what III do.
Blii, ne Sald. ii put up lne nun mn
lion agin plug Of tobacco and play
we three straight games Of euchre-
best two out Of three. and leave the
sevens and elghts In the deck
well gentlemen" continued tho
general, With his dry little laugh, 1T
is no need tot you that I begun
to get a little light on the situation
before this liberal proposition was
made reMembered we had just
raided town where we had come up.
on ton or 50 Of reb money and that
the boys had had the fancy to cart
away several hundred weight of 1t.
The had lots OF fun with that money,
and am indebted to 1t for having had
the pleasure of looking on at probably
the biggest poker game ever played
In the United States. did not break
up the little tea party. Poor fellows!
Lord knows they had been through
enough hard time to entltle them TO