The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-09-01

Meunod1sr cnurcn. You couldn't persuade
him. One day I says to him, Look a.
here, Pete, royal flush is most onaues-
ttonably good piece o. property, but
what show hev you got O. gettin' one?
You put me out o. patience Look at
the pots you might "a scooped with two
pairs an three of a kind if you'd only
draWed like Christian, says L, instead
O putin your trust in strange gods, an
sacr1hcin' your good chips an the priu-
ciples O. the game in strange an foolis+
e.deavor. It's flynn in the face O. Prov
ldence,' 1 says to him, an you'll go down
to your grave unhonored, unwept an
unhung If you persist in it. More'n that
I says, you'll be dead broke all the DAYS
O. your life
But you couldn't convince him. There's
TOUR royal fushes in the deck amt there"
says he, an them five cards is just as
likely to come as any other five, amt
they? An If there's anything certain in
this here world O. trouble an uncertainty
us that man'l get 'em sometime ii
ne keeps on tryin. An say When I
90 get EN- If the Lord spares me till that
happy day, I wont do anything but swat
the gang
Inc Lord can spare you easy enough
says I, disguised, AN so can the commu.
nifty If You go on tryin' to break up our
national institutions by prepagatin' SIGH
revolutionary ideas. It's worse'n social
'sm,' says. It's Ridiculous
But there wasn't no movin of him.
nm we just had to leave him to the error
OF mis- ways, an what we thought was the
inevitable vengeance Of heaven. An the
boys calculated that bein' as how he was
self-appointed vessel O. wrath, an
pound to be skinned in the game as long
as he continued to play it, it 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 De sustained by a calm confidence in
that royal flush, an every time he went
broke he'd go back to work as clipper as
catfish an stick to it till he had stake
to sit in the game with
Ihat was another thing used to talk
TO MIN about while I was trying to show
MIN the error of his ways. 'Supposin- you
40 get royal flush sometime l SAYS,
now can you expect to get legitimate
pront out OF it If you go broke all the
time tryin' to get it? You won't have no
money to bet WITH says.
but all he ever said to that was Oh
the Lord will provide! 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 it up?' Which was the next door to
blasphemy, as I told him FREQUENT. but
ne only smiled. An when the time come.
as 1t did finally, when his faith was iusti-
fed, an he reaped the reward of per-
s1stency, 1t were developed that he had
good reason to smile, for he had ppovided
Tor that contingency with a wisdom COM
pared to which the guile O. the sarpept
was as the babblings O. babes an suck
l1ngs. Oh! Pete was a polished article
even If we did size him up for a deluded
fanatic all them years.
1T went on for a matter O. fifteen wear
or more an Pete's royal flush come to he
standin' joke In town. Fellers would
laugh about it every time he set into
game, an 1t were esteemed a great piece
o wit for some Teller to say, TIL bet p
thousand to one in town lots that Pete
won't get a royal flush tonight Course
nobody ever took it up, but everybodv'C
laugh, an Pete would blush, an he'd saw
I'll get 1t some time, boys, if I 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
fell out about as he'd always said they
would. 1t was pretty good game from
the hrSt, Tor there was a couple O. cross.
ROADS gamblers who had come to town
lookin for blood, an it happened that
there was two planters just back from
New Orleans with their money in Their
pockets, an they was lookin' 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 the
got OF at Arkansas City here, an F &c
havin hundred in his clothes, Just nat.
urally did.
HE played lucky from the start. II
happened fortunately that he didn't gel
chance to make one Of his fool draws
more'n once in Ialf an hour or so, an
his play outside O. that was fairly good
pots on flushes an fulls, besides two OF
three that he took in on deuces and
nerve, or some SIGH hand. .:-
+ Anyhow, he had near thousand in
pot with fifty in it before it was opened.
Pete sat next to the dealer an he passed
havin' on'y king, jack an ten O. clubs.
not bein' permitted to open under the
rules. The next man opened it for fiftv.
the next three come in. an Pete raised
it a hundred. That was his fool plav.
Whenever he'd see show for rovaIz
flush he used to play as If he had II.
he 1n'f
when it did come t.. ...-ss..
wen, pit worked pretty we'll One of
the crossroads professionals dropped out
put the other one had seven full, pat,
an after the two planters had come in,
ne raised Pete another hundred Pete
came back at him with another and one
OF the planters dropped. The other had
a four flush and he stayed The gambler,
for some reason, didn't raise again, but
simply saw the raise, and there was
$1,000 in the pot.
In the draw1Pete got the ace an queen
O clubs. suppose If I'd a caught them
cards under the circumstances. I'D
dropped dead with surprise, but Pete
never turned a hair. There was kind
OF drop to the left side Of his face an,
1t looked little droopier than usual, for
a minute, but he gave no other sign, and
the others thought he had three Of
kind at the most. The planter filled his
flush, an SO Pete had two good hanGs to
play against, which was as much as any,
body could expect. He had about six
hundred on the table to bet with, be- s
sides, and moren that, he had resources
that nobody at the table knew about
The planter sat next 60 the opener
who had dropped out, and as it was his
hrst bet and he had flush, he pushed
up hundred, not carin, to 81, 200 hea,,,,