Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-08
1T WAS THEIR LUCKY VOYAGE

the ocean liners, and especially that recent
story narrating how John w. Gates, the
steel and wire millionaire, was done out
of large sum on one Of the steamships by
an impudent pair of poker swtndlers, re-
calls to my memory q poker incident that
occurred on one of the big liners on which
l was a passenger in the fall OF w, sald
a well-known Washington clubman VINO
frequently goes abroad. AT that tfme as
at present, the steamship companies were
making strenuous efforts to drive the pro-
fessional gamblers from the ships, without
however, meeting with much success The
companies could never absolutely prove
that such and such suspected man was
swindler on account of the natural I'M
willingness of voyagers who had peen
ch:seed out of their money to make Ior-
NAL complaint. thus subjecting themselves
to the ridicule OF their friends.
There was a big card of warning against
professional gamblers hanging In the ca:u
room Of the liner on which L crossed III
October, 80, but most Of the male VoyaseIS
who read the warning simply laughed at IT,
1t Is one Of the cock-cure characteristics OF
men who play even a game that Is oniy
moderately good at cards that they 11rmiy
believe themselves capable OF WltnstanulhB
all of the tricks of professional gamblers.
They won't admit even to themselves, that
they can be done I'D just like to clap
eyes on the wise deck-riffier who can pun
the wool over my eyes at game OF draw'
or any professional cheat who RANCHES ne
can put me in the hole by employing unfair
methods is welcome to all of my money
that he can get, are remarks you IL OFTEN
hear men make who ought to know better.
Nevertheless, the warning card hanging In
the card room of this vessel had the effect
of putting the male passengers on their
guard against the possible appearance VI
card sharks, and they were on the LOOKOUT
for bunch of the latter to discover them
he m steamer
out into the stream.
1.-THE passenger list, owing to the lateness
of the season, was not over full and on the
first day out there were only few small
games in the card room, most of them. ap-
parently, between men who knew each
other quite WELL Things began to liven UP
in the card room on the second day out.
however, and the chaps who didn't appear
to know anybody got together In four. fVe
and six-handed games Of draw. One of the
six-handed poker games was the storm CEN
ter of the incident that l started to tell you
about.
Il was one of the players in that game.
I was acquainted with two of the men in
the game, but the other three were strang-
ers to me. One of the men l knew was
wealthy New York city politician, and an
other was a former Washingtonian, who
went to Chicago and made money on the
board of trade there We three just natu-
rally fell in with the three strangers and
started a game. One of the three strangers
was foreign-lookng chap, with bronzed
Skill VINO spoke WIFI a Slight TenCn &C
cent Another was well-groomed Eng
lishman, whose manners were fine, and who
invariably spoke in a very low tone of
voice. The third stranger was a young
American chap, who wore a full beard,
drank quite literally and had somewhat
dissipated look. He occasionally let fall the
remark that he was a Californian, and it
was, of course. up to the three of who
knew each other to take his word for 1t.
I'VE went at the game long before lunch
con on the third day out. and from the be-
ginning of that sitting too, the three stran-
gers annexed the bulk of the money None
of them appeared to be particularly skillfuI
In handling the cards The man who spoke
with a slight French accent seemed, in
deed, to be a good deal of the novice at
the game-so much so, in fact, that he
never appeared to know when he was un-
der the gun or when 1T was up to him
The well-bred Engishman was rather awk-
ward in his handling of the deck, and made
frequent misdeais, besides constantly drop
ping punches of cards O., the deck while
shutting. The bearded young fellow who
said he was from California only appeared
to know about as much the law per-
mftS amateurs to know about the great
American game.
Nevertheless, the three of them got the
money, and there was no accounting for 1t.
Every time one of the three of US who
knew each other got hand one of the
three strangers would be dead certain to
have better one, and this sort Of thing
went on so unintermittently during the en-
tire third days play that 1t surely did look
queer / think the three Of us who had
previous acquaintanceship with each other
all became suspicious at once, for, along
toward the close of the third days play,
when the three Of US were all to the bad
and 1t seemed impossible for any one OF us
outdrawing any of the other three, we
found ourselves exchanging glances with
each other. l think, too that the three of
US noticed at virtually the same time that
the three strangers invariably got the big
gest hands when one the other of them
was doing the dealing We didn't give any
further indication that we were suspicious
OF the three strangers than the quick ex-
change OF glances between ourselves when
one OF them appeared to have a particu-
larry phenomenal bit of luck When, short
ly before midnight. we quit play however
the three OF us got together and did little
talking among ourselves. We agreed that
we had been up against a brace game and
each of us declared our firm belief that
the three chaps with whom we had been
playing were professional cheats
We got into the game again on the fol-
lowing morning, and from the outset the
chaps whom we suspected got all the
money and the fact became more OBJ
vious than ever that they were doing al
most all Of the winning on their own deals
Tor when any one of the three of us who
suspected them dealt they rarely stayed
along After we had been playing for a
couple of hours the wel-bred Englishman,
having the buck. dealt jack. l was sit
ting on his left and passed out. My for
mer Washington friend, who was next to
me. also threw up his hand. The New
York politician. who was next. opened it
for the limit, and the chap with the French
accent and the bearded young man who
said he was from California stayed along.
The Englishman raised 1t before the draw,
and the other three stood the raise Nv
friend the New York politician drew to his
mines upon deuces and caught another nine
Then the Frenchman and the Californian
dropped out, and 1t was between the we'll
bred Englishman and the politician They
raised 1t back and forth between them
until each had about $3.50 in the middle of
the table. when the politician. with a queer
look in his eye. called. The Englishman
showed up his ace full on queens and yank-
ed down the pot. The politician slowly
rose from the table.
There's fun IN being a good thing. II
only for the novelty OF 1t, for little
WHILE said he. but it's expensive work, at
that. There are two people in this game
that know, and know that they're play
ing for amusement / regret that 1 can't
say the same for the three In the game
that don't know
THE well-bred Englshman looked at the
politician steadily. The man with the
French accent paled slightly and regarded
the politician with an equally steady stare
The bearded young man from California
was also agape, but he broke the smell nv