Little Falls herald., 1901-01-04

: : 4 WOOD . y ! HAD NER We
~Tbe ooldest nerve / evtr ,eW ,disp,ayea
" anyone, = asaid$'the gray.haired, young.
cooking maa. "wss Jack ,Atwoodls, whea,
after being shot at from behind, he paused
\ aail his poker hand to the, table with {
bew1e knife before turning and drawing bis
avn revolver to return the fire. $:.s>*S = ~
Atwood was queer fel]ew in many waya
physically he wasn't much Go look at, but
ae hsd dand6ed habits that seemed curious
y out of place in man whose business kefA
him constantly in association with the
p~vghe5t men ii the country at that time
& am speaking of the lumbermen on the UP
per 1Mississirpi 30 years ago-and who waa
Ia fact, ss Wild as the'wilde& o. them,
~~He was smaH and = litDr stoop-shoua
3ered, and his face was narrow and sAllow,
With q queerly crooked nose. and sharp liz;
&le eyes that were set much too close together
10 be pleasing. He was as vain az peacock,
though, and dressed always in fashion.plat9
style, shaved every day and waxed his mus.
tache, which was habit nobody else In.
2nlged in 7est Of Chicago in those sdayA -
far as my obseivatloa went. :; ii
''He was a good deal of politician, a14
vas suspected of writing some ofthe mos1
violent articles rhat appeared in the local
papers at time when Minnesota journalism
was not conspicuous for its close regard fss
The amenities Of life. There had been = deal
q scandal about member Of the state leo.
Alature from Minneapolis him Dayh
-for some time before the fight that Ispsaa
ii. and Atwood had been among DaviS Dssl
Violent critics. - -. =
This particular night there was quite 4
sluwd in Bill Galloway gambling house e1
the east side Of Minneapolis, near the cd
Wort Smelling road. Atwood was, playing
9oker with four other men. Two were luD
h1Fmen, friends of Atwood's, and the fifth
was a st. Paul man, stranger to me. It wae
Che first game had ever seen played VII
tlo gold pieces for chips
i "'Qf course, for the heavy betting thss
used paper money, for as the ante was on
chip, and it took two to come in, there wers
not chips enough to bet with when the big
hands came. Limit games were not muck
In vogue in Galloway's place at any TINA
bat table stakes usually meant 4 few hun
dred dollars at the outside, and this was tha
largest had ever seen up to that time, fc.s
each player had good-sized wad, and tberN
must have been $4,000 or $4,000 in sigha
It least.
Nothing special occurred for over u
4our, when there was a jackpot which
Has opened for 800, and somewhatto my
surprise all the players came in. It was .
Jack for Gve chips, in the first place, and haf
been sweetened once, so there were $500 n
the center before the draw.
t 'The second surprise came when each mar
drew two card:, excepting Atwood, wht
stood pat. They were holding their card,
close, 80 none Of rs around the party knew
| what any player held, but it appeared late,
| that Atwood had four jacks. They weren's
playing straight Aushes, so his hand was a;
most sure one.
| "The opener put up another hundred Oh
the strength Of his three of kind. The nexi
| one raised it hundred. The third did thS
! same thing, and SD did the fourth He was
the St. Paul man, and he had caught fourth
seven spot, while the others had not bet.
tered. Atwood made it a thousand to play
One, two and three dropped out. Three oi
| ! kind was no kind of a hand for that
struggle, and that is.what each Of them had.
"The St.. Paul man was delighted, though
he tried hard to conceal it, and he came back
! 1t Atwood with another, thousand. He waa
ahead Of the ga1ns, having about $4,000 in
flont Of him at the beginning of the deal,
while Atwood had only about half that,
That left him enough to raise St. Paul ono
| more, and he did it promptly: %;
HsT e.,pr,os. fsll o x,a - m II x,o,, ~, ~ ~.
latter, Seeing it's table stakes, but I'm sorr>,
| you haven't more money with you.'
:" I have $4,000 in the bank said Atwood
IF you care to take my check I'll stand all.
other raise
"Checks were not in great favor at Gallo
ways, and the St. Paul man hesitated natu.
rally enough, but one Of Atwoods client,
spoke up. I'll cash your check for you
jack he said, and just then the shot came.
''The entrance to the room was midway
between the faro and poker tables, and Al.
wood sat with his back toward it. Davis had
entered the room noiselessly and had fred a.
soon as he saw Atwood. Shooting from b.
hind will ruin man in any community, and
! ! don't suppose Davis would have done it
Il he hadn't been half drunk and half mad
with rage az well. He probably wouldn't
have missed his shot, though, if be hadn't
been drinking. Il was watching Atwood
| closely and hadn't seen Davis enter.
"As it was I.saw. tho left end of Atwood +
| mustache disappear at the instant the shot
rang out and red streak show on his cheek,
| but he didn't turn his head. He reached
down as quick as ferret and drew l11lifs
from somewhere below the line of the table
Top, laying his cards face down on the tabls
| with his left hand at the same ihstant.
I The game stands as it ia, he said, with
out quaver in hisGvoice az he drove tho
knife through the cards and the baixe cover,
deep into the wood, with vicious stab.
Then just as quickly he reached for his hip
pocket and stood facing around uaa4h a re-
volver in his hand leveled at Davis.
"Two other hots rang out as he rose
They were frsd by Atwood's friends, but
fortunately they bit nobody. Another man
had seized Davis gun as he was trying h
1boet again, and there was scu@e going Oh
IN moment, with three OF fos9 men onss
side, all of whom, however, were trying h
forco Davis out of the room. -
Atwood, held his FIRE, seeing tha4 thezv
was group Of men in front Of him, and
I - fNSNR 49, L.. L 4