The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-24
FARO BANK AND GUN PLAY
INCIDENTS OF EARLY TIMES I'm
THE CALIFORNIA GOLD
FIELDS
KILLING OF ONE pUG111sr
A Thrilling Experience with q
ScOtchman Named McPher-
sOn--Three Lives I'm
Jeopardy.

fleloS, was Judge" Jones. 1t was
known of him only that he mysteriously
dropped in from Texas as q forty-niner
with the title Of Judge" He was a
slender little fellow, with nerves tempered
like Bessenler steel; when sober, of Ches-
terfeld1an manners, but ready to pick
a quarrel with any man when three
sheets In the wind. Judge Jones was
the best dressed man in San Francisco:
all his clothes came from London, but
nobody had the temerity to tempt the
Judges wrath by the slightest allusion
to his passion for dress.
BAD blood ran in Jones' veins toward
Belcher Key, an English pugilist, who
was then the local John L. Sullivan, of
Frisco His bunch of fves'' fad earned
Tor the prize fighter a respect to which
his bad manners did not entitIe SIN.
Key was quarrelsome, and so was the
Texan judge. Both met in the Eldorado
near Billy Ovens saloon and gambling
place, when Key who was reasonably
full of liquor, proceeded directly to where
Judge Jones was standing and slapped
him in the face. Jones was game, and,
though much inferior in size, put UP a
fist and let drive at the burly prize fight
er with his right, drawing first5;blood
freely. This was more than Fighter Key
expected. He let fly his left-he was left
handed-and f1oored the little gambler
who, from the marble, floor, where he
lay, pulled his revolver and shot Belcher
Key through the heart The coroner
had no time to waste as the result of
Judge Jones' fatal facility with his
PISTOL He was not even arrested, and
that night he received an ovation which
might have gratihed the last of the
Caesars.
HEAVY BETTING.
1t was not unusual in Billy Ovens
back room to see man walk in and
lay down a certificate of deposit for
$4,000 on the ace, having first asked
the banker to cover the bet, and. with
out change OF muscle, banker and
player would quietly abide the coming
out of the card, and if the bank won the
banker quietly raked in his $4,000 GER
tifcate of deposit, laid it in his left-hand
drawer, and the man in front of the
table went out a wiser and a poorer
man to begin prospecting again at Pow
erty hat. l once saw q rich horseman
come In, and, firing Of pilling along with
$500 bets on a single card, he nonchalant.
ly tapped on the high card with his
pencil and said
Mr.. Dealer, I'll just go you on the
high card my three-story brick house
near the Palace hotel against your
$4,000" and, drawing out of his pocket
his deed, the bettor laid it on the ace
spot.
Done" said the dealer, who was likely
to have $4,000 bank roll in his pocket
and reserve fund of $1O0,OOO in a small
safe in the corner Of the gambling
hell.
Quietly the outside betting went on,
and nearly all the cards were out, the
ace being the soda" card and three
acres still in the box The deed still
lay on the ace. At last, when king,
queen, jack and three aces were the
only cards in %the box the bettor said:
Hold on. Mr.. Dealer, I'm tired of
that ace. It's going to split. I want 20
put my brick house on the king. Are
you agreed?''' =,
"Cert!.' responded the dealer.
He pulled. Out came the king for
the winning card The bank lost. The
man with the brick house won $780,
0G0.
How viii you have your money! said
Mr.. Dealer.
Check laconically answered the
lucky gambler. The dealers side part
ner filed out check for the winner
while the game went on.
WON BY HIS FRIEND.
Billy Owens and Judge Jones were as
close as Damon and Pythias; the bond
that bound them was a friendship that
only ended with the life of Judge Jones,
who died with his boots on in his own
faro bank, killed by cowboy who got
the drop on him In fight over a dis
puted bet. One night when the game
was running light, as gamblers say,
and the Judges bank was taking in
what money there was, Billy Owens,
flushed with Old Otard, came around
to the faro outlay. Walking up to his
chum, he said:
Judge Jones, this is mighty mean
game, with these hundred dollar pikers
around the board. How much have you
got in that big safe over yonder?'
Just $4,000 in thar, old man." replied
the Judge, and that's just 600 moren
you've got the sand in your craw to try
and VIM
"Ah! that's your little game, is it. old
Texas-never-tire," exclaimed Billy
Owens, just enough for a flyer 'I'll just
go you my check on the California bank
for $4,000 cold plunkers."
"Put up or shut up, Billy" sententious
ly answered the Texas judge, as his
steel-gray eyes, expanding wide, shone
like two white diamonds in a jewelers.
tray.
Billv Owens, as blithe and debonair as
a wild white mountain goat skipping over
the Sierra Nevada ranges, walked over to
the gamblers desk (and well regulated
gambling place is never without table
called a Secretary" where pen and ink
are ready and bank checks, without any
particular banks name, can always be
found, filled up a check on the Bank of
California for $32, 600, signed 1t and walk
ed back to Judge Jones'
Up to this moment Jones thought Billy
was fooling He was mistaken.
"Ill bet this in the pot, the jack to
win, against your safe and contents
said Owens.
"It is WELL said Jones without a smile,
pulling out big safe key from his side
pocket and slapping it down hard on top
of Billy's check in the pot. "That repre-
sents my wealth.
All the other players stopped playing
to watch the game. The third turn, as
the key lay hugging the check, out came
the card. Jack wins!" the dealer called,
white about the gills
Busted, by the everlasting jumping
jingow yelled the Texas Judge; but
damn my eyes, BILLY, you are the very
man 1 want to win if I must lose.'
sCoTCHNrAN's MISTAKE.
A brawny Scotchman Dugald McPher-
son, came to the mining country in Cali
fornia and struck it rich the first year
He was gold operator, peaceful when
sober, and devil incarnate when vexed.
or under the influence.
Forty miles from San Francisco the old
bachelor Mcpherson had ranch where
the boys loved to sojourn over Sunday.
Presiding over the old mans home and
mistress of the ranch was a Spanish Sc
norita fat and over forty years old, and
a miraculous cook I certainly had no
eyes for the senorita, but after l had
gone back to Frisco, leaving my friends
behind. some of the ways in the party
told the old Scot that 1 had been using
1.-The whispered speech that lovers use' in