The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-04-09

too. both on EN- having tours, an both
reckoning on fo0lin' the other.
1T bein Simmons bet he put $1,000
in the pot, an Masters says:
I'll see your thousand an bet you
as much more as you've got
4 stood near Simmons, an I cd hear
d sort O. click that I thought first was
the click of a gun, but L seen he had
both hands on the table, so I reckoned
it must ha' been his jaws. Anyway,
they was clinched when he answered,
an he spoke through his teeth, saying:
Make your bet.
well. O. course Masters couldn't
make him tell the size of his pile afore-
hand, so he showed his own pile forward,
than Simmons.
Well. how much is that2" says Sim
mons, an Masters had to stop an count
it. 1t took minute or so. an when he
was done. he says:
d" Theirs &, $40
Then Simmons began to unbutton his
clothes there bein no women round,
an reaChin his money belt he pulled
out a wad O. bills as big as your fist.
90 IN see that he says, eountin' out
the money, an 60 you $4,000 more
That was putin the boot on the
other leg for all t Masters ed dig up
he called for show for his pile. An
on the show down he flashed four kings
against Simmones' four tens.
wei. there want no disputin the
{
O. lookin' for q disturbance, specially
as herd that click o. Simmons jaws
again, but he didn't say nothin' an
'tWOuld ha been a good thing for a
young Teller that stood by If he'd snow
ed the same sense.
But he want hardly more'n a boy
though he were a big. husky chap that
were travelin, so I heer'd I'm some
know the customs o. the river, for he
spoke right out in good-natured, fool
way. sayin':
Well. that was the most extraor-
/ binary play I ever saw.
There was two or three other men
standin' by, too, looltin' on at the game.
an they sOrter sidesteDDed, same as I
had but the young Teller stood there
Just as if he hadn't said nGthin', On y
Iookin' kind o 'stonished. same as he
said he was, an Simmons turned round
to him.
And what did you find remarkable
in the play, sir he said, as polite as it
he'd been askin' the stranger to have
why said the boy. I don't see
/ why you didn't draw a card. You could
He never finished that sentence. for
as quick as flash Simmons grabbed a
glass half full O whisky that stood on
the table an threw the liquor SQUARE
I IN the boys face.
That's what we do with fools down
this way when they criticise a gentle
mans play at POKER ne says, JUST as
cool as before, but not so polite.
wei the boy was good grit, even if
he was a fool, an he jumped at Sim
mons an the next minute they was
rollin' on the floor. I seen Simmons pun
his knife as they went down. an
reckoned to see the other fellow killed
but that wann't Simmons idea, it ap-
pears.
They struggled for a little bit It
didn't seem 10 seconds, an then the boy
yelled, an Simmons jumped up, laugh
ing. He had cut both the boys ears an
his nose plumb off.
You'd ha' thought Simmons'd has
been lynched. but there wa MT nobody III
the saloon that felt like tacklin' him
especially as he still had the knife IL
his hand an was wipin' it, careful on
/ his handkerchief
/ The boat was Just tyin' up at the
Vicksburg Ievee an we took the boy
ashore an put him in the hospital Sim
mons went ashore. too an the cap'fr
was glad enough to get rid O. him: so
ne. didn't do nothin but tell the chief O.
police all about it. an the boat went
on, as usual. uD the river
don't know what the police might
ma done about it when the young fel.
Ter got well enough to get out but he
didn't wait to get we'll Pears he got u,
mat same night, all bandaged up as he
was, an got ont on the street somehow
an found Simmons in the hotel where
ne was stoppin' an killed him dead in
the Darroom. New York sun.