The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-10-18
HE CALLED THE BLUFF
His Nerve Never Deserted Though He Looked Into
Two Pistols a

" Il don't know what 7 drew he said.
And Harding had to show his busted
flush. IL was the nerviest play 1 ever
saw al the poker table OF course Far
rcll was gambling on his conviction that
Harding was blufting. and he must nave
known Harding's style of play tOlerably
Vel but it showed nerve, all the same.
AND nerve was something that Far
rel never lost. He worked the river
boats for quite awhile and did as well
as most Of the old-time gamblers. but he
was shrewd enough to see that the DAYS
or river boat gambling We're passing
away. and some time late I'm the '7Os he
settled down I'm Cairo and opened a gam
ding house Of his own.
They weren't very strict about such
things In any of the river towns in those
DAYS and ] don't imagine ne had any
serious difficulty with the local authOri-
ues; but If he had any at al it was sat
isfactorily adjusted. and / never knew
Farrells place TO be mOlested.
AS a matter of course, he ran a faro
oank Tor faro was the great game out
side OF poker. but never saw any game
played In the place, excepting those two.
There was always enough doing there,
though 60 satisfy the widest gambler.
Farrell had a good roll. and although
the nominal limit at the bank was 500.
I never heard OF his refusing bigger bets
If ANYBODY wanted to make them. There
was considerable craze about that time
for playing system. and the favorite sys-
tenn was progression so L. fancy the
onlv- reason he fixed any limit was 10
DiELeFE
Farrell never dealt faro himself. but
ne had two dealers who were called two
Of the best in the west. Don't ask me
if they dealt brace game. / don't know
IF they did, they did it too cleverly
for me 70 detect them. and have
watched them carefully more than once,
but a crooked dealer always knows he is
being watched, and If ne can't fool a
YOU can't call him slick All / know IS
that II was a rare occurrence when the
bank lost on a nights play.
But If there was a poker game going
ON in the house. and there generally
was one every night, Farrell usually sat
i'm IF the game was heavy enough to
temnt him. He had been called one or
the best on the river. and his reputation
grew after he had located in his own
''He had been there perhaps half a
dozen years. and I had come TO know the
place very well, for I always dropped in
when L was in Cairo, though ] seldom
DlaNed more than s. OF SO But You VIII
Cairo. or at least. I would in those day..
We'll as i said, he had been there five
or six wears when i dropped I'm one night
ana saw that something unusual was go
ing on. ] looked on for awhile, but All
that 1 could tell certainly was that an
unusually large game OF poker was in
Farrell was playing as I would have
expected him TO be. and recognized one
OF the other players as a professional
the other three were men whom L had
never seen before.
con the surface there was nothing TO
excite special attention. but almost on the
moment L entered the place I was aware
OF sort Of suppressed excitement that L
never observed in the house before, even
when the play was exceptionally high.
80 l got near one OF the attendants ana
asked him what was doing.
He told me that Carter had come to
town the day before with two friends TO
challenge Farrell to a game. He didn't
know who the two men were. but heehad
heard them called Brown and Hunter.
They were not known as professionals
and Carter had declared that they were
not. but were high rollers who had come
from some distance simply to sit In a big
Farrell. he said. had accepted the chaI-
Ienge, but had proposed a lawyer from
St Louis. named Wharton. for a fifth
player, and the game had been made up.
They had been playing two or three hours
when ] came in, and there had been some
indications that trouble was pending
,'I asked the fellow what the indica-
tions were. but he evidently thought ne
had said too much. and he would not tell
me. AS the prospect Of seeing a disturb
ance was attractive to me, however. out
side of the interest Of watching big poker.
! joined the small crowd of men who were
looking on.
There was very little pretense Of con-
cealment OF the ~ture Of the house. en-
trance was easy 20 anyone who wanted 10
go in. and inside the house il was no
breach OF etiquette 20 watch any play
that was ia progress.
They were playing no limit as pres
entity saw when Wharton went down I'm
Als pocket 10 can bet OF a thousand
dollars, he having all his chips in the pot
before the bet. He won the money. too.
on three kings, and that gave me an idea
or the size Of the game. for 4 thousand
dollars seemed lot TO bet on aces mp.
still. it did not seem 90 me that the
mere size OF the game would account for
the excitement and i waited for the row
that felt was coming. ] hadn't long to
wait. Tor IN n few moments more Carter
reached over suddenly and caught Far
reils wrist as the latter was about to
serve the draw, he being che dealer.
'As he did So Brown and Hunter each
drew guns and lcveled them at Farreil's
head. There could be no possibility of q
any more than there could be any ques-