The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-23
SAVING CARD In THE DRAW.

difficult to get good employment but
the trouble with me was that made
the friends first. and the breezy out
door life and generally happy go-iuclzy
habits OF the men 1 came IN contact
with made me a bit reckless at urst 50
that I was looking around consldefaDly
more than I needed TO before settlln5
down TO work. 1 had three or roue
hundred dollars in cash, which was All
4 had. and it was enough to keep me
from immediate anxiety.
There wasn't anything pafucuiaity
out Of the way with the young men
that I fell in with. but they were an
making money and were hFlhs Iatnsf
faster than I had any license 70 40 De
fore establishing myself AND one OF
their amusements WAS a game OF draw
poker that went on almost every night
IN some one of the rooms Of the hotel
4 stopped AZ.
."Tt wasn't a specially big game. but
a. WAS bigger than / ought to havs
r,iaved for il was always table stakes.
and sometimes the betting ran up into
the double figures
III sat in two or three times, with in
diaereut luck and was probably $40 or
SIS ahead when one night the cards
ran against me long enough to make me
anxious We played table stakes. and
usually took IS worth Of chips for a
startef 50, as there were six in the
game that night, we began with $50
on the table Early in the game there
were some big hands out and before
J. ri least, realized how rapid the pace
was. we HAD each Of US bought chips
three or four times and there was
more than a hundred in sight
"One young fellow named Martin, who
was lumber dealer in a small way
then. and afterwards made fortune.
cult the game after dropping $50. saying
that he'd got all that he wanted a.
The price and / remember thinking
for I had lost almost as much that
q a. fnal44
TO quit. too. but / felt that twenty
WAS more than L ought to spare and 1
determined TO cash in as soon as could
get even. 1t was the same old fool no
lion that has played the mischief with
thousands Of other players
There are instances. Of course. OF
players having lost more than they
could afford. and playing along till they
Eol even, and then quitting. but so far
as my observation goes, there are mon
strous Few ho0doos worse than thai
same determination. 1t seems as if the
cards realize what is expected of them.
and lay traps for the man that plays
with such notion
There was a man named Brady, who
sat at my left, who raised me out OF
three pots in succession, so that [ haG
u buy twice more before I pulled III
g pot Then a young fellow who had
been particularly chummy with me for
over a week filed a. full house against
my pat flush and I got desperate, and
bought SIS more.
Carter. Tor that was his name, looked
en- me little anXiously when he saw me
do It.. for he knew my circumstances
pretty we'll and L fancied he was re-
GREETING that he won. That irritated
lne, as almost anything viii irritate a
man who is already nervous, and / got
a bit clinched in my teeth You couldn't
have put me out of the running after
that. with anything short of a gun.
III d1dnk lose my head so far the
went and conscious that Z
played every hand as well as I knew
how TO play but ] lost my appreciation
" The value of money L was risking
III no longer represented the capital that
was necessary for me to live on until
Z should get esta blished in business. but
became merely a sum THAI I had at my
disposal for the purposes of the game.
An ether words ] had bad attack of
The gambling fever. right there anG
then, and the way the cards were run
ming stood an excellent chance of go
inE broke.
There were two other men in the
game, sutton and Parker. their names
were, who played ball with me for d
while after that till they had almost q
hundred and fifty more of my money
between them i would get not once
IN w-.lle. but lose four or five fol
every one that L took in and those
two got neariy all of them SO that [
began 70 feel the bitterest kind of per
lol4l resentment against them and thai
o. course demorali-ed me still further.
but st.u in spite cf it all. ] knew that
was playing tolezably good poker. 1
eldn play rashly, nor make any blum
ders. but L simply couldn't win ON In.
hands I held. because somebody eIs-
outheld me all the time
Al length I realized that it was fool
tRn Tor me TO keep on buying IS and SIg
uE time AT least I reasoned it than
was as was the only man of the 1--WE
VINO hadn't from $50 to 500 i'm FRONT
o. him. Some of them had bought al
,l.97- a5 41uch as had. but had pulIec
,.ls-.' go ssIhTi ana sutton were bis
winners. So pulled out a hundred
@..-51 D-.t ana said;
,., 70 1of TINS.
was the last money I had in the
,.. ~ SNlept handIul of silver in my
,,-t 1l,s-sl, ana knew II that
WoIl4 ne ~ serious trouble. bur
s-, 'i-ag slllls on earth that seemed ox