The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-05-17
New YORK SUM

THE crops had been harvested and
shipped to the market from the
whole of the St. Francis valley,
and payment therefor had been duly
MADE, at rates somewhat in advance
OF what had been expected This stroke
OF good fortune, coupled with the fact
tsat- nature had been kind, so that the
SF0ps exceeded in amount any harvest
sng for several years, had brought
about a season of unusual prosperity
throughout the entire Sunken Lands Of
Arkansas.
Naturally, the cotton factors in New
Orleans and elsewhere had reaped the
greatest advantage Of all concerned,
but even after the uttermOst exactiOns
Of their mortgages had been met. there
sui remained q cOnsideFa bic balance
TO the credit Of the owners Of the soil,
so that there was real money in circu-
iatlon among them in greater amounts
tnan they had been accustomed to for a
long time
1t was also true that there was no
very good prospect of this money re-
naming in possession Of the ST. Francis
people for long. Their immediate neces-
sites we're provided for, and all their
pressing obligations had been met, so
that they might have used the cash in
hand, had they been so minded, to pay
the expenses of the coming year, and
by so doing, they could have retained
an ownership in the next crops to come
without being obliged to mortgage them
before seed time. That, however, was
not the St. Francis way.
So II comes about that various gen
tlemen Of miscaIled sporting proclivities
nave the habit Of travelling through the
St. Francis valley soon after harvest
time
Such a one was John Brannigan, who
arrived at the village of Baxters one
Of n r~
horse, and having stabbed it at the tav-
ern was soon installed as a guest Of the
house.
Brannigan was a powerfully built,
wel-dressed man, perhaps 40 years old,
who might have been of the nationality
his name denoted, but spoke the Eng
lish OF the locality without a brOgue.
His manners were quiet and sufficiently
good, but no one who was in the least
familiar with his type could have mis-
taken him for a moment for anything
else but a gambler. Nor did he seek TO
disguise his calling, but soon after eat
ing his supper he asked the landlord If
there were any people around who ever
played poker. Tt was, Of course, a plat
1tude, since poker is as surely one of
an Arkansas citizens accomplishments
as is hOrsemanship.
Well, yes, the landlord admitted,
there was most generally 2 game going
on later in the evening in his back room
and there wasn't any particular objec-
ton 10 a stranger taking a hand in the
game if he felt inclined and had the
money to buy chips.
AS a sequence to all this it occurred,
toward 8 O'Clock that Mr.. Brannigan
was seated at a round able in the back
room mentioned, in company with four
other players. Judge Harmon, the old
est in the party, was a griZzled veteran
who owned property and no longer sat
in court. Jack Cannon, the second man,
was a planter, who had not yet mar
ried, whose presence at home after he
had sold his crops was only explained
by the fact that ne had broken his leg
a while before and was not yet able to
travel to New Orleans for the winter.
The stOrekeeper, a. man named Cater,
and the landlord, whom everybody
called Jim were the other two play
ers. Three or four other men were in
the room.
I'VE play table stakes" said the
judge. sometimes for more and some
times for less, but I feel like I'd enjoy
a good game tonight suppose We start
with a hundred apiece 2'
Everybody agreed, and the landlord,
as banker, counted out the chips &C
cOrdingly. whites 81, reds s. and blues
SO apiece Brannigan was fully aware
that he was being scrutinized closely,
but he was used to that, and seemed not
all hands 20 drink with him before be-
ginning to play, and the invitation was
accepted as 2 matter of course, but IT
did not escape general notice that he
drank very sparingly himself. though
he swallowed his whisky as If he were
wei accustomed to its use
For perhaps half an hour the game
went on without any incident Of special
note The play was high from the first,
the ante being two calls i've. and jack
pots following the buck, with an extra
one whenever threes or better were
shown The luck varied, however, 50
that no one was q specially heavy loser
or winner. Several of the players had
bought again, some two or three times,
so that there was nearly $1,000 on the
table. but it was well distributed
Brannigan had played as fairly, SO
far as any Of the others could see, as
any one could play If he had in mind
10 attempt anything crooked, he was
wary enough TO go about It slowly, and
he knew as well as the others did thaI
they were still watching him. Neither
did he need to be informed that when
on his deal, any particularly strong
hand fell TO one of the other players
he backed II with extra caution.
At length there came an opening foI
a strenuous contest among three play
ers. 1t was a Jackpot that had beer
syveetened thrice, 50 that there was so
in II. when the judge dealt. The land
lord opened it under the guns for tbs
size of il. and Cannon, sitting next
raised II forty. Cater dropped out, anC
Brannigan made it forty more The
Judge dropped, and the landlord studied
awhile, or pretended to, and then made
good.
Cannon thereupon made it a hundred