Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1903-07-09

" o"u 'uch' anu IL was apparent her
Dank roll was almost gone when JohD-
ME came to the rescue.
First he dealt few times for her.
and every time the house won. Then
he made the mistake of his career He
showed her his trick of dealing brace
and put in all the time he could spare
from his own game in teaching her
how to make the shift And that was
simply signing his own death warrant.
He had delivered himself over to an
unusually treacherous specimen of a
treacherous class.
"Of course after a little while some
occasion for dispute arose between
them. and the girl. having the temper
or beautiful fiend. began to hate
Johnnie more than she liked him at
first. In the camp was miner named
JudsOn, who had had two or three little
disagreements with Johnnie and in adj
dltion had gone broke trying to beat
Johnnie's bank. The Mexican girl sent
word for Judson to come to her place.
Then she explained to him ,Johnnie's
method Of dealing and showed him a
boX similar to the one johnnie used
himself. a box he had made for her.
Judson tipped off two or three other
men who had lost heavily at the game.
and they laid their trap to catch John
ME and put permanent end to his
career as Il brace dealer.
1T was arranged that two of the men
should play and play high. while judi
son was TO stand at one side behind the
lookout. as if he was watching the
game. Judson was to give the signal.
Ihen all three were to begin shooting.
for they knew Johnnie Keefer and
were certain that when the time for
action came there would be no talking.
After the first word about brace deal.
ing was uttered things would begin to
happen mighty sudden. It was before
the days of self cooking revovers, but
trained shot by Swapping the ham,
mer back with his thumb could get
about rs quick action as a man with
the most modern gun.
"For nearly an hour ,Judson stood at
one side looking on while his confeder-
ates played. The bank had been hit
pretty hard. but either Johnnie had
dealt straight or else even the men
who knew how he shifted the cards
Were unable to feel certain he had
turned trick, The ace and seven
were both cases, and the ace had won
three times in Il row, while the seven
had lost correspondingy. When it
came time to call the turn. nearly
everybody at the table put down a big
bet, calling the ace to lose and tho
seven to win. Iudson and his partners
exchanged glances If the dealer was
going to shift the cards, it would
come just at this turn.
johnnie always pushed out the
cards pretty fast, especially near the
end Of Il deal Just how the cards
would come out this time no one ever
knew. Johnnie had just begun push.
ing off the exposed one when Judson
called out:
"'You're DEALING
"Probably he meant to say brace
but the sentence was never finished.
AT the first syllable Johnnie, apparent
ly without taking the time to look up,
sent his hand to his coat pocket Three
or four shots rang out at the same in
slant. Then two more and Johnnie
keefer slipped to the floor. He had
four wounds, any one of which would
have been mortal. When we picked
him up, it was plain he had dealt his
last deal at either straight or brace
faro.
'When .Iudson spoke his first words,
Johnnie had fired through his coat at
one of the men across the table who
was just drawing his gun. The shot
missed the mans heart, but by Il de-
cidedly small margin. Before Johnnie
could fire again the bullets from the
others took effect. .Judson's first shot
going through his head just above the
right eye. These men had been pre-
pared Will" the emergency came on
johnnie without warning. If he had
had half Il chance lie might have won
out even against such terrible odds.
And Whom we came to look at the
FARO box we couldn't tell whether.
Johnnie meant to deal crooked turn
or not. In the excitement the box had
got knocked off the table, and the
cards fell or were knocked out Per
haps Johnnie Keefer was on the point
Of making an honest deal when the
end came"