The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-14
The Finish q Gambler
He Couldn't Be Halfway Decent at
Poker, So He Went.

NatcheZ that a man that don't know
enough about draw poker to last him
home from Sunday school should get
It into his nut that just because mes
trav'ln' onto a boat he can stack up
again a stranger. an hold onto his
chips for a length O. time.
You wouldn't think q small child
wouldn't know no more'n that, now,
would you? But there's wise guys
that shows up on the boats now an
again, that holds up just that sort Of
a proposition, an sometimes makes
terrible beef when they comes to the
material end
There amt so much on 1t did now
as there was q good many years ago.
I've said that a good many times, an
it's Just as true as twas when said
II first. Mebbe more so, FOR there's no
denyin that poker is pretty well
played out on the boats now. Once in
a while you may see a game, but LORD!
faint nothin' to what they used TO
play.
''Once in a while though, the gamb-
lers d make a mistake in pickin, up
some teller t they thought was easy,
an sometimes there's things doin'
thatd make a mule leave his barley to
look on. There was a case like that
happened one time on the old Creole
Belle that was burned afterwards, that
7 aPays took a heap o. satisfaction
one O the worst men on the river got
come up with peculiar.
Good Points About Weston.
There was them that said there was
good p'ints about Jim Weston, the
man I'm taIkin' about. reckon most
everybody has some friends in the
world that'u speak as well Of 'em as
they can But ] never herd nobody
go so far as to say anything special
Mi nf
was.
IF he had any. he must ha' KEEP 'em
put away somewhere to keep. He never
showed none on 'em.
HE were a gOod-loOkin' feller
enough, an he had a bluff, hearty way
- talzin' thatd make a stranger think
he were all right, 'thouten the stranger
looked at his eyes an had wit enough
TO know what they was sayin- He
had greenish sort Of eyes, somep'n like
a cats. an just as wicked.
But, as I was sayin', he talked
hearty enough an used to get into a
game without no trouble. 'thOuten there
was somebody into it already that
knowed him. Sometimes he would even
at that, for most everybody that
knOwed him was more or less afraid
Of him. He'd fight at word. an when
he nit he aTays tried to kill.
well, one time there come aboard
the Creole Belle at Vicksburg the most
amazin' little fat man I ever seen in
my life. He want much over five foot
high. I shouldn't think, an it sure
did look like he were six foot thick.
o. course. I don't reckon he RELY was
that. but when you looked at him
you'd swear his sides was further
apart nor his head an his heels
Was Spry on His Feet.
But you couldn't help noticin' that
he was spry on his feet at that. He
moved quick an he seemed to bounce
Up an down when he walked like a
bubble viii bounce on the carpet, some
times, afore it busts. 'Peared like he
must ha' been hOller to be so light, or
else, if he RELY was solid, an as heavy
as he looked, he must ha' been mon
strOus strong.
Jim Weston spotted him when he
come aboard, an made up his mind TO
get acquainted, for the little fat man
looked prosperous enough to have big
money with him. Wore good clothes
an diamonds, an had two niggers
travelin' with him for servants, in
stead O. one, which was enough for
most.
It heer'd afterwa'd t he We're a for
eigner an some sort of a Snowman,
but I don't remember his name. They
said he was famous in foreign parts,
but he never give no show in this
country. Just Travelled for pleasure. to
blow hisself
Anyway. he were a sport, an he
talked toIerable good English, but, like
most o. them dagOes, he spoke his
words kind O. funny. like he couldn't
bite 'em of the right size.
Weston got talkin' to him afOre any
body else got a chance. an the fat
man seemed to cotton to him, right
away. Feared like he were good deal
interested an wanted to get acquainted
CT Nv Weston that
part Of it easy to him, an tw'ant long
after supper afOre they was as thick
as two thieves. An when Weston pro-
posed to have a game O. cards. the fat
man said he'd like nothin' better.
Soon Got TO Playing.
ct happened to hear that part Of it.
an says 10 myself that Weston was
pretty likely to have his wad, an
mebbe his diamonds an the two Mig
gers. inside Of a couple of hours. It
want no ways likely, as I figgered it
up. that no dago like that was gOin'
10 hold his own at poker with a reg lar
player like Weston. more specially no
man that was as fat as that man was
Feared like you couldn't think Of
nothln' else. on'y how fat he was when
you looked at him.
But. say When they got playfn'
like they did in few minutes. both
on 'em bein' anxious to begin, you
could see by the way he riffied the
cards t he didn't need to take no
lessons about how to handle 'em. He
was as slick as they make 'em. but o.
course that want to say that he
knowed how to play Mississippi river
poker.
Feared like he didn't know. neither,
for I watched EN- as well as I could,
comm an gOin as I was through the
saloon where they was playin'. and it
struck me the stranger was about as
easy as anything I'd ever seen They
was playin' stud poker, Weston sayin'
that draw was too slow a game two
handed. an the stranger bein' agree
able to anything Weston said.
II amt a sayin' but what he knOWed
the rules o the game all right, for he
did; but when it come to judgment ne
hadn't none He bet wild some times.
an then again he'd lay down against
a bluff that a fO'teen-year-Old boyd
call if he'd had a river education.
He didn't seem to mind lOsin' his
money, though. An I reckon he must
ha' lost night a thousand dollars in
side Of half an hour.
But the more he lost the more he
seemed to get into the spirit o the
game. an the more eager he was to
bet. 'Peared like Weston had struck
the s6ftest snap ever
i reckon Their want another gam