Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-27
| REAL CARD SHARP

We used to get tired of hearing men say.
while watching our principal perform his
| repertoire of card tricks on the stage. I'd
hate to get into poker game with a fell
low who knows how to manipulate 'em like
that. said man who was for many
years connected with the management OF
| Hermann, the noted magician and presti-
| digitator. who died a few years ago. THE
natural inference to be drawn from such
| remarks was, of course, that Hermann
would not hesitate to avail himself OF his
extraordinary skill with the cards to shred
people with whom he happened to sit into
| game. So that as 1 say. 1t always got
us a bit on the raw when we heard such
remarks In the first place, we knew. as
| everybody who ever got well acquainted
| with him knew, that Hermann was a man
of the most absolute personal integrity
man who was giving himself the worst of 1t
| in money matters throughout his entire
career, and who was constantly being done
! for large sums by men who pr0fessed to DE
his friends We knew, in the second place.
! that Hermann was a very ordinary poker
| player. He was rash performer in reg
| ular game with his personal friends, trying
| to get away with absurd bluffs and calling
on nothing and making all sorts Of freakish
misplays, and never knew him to get up
| a winner from a poker sitting. He could
have, had he been so disposed. won just
! about as many millions as he. figured he
/
| tache and his Mephistophelean goatee and
| gone into the business of poker playing for
| revenue only for there was simply nothing
| that he could not do with deck of cards.
| and right under the watchful eyes of ex-
! perienced men at that. But, of course. he
/ never even entertained a dream of such
| thing.
| Hermann rarely played serious poker
with men with whom he was not on terms
| of friendship. for he always had the feeling
| that If he won the suspicion would be bound
| to find Judgment In the minds of the other
players that he had employed his profess
| siOnal skill with the cards to annex the
pots. So that in his travels around he pre-
| ferred to mystify and have fun with the
| casual acquaintances. mostly club men who
| entertained him. with whom he sat into
| games of draw.
| ''At the cheyenne Club in Cheyenne he
| once took chance of standing for lead
en- puncture owing to a whimsical stunt
| that he pulled off in game of draw that
| started off in earnest, but that quickly
| degenerated into a farce, owing to Her
| mann's uncomfortable inclination to stack
/ the cards in the most amazing fashion.
| Three well-known Cheyenne men were in
! the game with the magician, and when
| he began to give them all pat fours and
| such like at the same time they enjoyed
| the fun of watching how he did 1t. for
! they all knew him. They were trying to
| fathom his method of riff1ing them and
| dealing them from all over the deck. when
| a nonresident member of the Cheyenne
|
came along. The ranchman asked to be
| allowed to sit in-he knew the three Chey-
| eEne men-and the three who knew Her:
[ mann and were entertaining him passed
the magician the wink.
'sThey took to playing seriously for
| few minutes, and the game went along
without incident until the deal reached
| Hermann on buck jack. Hermann dealt
| the out-of-tOwn member, who sat next to
! him on his left four kings, and. of course,
| the ranchman opened the pot with a bang
| for the size of 1t. Hermann handed out
| the signal to the other three, who were
| waiting for the fun to begin, to stay along.
| and they all did. When the betting began
| the ranch owner couldn't shoot his checks
! to the center quick enough. and all hands.
| including Hermann, kept right on raising
| him back until the ranchman'S counte-
| nance became wreathed in a funny beau-
| tude, for he felt. naturally enough that
| he had . cinch
Suddenly Hermann reached over and.
| with his thumb and forefnger. yanked
card out of the sleeve of the ranchman's
| dinner coat.
| ".Ah-ha" he exclaimed. jumping up from
| his seat what is this that up
| against? and he held up the card-an ace
and glared sternly at the ranchman, while
the other three were putting in their best
| ticks to leep their faces straight.
1.-The ranchman's face suddenly turned
| purple and he became speeches. He was
and is known of the squarest men
| in Wyoming. and here a gOateed stranger
with foreign accent a man he had never
he didn't even know. had held him up as a
| card cheat.
| land yet anotherr exclaimed Hermann.
| again bending over and picking another
1 ace from out the other sleeve Of the ranch
| mans dinner coat
| THE ranchman stood up in dumb fury
AS he did so a perfect shower of cards
| fell from his lap on to the floor. and then
| Hermann grabbed the huge ranch owner
by the lapel of the coat. whereupon another
4 cascade of cards began to drop from In
! side the ranchman'S coat.
Gentlemen solemnly inquired Her
mann, addressing the three club men who
| knew him. and who were having troubles
| of their own in keeping their gr1ns down.
/ is this your western hospitality! Have
| YOU brought me here to skin me-?
| "'Why, you id billygoat!' bawled the
ranchman. regaining his voice and his mus
| cuar powers at the same instant. and he
| whipped out gun like flash.
| The other three leaped across the table
| at him just in the nick of time. and, even
| at that. they were so weak with laughter
| that they had been suppressing by main
| force that they could barely hold the big
| ranchman while they explained the stu
alton to him.
many experiences with short card players.
| and he enjoyed showing them up He I'M
covered big George kinslow, one of the
| most scientific of the steamer workers, In
| a simple way one evening, when kinslow
| had laid his plans to cop out the rolls of
| a pair of heavy drinking western men who
| were passengers on WMte star nner
| Hermann recognized kinslow as a profess
sional shredder soon as he boarded the
| Ship having seen big George operating on
other occasions. and so when kinslow roped
the two boozed westerners into a three
ha nded game Hermann asked to sit in and
was cordially invited to do so on the more
the -merrier presumption by kinsiow. who
did not recognize the magician. who had a
short time before removed his character
istic goatee after having accidentally Durn.
ed 1T while lighting a cigar. Hermann didn't
waste any time in showing big George
up AS soon as the deal reached him he
| deaIt KinsIow five sevens from dead
deck that he had handy for the purpose;
Kinslow studied the extraordinary hand
for a minute, and then he plainly came to
the conclusion that the deck had been foul
ed at the factory by the carelessness of the
sorter. who had introduced the extra seven.
probably in place of an eight. But big
George didn't toss the hand face up and
call attention to the foulness of his hand
he wasn't that kind of big George, al
though it is odd that the phenomenal fact
of his getting the five sevens didn't arouse
his suspicion that something was up. When
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