The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-27


 years ago they had no idea Of the in- portance that was eventually to attach to the little game of draw they had arranged. In the absence of land were used as the basis Of the betting. or the group. two carried away deeds to property that is now in the heart Of spindle Top, the famous oil district. A third won a stake in the adjoining Sour Lake district, that to-day Is valued at many millions. Considering the value the land speedily attained, the stakes were stiffer than have ever been recorded in the annals of poker. They had met by chance, as frequently happened during the winter months. Continuous rains had temporarily put the railroads out of commission, and four of the men were detained in the town over night. The fifth was q resi- dent of the place At that time there was little interest at Beaumont. and the evening about the grate fire in the rough hotel lobby brought the aug- gestion of cards and chips. Adtoarnlng to a bare room above the seanee com menced.
 As usual it was to be a little game, !" but as the oil in the lamp burned down the play grew faster, The stock of chips was small and no more were to be had. Finally one exhausted his stack in draw to fill, and the counters were so evenly divided among his com- panions that he could neither buy nor borrow sufficient number without . complete reopening of the game. He then drew notebook from his pocket. and tore out a sheet of paper and wrote the words, that determined the trend of future events and sent three Of the men away from the table with land possess ions that have made them immensely rich.
 T raised that ten acres of land, ex- claimed the originator of the scheme. as he tossed, the written slip into the pot" With the next hand the incum- brance of chips was swept away, and the ante was established as one of land and the limit at the holding of any one player. By dawn the game had reached Tits night. The table was covered with informal deeds. Thousands of acres of land had changed hands, and yet no one player was as much as 1000 acres to the god. One more hand was agreed on te end the game. On the draw three men were in a stockman from San Antonio 3 Capitalist from Dallas and the native Beaumonter. who had inherited large section of land. The stockman took three cards. the capitalist two and the native vil1ager stood pat. He opened with a bet of 20 acres The stockmar called and the capitalist raised the lstakes to 50. The Beaumonter raised te I 100. Again the cattle king covered the tamount. and the capitalist raised up 1T his chair.
 "Ill make that thousand acres" hs exclaimed, as he threw the slip re
 presenting possible tranfer on tht table. zs Two thousand, echoed the holder Q the pat.
 Five ' raised the stockman. He has been considered out of the running. l Another thousand. l. commanded tn,
 capitalist.
 l The Beaumonter threw down his hant in disgust.
 \ The sudden awakening of tn,
 westerner struck the capitalist iron
 Dallas with foreboding. He offered t,
 split the pot, The offer was accepted Each withdrew his own contribution land between them they divided tn, Iacres Of the Beaumonter, a thousand Iacres apiece. They turned up thei
 cards. It was the last hand. The mai from Beaumont had stood pat on tw, tpair sevens and aces. The stockmai had queens alone and the capitalist ha, held a pair of jacks with an ace am
 had not helped. Almost the entire los Iduring the game was on the part of tn
 home talent, while politician, with , reputation now almost worldwide, qui
 about 300 acres tosthe good. The fit I player was even with the game.
 At that time the winnings were mo Iconsidered great. Land around Beau mont was then worth no more than per acre, and any one of the quintet wa
 able to stand the strange without in
 convenience. The game would hay,
 been considered inconsequential but fo I the discovery of oil and the opening U of the great Spindle Top field two year Hat On fha day8 following inc lfttI