Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-04
COLD FEET AT POKER

'There are several different kinds of cold
feet In connection with games Of chance.
particularly poker" said government Of
fetal whe spent many years IN the west
and southwest, although the different
brands and varieties are rarely properly
differentiated. In some cases Of cold feet
there are extenuating circumstances, and
in others there are none The plain. every
day case of cold feet is that in which the
player who has annexed most of the coin
desires to quit simply and solely for that
reason. That brand of cold feet was never
popular on the yon side of the Mississippi.
I've seen this fact illustrated on many oc-
casions-once. for example, in highly
lurid manner in Tucson.
Jack Bullman, an ex-soldier of cavalry.
was the man who got the cold feet Jack
had cleaned up nearly all the money drawn
from Uncle Sam by three troops of cavalry
during his fve-year enlistment, and when
he got his discharge he was several thou
sands to the good, so that he did not want
any more soldering in his'n. He played
cards around Arizona and New Mexico
played square when the people on the other
side OF the table were doing the same,
and phony when he knew that he was in
that kind Of a game On this occasion.
Bullman, who was big. stnewy, cour-
ageous man, got into game In a small
room over q tucson SdtOOn Will tHicc SdA-
ifornia prospectors who had struck silver
in old Mexico. and who were in Tucson en-
jOying themselves l looked on at the
game, along with four or five other chaps
who didn't feel like playing. pullman
knew that he was playing with men who
didn't manipulate the deck themselves nor
stand for anybody else doing 1t; and ne
played fair. But the way he got the money
Of those silver men was warning 10
gophers. He didn't have to bluff. He got
the cards. He was over 5000 ahead Of
the game after three hours play and still
winning. He showed over all but one stack
of chips then, saying to the banker:
Just turn some of this junk into gilt
1t obstructs my view of the game
1.-THE banker cashed the chips. and then
pullman showed the remaining stack IN
front of him into jackpot and lost he
got up.
1--we got a date with plate Of chile
con carne down the way BIT he said.
THE three prospectors became fierce al
together. They knew that Bullman was a
professional gambler, and they weren't al
together sure that he had got their money
on the square. At any rate, they didn't
intend to permit him to get any sudden
case of the polar props when he was into
them about a thousand apiece-the shank
of the evening not yet having arrived,
either-and their hands went right straight
back to where their guns protruded.
detective fellow. Sherlock Holmes, does in
the play when he's collared in that gruesome
cellar. He had his hand on the back Of
his chair. The light was furnished by a
coal-oil lamp in the middle of the table
pullman gave the chair lightning swing,
and down 1t came on the lamp. The crash
left the room in a state of pitchy dark
ness, and it's miracle that some of US
were not punctured in the shooting that
followed even though we did stretch our
selves out on the floor. and mighty quick
at that. Bullman was wise. The prospec-
tors figured that he'd take the door, ana
they all shot in that direction. But he
took the window for his dropped fifteen
feet to the ground and was up and away
before a match could be struck. It was
sudden work, but pullman was a sudden
man. When Tucson heard the story Tue
son notified the three prospectors that the
town didn't feel like extending hospitality
to people who couldn't stand for little
poker losses without gun-plays that put
the camp in jeopardy of being burnt up.
and they took themselves back to their
claim in Old Mexico.
"A case of cold feet in which there were
extenuating circumstances happened in
Denver hotel room about a dozen years
ago, and was one of the players myself.
1t was four-handed game. I knew two
of the players. but the other one was
stranger to all three Of us. We'd been in
troduced to him by somebody or other in
the corridor Of the hotel, and when we
said we were going upstairs to have lit
tie draw fun he asked to be allowed to butt
in. He was a guileless sort Of young
fellow. and was the manager of a big
wholesale grocery in Denver. For all of
his guilelessness. he was an almighty good
poker player. He had US all on the run
from the first jump. He went right out in
the lead, and won steadily. We hadn't
started the game until after midnight, and
before we knew it the light of dawn began
to sneak In at the window, and the young
man who managed the grocery had stuck
us all for something like $780, When the
daylight began to creep in he announced
that it was pretty nearly, all off so far as
he was concerned, but we jollied him out
of that notion. and he played on, winning
right along. At 8 o'clock in the morning
he gave a quick look at his watch, pushed
back his chair and said that he guessed
he'd cash.
Quite without justification we all three
set up the cold feet wall
You're a quarter horse we said to
him. and you won't do You can't go the
distance. Can't you interview your chirop-
odist about those cold feet later on in the
day? Here 1t is just
THE young man gazed at us helplessly
for a minute or so, and then he broke out
with:
".D-n it all. I'm going to be married at
noon, and I've got to go home and hop
into my buds, haven't To-
of course, we had to apologize then for
having improperly diagnosed his case Of
trapped underpinnings. and I suppose he
started to housekeep with the 81 800 he
took away from the three of U.S."