The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-24
BoCp Jim Fleming
Followed Old Dennef
Q = b 81 -4-1-o-o-u- -

SIS CERTAINLY is monstrous queer
Il now a man'n go lool5in' all
over the world for a thing
ne hankers a'teT-most amazin'-an'
pass by it. mebbe dozen times. an Their.
when he's give up, plumb discouraged. an
Sot 1o"n, tired out. have 1t drop in his
nap said Caleb Mix, the veteran bar
lender. on the Mississippi river packet
City OF Natchez. There is one thing. that
II man is built that-a-way an once gets
ms mind sot onto it, he amt going to give
up Whhe he has stren'th to draw his
breath an gun. That Is, a good healthy
grievance
Il reckon the longest chase O. that kind
tnat was ever follered UP an down the
river was the time Jim Fleming foIlered
up Al bennett.
Jim had store at Cape Girardeau an
tair trade. an good home an money
IN the bank. An he had wife he thought
d heap or and he an she an his old moth
er, that want SO old then, they lived to-
gether as happy as most folks is, I reek-
on, TIL Al bennett came to Cape Gil
rardeau
al was a gambler You couldn't make
no more mistake, Sizin him up, n you
could lookin' at mule. 'Peared like luck
was with him that trip, for he hadn't been
In the place tWenty-four hours afore he
set into good game that the fellers
found eXcitin' enough to keep goin' for
nigh week. They played every night at
the tavern, an every night bennett was
a good winner
They want all the others losers. for
there was some tofable good players in
town an 'twa'n't nothin' out o. usual for
a game to be goin on there; but 1T hap
pened the last night he played that Jim
Fleming went broke In the game. An
when l say he went broke, T mean he
lost, not on'y the ready money he had
no n n fr,r>s ~
that were enough TO wipe out all he had
an some over. sss1sS sesrs>~
But when Jim Fleming got home that
night, after the last sittin' in that long
game o draw poker, he found there was
other things for him to think of besides
settlin' up the money he owed. He want
in no condition to realize just what it all
meant, FIR he'd took in considerable more
red liquor n was good for him, count O.
bein' all broke up over his losses; but
what he did know was t his wife want
to home an his old mother was cryin' to
break her heart.
She Saw How 1t Was.
"She seen how twas with Jim, though,
an havin' sense. she didn't try to tell
him nothin just then, but got him to bed
the best she could, an waited till mornin'
Then he learned the whole story, part I'm
his mother an part I'm others that might
have told him afore but didn't.
1.-THE old lady hadn't knowed 1t in time,
an the others wouldn't butt in, bein' as
tWa'n't their business. But bennett had
been a-nosin' round town right smart.
while he'd been there, an bein' a good
lookin' Teller enough, the way women
reckons a mans looks, he'd struck up a
Irritation with Jims wife that was the
scandal o. the town.
Jim bein' busy In his store daytimes
hadn't heard or seen nothin' of it. an
bein' the husband in the case was just
naturally the last one to learn anything.
The old lady hadn't knoWd nothin' till
at the last but everybody else knowed all
about it.
Then when they was playin' that last
night pears a boat tied up at the levee
that was goin down the river, an bennett
managed some way to send word to Jim's
wife an she went aboard. Then he jump
ed the game just in time to get aboard
with her about three minutes afore the
lines was cast off. An Jim never seen
his wife again.
Now, / amt sayin nethin' about the
poker that was played in that game, FIR
want there, an l didn't see it; but
there amt no manner O. doubt that Den
nett was a professional, an everybody
knows what kind O. poker a professional
plays when he thinks he can do it safe.
Anyway folks told Jim enough about him
to make it look like a dead certainty he'd
been skinned for bennett had won most O.
the money t he'd lost.
$50 Jim. he started down the river on