The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-08-30
ANECDOTES OF VEST.
How Missouri's Senator
Won q Jack Pot.
AN INSTANCE OF HIS READY WIT

AN INSTANCE OF HIS READY WIT
Used It With Crushing Eject When
Interrupted I'm a Speech-HOw the
Senate Lost His Teeth-A Gallant
Impromptu Speech at a Fourth of
July Celebration.
Years e the late ex-United States
Senator George q. Vest when a young
mar occasionally INDUCED in the fasci-
mating game called draw poker, a game
which we know Is thoroughly under
stood in all itsdetails in Clinton county,
Mo-, more especially Lathrop. Well,
once on a time Vest had tried a case in
a little county seat and received a large
fee for clearing his man. says the La
throp Monitor. So much money in the
hands Of the young lawyer was as
tempting to the denizens as a cool wa
termelon to a hungry negro. The re-
suit was a game Of poker was got up.
The boys intended to fleece Vest and of
course stacked the cards. They had no
place to play in but a little shed that
had no floor but some fresh dry wheat
straw. TWAS a five handed game, and
a dry goods box served as a table. It
happened to be a jack pot, and Vest
opened it on three queens. The cards
being fixed, the other fellows had better
hands and Of course raised before the
xrou Vast c+ond tho roic0 o~I Iunrr
two cards. AS luck would have it, he
got the other queen.
The betting commenced and grew ex-
ceedingly warm. They would raise the
young lawyer, and he would see them
and go a little better. An outsider who
stood in with the gang looked over
Vests shoulder and saw what a formi-
dable hand he had. He held up four
fingers, shook his head and in other
ways tried to warn his friends, but to
no purpose. He saw that Vest would
break the crowd, so he lit a match and
set the straw floor on fire and told them
to run for dear life. That cool head
which served him S well in after years
and which never let him become ratified
did not desert him then. With one
hand he raked in the Doodle, with the
other he exhibited his lovely queens,
and al he went out of the door, with
his coat tail or fire, he said:
LET her burn; the pot is miner
A Missouri paper revives an anecdote
illustrating Senator Vests readiness Of
wit and sarcasm. On one occasion,
some years ago, the doughty senator
used his gift with crushing effect on a
man who interrupted him while he was
making a speech in the johnson county
courthouse at Warrensburg, Mo-, the
home Of his colleague, Senator Cockrell.
The room was packed. Vest was
speaking in a particularly happy vein
when a Warrensburg editor who did
not like him arose and asked him a
question. 1t was c%ourteously answered,
and the editor followed it up with an
other and another. To the surprise Of
most Of his hearers, Senator Vest kept
his temper and continued to reply cour-
teously.
Finally the editor asked q long and
very involved question. The senator
listened to it with the same attention
as he had given to those that preceded
1t, but just as he seemed ready to reply,
land WHILE" says Frank Frayne, who
tells the story, 'the audience was per-
fectly quiet, awaiting Vests answer, a
little yellow bench legged cur came
jumping up the aisle Immediately in
front Of the judges stand, barking
furiously at him. AS quick as a flash
Vest turned and, pointing his finger at
the dog, said: 'One at a time, sir. You
are out of your turn. Wait till l get
through with the other one, then / will
reply to you.'"
According to the Saturday Evening
Post, Mr.. Vest had artificial teeth and
was not at all ashamed Of them; on the
contrary, the relief that he left after he
had all his natural mes taken out.
many years ago, made him rather
proud Of the false ones. One day, soon
after the artificial set was fitted. he
started IN horseback for a country
town, ten miles or so from his home in
Missouri, where he had to argue an
important law case. ~ was d COLO,
bleak day In November, but he tried to
forget the discomfort of his ride by
thinking over the case and ~rehearsing
his speech.
About half way to his destination he
had to ford a stream, as no bridge had
then been built, and was getting along
finely, when suddenly. his horse stepped
nhf a Tod 90 into doom wofor ond had n
swim for 1t. Mr.. Vest did not lose his
seat, but in the excitement Of the mo-
ment he did lose his teeth.
AS he was then only a short distance
from the other bank he urged his horse
on and 0 landed. But what to do
without his teeth? It was a case Of
no teeth no speech. So he tied his
hoEro To a froo coxaorod hia olo4hino