The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-09


ed. nor the kind o religion that comes
at campmeetin' amt the on'y require
ment for TO make man respected in
/ this world.
The war were destructive thing
I for the country. there amt no question
o. tlIgt but II dfd one good thing that
amt wore out yet. II made the people
o. the different parts O. the South
better acqusinted with the. different
sorts O. poker that was bein' played
IN different parts, an tended TO make
the game more homogeneous. SO TO
speak. The fellers in a Arkansas regf-
meHt would stsck-up ag,in a lot o,
South Cariina men, for example, an
/ they'd each learn heap.
Then there was opportunities for
high play such as there hain't been
since, an there amt likely to be ag'in.
Toward the close o. the war CoHfed--
crate money got so plenty Z you cd
ha' bought it for a dollar a. bushel
in gold, II you ed ha' got the gold,
an it were the ony money there WAS
to get paid off in or TO play poker
with.
~Just naturally that gives a man
With a good nerve a ehanst for to make
a helI-roarin' big bluff. il 50 be he was
disposed to bluff, an also Ii gives
man courage TO call when he reckOned
the other fellow was tryin' TO bluff. Il
we're the means Of a great develop
ment, an the country has benefited by
IL ever since.
AN among the chosen instruments
that providence used I'm -bringfn' about
this great reform was Pete Granger
Just as ! said, he were too young TO
go into the army first off, but When
e. IL
they got a hold of him an it wa mt
no use for him TO say lie was oily II
years old. which was the truth, for
he were so ALFRED big { he looked like
man o twenty.
so they took him in, an KNOWN
how handy he was about runnin'
away FIN any kind of fight, they told
him he'd get shot the minute he turned
round if the enemy was anywhere's in
sight.
II amt a sayin' that made q man
of him, but it skeered him out o
playin' the coward, an tkey said he
fit as well as the next one. KNOWN it
didn't make no difference which way
he went, so fur as the consequences
went. But il want as a fighter [ Pete
was destined to shine.
There was more illustrious things
ahead o him. He got sort o hardened
to settfn' under fire. an faint re-
corded I he ever weakened when the
the table. Naturally that were a great
help TO him. bat what give him his
first Start was haulin' big money afore
he knowed how much 'tw'ant worth.
Just naturally be had sort OF
notion o. what draw poker was before
ne ever played it. an when he got
into the army the first thing he 'peared
to pick up was how TO handle the
cards. Then. when he'd been in the
service few months, we got paid Off
were I'm the same company with him,
an we set i'm at the same old game
that was played all through tie army.
Each squad d play poker till one
man had all the money there was in
the squad. Then all the winners in
the company d get together an play
a freeZe-out Thafd leave about nine
or ten men tkat'd each have a stake.
an they'd play till some one feIler'd
have all the paymaster brung fer US.
Eff he were a real sport he'd hang
onto his wad till he had a chance 20
get into the division game, when led
mebbe be real winner. IL he want
no sport he'd likely buy half a dozen
plugs O. tobacco an lay back, broke,
till we'd be paid of az in.
well, nobody thought nothin' about
Pete's chances. 1t didn't pear TO be
likely as he were goin' to last through
the squad game, but long toward mid
night. alter we'd set in. that settin'
was finished up, an Pete lad his first
wad.
"'Peared he'd called a 500 bluff
when he hadn't on'y pair o. skies in
his hand-a thing t no feller'd be la
bic to do if he knoW'd anything O. the
value o money. but Pete hadn't never
had no money in his hands afore, an
he didn't know whether 500 was
house an lot or piece O pie.
Nobody thought nothin' special o
that, but the next night there were a
company game an Pete set in with
the money o. his squad i'm his pocket.
'Twan't as much as you might think,
sayin' it quick. but there was mebbe
$4,000 in it. I'd won out in my squad
an l set in. too, with about the same
stack. so T had a chanst Of seem how
this new man played.
First off, there didn't pear to be no
life in him. / seen him throw down
aces up, oncet. for he want. nigh so
keerful about handiin' his cards as he
come TO be later, an 1 said TO myself
there want muck to be said Of
man't wouldn't call on that hand. there
bein not over $1,000 in the pot an
nothin' but a three-card draw, an j
one-card draw out ag'in him.
When Ii come to the showdown on
that hand, though. the thTee-caTd man
| had made threes and the one-card man
had filed his flush, so I seems Pete had
been lucky to drop That is, I reck-
oned It was luck. Alter q time l began
TO think mebbe twas more.
- Feared like he knowed a heap
! about what anybody else held round
the table an there want no use tryin'
10 get him TO bet ag'in nobody I had
I better cards N he had, but then ag'in
If he had the best hand, 'twant no use
to bluff ag'in him
II found that last thing out mighty
sudden all to myself when l drawed
for flush and didn't I'll it. agin his
three-card draw. There want $500
in the pot. an / offended to get ex-
cited an slammed in $1,000 that was all
! had left. 1t were sure. a strong bluff.
but he called It on pair of Jacks an
| took the money.
well. he won out at the company
game, an then he went out at the big
game o the regiment. an we looked
/ TO see if he'd blow his money. but he
said he didn't reckon he card about
no more tobacco n was comm to him
/ in rations when we got 'en, an he kind
O reckoned on holdin' on TO what he
! had till he got another chance O. play
| in poker.
by this time he'd got a name for
I KNOWN consid' able about the cards.
! but we didn't get no new decks very
! often them days, an there was others
| cd read the backs tolable we'll alter
l they'd bapn used smell We dfdpst