The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-06
MORMON POKER FINE GAME.
Looks Easy to the Outsider, But
There Is No Redress.

In the buffet car were seated two
Englishmen, one Frenchman and an
American The Englishmen and the
Frenchman had been relating their re-
cent experiences as tourists in the
United States. The American sat smok-
ing. Finally ne said:
IF you gentlemen VIII allow me to-
butt lin, I'll relate to you a little eX-
perience I had a couple of weeks ago
out in Salt Lake City"
The foreigners smiled, nodded cour-
teousiy, and squared themselves TO
listen.
1T all arose over game of Mormon
poker" he began. a couple Of weeks
ago I was doing the tourist act in the
City of Saints when I colhded with
fellow sightseer. We went TO see the
temple and the tabernacle and the
statue of Brigham Young. My friend
knew all about him.
BY the way said he. how would
you like TO go to u museum which
contains wax figures of all Brig
wives?'
would I? He said that friend of
his would give us passes. OF we went
TO find the friend.
In about two minutes and eight sec
onds we were rubbing our knuckles
against a door in a building somewhere
down town. The friend with the passes
was out but two. gentlemen who were
/ there informed us that he would soon
/ be in. We sat down to wait
II The two gentlemen looked like
! clean assortment, and as soon as we
were seated they removed a newspaper
from d table near which they sat and
disclosed deck of cards and chips.
/ Said they were expecting their wives
and in order to conceal what they were
doing had covered the table with a
newspaper. Said they were playing
Mormon pOEer. At that my friend be-
/ came interested. 1 admit that my curl
4 osity was somewhat aroused How
/ ever, we soon saw that it was just plain
/ stud poker.
! BY and by my friend got in the
game. He won steadily and soon had
( four or five goOd-sized stacks Of chips
/ in front of him. 1t looked like a square
| deal, a gentlemen's game, and when my
/ friend slapped one of his stacks or
| chips down in front OF a vacant chair
at the table and asked me to get In
| I was ready to show that L was game.
Everything came nay way for the
/ first hand or two. Chips walked right
/ over and sat down in front Os me just
as if we were old friends But they
/ didn't last long. Mormon poker is q
/ hot, fast game In two minutes L had
/ nearly. all the chips on the table; IN
| eight seconds 1 had lost all together
I with five hundred.
I'D played poker before, both draw
/ and stud, but somehow or other [
! couldn't get my thinking works off the
disappearance of that five hundred.
/ This game seemed perfectly square
! Yet the more I thought Of the affair
/ the more convinced I became tSat I
/ had been held up. So I decided to in
vestigate the disappearance Of that five
| hundred.
Il addressed my compliments to a
policeman on the corner the next morn
/ ing. He said it was a swindle. Then
! ne took me up to headquarters, intro
! duced me toIther chief and asked me
1 to repeat the fable. The next daT 7
| intended TO leave for a. more congenial
cline, but long before my train thought
| of footing itself out OF that citz of
! the lost five hundred a smiling police
( men brought me the information that
! the erring one had been captured and
/ that I would have to remain as a wit
ness against him.
'At the trial ] again enjoyed the
J privilege of telling the story. 1t was
| q very brief affair. After I'd had a
| change at the witness chair the sleutE
( was called and we learned that he'd
had a conversation with the prisoner
and surprised him into a confession that
he had used a cold deck on me- You
see, when 1 shuff1ed the cards on thai
momentous occasion and passed them
to the gentleman on my right TO cut
he returned a stacked deck and palmeC
the one with which we had been play
ing.
''The unfortunate gentleman was
found guilty and given 200 days of pena
servitude on the streets O. the Nor
mon capital. I was delighted. My five
hundred was gone, but ] left thai
neighborhood with light heart.
mo sooner had I lost sight OF Nor.
mondom than my friend of the greer
cloth made a move Coz freedom. He
was only waiting for me TO leave tOWI
l.