Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-03-09
TRAGEDY OVER POKER.
From the WASHINGTON Star.

played In said region Is liable 10 stack up
against worse trouble than did the British
soldier who clomped into a Mohammedan
mosque with his boots and spurs n net
met on" observed an old Californian VINO
is visiting Washington. For there's u
heap OF different kinds of poker played IN
this country. And the worst OF 1t Is that
the man who plays the kind OF a game no
was raised on In his own section is always
blind 70 the beauties OF the entirely diner
ent game tina he drifts into when ne gers
away from his own acknowledgements.
PolSr Is a rood deal like Intun talk. l
cam talk pretty fair Modoc lnJun, olt l
reckon IL I'D talk Mode to a bad sho-
shone or to an impetuous Sioux he'd be-
gin to Ogure on how my top hair would
do for tepee lining. And there are more
mixed brands of draw poker played
around the United States and territories
than there are InJun dialects
'I once saw a game OF poker that re-
suited pretty seriouslEISbr both players on
account OF the lack ~ an understanalng
between them before the game started as
to just what the hands were worth ms
happened In Benecia, a few miles up the
bay and the San Joaquin from San Fran
cisco, In '6s.
"I was In Jack Cations big Benecia faro
mill one Sunday af~ternoon-for the game
was as wide open then on Sundays as on
week d~ays-trying to pump a little sense
into the fool head OF a friend mine who
had chubbed away nearly every dollar ne
had in the world at Benecia's grace games,
when one Of the lookouts, who knew the
interest / took In watching a good game
of poker, although / never played except
with friends, came over to where ! was
standing and said:
Jacks got a good game OF draw on
with a new man upstairs. Go on up and
look It over
Now, in those days Jack Caton-who
was sho and killed by Billy the Kid In
Arizona, many years later-was about the
hottest poker player on the Pacific slope.
He ran faro games in most OF the sizeable
towns in California for the money there
was in it, but he just played draw poker
for fun. n he always played on the lev
ell, for he wasn't a man who cared to mix
pleasure with business, and he wouldn't
have found any entertainment In stacking
the papers or dealing from the bottom or
middle in any game that he got into jus.
to enjoy the study of the percentages.
when / went upstairs to the poker
room Cation was sitting in his shirt sleeves
opposite a solid-look.ng man OF forty or
thereabouts, dressed In the uniform OF a
steamship officer. When l was told that
he was chief engineer OF one OF the big
Panama steamers / didn't have much
trouble In figuring out where he'd got hold
of the huge sack OF gold coin he had with
him. For in those days the chief engineers
of the west coast ships used to have charge
Of the coaling OF their vessels. and they
considered 1t quite legitimate to take a
rake-down of several thousand dollars
every time they coaled ship. Coal cost
from $40 TO $50 a ton, and the chief en-
gineers had the making of the report OF
their bunker space and entered into the ar
- IL
west coast. 1t was the custom OF the day
for the chief engineers OF tho Panama
steamers to feather their nests In this
way, and nobody appeared to think any
thing about 1t.
This chief engineer had Just been trans
fered from the east to the west coast,
which accounts for his ignorance OF the
rules of the California game OF draw
poker. When 1 turned up i found that
he'd been jabbing Cation pretty hard since
the beginning of the game. But the two
different rands of poker played by the
two men hadn't yet come into conflict.
you see, they don't play straights out
on the slope. The sloper who hasn't trav-
eled or played poker with eastern men
doesn't know what the word straight
means as applied to the game OF draw.
Cation, of course, knew all about straights,
but he never played 'em with anybody.
and / think he had a right to assume that
any man who played draw with him In his
own territory ought to know the rules OF
the game In that territory.
There was a big jackpot heap in the
center of the table when / went upstairs
TO look at the game. II had been sweet
ened probably half a dozen times, and al
ready contained something close on to
1000 in double eagles. But neither man
seemed TO be able to catch openers. It
went around between them eleven times
altogether, and every time It passed o
men sweetened II for a lump. The chief
engineer dealt the twelfth mess. Cation
was one Of those cool chaps who picked
up his cards leisurely n one by one, and
when he had thus got hold OF his first two
papers, he calmly joggled 500 into the
middle and remarked that IL was open,
before looking at the others.
These tickets OF mine are worth $500
more said the chief engineer. who was a
pretty ~seif-contained chap himself, shoY-
ing the yellow stuff into the pot.
Then you want to play II for keeps,
pardner,' said Cation, standing the raise
before the draw. and discarding two.
THE chief engineer took one paper. He
picked It up, looked at 1t for a second or
two, and then carefully closed UP the hand
like a fan and laid II on the table I'm front
OF him.
DO your blufing.' he said to Cation.
How about a thousand dollars WORTH
inquired Cation, ficking the double eagles
into the pot.
Thousand more than you said the
chief engineer, pushing his gold In.
And a thousand, said Cation, until the
climbing OF the metal became almost in
cessant.
NOW, i had been standing behind Cation
when ne drew cards, and when / saw him
catch a pair of nine TO his three kings I
figured that II was all over, especially as
the engineer had drawn one card, which
looked like a case of four-fiushing or two
pairs. But the way the sailor kept hitting
back at Cation finally got me to guessing,
and by the time he had scooped nearly all
of the coin out OF his sack / had almost
begun to believe that he'd caught pat
Tours. When the thousand dollar raises
had zone back and fourth several times.
and there was nearly 5000 In the pot, the
chief engineer, cool az a mountain trout
In a shady hole. emptled out his coin sack,
and found hat he had little more than
81 coo left.
HE showed his remaining 1900 TO the
centher and said. Call
"Caton spread out his king-fuli.
mo good said the chief engineer,
spreading out a seven-high straight lush
OF diamonds, and reaching for the pot.
Hey? What's no good? Hands Off
that pot, sung out Cation. What I'm blazes
a full house
"a flush doesn't replied the chief en-
giaeer. but this thing OF mine Is a straight
n -