Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-24
FIGHT TO THE FINISH

That mtx-Up between a professional bad
man and soldier at Cheyenne the other
day. I'm which the soldier came out No 1.
reminded me OF some deadly set-to's be-
tween army bucks and bad men that I
saw during by own service" observed an
oid-time enlisted man now on duty at the
War Department.
One Of these affairs was savage knife
fight at II Waco, Wash, between a Portu-
guese gambler named Potozzo and an ar
ttllcry soldier stationed at Fort Candy, near
by. There's hardly a more desolate little
town In the whole northwest than II Waco.
II is on Bakers bay, a sort OF inlet OF the
mouth OF the Columbia river, and about
ten miles across from Astoria, that salmon
fishing town of Oregon. and an eyil-enough
town itself. II Waco was. and probably
still Is. the payday resort of the soldiers
stationed at Fort Candy. 1t lies three miles
away from the post. across a Dense bear
infested forest. For good many years a
man In ii Waco named Jawbones Hayden
served to the soldiers visiting II Waco on
pay days kind of whisky 30 phenonenally
yiliainous as to have caused all vicious
whisky to become known as Jawbones
whisky throughout the army. The Fort
Candy soldiers used to say that Hayden
made the whisky in the morning, and that
at closing up time at night he threw away
what hadn't been sold during the day
Brace games Of chance went on constantly
In II Waco's shacks. and the soldiers in
evftably got the worst of II. But this sol
dfer that figured In the knife fight l started
| to tell you about didn't get the worst of 1t.
The soldiers name was McGlynn He
was a bad soldier from q military point of
view, and heGwas. in addition, bad man.
All the men he soldiered with knew that
| he was bad man. and they let him alone.
He occasionally got into their payday
poker games. and he always won. Their
games were not big enough for him, how
ever. and he spent all of his liberty over
a "on 1..ntr
| games-and beating them, ought to add.
Beating brace games was McGlynn's
| speciality. In fact 1t was q marvel among
| all hands that accomplished gambler
and short card player should have drifted
into the army, and the only natural con-
clusion was that he had put on the uniform
| for the sake of lodging the civil authori-
J ties.
''McGlynn's unyarying success at the II
Waco tables finally enraged the proprietors
OF the layouts to such an extent that all
of them except one closed up him. The
| man who did not close up on him was Luis
| Potozzo. as bad a Portuguese-he had orig
| inally been a salmon fisherman at Astoria
| as ever carried a bowie in his boot. Po-
tozzo had been hit so hard by McGlynn
| that he kept his tables open to the soldier
| in the hope OF getting back some OF the
| lost money. But McGlynn had a little way
of tumbling to the working details Of all
| OF the brace devices. and he knew how to
copper every one of them, and so he went
right on winning. Finally, in desperation.
| Potozzo suggested one afternoon to Nc
| Glynn that they play two-handed g;sme
| OF draw. Potozzo was an expert manipu-
lator of the pasteboards, and he prob
ably thought that he'd be able to break it
| of in McGlynn at straight draw and re-
| trieve some Of his losses in that way.
| You're on. said McGlynn, and, in the
presence Of a couple OF soldiers from Fort
| Canby-by chance happened to be one of
| Waco, McGlynn and Potozzo sat down to
| the game in the one-room shack where the
| gambler had his games a-gong.
Potozzo won at first, and his beady eyes
| cleaned with the anticipation of not only
| getting back all his own brace-table losses,
but of gouging back a lot OF the gold that
McGlynn had taken from the tables of other
| layouts in II Waco. But when Potozzo be-
gan to lose he made the mistake of COM
mencing to drink bad liquor In order to get
| a clutch on himself. McGlynn didn't drink
a drop. Drinking had never been one of
| his failings.
| When Potozzo began to drop his own
| jackpots sometimes on his opponents bluffs
| and sometimes on McGlynn's strangely fine
! hands. he drank more and more In a fash
ion very uncharacteristic of a gambler and
the proprietor of brace tables. Along to-
ward Z o'clock In the evening, after five
| hours play, Potozzo was out about $1,000
and he was growing very ugly and insult
| ing McGlynn took the gamblers cracks
mildly. and went right on winning the Por
| tuguese's money. AT o'clock, when
| potozzo was all in except about $500, the
| Portuguese stayed along on a jackpot the
| soldier had opened, for the pot had climbed
up by constant passing back and forth
The Portuguese stood pat on his queen high
flush of diamonds. The soldier drew one to
his kings up on tens, and pulled another
king. Potozzo clapped all of his remaining
| bank roll into the center with a drunken
flourish.
"'You blue man. you big gun man, you
| dealer of cards queer. you must now De
beat muttered PotoZzo. his teeth leaking
| for the pot. IN which about $500 already
| OF coll for Shnx,r hoy iotr
more money by me-
Saying this, he laid down his queen high
| flush of diamonds with a bang. McGlynn
| put down one by one, his king full letting
both of his hands rest on the money In the
center of the table when he had displayed
| his hand, and looking quietly, but like a
| man expecting trouble, straight into the
| wild eyes OF the man on the other side OF
the table.
| "Potozzos face became almost blood red
| and he was fumbling underneath the table
| Suddenly. quick as thought, there was the
CLEAN of a knife in the air. and Potozzo's
| hand came down, aimed for McGlynn's
right hand resting on the table. But Nc
| Glynns right hand wasn't there when the
| knife descended. Neither was his left. Nc
Glynn was standing at full length with
bowie In his hand and he held it like a
| man who knew how to use 1t. The two
men stood looking at each other for about
five seconds. and that look meant business
to the finish. One Of the hangers-on quick
! ly grabbed the table and hauled 1t to q
corner OF the room, ana tnen Mcilynn anu
| Potozzo leaping at each other in the center
of the shack. began the bowie fence, which
| both understood thoroughly. Potozzo was
a trifie the better bowie man of the two,
| but he was handicapped by his condition,
| and he reeed slightly at critical Junctures
In the game. The two men, both leaning
| far forward with extended and appraised
| knives, Travelled about each other with the
| caution OF cats. lungeing and lodging. but
| not getting near enough for the thrust for
| several minutes. while they painted heavily
with the tremendous strain and exertion
| Once Potozzos knife grazed the fingers of
4 the soldiers knife hand. but that was as
near as ever he got to his man.
"'Oh, not yet. you don't 1 heard Nc
| Cilynn say. Quietly, after a peculiarly
vicious thrust on Potozzos part, and. talk
| ing advantage of the Portuguese's recover
ing stagger after the lunge, McGlynn leaped
| In and planted his knife squarely in the
| heart of the gambler. who was dead in less
| than a minute. The bad soldier tossed his
| knife against the wall Of the shack without
| a word to anybody, gathered up the gold
| and notes on the table, strobe into the black
| darkness of II Waco's mud-mtred streets
| down to the waters edge, ran up the sail
! faIupca fnOOrpd there and