The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-06-07
How | Won Consent.
foriginaLl

of a British ducal family in his veins,
while / was an American commoner.
In vain I argued with him that my
bank account lin America at least was
to be preferred to blue blood and pow
erty; in vain l pleaded with Alice 10
pay no attention TO the old dotard aud
marry me despite his commands TO the
contrary. No. Such disobediencc
would break her fathers heart. There
were but the two of them. and a rup-
ture was out of the question. II seem
ed to me that one might as well talk of
breaking the heart of bullock as this
obstinate Englishman-
Since Alice would neither give me up
nor marry me / led q very uncomfort-
able life. Indeed, the time came when
l was almost ready to carry her off in
spite Of herself and her father. But
formed a better plan-one equally haZ-
ardous, but more likely of success. Ii
had one disadvantage over the abduc-
ton plan. In that plan l would carry
with me the worlds sympathy; in the
plan / adopted il detected / would
&Il iO0C la 4oYI anu hI IANA hAAts
disgraced
Mr.. Cordery. Aliee's father, was an
inveterate gambler. The only thing in
America that he approved of was the
national game of poker. American so
ciety was to him a boiling pot. Ameri-
can art, literature, professional and
business methods, were execra BILE. But
poker was fine game. I would not
join the occasional poker parties he
had in his house, first, because / dis
like the excitement of gambling; sec,
ond. when the old gentleman was busy
at the game l was free with Alice.
However, my plan involved my play
ing poker. and one evening / surprised
him by taking hand.
I lost small sums at several sittings
and lost Intentionally. / would never
bet high with any opponent except Mr..
Cordery and i'll this way avoided win
ming or losing any considerable sum
from any one but him. In his case,
however. I kept losing and winning,
always winning more than l had lost,
till my opponent owed more than he
could pay without mortgaging the lit
tie property he possessed. This I final
~ IALl 10 10. anu Wueu he udu
done it / won the loan he had made
All this was done within a few
weeks. Once. and once only, 1 was
frightened from the terrible risk
was running One of the players while
toying with card fell to rubbing his
thumb on its back. Feeling a little
speck, he tried to rub it off. With a
throbbing heart | gathered up the
cards, taking the card he was thumb
ing from him and tossing them to the
dealer That card had been marked,
and 1 had marked it.
Before entering upon these games
had gone to a professional gambler and
paid him to teach me how to win He
initiated me into n system of marking
the cards on the back with little specks
The four suits by this system are des-
ignated by the position of the specks
on the back of the cards. Thus one
speck in certain position would mean
the ace of hearts, two specks the
queen, and so on. But in poker it was
not necessary that the specks should
be in any given position. The specks
were made by puncture OF a pin
point in the card and filing the pune
ture with wax. My instructor told me
that to be able to feel them / must file
the skin of my thumb down to the
quick and wear kid cap on the
thumb. This 1 did, and the slightest
touch would give me the denomination
of the card. AS to the pack used, /
found packs similar to those Mr.. Cor
derry kept on hand and surreptitiously
substituted my marked cards for his.
Well, 1 won all Mr.. Cordery's belong
ings-they were not large-and made
him a pauper. | am aware that in
cases of this kind, especially in plays,
the next step would be for the loser to
put up his daughter for a stake But
since this was a real case no such
a small sum from one of the party,
which 1 promptly won. Then he Dor
fowed of me, aud / won what I had
lent him. He borrowed more, and
won that. Finally he gave up the
struggle and shut himself up for three
days. 1 was frightened out of my wits
for fear he would do something desper-
ate. He was thinking about his daugh-
ter's future. She would marry no one
but me, and if she didn't marry she
must go to work Of two evils the
least must be chosen. The old man
gave in and told her she'd better accept
me.
AS soon as I had received his con-
sent, learning from Alice of sundry
debts that had long been owing her
father. l sent him 500 purporting to
come from one of his debtors from the
other side of the world. AS / expected,
he resumed his poker parties The ra
pidity with which he won my money
was astonishing. In three sittings he
had won all | had taken from him be-
fore he commenced to borrow of me
and in two more sittings had regained
the loans. | announced that | would
play no more as a married man and
the evening before my wedding lost to
him $1,000, a salve for my conscience
at the strain | had put upon him.
l have never dared tell my wife of
the manner by which | cut the Gordian
knot and won her fathers consent
yes. literally won It. and that with
marked cards. And I never see any
one Of the men who made I'D the poker
80, IT,