The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-18
THE FIFTH HAND IN
| THE POKER GAME.
Old Mar Greenhut Shows That the
Weapon Doesn't Matter If the
Wielder Is Skilfud.

'Cordin' 10 the Good Book. said old
man Greenhut. there amt no man en- tell
the day nor the hour when he's goin' to
End IL handy for to have a weepin within
reach.
L don't have no great use fr a bung-
starter in the way o. business. 40 to speak,
bein' az my trade is mostly In hard liquor.
an what beer l sells I keeps in bottles.
wouldn't feel like the place was fitted
up proper. though, ef 'twa'nt fr havin'
\ bungstarter nigh to hand
Now | shouldn't reckon a bungstarter
vas no excellent weepin,' observed MIR.
Owen Pepper. Il don't see no advantages
In q ~bungstarter. ruther'n a good gun
There's a heap more things Z you don't
~" said old man Greenhut. with con-
siderable asperity. nor them that you
do see. l don't p'tend to say a. a gun
amt a good thing. II a man needs a gun.
an he's got a gum. an he knows how to
use a gun. a u is what he wants but even
then it's more OF a gun than IL is a bung-
starter. an q bungstarter amt. An
that's il.
Don't make so much difference what .
man has fr a weepin. il he on'y knows how
TO use il.
Jim whelpley wouldn't never use nothin'
hut a stick; but. say. 7 you cd a saw
the pains he took maxim one o. them sticks
an tryin' it fore he'd place dependence
onto il you'd "a realized t more'n likely
thai these sticks was some dependable.
He useter make EN- o. hickory wood.
en- he had hickory logs in stock t he'd
KEEP Ave or ten years seasonin'. de
wouldn't use nothin' but the heart o the
log. al he'd shave hat down till want
no bigeer'n your little finger just p next
to the handle. an I'm that it tapered down
to pint like a needle. at t'other end.
The handle was some bigger. an all
carved pretty. SOS he cd hold II firm.
'thouten it's slippin'. but the rest OF IL was
as smooth as glass an as straight as n
streak o. light. An he al'ays had a sort
O. cap over the pinted end, fitted SOS it
wouldn't slip OF. but he cd snap it of like
crackin' q whip.
He'd work over one O. them sticks. of
an on, fr maybe a month. an then he'd
test il. II 'tws'n't stiff enough he'd throw
IL away.
An il twas too stiff. SOS Z he ouldn
bend the pint round an touch the handle.
want no good. He a'ays had one on
en- IN MS mana, an ne KEEP eoine oh oh
at home. case OF accidents"
Well. what cd a man do with a thing
like that?- asked Owen Pepper. sneeringly.
Might be some good Or a pdin' whip or
TO chase little boys outen the way. but We
vas tslkin' o. wcepins."
Jim Whelpley had ben TO school in New
Orleans continued old man Greenhut.
Ignoring the interruption. "an' when he
come home to G~reenville he we're called
the best dedicated man in Mississippi. He
cd box with his feet. He cd hit the bulls
eve nine times outen ten. long range. with a
rife or q derringer.
he c'd throw a bowie knife an stick it
In the centre OF a silver dollar at twenty
steps, an he'd learned fencin' FIN a French
~p'fessor. till there couldn't none o them
Creole bIoods down to New Orleans touch
him with a raypeer.
That was what give him the idea Of a
hick'ry stick. Pears he looked on fencin'
No the most artistic way o. fghtin', an he'd
come to think shootin' was foolish, an
hoxin' WIS coarse and vulgar. an knife
play was mistake, seein' you have to throw
a knife 'thouten your man 10 nigh hand.
an when you've throwed it you amt got
no knife.
iOuCEtn ySc Use . nArknTN titCkb III DidNC
Of a raypeer. Jim Wbelpley useter say't
wood was better'n steel II you had the right
kind O. wood, bein' as t'wa'n't 30 liable to
snap, an more'n that. a walkin' stick wa'n't
liable fer to be took FIR a weepin. not till
you come to use il.
But when Jim Whelpley come TO use
one o them p'coolisr walkin' sticks o hisn.
well. say, he used it, an he sure did justify
what the Good Book says as how II don't
make much diff renee what a mans weepin
is p'vidin' he's skilful.
They was a poker game on in the back
room OF Bill Carter's saloon. l was
tendin' bar. an jim whelpley set in. Joe
Carter. t was Bills brother, had come to
Greenville with a pal o. hisn firm Arkansas,
I knowed the game some. an Doctor Pat
terson an Squire Haskins lowed they'd
take a few lessons, an a few chips Z they
cd get EN-.
They wanted a fifth hand, an Jim Whelp-
ley come ridin' up f'r a drink like he mostly
did just oncet every night afore goin' home
10 bed. He had his hick'ry walkin' stick in
his hand. same's he al'ays mad, when he
come in. l says TO him, oncet:
Whelpley,' | says, you don't never
leave that stick home, do your
an ne KIM o sWHleS, an ne says "eh'
no. | don't. You don't never see a dog
leavin' his teeth home, do you, when he
goes up the road? The dog don't know
just when he nought have need OF a few
teeth
well. they asst jim Whelpley, an he said
he didn't mind, so he &C. in with that little
uslkin' stick standin' tween his legs.
WANT usual, O. course. but them that
knowcd him knowed what it meant, n
them I didn't know him. bein' Joe Carter
an his pal, didn'tt think nothin' OF IL.
They was playin' a tol'able stiff game,
nobody havin' said nothin' about a limit.
an the home talent bein' tol'able well to do
citizens. II Carter an his pal d been some
slicker n they was, more'n likely they'd
a did Greenville out o. consid'able money
that night, but they hadn't no idee, natural
enough, O. the superior eddication jim
Whelpley d had down to New Orleans.
-Bein' ss he want a p'fessional he didn't
never do no stunts with cards hisself. bun