The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-20
THE DOUBLE CROSS
ON DAN SHINE
He Went Against Two Superstitions
at Once and Set Hoodoo Working.
New York SUM

4
| m Bucko Mclaughlin in Sandy Peters
place in Chicago the double cross pears
10 been Workin on me, overtime, said big
| Dan Shine who was a few years ago one
| of the well known gamblers of the mid
die west
| He was sitting with two friends in the
| moonlight on the deck of a Mississippi
river boat, and as they smoked they
| talked of everything on earth. Presently
| he was doing all the talking.
There was that time l set in with Red
Monahan and his gang in FraZier's place
in Milwaukee" he went on. II knew
well enough what | was up against. but
Monahan himself was the only one of 'em
| had the nerve to draw on me. and he
couldn't get the drop on me- not if 1 was
awake.
Then, Frazier was friend O. mine.
| knew | wouldn't be took unawares in
his place. He gave me the office when 1
went in
They'll do you, Dan,' he says. but 1
| laughed.
They amt the kind l says Mona
hans a tinhorn, an his gangs NUTS. 1
come up to do them, an if they u ony
play I'll have their wads.
They'll play fast enough he said,
an the game was on inside of half an
hour
This here Monahan was stuff He
was slick player, though o. course,
twa'n't no question O luck. That game
hung on science, an nothin' else
He was some ahead early in the game.
an settled to have a KILN, so 1 give him
ace full pat, on my deal an took three
sevens to my own hand. There was enough
goods round the table for to have con-
sid able traiiin when I raised an he
raised back. so there was nigh $1,000 on
the table when it come back to him, me
having raised, an he pushed in another
thousand.
1.-The others drops. but I sees the thou
sand an lifts the deck to give out the
draw. He's been settin kind o back in
L. L r-C 1, In,
piCkin UP his cards with his right. one at
a time, as they come to him. an then let
tin 'em lay. He never took second look
at EN-.
when I says How many?' he never
says nothin', but shoves in another thou
sand. Just at that stage o the proceed
ms / hears click. So l takes one card
my own self Just SOS to prove to myself
I hadn't made no mistake an l throws
my four sevens in the discard an quit
the game. right there
What do you mean by a click? asked
one of his friends.
He looked at his questiOner pityingly
for moment, and then said. with a
drawI: well, l didn't see nOthin'. Meb-
be he was crackin' his thumb joint under
the table"
Then they smoked a while longer, and
after time Dan said. meditatlVely;
"P'r'aps you don't know il. but there's
consid' able conscience among sporttn' men
that is among square sports, / mean.
a :
in time I he can't do nOthin' he'd ought
TO be ashamed Of but what he'll have
hard luck FIR some time comm III m
led into a game that's really crooked. like
a man will be sometimes, that hoodoo II
work sure as hell-fire burns.
What do you call a really crooked
game?" said the other friends with feeble
minded curiosity. and again the gambler
looked compassionate.
''One on en-" answered Dan, "as l
reckon. is pIayin' with a decent man when
you know it'll make him thief if you
win.
at Ny old dad was as square a man as
ever straddied a boss. He a Johnny
Reb, an he fit clean through the war to
the end.
well. dad talked to us heap, afore
he died an l never forgot it. This here
war he used to say, over an over, has
been a terrible mistake. We uns Thought
we could secede, but we been crushed: we
want just licked. We was crushed now
remember 'Tain't no use fightin' any
thin that's big enough to crush YOU
Don't fight God Almighty. Don't fight
whisky. Don't fight the COVER ment- No
body won't never get the best OF any one
on 'em. They'll sure crush the man |
tries it
THE more I studied his idees the more
I seen there was a hoodOO in ii, an m
the day he died l hain't never seen the
old flag nor the blue uniform thouten
two hOodoOs an got the double cross
when l play Bucko Mclaughlin.
I'D heard consid' able about BuckO Nc
LaUghlin f'r a couple or ten DAYS aIore
he blew in at Sandy Peters place that
night He'd been jammn' round town
some like a wildcat out on a frolic, drink
in, playin' bank an raisln merry neil
gently. till he got some talked about
''Twa'nt what ne did. but the way he
did it. If ne had a fight the other Teller
was licked. If he played bank he'd throw
a twenty, or mebbe fifty on card an
let it lay through the deal. winnin four
or 81, 500 O. the banks money to blow in
somewhere else. Never played but one
deal an never lost on it.
When 1 seen him l got a shTeck, an /
SAYS to Sandy he'd better count me out.
'Twan't that he was smooth faced an,
boyish 1t was the clothes he wore, an
when Sandy as me what chilled my feet
so sudden | was ashamed to tell him.
You see he had on the undress uniform.
an they hadn I none of EN- told me he
was in the army. Pears he was on fur
Tough.
.'WeU. there was talk. an when Bucko
Mclaughlin wanted me 10 play him a
freeze out al stud, / cd see l was in FIR
a roast if l didn't play, so L said yes,
rutheF'n to say l was skeered o tn blue.
1 reckon every man is a coward some
where, an l never cd stand bein' laughed
at.
HE made it for thousand, an we each
TOOK 1--WE stacks o DiueS, a cnlp Oeln Ten
dollars. Sandy dealt for us, himself an
Mclaughlin watched him like eat, be
sides calm for a shuttle every few
hands. an rifflin the deck mighty care
full. He wa 1t. no tenderfoot, if he was
a boy.
Anyway it were a lively settin Me
Iaughln night got the best O. the freeze
out once when | sized him for a bluff
me havin' aces up agn his three kinds.
one king being buried. He put in his
stack, an | called. If | hadn't been some
little winner afOre he'd a took my pile.
but il left me three hundred to play with, |
again his seventeen, an we played on.
THE cards came my way for a Spell |
after that an | worked him down to
eight hundred. when the decidin' hand
come. / had three sevens an ten show
in an he mad four clubs
20 course, 4 was my bet, an I put in
my pile, KNOWN t my buried card was IA
ten He couldn't do nOtnin' but call hav-
in flush an that wiped him out.
He was game. though, an pullin out
another five hundred, he says he'll go me |
again. If that don't win, he says with !
a laugh. you'll have me busted an that's |
what l haven't been fr a year So |
couldn't do no less n to give him his |
chanst
well that On'y lasted four or five deals |
He out drawed me oncet, on the last card |
n had me beat in sight takin abSut fifty |
4 Frsf I