The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-18


in at this thing systematic, Greenhut,
he says to me. I'm either goin' to be
a grit player or 1 won't play at all.
An there amt nothin' about the game
t amt goin' to study
so he played with these young fell
iers FIR maybe year or two more, just
practisin', you understand. an not try (
in for to win much more'n he lose, j
but studyin' the way the game was =
played an tryin' to find out what was
the most natral mistakes f'r a man TO
make, SOS not to make 'em.
Then he set in up to the tavern a
few times when there was mostly a
stiff game goin' on, with mebbe a
couple O. crossroads gamblers playin'.
Iookin' FIR local money, but all t Billy
Bluefoot 'peared to be tryin' to do was
Just to hold his own
when I'd saw him playin' few
times into this game l says 10 MN:
You play well enough, pears 10 me-
Billy. for to let yourself loose an see
what you RELY can do. You amt try
in TO do nothin's fur's 1 en- See
well ne says. I reckon you're
right about that. 1 hain't felt I was
ready till now, but now t I've saw
them tinhoTns play 1 amt sure but
what I cd swat 'em one or two good
ones. 1 don't know but I'll try it to-
night
well. he comes in that night. &C
cordin just as old Judge Osborn an
Sam Wemple, an Pete FaXOn an Dave
Tinker was talkin' about game an
was lookin' round FIR somebody to take
a fifth hand. They looked at him some
doubtful when he said he'd set in, an
the old judge says: we was talktn' o
putin in two hundred apiece. table
stakes But Billy BluefOot says that
suits him, an he says 1t as easy as II
two hundred want nOthin to him. SO
! they begin.
'They was playin' in the back room,
but l KEEP gOin' in an out firm the bar
FIR a spell an 1 seen Billy want doin'
hisself no harm, so I was feelin' easy,
havin' a natral pride il his playin'
the way he did.
Then old man BluefOOt come rollin'
into the bar, an he says TO me: Seen
anythin' O. that cub of mine, Green
hut?'
That cub O. yourn,' I says, is
! consid' able Of a man just now, an If
you want TO swell up with the pride Of
! a father you just get behind the door
there an see him wallOp four o the
| best poker players in Mississippi ]
amt much gave to bettin' on another
/ mans game l says, but III bet you
| one TO four he'll have all the money
on the table inside o the next twenty
minutes.
well, old man Bluefoot was that
excited / had to choke him to keep
| him firm sp'ilin everything. You
don't mean to tell me he's that good
| he says, an he wants to butt right
| into the room 50 st / had to back him
| up in the corner an hold him by the
| throat with one hand while 1 reasoned
/ with him with t'other. Finally 1 put
| him behind the door where he cd look
/ through the crack an we both
watched
| well, the way that youngster was
swattin' them four would ha' been
scandIoUs if it hadn't ha been home
I talent. He come in ag'in the judges
| pat flush, an drawed three tens to a
pair and he played Sam Wemple up
on a four straight. Wemple havin'
! three aces afore the draw, till Wem-
pies pile was all in, an then he filled
his straight.
Then the next hand he dealt hisself
! an FOxen catched four tens cold an
| Tinker three queens, so he got consid-
! cradle of a play afOre the draw, him
/ havin' a pair O. kings an some conf
| dence. Then on the draw he gave
! Tinker a pair, an pulled two kings his
own self. Feared like ne cd just
reach out an pick 'em out o. the at
mosphere.
nothin', bein' as they hadn't saw moth
/ in out O the way, but the old judge
| said he reckOned he didn't care TO play
| ag'in such luck as that, an the others
all peaTed to have cold feet, SO the
| game broke up
But you sh'd ma seen old man Blue
/ foot when Billy came out. He fell
| onto his shoulder an wep with JOY
| an pride, an bOrried five hundred Of
fpv1 10 how On the gpor THar1 Ha ia
| he'd like TO show him a few wrinkles
in the game hisself. If you'll take a
few lessons firm me- he says, 'youH
| be the best player in the state
so Billy tells him he'd be delighted,
/ an after he's got rid O. the old man
he tells me he's goin' to play him f'r
/ all he's worth. Dads got considerable
| property round the old home he says,
but ne hain't never got no money, be
| in as he blows il. But I'll play him
an get notes Outen him till I get
enough to buy the place, an then I'll
! get a judgment again him. That'U
| give me the place, 'thOuten any risk
o. the old folks willin' it away FIRM
me. an I'll leave 'em live there while
1 start out for the river
We'll, he done it as slick as slick.
1 The old lady wanted BluefOOt 10 re-
fuse TO pay gambln' debt, but he
was spot all right, an Billy got the
place; and then, like he said he would,
he lit out fT the boats.
/ Likely he'd "a been the most ia
nous short-card player on the river
On'y fr him gOin' partners with Ben
/ Upton, I was famous already, fr Billy
did stunts nobody else ever kuowed, an
he sure were a scientific player, but
him an Ben had some trouble afore
they'd been pals a week an Billy got
the worst of 1T. They was goin' to
hang Ben, but he swore it were self
defense. an there want nobody to
prove different.
Goes to show what I said There
amt no tellin' what manll do if he's
! pushed. II Lem Gorkins hadn't been
pushed he wouldn't "a took to the
river. An if Billy Bluefoot hadn't
/, been pushed so almighty hard when he
was little he wouldn't never have cul-
tivated them wonderful talents o.
) his'n, an more'n likely he wouldn't a
took to the river, neither"
BACK TO THE DUST.
washington Herald)
One of us lives as q magnate grand; one
of us leads as a ehieftain bold.