Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1907-06-12
How | Won Consent.


ne would not give. lie had the blood
Il British ducal family I'm his veins.
while | was an American commoner.
I'm vain | argtvd with him that my
bank account Gin America at least was
20 be preferred to blue blood and pow
arty; in vain pleaded with Alice to
nay no attention 10 the old dotard and
marry me despite his commands To the
'ontrary. No. Such disobedienCe
would break her fathers heart There
were hut the two of them, and rup-
ture was out of the question. 1t seem
"a To me that one might as we'll talk OF
breaking the heart of a bullock as this
obstinate Englishman.
Since Alice would neither give me up
nor marry me l led a very uucomfort.
able life. Indeed. the time came when
I was almost ready to carry her of I'm
pltc 81 herself and her father But |
formed better plan-onc equally haz.
rdouS, but more likely Of success. II
nad one disadvantage over the abduc-
zion plan. I'm that plan | would carry
with me the worlds sympathy: in the
plan I adopted if detected would
"rtanly lose my love and Ice etcrnally
iiSgrn,cd
Mr. Cordery. Alices father, was an
inyetcrate gambler The only thing In
America that he approved of was the
national game of poker. American so
rlety was 10 him IA boiling pot. Ameri
IN
business methods. were eXccrahle. But
poker was a line game. | would not
join the occasional poker parties he
had i'm his house. first because l dis
like thc excitement Of gambling: sec.
ond. when the old gentleman was busy
nt the game was free with Alice
However. my plan involved my play.
Ing poker, and one evening / surprised
him lay taking a hand
lost small sums at several sittlngs
and lost Intentionally. would never
bet high with any opponent except Mr..
| Iordery and i'm this way avoided win
| ning or losing any considerable sum
from amy one but him. In his case.
however | kept losing and winning.
always winning more than | had lost.
! till my opponent owed more than he
could pay without mortgagIng the lit
! Tie property he possessed This I final
/ ly forced him TO do. and when he had
| lone IL ! won the loan he had made.
All this was done within few
weeks. once and once only. | was
frightened from the terrible risk I
was running one Of the PLAYERS while
toying with card fell to rubbing his
thumb on its back Feeling n little
|Sprck. ne tried to rub IL Off With n
throbbiug heart I gathered M the
cards. tdiling the card he was thumb
| I'm" from him and tossing them 10 the
/ tcalcr. That card had been marked
and had marked it.
Before entering upon these games
/ 1ld gone 10 q professional gambler and
paid him 10 teach me how TO win He
/ initiated me into a system OF marking
/ The cards on the back with little specks
The four suits by this system are des-
| grated by the position OF the spccks
/ On the back of the cards. Thus one
/ 'pcck i'm certain position would mean
| the ace Of hearts, two spccks the
queen, and so on. But I'm poker II was
fnot necessary that the spccks should
I he I'm any given position. The specks
we're made by a puncture of pin
. point IN thc card and filling the pune.
,drc with wax My instructor told me
that To Dee able 10 feel them must file
. Inc skin OF my thumb down TO the
quick ana wear kid cap on the
numb. This / did, and the slightest
ouch would give me the denomination
/ IF the card As TO the pack used.
.ound packs similar 20 those Mr.. Cor
lcry kept on hand and surrcptitiously
substituted my marked cards for his.
We'll ] won all Mr.. Cordcry's belong
iu-s they were not large and made
him q paupcr ! am aware that I'm
cases Of this kind, especially I'm PLAYS.
the next step would be for the loser 10
put mp his daughter for a stake But
since This was a real case no spcb
Thing occurred Mr.. Cordcrv borrowed
small sum from one of the party.
which promptly won. Then hc Dor
rowcd Of me, and ! won what I had
l"nl him lie borrowed more. ana
won that Finally he gave up the
struggle and shut himself up for three
lays ] was frightened out of my wits
for fear ne would do something despcr.
NE iIc was thinking about his daugh
I, ior's future. She would marry no one
but me, and if she didn't marry she
must go TO work or two evils the
least must be chosen The old man
gave In and told her she'd better accept
me-
As soon as had received his con
cnt learning from Alice OF sundry
.rbts that had long been owing her
Gather ] sent him 500. purportlng 10
come from one Of his debtors from the
other side Of the world. As ! expected
I" resumed his poker parties. The ra
'Id'iy with which hc won my money
was astonishing I'm three slttinps ne
had won alI I had taken from him be
Tore he commenced tO borrow Of mo
md iu two more sittngs had rcgalncd
lha loans ] announced that ! would
play mo- moro as married man and
.ho evening before my wedding lost ~
aim $1,000. % salyo for my conscience
DO the strain had put upon him
I have never dared tell my wife Of
hc manner Jy which cut fho Gordiap
uot ana won her fathers consent
fos, literally won d. aud that with
marked cards And j never sec ans
'no Of the men who made up tine poker
parties without ehuddrr thinking