The sun., 1908-10-18
TWO STRANGERS
IN BROWNSVILLE
Learn That Other Sports Besides
Draw Poker Are Liked In
Long Mixes Town.

Sc, ,ts OF importance did not succeed
,os A. ,ther with startling rapidity Ia
p,owns, Vie. excepting on rare occasions
men a >)hole series would be crowded
,ore,her in a single evening. A few such
.,snines, as for instance the one which
'.v the finish Of the one eyed man. and
4 ~ one when Gallagher was driven from
lawn by Long Mike In one of the big
ANS outbreaks Of sudden fury, had
r,..ed into the unwFitten though well
,smembered history Of the little town
! hat for the most part the chronicles OF
prownsvle, had they been put into print,
rould have made slow reading.
Vet Brownsville was it's own excuse and
o.eded no apology. 1t was the port OF
sntry from the outside world to the fer
n. Iowa prairies before the iron horse
v,s harnessed that later dragged the
marie products to market.
Tho great Mississippi steamboats, which
tAen nionopolized the carrying trade
found at Brow nsvillc one Of their profit
,Ne stopping places. and the sleepy little
barg buzzed with activity while one OF
these boats lay at tic landing on the levee
Ebep the boat left the town lapsed into
4, normal quietude again.
Unless indeed some passengers should
ary for the coming Of another boat.
a sometimes happened. Then there were
5oinas. For since there was no occasion
tor visiting Brownsville with business in
view. it follows that those who tarried
ought sport. and of sport there were
only the sturdy sorts most in favor among
ths hardy settlers In the Northwest.
townsville was then Northwest.
The roster Of sports was brief. Cock
tshts there were at times, Wrestling
matches we're not unknown. Wassail.
Is Sam provided 1t, or its substitute.
n the one barroom Of the town, some
times led to fights that were among the
teenest delights OF living for the red
blooded citizens Of Brownsville.
Also there was draw poker. A short
list, none counted it incomplete.
In all these sports, as in the more Sc
lous pursuit of such business as there
rss in Brownsville, Long Mike was the
seknow lodged leader. Whimsical rois-
tsrer that he was he was. at once the big
rst man. the most desperate fighter,
the hardest drinker, the keenest sport,
the %ldest Irishman and the leading
CAPITALIST OF the community.
While in respect of these things
be had no equal in his home town, he
had encountered none among the visi-
ors who occasionally came. Conscious
Of his own superiority he certainly was,
bit spoiled he was not. None was more
tenocratic, none more convivial.
Wherefore it happened that when two
r-ussroads gamblers from up the river
tnor red over for boat or two Long Mike
recei them with hospitality not to be
1t was near the end OF tho sea-
In and tho long winter was at hand when
= boats would stop. Business was
'r"ady so slack that interest in it had
''set, and here was the prospect OF some
tiarity before the Information should
vain: and Long Mike rejoiced.
r"re naturally elated. 1t was usually
A'ir experience to be regarded with sus-
j'ion II no worse in the communities
hey visited. and to establish themselves
n anything like a social footing IVES their
,'rdest work. for they made no pretence
\ denying their profession; but here the
s,ding citizen Of the place had welcomed
Aem with open arms.
1t was true that Sam. the barkeeper;
;alagher who was Long Mikes foreman,
md Stumpy, who was just Stumpy, Irish,
hrewd and redheaded, regarded the two
nth disfavor, but prominent and in
tlenta as they were their i'll favor was
IL Long Mike approved.
Sure, av tn boss'd play thin divils
irt at poker, him havin' the luck o. the
blissid saints. now an ag'in, said Stumpy
to Gallagher, .there'd
maybe be no harrum. We cd shtart
ioIght over the game av it wint ag in us, or.
chance the boss moight win their money.
But glory be, he's ahl f'r the red liquor
frsht.. Well ahl be dhrunk afore he is
on'y thin two, an by TIE time they've
played wid us. loike they will. we'll be
broke as we'll"
But Long Mikes present mood was
convval, and he would not be gainsaid.
II did not occur to any one. even OF Stun
py's mind, to stay away from the bar
room, since that was the only place in
town to spend any time.
And all who were there had. perrorce.
% drink or to quarrel with Long Mike
whenever he slaked his awful thirst
and nobody who knew him quarrelled
Eth Long Mike.
80 1t came about at the end OF the third |
Ay that only three men in town were
wen measurably sober. Sam stayed |
'ooer from business principle, and the |
NO strangers did 80 from policy. A |
'luation more to the liking OF the two |
ross roads gamblers would be difficult |
describe, but when Boxer suggested 10 |
s pal in undertone that il was high time !
suggest little game Stumpy over
card, and with owlish gravity spoke up
D opposition.
We do play poker here he said.
hlckly, "but there's other spoorts we do
bike betther. II
'Dhrinking's ons OF thin. but we do cool !
n from that wild wrastlin' match. or
ot o shindy, afore we do sit down
\ caar1s vas l1aL;y,s 81 divarainp