Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-08-27
HIS NARROW ESCAPE,
BY JOHN c. ARMSTRONG.

When | was twenty years old I
passed crisis in my life at which
shudder today. though it happened for
ty years ago. For two hours was
suspended, so to speak, between a life
Of comfort and a prison, and the two
hours ended with five minutes between
life and death.
This is how it happened:
When the Union Pacific railroad was
building | was taken up by one of its
most influential directors with a view
to preferment The only position he
could secure for me at first was pay
master, but promised if | proved
worthy to do better later on. My work
was to go over the line as far as com.
pleted in pay car and pay off the EN-
ployees. Well. on one Of these trips
reached Julesburg, then the terminal
though Laramie was to be made the
terminal in a few days | paid off at
Julesbure. having between $4,000 and
$1,000 left for the force at Laramie.
and | was to 90 there the next morn
ing.
To xii! time went over to a hote
near the station. where l found a nun
Der of men playing poker. l sat down
TO watch the game and had not done
so very long before / observed that
none Of the players seemed to know
very much about the game | had q
hundred dollars Of my own in my pock-
ct besides the money | was to pay oft
with at Laramie. | had played poker
a good deal for small stakes with NV
friends and was considered by them as
an adept at the game 1t occurred t.
me that might as well take some q
the money that was passing to and fro
between these men. and-wel. | fool
ishly took 4 hand.
l was what they were playing for,
and they continued to play for me til
they had got my hundred dollars. Thhu
came the temptation to recoup with
the company's money, a yielding, and
the loss of nearly all of it, | knew by
this time that the men were card
sharpers and were cheating me. But
l knew also that to accuse any one of
them would bring on a row that would
expose me. AS to fighting them with
their own weapons, cheating, if l did
so and was detected l would get q
bullet in my brain.
A terrible situation like this doesn't
usually affect one at the time as Ii
does after it has passed. Though I
have for years looked upon it with hOr-
ror, at the time my feelings did not
get the better Of my eQuanimity.
presume this was because l realized
that to keep my head was my only
chance
There was $4,000 in the pot, or just
the amount l had lost. On the pre-
vious hand l had picked up severa
cards that had fallen on the floor ana
slipped one of them up my sleeve. !
was so desperate that l resolved to
cheat and if did not win the big pot
on the table let the others see that !
was cheating and get a bullet in my
brain When my hand was dealt me
there were two kings in it. l drew
three cards, one of them being a king.
The card | had picked up off the floor
was king. had given up an ace,
so no one could hold four aces. The
only hand to beat four kings was a
royal flush, a pretty hard hand for
any one to purposely make up while
being watched. If l could get in my
four kings | could save myself. But
what would / do with the extra card?
i was desperate, as | have said, and re.
solved to trust to luck to get rid of
it without detection. A device oc-
CURED to me. Drinks were coming on.
and, seeing some sandwiches on a
counter waiting to be sent out to an
other party, | called for one of them.
AS soon as | had secured it | uttered
an exclamation and looked fixedlv
through the open doorway Every
man turned his head, and l slipped my
extra card into the sandwich. When
the men turned | was eating bread
meat and card altogether.
| won the pot, but one of the party.
looking at me fiXedly. said. Stranger.
whatd you see when you sang out
so suddenly Just now?"
My success gave me confidence, and
| kept my GOODNESS, but l could think
of nothing probable for Il reply. Il
thought | saw n friend of mine" | re-
piled, "out there whom l supposed to
be in Chicago"
Are you sure you amt got a deck
up your sleeve or somewhere
What do you mean" l replied bris-
Ting. Rising, l shook my sleeves and
turned my pockets inside out, showing
that no card could be concealed on my
person. Then. scooping up the pot, I
said:
Gentlemen, have been accused of
cheating, and l will play no more l
am loser by about $40, so that have
a perfect right to quit"
Though | knew my life hung in the
balance. nothing could equal the re
lief l felt as l turned squarely away
and walked out of the house. They
doubtless felt sure l had purposely di-
rected their attention from myself