The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-08-23
HIS NARROW ESCAPE.
By JOHN 6. ARMSTRONG;.

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Icopyright 1909, BY American Press Assoc.
ciation.l
When / was twenty-five years old
passed crisis in my life at which
phudder today, though 1t happened for.
" years ago For two hours was
suspended, SO to speak. between life
Of comfort and prison, and the two
hours ended with Ave minutes between
life and death.
This is how it happened:
When the Union Pacific railroad was
building l was taken up BY one Of It's
most influential directors with a view
to prefermeDt 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 80 over the line as far MS com
pleted in a pay car and pay or the EN-.
ployees. Wen, on one OF these trips |
reached Julesburg, then the terminal.
though Laramie was to be made the
terminal In few days. paid OF at
Julesburg, having between $4,000 and
$4,000 left for the force at Laramie
and ! was to go there the next morn
ing
To XIII time / went over to hotel
near the station. where found mum.
Der Of men playing poker. sat down
to watch the game and had not done
50 yery long before / observed that
none OF the players seemed to know
very much about the game. had a
hundred dollars Of my own in my peck
ct besides the money was to pay on
with at Laramie. had played poker
q good deal for small stakes with my
friends and was considered BY them as
an adept at the game. II occurred to
me that might as well take some of
the money that was passing 10 and fro
between these men. and-welI, / fool
ishly took a hand
was what they were playing for
and they continued to play for me till
they had got my hundred dollars. Then
came the temptation to recoup with
the company's money, a yielding, and
the loss Of nearly all Of 1t. knew By
this time that the men were card
sharpers and were cheating me. But
/ 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
30 and was detected / would get
bullet in my brain.
A terrible situation like this doesn't
usually affect one at the time as 1t
does after 1t has passed. Though /
have for years looked upon II with hor-
ror, at the time my feelings did not
get the better OF my equanimity. l |
presume this was because ! realized /
that to keep my head was my only /
chance.
There was $500 IN the pot. or Just
the amount / had lost. On the pre-
vious hand had picked up several
cards that bad fallen on the door aud
slipped one Of them up my sleeve.
was so desperate that / resolved to
cheat and if did not win the big pot
on the table let the others see that / I
was cheating and get a bullet in my
brain. When my hand was dealt me
there were two kings IN It. / 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
royal flush, pretty hard hand for
any one to puFposely make up while
being watched. If could get ia my
four kings / could save myself. But
what would ! do with the extra card?
/ was desperate, ais 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
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 fxedly
through the open doorway. Every
man turned bis head, and 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 ixedly, said, Stranger 1
whatd Won see when You sang out
10 suddenly just nowY
Ny success gave me confidence. and
kept my GOODNESS, but | could think
,f nothing probable for reply. Il
thought saw friend Of mine / re-
Piled. "out there whom supposed to
be In Chicago
Are you sure you amt got deck
Ip your sleeve or somewhere
what do you meang' / replied, bris-
ling. Rising, shook my sleeves and
.urned my pockets inside out. showing
hat no card could be concealed on my
)erson. Then, seooping up the pot, /
aid
Gentlemen. | have been accused Of
heating, and | win play no more. !
IN loser by about S75, SO that ! have
perfect right to quit"
Though l knew my life hung in the
balance, nothing could equal the re-
lef / felt as ! turned squarely away
md walked out of the house. They
felt sure I had purposely di-
ected their attention from myself
While I cheated, but I had not been
detected. and the difference was the
Inference between life and death.
1t would be impossible to describe
nv feelings as | walked to my car
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