Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-02

terms, anyway-we had come to
blows-and he knew what the con-
sequences would be II he said no. Once
in the game, my partner and l went
at 1t with hammer and tongs until
with the aid Of a new-fangled crooked
device Of my own invention, we man.
aged to get most of the coin In front
of us. Angered at the success of our
move. the first gambler and his COM
panion suddenly jumped up. and, turn
ing to the merchant, proclaimed us
to be crooks. Taken aback for the
moment by the swiftness of the thing
was nonplused. but only for mo-
ment. l shot out my fist, caught the
gambler under the jaw and knocked
him out. My companion, meanwhile
tripped up the other fellow, and
scooping the money on the board with
our hats. we hurried to the platform
OF the car and leaped into the dark
ness. Sheer luck kept us from being
killed.
Revolver play was frequent on the
trains running through Arkansas In
the railroad gambling days. With Joe
Ryan l once disarmed a man who
pulled a gun on me when he learned
that he had been losing his money to
a professional card sharp. On anoth-
ct OCCdSlOIl ICSciNCu d picliJ
wound in the arm from man who
discovered that he was being tricked
in q game Of draw poker.
"One of the most exciting episodes
in which l ever figured. occurred on
train near Denver. Single-handed
| had started in to clear up a lot of
money from three Denver miners
who, inside information had revealed
to me, had Ii on them Early In the
journey I got them into a game and
proceeded slowly but surely to win
their coin away from them. To do
this I had fitted myself out with two
intricate 'hold-outs' and with mark
ed deck of cards After we had been
playing for almost six hours, and when
/ was away ahead of the game one OF
the members withdrew from the game
| was on in a minute. / knew nc
had become suspicious and, while not
quite sure. was going to sit by and
watch developments
Il played cautiously, but still man.
aged to keep on winning. A short
while later the second miner said he
was as going to Withdraw. I had caught
a signal to him from the miner who
was watching me closely. Well
said, then the game Is broken up.
Nope insisted the first miner, you
two fellers play 1t out between you
Here was a difficult situation.
was to play draw poker with one man
and two of his friends watching me
with eagle eyes. / kept my nerve
and dealt the cards, playing honestly
now because realized how desperate
ly foolish it would be to try any furth-
er crooked work. Anyway, I was far
ahead of the game. After each OF
us had dealt six or seven hands with
equal luck I took up the deck to
shuttle 1t. my turn having come to
deal again. The men watched me
closely but I shuffled fairly and they
could detect no trickery. l dealt the
cards, but no sooner had I done sc
than both miners pulled out their
guns and, in quiet tones, demanded
that I give back every cent had won
What I shouted Indignantly. dc
you mean to insinuate that 1 have
played unfair?' No. they said, only
we want our money back
"I protested, but to no avail. They
and their guns insisted, and I had to
sit by and see them gather into their
pockets all the money I had managed
to get away from them. That was one
Of the few times anybody beat me,
I assure you, and I tell you 1t was
one of the most exciting experiences
l ever had. If I had protested toe
strongly the miners would have press.
ed the thing and would have found
my crooked apparatus. Nothing,
am sure, would have saved my life
then, and as I looked into the re-
volvers I realized that fully. Incident
ally, that was the last time / ever
went around without a gun."-Harp-
er's Weekly.