Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-14
Miseellaneous 8eadins.
STAKED HIS LIFE.
A True Poker Story With a Real
Thrill.

er udy Ill u ulldpludleu ioohSiS f'
Magdalena, N. NJ, was buried in pot
ter's field. To the casual reader there
may be nothing interesting or out OF
the ordinary in this bare statement;
and should 1 even add a limited
biographical sketch telling you where
he was born and when he came west
or what a good man he was there are
tens of thousands of persons in Cali
fornia, oregon and other western states
where he lived who would not even bat
an eye in perusing it. 1t is too bad
that such men as he must die and their
good deeds be buried with them-in
potter's field.
But the announcement of the death
of John F. Monohan is misleading. For
the benefit of the gray haired pioneers
of the golden west tottering on the
verge of the grave and yet living fond
ly in the memory of other days-the
days when the Indian and the cowboy,
the miner and the gambler, the stage
driver and the desperate held stern
dominion over the scattered settle
ments and lonely highways OF the
plain and canon-I feel that 1 should
be more explicit: so will say instead:
Three Fingered Jack Monohan or
Florence Diggin's has cashed in his
chips"
The pioneers understand me. l fan
cy now that in the eyes of some OF
them there will glisten a few tears
perhaps many of them-for his MEM
ory.
Three Fingered Jack!" What event.
full epochs the mention of that name
recalls to the sturdy trail blazers and
prospectors Of early days!
Obscure, alone, forgotten, moneyless,
Jack Monohan breathed his last
month ago among strangers and in a
strange land-in the one state in the
west wherein his name is not entwin-
ed with the earliest history and tradi-
tions Of it's settlement. And he was
the last of the old school of his pro-
fession.
Jack Monohan was a gambler. l feel
that l owe it to the world to pay him
this trifling tribute, for the world ought
to know something about that now eX-
tinct species" of sport-that pioneer
school Of far western gamblers whose
habits, morals and characters were
so strangely different from the gamb-
lers of the east and of other lands.
Three Fingered Jack was the last of
them.
When l say that Jack Monohan was
a gambler do not mean to imply that
he was at all related to the type so
commonly condemned, for Jack Mono
han was a gentleman. He could never
be classed with the present day school
of sharks, grafters and Tin horns"
He denounced them as vigorously. IN
his day as any man. He was card
sharp perhaps, but not a card shark.
There is a great difference.
Jack Monohan also was miner, a
prospector, a cowboy, a stage driver,
an Indian fighter, scout, a trail blaZ-
er. When his luck turned against him
in faro bank he worked in logging
camps or in quartz or placer mines or
on the cattle range. Mention his name
to any Of the old timers in Siskiyou,
Shasta, Trinity or Tehama counties in
northern California and they will tell
you that Jack Monohan was one OF
1.-The bravest and most generous gen.
tlemen that ever crossed the Rock
ies." They will tell you also that he
had a true religion; that he abided by
his faith in God and in humanity; that
he never robbed a man or woman in
all the world out of ten-cent piece II
he knew it, and withal that he was one
of the most dangerous men in the west
If he happened to be right and the 9TH
er fellow was wrong and Jack knew
he was-and the other fellow defied
him!
Three Fingered Jack" came to CAL
ifornia in 1S47. He was considered the
best card player in the west. He dealt
faro games in practically every noto-
rious gambling house in California,
Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Faro
was his favorite game. He preferred
to let the other fellow do the gambling,
to make the bets, and that is why he
devoted most of his time, when follow
ing his profession, to the game of faro.
And he never cheated. He was re-
garded as the "luckiest' man In the
west. He injected the first moral
ethics" into western gambling-the
first code of honesty carried across the
Rockies. Hanging on the walls above
all of his gambling tables were mot
toes" that dumfounded some of the
sports" of California-mottoes that
are still remembered and discussed by
the old time miners and cattlemen.
Such notices as:
Don't be a sucker. Hold back
enough money for the grub stake"
IF you use poor judgment don't say
your luck is poor"
Gambling may win, but science or
system never.
I'VE don't want the wages Of married
men,"
"Drunkards never gamble; they only
think they do"
Long shots are the shortest route
to poverty"
keep your money if you need it
worse than do. I've got some"
It's going to be long, cold winter.
Play carefully"
BE a sport, but don't be a damned
idiot"
Faro never was no cinch."
"Chub, but don't cheat"
Jack Monohan dealt his last game
more than twelve years ago, when he
had charge of the faro tables in the
old LOG Cabin" saloon at Baker City,
Ore. He dropped" $4,000 during a
bad run" in that place and retired
from the business penniless. If he had
not been an honest gambler he would
not have lost it. 1t was his farewell
deal, and as he explained afterward, "a
clever fellow from Chicago got the
best of him."
Fairly, too" he added reminiscent
ly, for Three-Fingered Jack always
made it known that he would not cheat
and that there was no man in the bus
mess foxy enough to cheat him.
There were, or there should have
been, five notches on the barrel of
Monohan's siXshooter. Five times in
his career it became necessary for
Jack to beat the other fellow to it.
and in each instance the other fell
low was carried out of the room to an
undertaken.
Jack worried about killing a man as
much as could any person, but fate was
unkind in that so often she compelled
him to kill or wound to save his own
life. Jack was always justified. On
one occasion when the sheriff of Los
Angeles county, California, was sum-
moned to arrest him and was informed
that Jack had shot man through the
heart during a game of poker the sher-
iff exclaimed:
"I don't know the other fellow, but,
by CAD, l know Jack, and Jack knows
the law as we'll as I do! I'll bet six
70 6onpbOnt he had m kill him. "