The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29
PARSON WAS GOOD
 POKER PLAYER Colonel Kirby Tells of a Great Game PARSON A WINNER Formerly Was Noted Card Sharp and Made Living by Gambling on
 Mississippi River
 SteambOats

entertained by the average poker player, said Colonel Kirby of Butte. to group of friends at the Hotel Washington. 'Yet I don't want a man to put his foot on my chair while I'm playing. and make 1t a rule never to coax a person to sit in. Putting your foot on mans chair when he is playing cards is altogether too in timate and chummy, and as a breach of etiquette may be classed with mans drink while he is conversing at the bar. 'T remember teasing man to get into poker game only once The result was to settle firmly in my mind the futility of flying in the face of fate. I never did 1t before or since.
 T was al Belingham the other day, and I asked an old-timer where the little coal town of Sehome had gone.
 " You're standing right in the middle of it,, he said and after looking about I learned that what was once a coal camp is now in the middle of the business dis trict of Bellingham I was curious to know what had become of this village, because long ago I played a memorable game of poker there.
 'It was in 1874 when I visited Cassiar, British Columbia, during mining boom. had come down to Sehome to wait for d schooner for San Francisco. In those days schooners came about once q month, and to kill time I collaborated with the local talent in forwarding a poker game.
 AS regular devotees of the national indoor sport at Sehome we had an en- gineer who had been engaged in building the proposed telegraph line across Bering strait; Jake, the ferryman at Ferndale who was in Sehome to enjoy a little so- ciety and a storekeeper who dealt on the Nooksack river.
 "The poker festival which I inaugu- rated was helpful in financial way, and was as blithesome and cheerful as a set at a brewers picnic. I was in this jocular mood when the Rev. Simpson Brown came Into the store which we were infesting at the time.
 "'Parson, man of your accomplish ments could sit in this game and collect enough money to build church, I said to the pastor. That is, of course, if you're not fdgety and nervous about get ting money
 Mock not lest ye be smitten hip and thigh replied Reverend Brown.
 Come on in and smite,' I retorted I'll stake you to a stack of blues. being that amount winner today, and I'll promise to be lenient and merciful on cinch hands
 The day of the wicked is at hand said the pastor. Verify there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
 If you're going to give us any more of those scrambllng proverbs I'm going to withdraw my offer I said. There's a chair waiting
 Reverend Edgar was formidable look ing person with a fighting jaw and eyes of a man accustomed to war.
 Let it not be said that ever failed to rebuke a sinner he said, sliding into the chair and reaching for the cards. Did this threat of yours offer two blue stacks?"
 your deal.'
 'The preacher riffled the cards with practice I observed, not thinking much of 1t at the time and desiring to make conversation.
 There's a game called authors at which l possessed some skill said the preacher. Did you ever play authors?
 That is a pastime in which I never induged myself I replied. I've been too busy playing real card games. And while I am reminded of it I shall open this lit tie jack pot for 8. Ordinarily I would have said sl0, but I make the play to suit your scanty pile of chips
 "The preacher stayed and drew one card. I passed the bet after the draw and he set in the remainder of his stack called and he showed down a full house. threw my three aces into the deck
 For an amateur you hold good hands l observed
 The Lord giveth and the Lord talseth away replied Reverend Brown
 T never did learn just what happened but every time I got tangled up in a pot with the preacher he won. He seemed to have selected me as his pet victim. 'Parson, | seldom critcise a sports play I said plaintively, but if you will forego these Scriptural references m be obliged. It unsettles my play and hob bles my judgment
 And there rose up out of the sea a beast with seven heads and ten horns' said the preacher, opening the pot for sl0
 :" I'll raise you a hundred I snapped my nerves showing symptoms of St Vitus dance.
 " Woe, woe. woe replied the preacher I'll see the hundred and tap myself
 " I'll call I replied. I've got little. flush NE "I also have flush, said Reverend Brown. Upon close scrutiny find that I have an ace and king in my collection
 " That wins said, wholly without the jocund humor that possessed when this parson person sat in.
 "The game went on for half an hour longer and I found myself watching his deal He had a peculiar little backward pull to the cards when he dealt that re- minded me of trick I saw performed by Suffering Smith, a Montana card celebrity.
 Parson. I said if you were not a preacher I should say that sometime in your life you were familiar with the uses of a refecting ring, referred to by gam | bers as a shiner.
 | !" You speak in parables.' replied the parson. l will call your attention to the fact that l am not wearing a ring at present.
 ''T T observed that an hour ago. I said, | but this funny little twist looks as if you had devoted some time to reading the index numbers on cards with the aid of some personal ornament Finally, when the parson was S501 winner, he announced that he must leave. 'I trust you will be pleased to learn | that this money will be devoted to a good cause right here in Sehome.' he 1 said
 1 You're as welcome to it as pest of grasshoppers.' I said, but I will say this much if you care to come over to Mon- tana you can win enough money to build a second St. Paul's Cathedral.'
 ''Who was this parson back east?'
 "'Why, he aint told me anything about his past life replied Jake. but a man who played with us last winter said that l he knew the parson before he got reli- zion. That was a long time ago The par- son's pet name was Poker Brown when i he used to play cards on the Afississirpi |