The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-09-25
Jack of
Diamonds
AT Times the Hand Is
Quicker Than the Eye
By MARVIN DANA
Copyright by Frank A. MunSey Co.



been driven at Portland, Ore.-that
last spike Of the Northern Pacific rail
road by which the continent was span
ned.
Helena Mon. was in +ho bov1,v
ne h,.tv u,,,,,,,,d ,m,, .,,,h .rh,
NV '" t'N"H !" -
"'''''>' N' '''' "'"'''H ''' wire 'n"i'e
10 Nleiil II" me W.! mann street was
two lines OF saloons, dance halls, gam
bling hclIS. HIl open. all crowded from
dawn to dawn
or thr several h,,sv ministers of FOR
,u,o ,h,r .,,,, ,L,r, ,r..,, r,,rr.o,
~. ,.,
" ' N
''"'" OH ''' N"'''''" '''r'''~' ny N"''I'
name was Gi"iii"d on" ct III" Sl"hIlr>t
and worst NdI""n> n tn" town
He WIS busy I'!, rd, for custom was
brisk. and he hlu no assistant. IN
assistant, TO have. I...n a"u,inin" hu, ,
costly Iuyury uu~i bIvr had nrynr>
as auiIe =, Jjn,.s ovu. -, their noon i,I
WAY SYri, , n,. v,s mn, ,u T.. h.u
very ra,d;fy yh,. G,St b,J h..u ,l,t
nv an irdjunant victim IN rajlru,J
Inns onirl,u thn man mad dos.r, 90,
his fate for ha IlI been cul,,hry
careless almost .vKw,rJ and n,b
Tins invi,.d hi. donm
So now. urrforr. linn tnilrd ,u,,..
fatiy,hIv Nn.n y. .I.,, u.,, NV.
terry beyond any mnu.s solving Ills
meals wore sandwiches swallowed dur
ing tbe pro.ross uf the game His s,Ie
drink was cn,fe.
Of co,rsa s,,cb ,,h,r das.rvod , 20
ward and euu,uv ,f c,ur.a n,i,ro,d
Jim had il. A st.ady stream of men
slouched from the saloon INTO the back
room and anon sl,uched ,ut .y,in
much poorer and NOT a whit the wiser
for their .xn.ri.nca
Rut there were no
AGAINST the goddess Of fortune. who. in
truth. was most unpalE,ntlv and viyor.
ouslv cursed betim.s yet while tho
losers reviled their own had Judgment
or ~ l,,ck they candidlv admiral lin
for Tho do xteritv with which ha ha-
fooled them For no won honast,v-
he ran q ..souare pame " Trusting RI tho
ar+fulness ~ his ton fingers for his
modicum of proft.
All vho y.mh,od thoro kpew tho,
linn was bn,e.t h.c.,.s ha h.,a I'M.
game dawn IN q limit Anv ono c.p
400 that had no che.tad th. limit
vould have heen q h,a ahsnrditv
No man would rafusa tn tax. all hu
conld got IN q certainty
But lin. aware that a sufticiently
acute observer might sometimes pick
the RIGHT "a I'd. refused To accent any
single bet of more than soon To no
sure no ono had as vet offered tn hot
% large an amount on one throw OF
the cards, but that fact had no inAu.
ence on public opinion.
Jim was a large man. with a large
nose, a large chin, a lofty bald skull
and bullying, CLASSY eyes. He was not
ut all pretty. but very imposing. He
had big hands. too-handS that were
like brooding wings over the three
cards with which he tOyed 50 con
stantly.
1t was really an edifying spectacle
to behold those hands as they manipu-
latod The three cards-the ten Of
spades, the ten Of clubs. the Jack OF
diamonds. The cards seemed never
quite to disappear from view. More
over. the movement was rather slow
than hurried.
The faces Of the cards were first *.
hibited. two in the right hand. one in
the left. Then they were held backs
up and deposited softly. one by one.
on the table. All one need do was to
keep an eye persistently on the jack
of ~diamonds-to watch 1t unwinkingly
till it was at last put down. Then it
only remained to place the bet and
finally to turn over the card selected.
Unfortunately for the crowd. this
card was rarely tn. jack. The unhap-
py losers shook Il cir heads and rue
fully admitted that Railroad Jim was
"a cussed slick un with tn paste