The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-06
How Molly Burton
Saved Jim Hodson' S
Mining Shares
BY SADIE oLcoTT

Molly Burton was western woman
OF the early days, when every man
was a gambler, a horse thief, a miner
or something worse than any Of these
Molly kept a boarding house and was
hail fellow well met with her boarders.
who were all men. There was moth
ing squeamish about Molly, but she
was considered perfectly straight. The
only dissipation she INDUCED in was
gambling, and this with her was pas
sion. II she had dollars to stake she
would play dollars; II she had cents It
would be penny ante. She always
played fair game and would take no
charity from any one. Once when an
opponent bet to lose purposely In order
to enable her to recoup she told him
that II he did 1t again there would be
no more play between them.
Jim Hodson was a miner who had
struck 1t big. 1t was while he was de
veloping a claim that he came to Mol
ly Burton's house to board She used
to play penny ante with him. but
would never consent to considerable
stake. She said that he needed all his
money to get his claim in condition
to offer on the market She also saw
to it that he did not fall into the
hands of card sharps. II she saw him
playing with one OF the fraternity she
would ask him for a loan, thereby get
ting his money out Of his hands.
One day Hodson struck vein that
made his property very valuable. A
company was formed which gave him
a large block Of stock with plenty
Of cash down. He accepted the posi-
ton OF superintendent When not en-
gagged in his duties at the mine he
played cards at Molly Burton's. Despite
all her efforts to prevent 1t he was
soon stuck for some $4,000. Molly
played with him In order to keep him
from playing with any one else. He
knew she would take no charity from
him, SO he played to win. In the long
run they STOOD nearly even.
One day i man got hold of Hodson
and was playing him for all he was
worth when Molly interfered. From
playing with her all his spare time.
and it soon came to be noticed by those
who overlooked the game that she was
cheating him. This caused great sur
prise, because Molly was known to be
square with every one. especially Jim
Hodson. No one said anything to her
victim about her manipulation Of the
cards. That was none of their bust
ness, and any of them would gladly
see her gain.
II was not known to any one besides
Hodson and Molly how much of his
money she was relieving him of, but
1t was considerable. One night when
they were playing together alone Jim
said to Molly:
"If you clean me out Mol, what'n
you do with the funds"
Marry a good for nothing man."
Don't see what such first class wo-
man as you wants with good for
nothing man." 4A4
"Well, a weak woman wouldn't; q
strong one would. It's our opposites
we like"
They were playing ordinary euchre.
Molly was turning Jack" on her vic
tim, dealing herself hands to match the
trump and every now and again pro-
posing to raise the stake. Hodson was
very stupid not to see that he was get.
ting slaughtered, but he had no faculty
for cards and was blind as a bat to
sleight Of hand. Besides, he never
dreamed that Molly would cheat More
over, there was no money on the table;
he was continually signing l. o. us.
The truth Is he had lost all his cash
and was signing away his stock in the
mine. Molly knew how many shares
he owned, and, keeping count in her
head, she was aware that she had l.
o. us for 90 per cent Of them. When
she took In the final tenth she called
halt and said:
Jim. how many shares In your mine
do you own?"
FIFTY thousand"
Molly took up the !. o. us and, add
ing the amounts on them, figured up
5000 shares. Jim turned pale.
You're good man, JIM" said MOI
ly. land I'm going to give you a chance
to win back your property" Writing
something on the back Of one of the
l. o. us, she folded It and told him
to put 1t in his pocket
"Pll play all l have won from you
against what's on that paper"
Jim begged to know what it was,
but she wouldn't tell him. He was
desperate enough to accept any terms,
SO he consented. He proposed euchre,
but Molly substituted a showdown
poker hand, with Jim for dealer, say.
ing that she wanted him to be sure
that there was no shenanigan. Jim
said he was sure OF that already. They
concluded to make 1t the best In three
hands, and Jim dealt the first hand
Molly won, drawing a king with aces
and sevens. Jim had no pair. The
second hand Jim won on tens and
deuces. His hand trembled as he dealt
the third time. and when the cards
were drawn he showed the queen of
hearts high against jack high.
Without waiting for Molly to hand
over his l. o. us he took out the pa
per she had given him, unfolded It and
read a single word
Yourself"
1t required some time to get the
meaning through his head, though be
was assisted by a mild blush on Mol
ly's face. When he understood he
reached across the table and took Mol
ly in his arms.
This is how Molly saved Jim Hod-
sons interest In a mine which eventu-
ally became enormously valuable.