The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-23
How Molly Burton
Saved Jim Hodson S
Mining Shares

Molly Burton was western woman
Of the early days, when every man ,
was a gambler, horse thief, 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; If she had cents 1t
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 it again there would be
no more play between them.
Jim Hodson was miner who had
struck it big. 1t was while he was de-
veloping claim that he came to Mol
" 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 1t that he did not fall into tie
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
that time forward Molly kept Hodson
playing with her all his spare time.
: and 1t soon came to be noticed by those
/ who overlooked the game that she was
cheating him. This caused great sur
Q prise. because Molly was known to be
Q square with every one, especially Jim
9 Hodson. No one said anything to her
K victim about her manipulation OF the
}. cards. That was none Of their bush
ness. and any Of them would gladly
e see her gain.
n Ii was not known to any one besides
D. Hodson and Molly how much Of his
IT money she was relieving him Of. but
0. 1t was considerable. One night when
It they were playing together alone Jim
W said to Molly:
10 IF you clean me out, Mol, whatl
% you do with the fundsp"
ID MARRY n good for nothing man."
N Don't see what such first class wo
I man as you wants with good FOL
n. nothing man."
!. well. a weak woman wouldn't; {
I, strong one would. It's our oppositei
- we like"
They were playing ordinary euchre
;, Molly was turning jack" on her vic
: tim, dealing herself hands to match tn
:" trump and every now and again pro
posing to raise the stake. HodsOn wal
.. very stupid not to see that he was get
al ting slaughtered, but he had no facuit.
IN for cards and was blind as a bat b
VI sleight of hand. Besides, he neve
er dreamed that Molly would cheat. More
8, over, there was no money on the table
IN he was continually signing !. o. U.s.
mn. l.. h. haI lOe.k oil hf0 Aoal
le and was signing away his stock In tn
or mine Molly knew how many share
as he owned, and, keeping count in he
ne head, she was aware that she had
he O. us for 90 per cent Of them. Whel
OF she took In the final tenth she called |
halt and said
tn "Jim, how many shares in your min'
a do you own?'
ed Fifty thousand"
Molly took up the L o. US and, add
?" ing the amounts on them, figured nj
5000 shares. Jim turned pale.
a. You're a good man, JIM" said MOI
ly. land I'm going to give you a chance
ID to win back your property" Writing
something on the back of one Of thu
". |. o. us, she folded 1t and told hin
err to put it in his pocket
j. an play all have won from yoV
against what's on that paper"
nj Jim begged to know what 1t was
but she wouldn't tell him. He wal
n desperate enough to accept any terms
or 80 he consented. He proposed euchre
q, but Molly substituted showdown
poker hand. with Jim for dealer, say
Ia ing that she wanted him TO be surf
os that there was no shenanigan. jim
. said he was sure Of that already. They
90 concluded to make 1t the best In thre'
- hands. and Jim dealt the first hand
~ Molly won. drawing a king with acei
a. and sevens. Jim had no pair. Tit
n second hand Jim won on tens anC
20 deuces. His hand trembled as he deal
a the third time. and when the card
we're drawn he showed the queen o.
"a hearts high against jack high.
~ without waiting for Molly to hanC
over his l. o. us he took out the pa
:. per she had given him. unfolded 1t anC
a read a single word
"a yourself"
~ It required some time to get thu
meaning through his head, though b
was assisted by a mild blush on Mol
/. ly's face. When he understood b
reached across the table and took Mol
4, ly in his arms
This is how Molly saved Jim bod
:" sons interest in a mine which eventu
ally became enormously valuable.