Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1918-01-03
The Man in the
White Cravat
By JAMES BRAlNARD
copyright. 1917. western Newspaper Union.

When l was q young man L went out
West to seek my fortune. That was
just after the wal between the states
and that region of country was still
very rough. The plains We're divided
sharps, desperadoes and a few good
people who We're trying their luck in
a new country.
For the want of something to do
evenings l used to go into a certain
gambling den and watch the card
sharps. When there were no sscabs,''
as they called those stupid enough to
be gulled by them, they would try
their card manipulations upon one an
other. The game was to cheat without
being detected. If a player dealt a
card from the bottom of the pack and
his opponent saw him do it the latter
Fad simply to say I'm onto that bot
4om deal' and restitution would be
made at once. 1t was amusing to me
to see their feats Of legerdemain and
to observe how their opponents caught
them in the act.
y One evening after supper Invent into
this den and was looking at the men
play. They We're all sharps except one
! man who was a greenhorn. L had seen
him there on many an evening and mo-
ticed that they We're gradually taking
his money from him. Presently a
young mar wearing a white cravat
came in and said: .ts4 %
Scents, there will be prayer meet
ing over the Alhambra saloon at, nine
o'clock this evening. All those who de-!
sire to switch off from the road to hell
and get aboard the express for heaven
are invited to attend" 9ss
He had scarcely finishedgthis quaint
announcement when a little boy came
in and, going to the greenhorn, said:
Papa, maewants you to come home.
She says the baby is in commissions"
q The dupe's face wore look of an
guish. He wanted to go Itoahis child,
Z but he had just lost a hundred dollars
and wanted to stay and win 1T back.
"Neighbor," said the nan In the
white cravat, give me your seat. I'll
" play for you till nine O'Clock; then,
{ since I'm conductor of the train fos-
Y heaven, I'll have to go. 1 think I can
play this game rs well as YOU"
s9.The greenhorn surrendered his seat
and the conductor of the heavenly
y trainltook up the cards which had been
- put before him to deal. 1t was evil
dent at once that he was not unfa-
miliar to them. He shutlled them in
a way that would take any ordinary
man long practice to learn, If indeed
he could eyer master it. Then he
dealt thefa, fiihging 'theInxinto the air
so that they came down like leaves in
a November wind, andSthe betting be-
gan.
please give that card back to the
gentleman on your left-the knave Of
clubs" he said to IL Of the players.
The man addressed threw the knave
Of clubs on the table, the nan on the
left took 1t up and the game proceed
ed without any further interruption.
Presently the parson, seeing a good.
" pile on the table, said: "Supposing
w make this a Jackpot, gents?" All
agreed and the parson, whose deal II
was, opened it. The betting ran high
and 1t was not long before there were
several hundred dollars On the table
Then some one s..called."
Gents" said the parson, throwing
his cards on the table, face up, "there
you see a royal flush, the ace, king
queen, knave and ten Of hearts. Since
there is no hand to beat a royal fiusl
I'll scoop the pile" And he proceeded
to rake the money off the table.
After that he held his own till an
other fat pile was gathered on the ia
BILE, when all dropped out except thu
parson and one, other. They raiset
and raised each other till, finally TIL
parson showed four aces.fa His oppo
nent showed four kings. Again tn
parson raked in a goodly sum
At that ONE the man who's
place he had taken came in.
"How's the baby?' asked the par
son. 3sct
"All right and asleep"
How much money have you los
here?"
.'Twelve hundred dollars"
The parson counted out twelve hur
dred dollars, then turned it over to tn
loser and pushed back what was LEI
to the sharps.
Scents" said the parson to the la
ter. "A few years ago l was a wors
man than any of you. l fell in low
with a. good girl and she made a dil
ferent man of me. / embraced her rt
ligion and since then have become
Methodist parson. My church think
! have a better field among such as
was and they have sent me to work |
this God-forsaken vineyard" The
rising he took each man by the han
and pledged every one of them to a
tend the meeting to be held above til
Alhambra hall.
The parson then went to the hon
Of the man whose money he hi
saved to him, and when the wife an
mother heard the story and saw IL