The Oklahoma miner. [volume] (Krebs, Okla.) 1912-192?, 1920-07-08

1 III kNiAlE w AllihO eNu n bulubllik
proposition. Some friends o. mine are
getting up a nice, quiet little game of
poker tonight, and I'm going to sit in
The pOtll run hlgh-nO limit. Be
tween ourselves Wen cooperate in
this game. I'll finance the partner
ship with five thousand dollars. IL
we double that amount you get half
the winnings and your tour hundred n
week. If not, yOu'll still cOntrive to
scrape along on two hundred"
The poker game that night took
place in Il South side hotel. 1t was a
Slx-handed game, the players being Of
the class commonly known as "men
about town" Two were professional
gamblers, another was a wheat pit
speculatOr, a fourth was a wealthy sa-
loon owner. The remaining two were
Fitzhugh and Quigg. Playing com
menced shortly after eight. Compared
to subsequent betting, it was modest
at first, a five-dOIlar limit having been
imposed. About nine, however the
limit was removed, and the game be-
gan to warm up. Another hour, and 1t
had reached the point where 1ve-and-
siX-hundred-dOllar pots were the rule
and not the exception.
The Golden Goddess, Luck, smiled
upon Fitzhugh from the very start.
Perhaps it was his superior playing
that won her favor. Anyhow, he as
tonished his coadjutor by his skill at
the game. He was a hundred differ
ent men. His fellow players never
knew how to take hlm-never knew
what he would do next. And while
they were wondering he continued to
take their money from them as though
1t were only a matter of course that
he should.
But as Fitzhugh steadily won Qulgg
as steadily lost. When the game ended
at nine a. IN. 1t was noticeable that
Of the five men sitting around the pa =
ded table beneath the pail of tobacco
smoke and the green-shaded electric
lights Fitzhugh was the only one who
showed no i'll sign of the thirteen
hours steady playing. He seemed as
fresh as when he started and appar-
emily was quite fit for another thir-
teen-hour session. When he "cashed
In" he was winner to the extent of
some eighteen thousand dollars. The
professional gamblers had won a few
thousands each. The rest had lost.
Quigg, who had left the game, was
not to be found in the hotel rotunda.
While Fitzhugh was walking about
1nnEinr 70 i'm, Ntyhn MI
tor, a jovial, red-faced man named
Henry Hunt, clapped him heartily on
the shoulder and wrung his hand.
"Old man, I'd give a million If l
could bluff like you. Where did you
learn how2"
ut comes naturally" smiled Fitz-
hugh.
Hunt glanced around and lowered
his voice. "Fitzhugh, I'm putting
through today one Of the biggest
wheat deals I've ever handled,
and I'd like to let you in on It,.
What time can l see you, and where?"
Amy time at any place"
Meet me at Burton & BurtOns,
then-brokers, you know, Board of
Trade-at eleven sharp. Don't fail.
It's a big thing. SO long. Must hurry
Upon certain of the casual acquaint-
ances he had made in La Sale street
titzhugh had taken pains to create
the impression of being the scion Of a
highly respected family unknown to
the newspaper columns but possessed
Of wealth. Hunt was one of those thus
deluded. Others he had impressed in
different wise. But every man who
met him believed him to be a person
Of means. 1t was an emphatic point
with him to see to that.
In a secluded corner and low tone
Hunt explained his project very con-
cisely.
September wheat" said he, "Opened
at ninety-eight and a quarter this
morning A gang of bulls have inflated
it till she's like a soap bubble--ready
to burst any moment. A gigantic bear
raid is coming off here tomorrow that
will send September wheat down like
that"-thrOwing a cigar end to the
floor. "These bears" he went on,
kicking the cigar aside, have got mil
lions behind 'em, and they're going to
claw the entrails out of those bulls.
They won't stop clawing as long as
there's a live bull left. They're going
to sell-sell-sell. It'll be the biggest
smash you ever heard of. And the
man who's heading this big bear raid
is none other than Symington OTIS"
"Otia0"