"PRANKIN'" WITH A NEW GAME.
I had a partner at one time by the name of Tripp, and he was one of the smartest gamblers I ever worked with. He would play any and all games of chance, and would play them as high as any man in the country, and come as near winning all the time at most of them. He was a good, clever fellow.
He and I were on the Michigan Southern Railroad at one time. Tripp was to do the playing with the three cards, and I was to be on the look-out. I began my part of the business; and in looking around, I saw an old gentleman that I thought might be well fixed in money matters; and if he was, I judged he would be a good subject; so I sat down and opened up conversation. I told him I was a miner from Colorado; that I had some of the richest mines in the country, and that I was on my way to Washington to take out a patent on a crushing machine that I had invented. He became very much interested, and I learned that he was from the State of Michigan, and was very well fixed in this world's goods. I gave him some big talk about the mining business, telling him I often took out $1,000 a day—and much more of the same sort. He did not let me do all the blowing, but gave me to understand that, while he was not taking out of mother earth $1,000 per day, he was—and had been for many years— getting out of the ground quite a number of thousands.
While we were telling each other how much money we had accumulated for a rainy day, a cow-boy came up and took the seat just in front of us, and in a few moments he turned around and said, "Be you gentlemen going to New York?"
The old gentleman said, "I am, but this gentleman is going to
Washington City."
"I be going to New York with my steers, for them fellars in Chicago won't pay my price, and some of them beat me out of $2,000 in less than no time," said the cow-boy.
I then told him to turn his seat over and tell us how they got his money.
He got up, turned his seat, and said, "They had some kind of a game that they bet on; I got to pranking with it, and I just lost $2,000 afore you could say Jack Robinson."
"It must have been seven-up, or some game of cards," said I.
"It wasn't no seven-up, for I reckon as how I can play seven-up with any of the boys."
"Well, tell us about the game," said the old gentleman.
The cow-boy then took out an old dirty rag, which I suppose he called a handkerchief, unfolded it, and produced three cards, saying, "Them thar fellows gave me these ar cards, and I'm going to larn that ar game, so as when I get back to Texas I can beat all the boys."
I told him to show us how they could bet on three cards. Then he bent them up and began throwing them on the seat beside him, saying at the same time, "I'm not as good at it as those Chicago chaps, but I'm going to practice, and when I get down in Texas I'll get even on our boys."
I asked him if they got all his money.
"Oh, no, I just got loads of money; and then when I sell them thar steers in New York, I reckon I will have some more. Now you see this card has got an old man on it, and you have to guess this 'er' one or you lose."
We guessed a few times, and then I bent up the corner of the old man card, saying to the Michigan gentleman, "Now we will have some fun." Then I said to the cow-boy, "Will you bet money on the game yourself?"
"I can't play it good enough yet to bet; but as I have two cards to your one, I would just as soon bet on it as on a pony race, and I often put up big money on a pony."
I told the Michigander not to turn up the card with the corner turned up so long as we were guessing for fun, so he turned up one of the other cards, and the cow-boy said, "You see you are just as big fools as I was in Chicago."
I then said, "I will bet you $1,000 that I can turn up the old man the first time." I told the old gentleman that we might as well get some of his money, as he would lose it anyway before he got back to Texas.
Finally the cow-boy took out another dirty rag, unrolled it, and displayed a roll of money the size of one's leg. He counted out $1,000, saying, "I'll go you once, for I don't 'low any man to back me out." He mixed the cards up, and I turned up the one with the bent corner and won the money.
The cow-boy laughed and said, "Well, I'll be gol darned if you didn't get me. You must have right smart eyes, for I swan I didn't know which one it was myself."
The old gentleman asked if he would bet with him.
"Oh, yes; you are old, and can't see like this feller," said he.
"Don't be so sure about me not being able to see well," replied the old man.
"You couldn't keep the run of them like this fellow; and then I guess as how you haven't got much money," said the cow-boy. The old gent then got out his leather, and it was chuck full of big bills. He took out $500 and put it up in my hands. The cow-boy told him he would not bet less than $2,000; and said he, "The Indians bet more'n that on a foot-race down where I live." I told the old gent it would serve the fellow just right if he would win all his money; so he put up the $2,000, turned a card and lost. I snatched up the old man card and turned up the corner again, then said, "How in the name of common sense did you come to make that mistake?"
"Why, I turned the one with the corner up," says he.
"No, you did not, for here it is," I said, picking up the winner. The old fellow thought he had made a mistake, and the cow-boy told him he couldn't see well, for he was too old. I then told him to mix them up, and I would bet him $1,000. He did so, and I won. Then the man from Michigan got out what he had left, amounting to $1,200, and said, "This is all I have with me, but I will bet it." He turned a card, but again he lost. He then settled back in his seat as though he was going to stay right there, and I don't believe he would have got out if the car had run off the track.
The cow-boy put his cards back into the dirty rag, and remarked, "I be gol darned if I haint larning to play this 'er' game nigh like them Chicago chaps; and if I hadn't been pranking with you feller with the smart eyes, I reckon I would have been about even." He got up, bid us good-day, and started out.
We sat there talking about the cow-boy's tricks for a short time, when in came my partner, Tripp, all dressed up so that no one would suspicion that he was ever a cow-boy. I introduced him to the old gentleman from Michigan, but he was not near so talkative as he was when we first got acquainted. I did not want to hurt his feelings, so I did not say anything about the game before my partner; and I believe the old fellow was glad of it, for he looked just as if he would rather no one but that d——d cow-boy and myself should know what a sucker he had been. When we changed cars we bid him good-day, and I said, "If you see that fool with the steers in New York, tell him not to go pranking any more new games, or he will lose all his money." He looked at me in such a way that I believe he did not want to see him, although he did not say so.