Old Jack mixed them up, but he was so drunk he could hardly pick
up a card. My friend could hardly wait for Jack to say ready before
he dove in and grabbed the one with the spot on it, but when he
turned it over he saw it was not the one with the boy on it.
Old Jack snatched the money from the gentleman that was holding
stakes, and shoved it down into his pockets. Then turning to the
crowd, he said:
"Wall, why don't yer's laugh now?"
They did laugh, for most of them felt like it. Old Jack joined
in, and laughed louder than any of them, and then turning around
to the table, he began looking for his precious tickets. He had
put them in his pocket without any one seeing him, but pretended
he was ruined if he could not find them. I told him the barkeeper
had some just like them, and I would go and get them for him. That
quieted him down, and he said:
"Wall, if I kin get t'others I don't care, fur I wanted to show
'em to pap when I gets out thar in Texas."
I went to the bar, as though I had gone for the cards, and returned
with them. Old Jack laughed when he saw them, saying:
"Wall, I be gol-darned if they haint just like t'others."
I gave Jack the new set, but I turned up a corner on the boy card
so every one could see it. Then I told him to mix them up, and I
would make him a bet of a $1,000. We put up the money; I turned
and won. Then the bystanders began to take more interest in the
game than ever, and the fun began again. One fat gentleman crowded
in and wanted to bet. I said:
"Boys, let us make up a pony purse, and we will all bet on the same
card." My friend wanted to get into the same party, but did not
have any ready cash, so he asked me for a loan, offering his watch
and diamond as security. I let him have $1,000, which he put up.
The fat gent put up $1,300, and another man put in $400. I put up
$1,000, which made the purse $3,700. Old Jack was very drunk, but
he got up his money someway, and then began to mix. We picked on
the fat gentleman to do the turning. He took his time, as most
fat men do, but when he turned the card it was the wrong one, so
we lost all our money. Just then some one yelled out:
"Sold again and got the money."
That broke up the little game, and old Jack said:
"Boys, come and take a dram with me, and then I'll go to bed."
We all went to the bar, and when Jack took his big dram I noticed
that he drank out of a different bottle from the rest of us. He
then went to his room, and in a short time I went to look for him,
but I did not find him in his room. He was up in the texas eating
up the officers' lunch.
My friend said he would send me the money to redeem his jewelry by
the barkeeper the next trip. As I had downed him for $3,400 in
cash I gave him his jewelry on his promise. He did not keep it,
and well I knew he would not. The next time I met him he said
nothing about the $1,000, so I told him he did not owe me anything,
as I got one-half of what he lost, and that I had sent out West
and got "Rattlesnake Jack" on purpose to down him at the old game
that he knew so well. That made him mad, and he would never speak
to me after that, and that nearly broke my heart.
"SHORT STOPS."
McGawley, "Rattlesnake Jack," and myself were on the Morgan Railroad,
going out from New Orleans.
I occupied a seat beside an old gent from Iowa, on his way to Texas
to buy a farm.
The conductor was on to our racket, and would not give us a show.
We had to wait for a change of conductors before we could open up
for business.
I gave Jack the office to come up, which he did, looking like a
Texas ranchman.
The cow-boy had been to New Orleans to sell his critters, and wanted
a dram.
The old gent did not drink, nor did I--just then.
The cow-boy had been pranking with a new game, had lost $1,000,
but had plenty more left. He showed us how he had lost his money.
I bent up the corner of the winning card and won a few hundred
dollars. McGawley, not knowing anything about the corner of the
winner being turned up, lost a few hundred dollars.
The old gent knew all about the corner and how I won. He wanted
to bet, but his money was sewed up in his shirt.