[Sam P. Davis, A Carson Poker Incident, from Short Stories (1886)]

 

A CARSON POKER INCIDENT.

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            Ever since civilization began to make any progress in Nevada, Carson has been considered the stamping-ground of the poker expert. While the superior dexterity of the. Virginia faro-dealer is never questioned, the artistic accomplishments of the Carsonite at a little or big game of draw is often alluded to with pride and delight by residents of that metropolis. The peripatetic stranger, in his wanderings through the sage-brush, would sometimes stop over night at Carson, and realize the superior mentality of the artist of that section, when telegraphing home for the funds necessary to get his baggage away from the Ormsby House. It is said that on one occasion the Chaplain of the House of Representatives lifted up his voice and prayed: " Give us this day our daily stranger."

            Yet there was an occasion when Virginia City wrested the laurels of victory from Carson in a style worthy of record.

            Some of the boys had been down to a picnic, and while there fell into the hands of the poker Philistines. Their absence was not noticed in Virginia City, however, until about eight o'clock in the evening, when Orndorff & Magee, of the Delta, received the following dispatch:

            Send down $500 by telegraph.—BILLY.

A CARSON POKER INCIDENT.     57

            Then it was known that Billy Robinson and some of the boys were down at Carson, holding the fort for reinforcements. The Delta boys, with characteristic promptness, sent the required sum, and waited anxiously for the next hour, when they received the following:

            Send $1,000 more and Joe Dixon.--BILLY.

            Dixon was soon found in his palatial sporting headquarters, next the Washoe Club rooms, going for the exchequer of a number of prominent citizens. The situation was at once explained. Joe rose from his seat, sent up to Mooney's for a team, and took a fat sack of coin from the safe. Jack Magee joined him in a few minutes, and Joe drove across to the Western Union.

            " A friend of mine passes Reno on the eastern-bound train. He's a lightning-striker, and if I can stop him with a dispatch, the game is ours." Joe spoke with great deliberation, and sent the following:

            To Charles Huntley, on board eastern-bound train at Reno--Get off, and come to Carson by rapid conveyance. Meet me at Ormsby House before 3 o'clock. Business.              

  DIXON.

            " He'll be there," said Joe, " if the wires don't go back on us."

            In another instant the two men were flying over the Divide, en route for Carson.

            It was a little before midnight when the horses, drenched with foam, reached the city. There was no time to lose. They began to hunt the leading sporting resorts; and soon found Billy Robinson and his gang in the hands of a crowd, whom the new-comers recognized, at a glance, as the very flower of the paste-board chivalry of Carson.

            Joe is an open-up sort of a man, and, walking up to the

58        SHORT STORIES.

table, remarked : "I s'pose a man with coin can take a hand here ?" And he laid down his bag.

            Nothing suited the Carson chaps better. Room was made for Joe and Jack, and a fresh deal inaugurated as they took the places of Virginia men, who had been fighting, like the soldiers of Marathon in the Pass of Thermopylae, since noon. Joe looked at his watch. It was 20 minutes past 12, and Charley, his friend, must be on hand before 3 o'clock. Robinson stood back a little from the game, and telegraphed important results.

            Meanwhile the Delta Saloon, in Virginia City, was the scene of an anxious gathering, and the bulletins from the seat of war were posted up. They were as follows :

            CARSON, 1 o'clock. Jack has just taken a pot of $360.—B.

            Here all hands imbibed. Presently another came :

            1.20. Joe bluffed them out of $700. Set up the wine.—B.

            The wine was set up. At 2 o'clock came the intelligence, which dropped like a bombshell into the place :

            We've just lost a pot of $1,500. Send down more coin.—JOE.

            The answer went back at once :

            We endorse your paper for $10,000. 

ORNDORFF & MAGEE,

GRANT ISRIAL,

DICK BROWN.

            Fortified by the sinews of war, the little band still held the fight gallantly. Joe went out to raise some more cash on his dispatch, and Pantling, of the Ormsby, furnished the bullion. Joe left word where to send Huntley, and was soon in the field again.

            At a little after three o'clock, Huntley stalked in. Joe and he had not met for years, and during the time had known each other only by correspondence ; yet there was

A CARSON POKER INCIDENT.     59

no gleam of recognition as Huntley slid like a phantom into the game. He showed the requisite amount of coin, and the Carsonites laughed inwardly because they had another victim. He looked like a divinity student. When he dealt, his thin hands played like lightning over the pack ; his shuffle was the work of a magician, and the cards seemed alive.

            After the deal, the bets began to pile up very much as if every man had a big idea of the value of his hand. They went twice around, and everybody stood in with the raise.

            A Carson man remarked quietly : " I see it two thousand better."

            It was a stranger's turn next. He said : "I raise it five thousand," and laid down the checks. Then the Carson men, after a brief consultation, dispersed, leaving the table and looking for the door.

            Virginia had won.

            The morning light was stealing in just as the worsted Carson gamesters were stealing out. It was a bright, inspiring kind of a morning, too, but they didn't seem to notice it. The stranger helped Joe and Jack rake the pot into a big bag, and then they all shook hands.

            " What did you have ? " asked Joe.

            "Don't know," said Mr. Huntley. "To tell you the truth, I haven't yet looked at my hand. If a man looks at his hand, sometimes he gets confused and looses his nerve. I believe largely in the straight bluff."