Show POKER GAMES OF BIG MEN it is not too much to eay that tho american games ot poker when examined in its various aspects is found to contain embedded in its record much that is ol 01 interest to the historian the dramatist and the man of letters bays the new york journal there are anti qu arians who asbert that draw poker is one ot the moat interesting games in the world as regards its origin and development A book entitled poker stories published by francis P and edited by J F B billiard is of value not only to the casual reader who wishes to while away an idle hour but also to the student of human nature who can learn much that is of interest to him by studying statesmen and their hours 1 relaxation the data furnished by this little book of poker stories are worthy of attention will be seen from the following extracts general grant once interfered in most unwarranted and arbitrary manner with a poker game that was paying me a big profit eaid andrew banner it was shortly after the battle ci shiloh and we confedra were feeling pretty badly down in the mouth I 1 was on the advanced picket one bright moonlight night and the Yank eesa post only a few hundred yards anav we shot at each other until tired of the aport then we swapped a coffee and tobacco A daredevil dare devil young yankee corporal walked right into our poat eat down on a log as unconcerned as you and asked us if ve knew how to play draw poker did we we lather thought we did iian wo any greenbacks green backs A few then he pulled out deck ol 01 cards and we sat down to play pretty soon another yank came over then another antil there wee six 0 them and we all joined in and played a wide open game forgetting that tho cruel war waa not over I uck came my way and I 1 eoon had everybody but the yankee corporal broke the rest were squatted blue and watching there came that ugly cl 1 ick ick so familiar to the soldiers ear we looked up and thero blood a yankee with four been their cocked members of the forty ninth consider yourselves under arrest said the efer geant now sergeant the corporal a when a horseman reined up behind tho guard and he concluded general grant by boky the bluecoats got up looking like a lot 0 whipped schoolboys and saluted their commander vt bo eyed them sternly PS a sphinx they filed in front of abo guard and started for camp when their backs were toned on him grant the cigar from his mouth and with a cynical smile asked the confederate nearest him chos ahead oh we are replied the defender ot the stars and bars those chumps youve brought down here cant play poker a little bit but they can fight general I 1 remarked have to sometimes said grant dryly and rode away when the committee waited on hannibal to notify him of his nomination to the vice presidency they found him in the hotel in the midst of a game of poker II amlin in telling his story used 1 say that they ruined the only good hand lie bad held and broke up the game daniel webster was not only great as a lawyer and a statesman but great also as a poker player so was aenry clay of cauree this was in the early days when poker was still in the rough even in this crude state it appealed to claye gambling instinct he played for the excitement how everand abot for the gain and aeed to loee large part of ins congressional salary at cards he was calm under defeat only once was he known to lose his temper and then the circumstances justified him at some western hotel a professional gambler had introduced himself into the panic for some time he cheated ri thoat discovery at last be lay down three aces when clay had two in hie hand clays anger is described something terrible lie slowly drew out of bis seat and to his full height he drew his pistol and the man made for the door clay did not follow him but expressed his indignation by walking around to the chair and shooting a hole through its center clay knew how to preserve his I 1 under embarrassing circumstances he eat down one saturday to a game of poker and never got up until it was i time to go to church with the cards hastily stuffed into hia pocket he appeared among the worshippers wor shippers after the service while talking to the rector he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cards along with his handkerchief they fluttered to the ground clay nothing abashed picked them up and restored them to his pocket quietly remarking that they must have been placed there as a joke gen garfield wai an expert poker player generals sheridah Sheri dau and grant occasionally took a hand in a friendly game once the latter two heroes were traveling on a steamboat together among the passengers was a young englishman A 50 cent limit was arranged between the tro while a pot was in progress the englishman got up to light a cigar and requested general sheridan who had passed out to play his hand it consisted of four jacks pat on the return he asked how the hand panned aut said sheridan abe general bet 50 cents and I 1 called him and aou the pot well blurted out Englishman when be had recovered from the fiest shock of surprised chagrin ive heard of military discipline but im hanged if I 1 ever heard of it going that far was much played in camp both north and south during the intervals of active warfare when colonel len A harris of cincinnati was left by buell in charge of fort mccook to cover the union retreat he and his beguiled the time by a game of draw one day jast as the deal for a fat jackpot had been finished a confederate phell came crashing linto the a out went the lights everyone dashed for the door an aid who tells tho story captured the stakes and hastily thrust them into his pocket outside all was contusion but colonel harris got the handful of men safely out after a hard ten days march during which no one took off bis clothes harris joined buells army the arst thing I 1 did said the aid was to hunt for a bath and I 1 and captain found one As he unbuttoned his coast for the first time in ten days be thrust his band into bis inside pocket and pulled out five cards at the same moment I 1 produced the states ave got an ace full he said skinning out his hand give me the pot I 1 turned it over to him but I 1 dont belle VB a jackpot was ever won under such circumstances before or since when dr chauncey M depew was asked tor poker story some time ago he had personal experienced ee but raked out of his box of stories a tale he sometimes some timea tells over the dinner table the genial railroad magnate said he was in a small town in massachusetts where a celebrated poker ring was operating era ting the central figure was an x centric farmer nearly 00 years old atio I 1 had played poker since he could hold a card he was extremely wealthy bat always refused to setti baul tb geroe was finished when be would give checks for alie amounts of hie losses the game had been in progress for elveral hours and the old man had raked in a tremendous am of cash an excitable youngs man gibout 20 years old waa the victim of the evening he had lost every cent he had in the world u which had all found its way to the old mans pocket then the luck turned he held tour the old man had coir k the betting ran 0 o high that the other planters play dropped out of the game in leaa than ten minutes 1500 was on alie table when the hands were shown the young fellow was jubilant but the fates were against him the old man drew out hia check book called ter a pen and some ink aid then dropped dead the young mans money paid tor the funeral |