A FAMOUS GAME.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1080, 31 August 1883, Page 3

A FAMOUS GAME.

T>v guty ■' Thoasand lars, Honor and Life ■ Staked at Cards. f ' ' (American paper.) /‘The, river, immediately before the the speaker continued, ‘‘ was. _a, gieat gambling house. The splendid steamers plying between New Orleans nnd>. the North were loaded with men whose . interest was deep in games. of chancoi The planters, were the most reckless gamesters. They .seldom had any ready money, but would lose their live stock and niggers with equanimity. I went down on the Belle Key, in 1859, from Memphis to New Orleans. At Natchezia- great planter got aboard with fifty slaves. ' - He chipped into a game with : a Northern Judge, a New York merchant and an army officer. The stakes mounted up to fine proportions—something like 20,000d01s in one pot—when I saw the Judge win. He held the best hands, and, before we reached the Crescent City, owned forty of the planter’s niggers, valued at from lOOOdols to ISOOdols each. “ But ,by>all odds the most interesting gaineT ever saw'was played on the Belle Lamar in 1857. There were circumstances connected with it which made it an allabsorbing event to the pep pie who understood what it really , meant. The players wbre tlvd onlyr They are both dead, and' probably all their descendants have followed them to the grave, so I mention tlfeiiinimes and tell you about the train of events which led to that game, and its attendant tragedy. . In 1856 there lived in a small town in Kentucky a beautiful girl named Alice Crayton. She had a number of suitors, but only two seemed to meet with passing favour in her eyes. One-was a rich young planter named Horace -Ellison, and the other a young lawyer, recently, from the North, named Converse. : Ellison had the advantage of his rival in looks and accomplishments; He had travelled extensively, was well read 7 polished, and. bore the reputation of being a dare-devil in affairs of gallantry, and was said to be not over upright and honorable in his affairs with women . He was the sort of a man to attract most girls. But Miss. Cray ton preferred Converse, a plain young fellow, and finally married, him. Ellison, after swearing to be revenged, went abroad. In the course of a year Converse and his wife went to New Orleans to live. Two years aficr the marriage Converse, returning home on the Belle Lamar, after a business trip North, discovered his old rival, Ellison among the passengers. All feelings of lesentme.it had died out in his l.oarr, and he greeted Ellison heartily, the latter re urning bis hand-shake with well-simulated warmth. For a day the two men dial ted together agreeably, to all appearances good friends. The next evening Ellison proposed a little draw to while away the monoton} 7 of the voyage. Converse readily assented, and they started the game in a large state room. Four or five others were present, but they didn t join it. At first the mite was trifling. As Converse steadily lost, he insisted on raising it with each deal, and began drinking, U rare thing for him to do. His ill fortune

continued, and after a seance of two hours ho began to borrow money from his fiiends in the room, having lost all his own to Ellison. The latter was cool and firm as a rock., He seldom spoke, and then in cutting accents, which added to the fast-growing emnity his opponent felt toward him. Perhaps if Mr Converse would finger his glass less and his cards more, his game would be .more interesting and less ea«y to beat,’ Ellison remarked. “ ‘ Mr Converse can take care of him self under all circumstances,’ Converse retorted. “ ‘ Yes, he demonstrated his facility for looking after his own interest two years ago, when ho won a great stake, but not hy fair play.’ “ I saw Converse’s face flush. He understood the allusion to the old rivahy between him and Ellison and its covert insinuation. He started as though to say something, but stopped. The game went on and soon after Converse had lost every penn}' and his watch and diamond pin. “ Ellison laughed - ‘Mr Converse should apply his methods in love-making to card-playing,’ he said. “ ! What do yon moan, sir ?’ “‘What jam please. Shall we continue the game ?’ “ Converse was white with fury. The gambling spirit, mingled with hate and rage, was on him A> if lo answer to his unspoken thoughts, Ellison said, in his cold, exasperating tones: ‘Yon lack a stake, I will hazard all my winnings against the nightke; of 3'our house. We will play three hands in five for it.’ “This monstrous proposition struck us all dumb. Converse bounded from his

chair and gasp-d. He was speechless In fact, the emotions of this great experi ence had deprived him of the power of words. Ellision alone was unmoved. Ho sat quietly tossing tlio pile of gold before him with in's white fingers. “ Do 3’on consent ?’ ho asked. “The loss Converse had sustained he could not replace. Ruin was before him. On the other hand, the privilege he wa--to hazard meant, if he lost, a dishonor worse than death. What thoughts passed through that man’s mind in a few seconds will never bo known. He grasped the back of his chair, stared wildly around and hoarsely muttered ‘ Yes.’ “ Yon may imagine how breathless we bent over the players now. They shuffled the cards in silence. Ellison won the first two deals. The next Converse won. The fourth time, amid a silence in the room deep as the tomb, Ellison dealt and gave Converse two queens, a jack and two nine-spots. The latter drew one card and announced himself as ready. Ellison glanced quickty at him and laid down four aces. 1 always thought ho had stacked his hand. “ You have won the key,’said Converse. He drew it off the ring, and then, quick as lightning, crowded it into the barred of his revolver. “ Take it and pulled the trigger. Then turned the weapon upon himself, and fell dead Upon tho corpse of his antagonist, whose" brains bespattered the cards which had destroyed their, fortunes and honor and lives.