A WILD WEST STORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 25 March 1907, Page 4

A WILD WEST STORY.

Thirty years ago, iii the days of the Western mining boom (writes a traveller), the following incident cecum*] on the Union Pacific Railway:— We were rolling along between Salt Lake and Omaha when I n-ade my way into the smoking car to enjoy a cigar. I nolieed a group gathered in the centre of the car, and crowding my way up, saw two men gambling. One was a well-dressed mail, but bearing the general appearance of a blackleg; the other was a veritable miror, just as he came from the mountain,'?, with long, grizzled beard, rough, coarse, and dirty clothes, and lots of gold. The play was for quite large stakes, and I heard I whispers that the gambler was about to : foece the miner, and much sympathy was, manifested for him. The game—draw poker—still went on, with hardly a word spoken by the players; till finally, when a large sum was on the board, the gamble). being about to show his hand, thre-T down three aces and two queens, and reach ed for tho money; the miner stretched over and held his hand, and laid down two aces, showing, of course, five ao:s in the pack. He then reached back and drow out a large navy revolver, cocked it, placed the muzzle between the eye? of the gambler, still holding his hand. Not a word was spoken, but eaeh looked steadily into tho eyes of the other. Soon the hand began quietly to move from the money, the form of the gambler to draw back, and still the revolver followed. He stepped into the aisle, and there the scene became so uninteresting to me and several others that we dropped under the scats. The gambler slowly backed towards the door, with the revolver still following till the door was reached, and he passed out. The miner coolly let down tbe hammer of his revolver, replaced it in his pocket, swept the money from the board into his pouch, quietly lighted his pipe, and settled back in his seat, as if nothing had hap pened. The strangest pait of the whole business was that not a word was spoken from the time the gambler laid his three aces on the board till ho passed out of thi car door. I took a seat near tine miner afterwards, and cliatted with him about his experiences in the mountains, and ho seemed pleasant and intelligent. Wo did not refer to his little episode with t-lw blackleg. I have never witnessed such a thrilling scene, or one in which such extreme coolness was manifested by the miner and, for that matter, by the gambler.