Britton Weekly Sentinel. (Britton, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 15, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 26, 1909 Page: 3 of 8
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Brick
Gilding the Gold
By JOHN IRVING DAY
A Purse-Fattening Adventure of Members of the High Rollers Club
in the Realms of High and Low Finance.
(Copyright, lywi. by W. u. Chapman la L ruioJ Slates and Ureal Britain.)
regularly
NTRY to tho High
Rollers' club was the
moat desired of all
things other than un-
limited wealth in the
sporting world of the
middle west. No mil-
lionaires' club was
more difficult of en-
trance and in its t>wn
peculiar way the High
Rollers' was every bit
as exclusive as the
Carlton of I^ondon.
The High Rollers'
club had no charter as
organized institution
neither did it boast a palatial Bedford
stone building a9 its home. Its
meetings were in "Old Bill" Powley's
bachelor home in a semi-select sec-
tion of Chicago. The honorary title
of colonel had been given Powley by
his acquaintances. The* title was one
of the very few things that ever had
been given Powley. He had won most
of his other possessions by hard bat-
tles and taking chances.
Col. Powley, with all his presence of
a gentleman, could scarcely have put
up at or become a member of, the
Union League club. For that matter
no one of the captains of finance on
the roster of the Union League would
have been welcome into the High Roll-
ers'. Tho only bankers Col. Powley
ever had been on intimate terms with
were the ones who sat behind a green-
covered table and dealt cards from a
silver box.
Outside on the street the wind was
driving up from the lake and whirling
the snow around corners, blinding
with its fury the few pedestrians that
were forced to be abroad. It was
about as hard a night as ever comes to
the city by the big lake and inside the
High Rollers' club there were not
enough members to make up a bridge
game. Those present had made vain
attempts to round up a player to fill
out with a hand when a cab stopped
In front of the door. The passenger
dismissed the vehicle and let himself
into the house with a latch key, prov-
ing that he was a member in good
standing, for none other had such
means of entrance.
"Well, if it iBn't Doc Floyd! Where
have you been for the past week?"
was the greeting of the new comer.
Col. Powley did not join in the boister-
ous greeting but gazed over the tops
of hi3 gold-rimmed spectacles at the
man who had just entered and who was
his one prime favorite of others. He
waited while the clean-cut person who
might have been either 30 or 40 years
old, so far as looks went, crossed the
room to shake his hand.
"Sit down and tell us about your-
self," commanded the colonel when
the Jap servant had relieved Floyd
from his ulster, leaving him immacu-
late of presence, white-fronted and
evening-clothed, a man who would
have been noted in any evening func-
tion as one who belonged with the
best.
"Oh, I've been out in one of the
tank towns playing a week stand with
the courts," remarked Floyd by way
of explanation when he had seated
himself in front of the wide-open fire-
place.
"It can't be that you've been in any
trouble, yourself," cut in the colonel.
The older man had first admired Floyd
and then grown to hold him in af-
fectionate regard, because though he
had fought his way from boyhood and
wrested a competence from the world
by the power of his brain, never had
he been in the clutches of the law.
Such a thing was considered vulgar
in the circles of the High Rollers'.
* 'l was Jack Cleland," explained
; <1 11 went out on a little deal
}l is . nk and got caught before
'1 '1 a in e to turn it. He found
! m hntchc: who liked to play cards
ver >: heard of the old game
sucker the best of it.'
1 off the game and the
rot Icland before he
. inciter's bank roll. I
talking and lise all
ve '10yera with that
attorney befor- I got
I finally lauded him j
i-i he go jd now and
on his own hook.''
'1; Old ~tr. Fi*< r,'.a!M
> marked tti, viSmigcst i
giving th'
J one ti;
a f
ft
g(
)
, , u greete
$8,000 and then threatened to write a
letter to the broker's wife if he made
a squeal. Who would ever think a
smart New Yorker would fall for such
a game! Still, her game was about
as new as any of them I've heard of
recently. It seems there's a regular
gang of handsome Cassie Chadwicks
roping in rich visitors to this city and
then levying blackmail on them. The
blackmail part" I can't stand for, and
I hope they all get caught, but the
woman that worked that phony mort-
gage off on a Wall Street man ought
to be admitted to the woman's auxili-
ary of the High Rollers, if there was
such a thing, which thank God there
ain't."
"The woman didn't work any new
game either," broke in Alderman Ma-
banty, a member of the party who had
sat quietly listening to the conversa-
tion. "It hasn't been three months
since a real estate man and a pillar
of respectability in business confessed
to selling $2,000,000 worth of phony
mortgages. I wish somebody would
people of the north. Peter Sllcer, emi-
nent, lifelong citizen of Cumberland
and deacon of the M. E. church, south,
was waxing fat with the boom that
had come to his town,
It was not as a banker, but ns mine
host of the Sllcer hotel, that Peter
shone. The hostelry was his pride and
he afTected to welcome coming and
speed parting guests with a flavor of
the true southern gentleman. He
could nlford to be affable to these
same guests for they paid him good
rates for his hospitality.
Thus it was that Peter Sllcer in per-
son welcomed Mr. F. Strothers Floyd,
known to his intimates as "Dr. Fixer,"
when that eminent practitioner
alighted from the hotel 'bus.
The day following his arrival Floyd
became a further hero in the eyes of
the bell boys and nisi) made known his
generous qualities by coming to the
rescue of a small barnstorming theat-
rical company that had become
wrecked in Cumberland.
"We are billed In Augusta to-nior-
Floyd began to regret his Interfer-
ence, but could not back out. Not that
he was a woman hater, but ho seldom
sought the company of women. In this
case he was charmed with the sensi-
ble talk of a pretty girl of 20, too well
bred to rail at misfortune and also
loth to accept aid trom a stranger. His
offer, however, was put In such a well
meant, well bred, kindly way that
there could not have been other than
acceptance. Tho troupe got away to
Augusta, and two days later he was
reading a letter from George Frlsbee
which had Inclosed a money order for
the sum lent him. He was gazing at
a little postscript at the bottom of the
sheet, signed "Nellie Frlsbee," when
voices in argument disturbed him from
his reverie.
"No sir, I have never allowed any-
thing of the kind in my hotel, and I
will not let you have an apartment
for such a purpose, even at double
rates," tho hotel proprietor was ex-
claiming.
Floyd was the only occupant other
than the hotel man and the stranger
to whom ho had been talking, nnd he
never even raised his eyes as the lat-
ter left the room.
"What do you think that fellow
wanted?" burst out the Indignant
Sllcer to Floyd when the stranger was
out of hearing.
"Don't know, I'm sure. What was
it?"
"Why. he wants an apartment to
open up a faro bank game in und I
won't have It."
"Ha, Ha! And why so particular?"
laughed Floyd. "I've seen some pretty
big poker and bridge games here.
What's the difference, if he runs a
square game and keeps it quiet? For
my part, I'd like to buy a few stacks
"YOU CAN HAVE THE CHUNK cOR $1,500."
spring a new game. I'd iika to see
one."
"What's the use of new ones,"
growled Col. Powley, "when there's al-
ways a sucker ready to bite at the old
bait? Every funny sheet in America
has had pictures and funny paragraphs
about the gold brick men for the last
dozen * years, and still I'll bet Doc
Floyd can go out and land a good and
wise citizen with the old game and
be back here in the club Inside of two
weeks' time."
"Yoh're dreaming; wake up and
ial i drink," was the half contempt-
ii' i re i â– * of the alderman. "He'd
; pincii first roll out of the
Why, i'-1 rabbits out on
pl. il .;•< . ..so to gold btlcks."
"That may he, '.nit If f-c fjvi )H
rty and no one wlv.jdo it and is *viliir â– to take .i chp
ed !•; . d so.enthiislas > a* yi ti,el you $5,000 on the Bid tha
he goes ifter.
at
i re ji
row night, and if we can only reach
there I'm certain we'll pull out and
I can send you the money for our
board," Floyd had overheard the
youthful manager of the players plead-
ing to the hotel manager.
"I'm sorry, but business Is busi-
ness," had been the reply. "If you
can't pay we shall have to hold your
trunks''
j.''loyd had mot young Frlsbee. the
manager of the show, when the hotel
man had introduced them on the pre-
vious day. He had heard from the
boy that they had been playing In
hard luck for two weeks and had'ex-
pected to pull out in Cumberland.
("Buck up, young fellow," was the
salutation of Floyd when h" followed
and overtook the boy manager outside
the hbtel office.' "I just happened to'
1 'a- part of your talk with ht's nctbs.
I v mi "h do you niped for fho get-
i) I'm willing to loan it to
ISaftfBUr line of
.s no*C*
11, all right," returned
".t!<i r. "I wouKai brfsur-
h< of it coming off at any
jlluli! G; ' snortr<J -.Col. Powloy.
'iv let ' :n alone. I've Jufi been
Un tin afternoon papur, here,
it Wall Street liter
i Y"rk getB trimmed a
I in, one of tlm ,Mtchigfn
i.'!- Shis uiajfed'the h «©
nt v idow act, and passed
>11 y mortgage 0n him tot
«•*
ilmie 1
face ol
lit up
Instant
Doc?"
"Whatever the boss sa^-i, m r ;<
for," was. the easy reply of flu; I
warO you, thotgh, that I won't u-.'
the old stage settings with the sus-
picious Indiiin partner, dressed In war
paint and a big gun, or the b\i y gov
.prnireui ajsay. I claim a little orig.
inality. If > agree to let me work
lt|niy(qwn waybill *ry it, and bet you
anoiher thmsand on the side I win."
i'" i "jjfej* t I f
fcuinSfr'ind, fta., haiWinc to boast
of its gro* mg fame ; jrin'or rowjlt
tor invali d, semi invalid j and lazy
-'!-ter wan sud<
but in an-
eplle
of checks acalnst a bank game, just
to break the monotony."
"Well, in that case, I believe I'll
send for him and let him have tho
rooms. Of course, I value your judg-
ment, Mr. Floyd, and I hope nothing
unpleasant comes of It. I never
touched a ?ard, but then if other peo-
ple want to, I suppose it's none of my
business."
"An express package for you, Mr.
Floyd; looks like it might be valuable,
too, the way it's done up and sealed,
"was the greeting of the hotel clerk
one mornipg a week after his arrival
in Cumberland, when Floyd .stopped ut
the degl: to inquire for letters.
Since the faro bank had been opened
in the hotel, Floyd had been a regular
customtr, playing at one or two slt-
tfbgs each day with varying luck. As
he left tho hotel office desk this morn-
ing he remarked that he was feeling
like giving the "tiger" a good stiff
play.
"tear floyd: I've Just pot bao* frm*
the placer mine and brought the
bricks with me. The proptrtjr la a
sure winner and will make us rich. I'm
sending your share in one brick which
Is pure and worth $2,B00. I could
have sent the money Instead, but don't
supiiose you need It and thought you
would like to see the real yellow
stuff. Yours, Bob,"
Sllcor folded the letter and gave It
to the elevator boy to givo to Floyd
on his next trip up to the rooms, and
then decided that ho would deliver It
back Into the hands of Its owner him-
self. When he reached the room
*ioyd was just passing $1,000 In bill*
over to the dealer behind the table for
which he received in return two stacks
of canary colored checks. He scorned
too preoccupied to thank the hotel
man for bringing tho letter, as ho
shoved It carelessly back Into his
pocket and wont on playing. Fauci-
nated by tho play, as men will becomo
when watching It, Sllcer stood behind
Floyd and saw IIIm lose steadily. Every
few moments the player would cnll
for a drink which he gulped down hur-
riedly. Sllcer stood by the table for
an hour, In which time Floyd manogod
to drop $11,000.
"That's all the ready money I've
got," he muttered, Hushed with ex-
citement. "Let me have another
thousand nnd I'll give you a check
for it"
"Sorry, Mr. Floyd, but we can't take
any paper," was tho polite but firm
reply of the dealer.
"Then, you'll cash my check for a
thousand, won't you, Sllcer?"
"Why, Mr. Floyd, you know—er—
that's not just regular,' stammered the
hotel man. "I don't think you ought
to lose any more just now."
"Lose nothing!" spluttered Floyd
with all the fever of gambling showing
THIRD
OPERATION
PREVENTED
By LydiaE.Pinkham'sVeg
etablc Compound
Chicago, 111. — "I want to tell yon
what Lydia E. Plnkham's Vegetable
Compound did for me. I was so siek
that two of the best doctors iu Chicago
said I would die if I did not have an
otH'ration. I had
already had two
operations, and
tliey wanted me to
go through a third
one. I suffered day
and night from in-
(lamination and a
small tumor, and
never thought of
seeing a well day
again. A friend
told me how I.yilia
E. Pinkham's Veg-
etable Compound had helped her, and
I tried it, and after the third bottle
was cured."—Mrs.Alvena Spkklino,
II Langdon Street, Chicago, IU.
If you are ill do not drag along at
j home or in your place of employment
until an operation is necessary, but
build up the feminine system, and re.
1 move the cause of tho
aches and pains by tal
Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, made
cause of those distressing
aches and pains by taking Lydla li
' wet '
I from roots and herbs.
For thirty years it has been the stan-
Mawviiii
Bandsof women who have I toon troubled
with displacements, inflammation, ul-
ceration, fibroid tumors, irregularities,
periodic pains, backache, bearing-down
feeling, flatulency, indigestion, dizzi-
ness, or nervous prostration. Why
don't you try itV
WRIS LEY'S
NERVE.
dard remedy for female ills, and has
in the flush on his face, as he followed positively restored the health of thou-
Slicer from the room, and down the j
elevator. "See here, then; If you I
won't cash my check, get that pack- I
age you put away In the safe for mo j
and bring it into your private office."
The covering was taken from a !
large, dull yellow brick of metal \ -
which was Iain upon the table In.;
Sllcer's private office while a boll boy
fetched a file and small augur which
were demanded by Floyd. When these ... . .
were brought he filed a small particle W N- u- Oklahoma City, No. 26-1909.
from all edges of the block and then
asked Sllcer to take the augur and
boro through any part of It.
"Get your small scales and weigh It [
and see If it don't weigh up $2,500 :
worth, and then if you think I'm trying |
the gold brick bunco on you, take tho j
stuff you've bored out over to the jew-
eler and have it tested. I've got to
have money to get even with that faro
bank and you can have the chunk for [
$1,500. I'm not known at your one-
horse bank here nnd they wouldn't
take a chance of buying gold dollars
from me at 50 cents apiece. You can ]
get rid of It for what It's worth and |
make a good profit of nearly a 100 j
per cent. Now, hurry on to the jew- I
elry store and then go get me the
money at the bank and get back as !
quick ns you can so I can get even I
with that game."
The finely ground metal was poured j
Into an envelope, and a sudden gleam
came into the eyes of Peter Sllcer as
he thought he detected a sleight of j
hand toying with the envelop.
"We'll just put this brick hero in
the safe until I get back," said tha j
cautious hotel man. "You can wait :
here in the office until I return.
Instead of the jeweler's, Sllcer I
headed for the court house as soon
as he left the office and succeeded in
finding the sheriff of the county.
"What do you think!" he exploded to
that official. "There's a chap over at
my hotel trying to work the old gold
brick game on me! Why, I've been
on to that game since I was a boy. I
want you to arrest him. I'm going to
show one of these swindlers up and
put him in the penitentiary, where he
belongs!"
"Walt a minute, now," cautioned
the sheriff. "You say he Is going to
sell you $2,500 In gold for $1,500. We
must get him dead to rights. You go
on to your bank and get the currency
and then I'll wait outside your office
door and Bee you pay it over. We'll
have a clear case against him then."
Ten minutes later Floyd was just
placing a roll of bills in his pocket
when a voice demanded that he throw
up his bands and submit to a search.
"And you needn't make any bluff,
young feller; we've gut you all right,"
declared the sheriff.
Two nights following his arrest
Floyd drove up to the High Rollers'
club In a cab. Dismissing the driver,
he let himself in with his latch key.
Col. Powley and the alderman were
both present, having received a tele-
gram that .Floyd , would meet them.
Floyd entered the room and without
waiting to pass the time of day laid
a certified check for $5,000, bearing
the signature of Peter Sllcor, in tho
handj of the alderman.
"I guess you lose, alderman, and
Tin ready for that dinner as suon as
you can get_ a quorum together. Cle
land Is down at the hotel and will tell
you how I' worked It in a new way
"Excuse me, can I speak to your
typewriter a moment?"
"You cannot; she's engaged."
"That's all right; I'm the fellow
she's engaged to."
Sheer white goods. In fact, any fine
wash goods when new, owe much of
their attractiveness to tho way they
are laundered, this being done In a
manner to enhance their textile beau-
ty. Home laundering would be equal-
ly satisfactory if proper attention was
given to starching, the first essential
being good Starch, which has sufficient
strength to stiffen, without thickening
the goods. Try Defiance Starch and
you will be pleasantly surprised at tha
Improved appearance of your work.
A Rich Error.
"Printers' errors are always funny,"
said Gen. P. P. Parker of the Arizona
G. A. R., "and I'll never forget one
that was mado over a Memorial day
sermon some years ago In Phoenix.
"The Monday morning report of this
J sermon began;
" 'The Rev. Dr. John Blank greased
the pulpit on the occasion'—and so on,
" 'Graced,' of course, is what wa-
; meant."
Sunburnt Eyelids.
S\ ho does not know tho misery of sun-
burnt cyelidn—that crinkly and burning
condition of the skin? Isn't it worth a
I'ri-'-it deal to know that Dr. Mitchell's
l-.yc Salve applied to thcin upon retiring
will effect a complete cure before morning.
On everywhere. 1'rice 25 cents or by
i mail, Ilall & Ritckcl, New Yurk City.
Enfant Terrible.
! "Come, Max, we must go home; It Is
, two •'clock; dinner Is waiting for us."
"Oh, won't you stay, Mrs. Gadsky?"
"Yes, mamma, do stay! Our old pot-
chese will wait!"—Fliegenre niaetter.
I have always thought that to make,
to bring order and meaning and use
out of nothing, must be the most de-
lightful Bensatlon In the world.—Oli-
phant.
Di honest but Industrious! Cheat deal-
ers find it terribly hard work to sell
imitations of Wrlgley's Spearmint
Or, They Should.
Shaken'-are. Welcome over smiles,
and farewell goes out sighing.
' Don't ge t recklesa,' was the'Varn- j ITr dealt a few hands In tho game fu
cgn't j. ed li in, . 1
be gj$d to k >c V
know Jiut what i'v I n i
myself. Go and see ..
tell her It would be foolish U *
pride In a case of this kind. Yol
repay rm as well as you cuu'd the
landlord, you know."
<1 wil! Sk her, but you must cuov
me." tit the reply.
fng of Sllcer, as he accompanied Floyd
to the entrance to one elevator of the
lo i "I'm not altogether reconciled
t that . -bllng game yet."
i. , nnd you'll live longer,"
lai K1 19 he entered the
<ase from
folded
the f.' r lawy
"How did I do It! It was easy. I
picked out the best lawyer In a little
Oeoi*g1a town and then picked up tha
wisest citizen there and sold him a
gold in iek. Of course he had me ar-
lejti'd The trouble was that the brick
the real genuine article and my
I oai.y. it wa;.!
note on â– !
|i :ac<r Mlu[na
If <*r anil curl-
'old It mechanl-
lort typewritten
id of the Glade
ny. and said:
t
>n vi need
Guara
"that it would bo cheaper for him to
pay me $5,000 and my attorney's fees
as well as throw in ray hotel accommo-
dation than *c fight a $25,000 suit for
arrest"
"I didn't ki*ow how he'd work it, but
I knew he'd make good," broke in Cot
Powley, as be shook Floyd's hand.
i
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Stewart, Florence. Britton Weekly Sentinel. (Britton, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 15, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 26, 1909, newspaper, June 26, 1909; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc142563/m1/3/?q=no+child+left+behind: accessed July 4, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.