Each Held Five Tens

1895

And One Little Poker Coterie Has Permanently Disbanded.

Four well known gentlemen eye each other askance now and try to figure out how each managed to win from the others in the many poker games they have played together. They can't for the life of then see how any of them could have lost, because they are all assured of their individual and collective crookedness. This may sound vague and involved, but it can be easily explained.

The other night the four gentlemen in question met at the room of a fifth, who had been a steady loser at the pastime and who had begun to think that his opponents were not altogether fair in their methods. In order, therefore, to test his theory he secured 13 decks of cards having the same kinds of backs and removed the ten spots from them, making a full deck of 52 tens. Early in the game he had a good hand beaten, and said he would try a new dock to see if it would change his luck, so he tossed the pack of tens over to the man who had the deal, and watched the fun.

Of course, each man received five tens. It was worth half a physiognomist's lifetime to watch the expressions upon the faces of the four victims of the plot. Each was evidently sure that an extra ten had gotten into the deck and each determined to get rid of it. The host naturally dropped out, and the betting before the draw was fast and furious. When it was over, each man called for one card. It may be imagined what consternation there was when each found he had gotten another ten.

The game broke up without a word, and there are four men walking around Washington now who wouldn't play cards with each other again if John Jacob Astor was to give each a big fat stake. — Washington Post.


Trivia

Iron has for ages been a favorite medicine. Nearly 100 different preparations of iron are now known to the medical chemists.

There are over 2,000 miles of gas pipes underlying the London streets.