Part 37 (1/2)

The next day there began to buzz reports to the contrary At first covert, they gained in voluuished Republican party leader put his ith of saying the needded Chief Magistrate had actually struck his wife and forbidden h I had been there every day during the week that followed

Mr Cleveland believed the iven any credence and took it rather stoically But naturally Mrs Cleveland was shocked and outraged, and I h this was sent away by the associated Press and published broadcast I have occasionally seen it referred to by persons over eager to assail a man incapable of an act of rudeness to a woman

II

Mr Cleveland was fond--not overfond--of cards He liked to play the noble game at, say, a dollar limit--even once in a while for a little more--but not much more And as Dr Norvin Green ont to observe of Co close to his boo-som”

Mr Whitney, Secretary of the Navy in his first administration, equally rich and hospitable, had often ”the road gang,” as a certain group, mainly senators, was called, to dine, with the inevitable after-dinner soiree or seance I hen in Washi+ngton, invited to these parties

At one of them I chanced to sit between the President and Senator Don Cameron Mr Carlisle, at the time Speaker of the House--who handled his cards like a child and, as we all knew, couldn't play a little--was seated on the opposite side of the table

After a while Mr Caa and back-raising each other, and whoever else happened to be in, without ard to the cards we held

It chanced on a deal that I picked up a pat flush, Mr Cleveland a pat full The Pennsylvania senator and I went to the extreh for us to play his hand for him But the Speaker of the House persistently stayed with us and could not be driven out

When it came to a draw Senator Cameron drew one card Mr Cleveland and I stood pat But Mr Carlisle drew four cards At length, after , it reached a shon and, _s!

”Take the money, Carlisle; take the ain you shall be Secretary of the Treasury But don't you ain, and Mr Carlisle was Secretary of the Treasury

III

There had arisen a disagreeablethe period when the general was Minister at the Court of St James In consequence of this we did not personallyat Chamberlin's years after, a party of us--ress--were playing poker He caht and there was no presentation when he sat in

At length a direct play between the newcomer and ers Then it was that Senator Allison, of Ioho had in his goodness of heart purposely brought about this very situation, introduced us The general reddened I was taken aback But there was no escape, and carrying it off amiably we shook hands It is needless to say that then and there we dropped our groundless feud and reood friends

In this connection still another poker story Saambler, was on a Mississippi steamer bound for New Orleans He came upon a party of Tennesseeans who Saive the gahtest one of the Nashville boys four aces After two or three failures to bring the cold deck into action Sainary spider, of course--fro his attention--and in the momentary confusion the stacked cards were duly dealt and the betting began, the garessive

Finally, all the reater aae of , the next ti me let him bite on!”

I was told that the Senate Ga the War of Sections and directly after for large suadiers it was perforce reduced to a reasonable li” was not unknown at the White House Sometimes it asse was first Welcker's and then Cha place or even an existence In spite of the reputation given raphers I have not been on a race course or seen a horse race or played for other than immaterial stakes for more than thirty years

IV

As an all-round newspaper writer and reporter , queer and commonplace, fell in my way; statesmen and politicians, artists and athletes, circus riders and prize fighters; the riffraff and the elite; the professional and dilettante of the world polite and the underworld

I knew Mike Walsh and Tim Campbell I knew John Morrissey I have seen Heenan--one of the handsomest men of his time--and likewise Adah Isaacs Menken, his ina for him and thereafter hied away to Paris, where she lived under the protection of Alexandre Dumas, the elder, who buried her in Pere Lachaise under a handso tords, ”Thou knowest,”