fun. I got my gun, backed up against the side
of the cabin, and said: "Now, gentlemen, I am ready to pay out;
the bank is open. The first one that comes shall be the first
served, so don't be backward." But, somehow or another, no one
wanted to be first, and I stood pat until the boat landed at a town
called Warsaw; then I backed out of the cabin, down stairs, and
off the boat. When they saw me on the shore, they set up a yell
of "Police! Police! Arrest the fellow with the yellow jeans suit."
The marshal came running down, and I told him I was the man they
wanted arrested; so he waltzed me up to town, and nearly all the
passengers followed us--some to get their money back, and others
to see the fun. The Captain said he would hold the boat if they
would decide the case at once, so the Mayor convened his court and
we went into the trial. I had sent for the best lawyer in the
town, and he said he would clear me for $50. The Jew was put on
the stand, and he swore I snatched his jewelry from him, and a
great deal more of the same sort. Some of the passengers that had
seen the game swore they did not see any body do any snatching except
the Jew. My lawyer handled the case so nicely that I was acquitted.
Then you should have heard the passengers laugh at the Jew for all
his trouble. They would ask him if he did not want to trade some
jewelry for a yellow jeans suit; but he did not have any good
jewelry left, and he knew I was not sucker enough to trade for any
other kind. There was another boat at the landing, and many of
the passengers went up to hear the trial. I went on board the
other boat, and in a short time was on my way back to St. Louis.
During the trip I ran up a poker hand in a game of euchre, and
lifted a man out of $300, which more than paid the expenses of the
trial.

HE KNEW MY HAND.

We were on board a Red River packet called the _J. K. Bell_, and
we had not made any preparations to gamble. After a while a
gentleman came up and asked me if I ever played poker. My partners,
Tom Brown and Holly Chappell, and some of the officers of the boat,
were sitting there and heard the conversation. They had to put
their handkerchiefs in their mouths to keep from laughing, when
they heard my answer, "No, I did not." "Well," said he, "I will
teach you if you will sit down." He got a deck of cards at the
bar, and commenced to show me which were the best hands. I at last
agreed to play ten-cent ante.