The Poker Con on the Anacortes Train
An unwary traveler loses twenty-five dollars to professional card sharps after a distraction at the window.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One of the Anacortes excursionists, in his eagerness to acquire something for nothing, allowed himself to become a prey for three clumsy sharpers coming in on the train last evening. He commenced playing cards with the three fellows and occasionally one or the other of the three would remark, 'I have a good poker hand,' and offer to bet $2 or $5. Finally all three of them thought they had good hands and commenced betting, and the 'sucker,' thinking he had a good hand himself—three kings and a pair of nines—bet to the extent of $25. When it came to the showdown, he found that one of the sharpers held four tens. He then remembered that when he had laid the cards down for the man on his right to cut them—he being the dealer—one of the others directed his attention to something out through the window. He reasoned that instead of cutting the cards, the fellow had replaced them with a 'cold deck.' He demanded the return of his money, but was met with a laugh and was reminded of the fact that they had advised him not to 'come in,' but he insisted on doing so. On reaching the city he reported the matter to the police, but as he was unable to prove that a 'cold deck' had been used, the police could do nothing.
“he reasoned that instead of cutting the cards, the fellow had replaced them with a 'cold deck.'”
This 1891 confidence game, played on a train route that once promised a boom, illustrates the timeless vulnerability of travelers to grifters. The Anacortes excursion fever described here was part of the speculative frenzy of the era, where newcomers were ripe for exploitation by those selling 'easy money.'
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