The English essayist Charles Lamb once said, “Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better (of someone) in something or other.” In another observation Lamb noted, “Cards are war, in disguise of sport.”

To the professional, gambling on the frontier was not just a game to while away the time. The “Knights of the Green Cloth” took the profession of gambling seriously. Even so, an apparent newcomer might unexpectedly walk away with an accomplished gambler’s holdings. One never knew when a wolf in sheep’s clothing might appear at the gambling tables.

One such “easy mark” was a wealthy Leavenworth merchant who appeared at the Dodge City gambling tables as reported by the Dodge City Times, March 24, 1877. The merchant, Thomas Carney, claimed to be in town buying hides and bones for his St. Louis firm. Later developments would confirm that his real business in town was to entice a few of Dodge City’s, “…unsophisticated denizens into the national game of draw poker, and fleece them of their loose cash.”

Mr. Carney was no ordinary merchant. He had been Governor of Kansas for one perilous term, 1862-64. During his administration, guerilla warfare raged between Missouri and Kansas, requiring the organization of a force of 150 fighting men, known as the Patrol Guard. Lacking state funds to support such a force, Carney supported the Patrol Guard with his own money. Each man received a dollar a day for his services and the use of his horse. Rations and forage were provided by the federal government.

Ever the promoter of the Kansas economy, Carney joined influential political leaders to form the Topeka Live Stock Company in 1867. The men hoped to attract Texas drovers to market their rangy Texas Longhorn cattle in Kansas. One could say that developing a cattle market on the Kansas frontier was a big gamble. In this case, Carney and his business partners were outmatched when Joseph McCoy, a young Illinois cattle buyer, independently established a market at Abilene, Kan. that very summer. The Topeka Live Stock Company folded in the face of McCoy’s wildly successful Great Western Stock Yards.

Consequently, on a particular spring day at Dodge City, “The Governor’s reputation and dignified bearing soon enabled him to decoy three … business men into a social game of poker, ‘just to kill time, you know.’ …The game proceeded merrily and festively for a time, until, under the bracing influence of exhilarating refreshments, the stakes were increased, and the players soon became excitedly interested.”

The men that Carney had “enticed” into his friendly game just happened to be three of the most familiar cavaliers of Dodge City’s gambling dens. Bobby Gill, whose real name was Robert Gilmore was known among the sporting crowd throughout the Kansas cattle towns. He was often in the middle of trouble. Charles Ronan was known to be a fine billiard player as well as a “hand” with the cards, and Col. Charles Norton was always good for a game.

Interest heightened considerably when Col. Norton threw a $100 bill on the table. His cards may have been good, but

Gov. Carney was holding the best hand he had seen in a long while, four kings and the “imperial trump,” commonly known as the joker or cutter. In his excitement Carney mistook his joker for an ace, giving him a sure probability of holding the best hand at the table. Elated, the Governor added his gold watch and chain to the pot, which Col. Norton calmly matched and raised with his own valuables. To stay in the game, Gov. Carney was pressed to ante up with his shirt studs, cuff links and money clip. Having reached his limit, Carney threw his Four Kings and Joker on the table with his left hand and, “…affectionately encircled the glittering heap of gold, silver, greenbacks and precious stones, with his right arm, preparing to rake in the spoils.”

His celebration was exceedingly short-lived when calmly as a lamb, Col. Norton spread four aces before the governor’s eyes. The Dodge City Times, with amused observation, described the scene. “…at that moment a sight met the old Governor’s gaze which caused his eyes to dilate with terror, a fearful tremor to seize his frame, and his vitals to almost freeze with horror … slowly and reluctantly he uncoiled his arm from around the sparkling treasure; the bright, joyous look faded from his eyes, leaving them gloomy and cadaverous; with a weary, almost painful effort he arose from the table, and dragging his feet over the floor like balls of lead, he left the room, sadly, tearfully and tremulously muttering, ‘I forgot about the cutter.” They say all is fair in love and war. No one came right out and said it, but it appeared the three Dodge City gamblers had “skinned” the high and mighty Thomas Carney in a “put-up game” proving that going to war at gambling tables should never be mistaken for “just a social game” on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st RD Geneseo, KS. Phone (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.