Gambling at the Dunglen Hotel

The Dunglen Hotel

 

Throughout its nearly 30-year history there are no doubt many colorful stories of events that occurred at the Dunglen, but one of the stories most frequently told is a story of a 14 year long poker game. Like many stories, this one may have originated in some truth, but the details have changed and often been embellished with each retelling. Below is a timeline of references to this unusual story.

 

The story of the 14 year poker game at the Dunglen first appeared in a handful of publications who all quoted each other, and the story grew with every retelling. We have never located a firsthand account of someone claiming to see the players, the room, or to know anyone involved specifically in the supposed 14 year poker game. There are first hand accounts of seeing the general gambling that occurred in the hotel. We do have accounts from people who personally visited the Dunglen, but none of them mention a long game of poker. The first mention we have found of a long poker game were published in 1959, 29 years after the hotel burned down. Things written about the Dunglen before this 1959 book never mention the long poker game. All early references to the supposed 14 year long poker game come from a handful of authors that were all connected either professionally or personally. They recycled information from each other’s articles and inserted their own claims to original quotes. No early author outside of this group made any mention of a poker game lasting 14 years.

We believe the idea of a constant 14 year game stems from confusion with the gambling that was taking place. The gambling rooms were certainly busy, and many games may have overlapped each other. This was probably mistaken for one continuous game.

It is commonly said that the Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley’s Believe It or Not have the 14 year long poker game in their records, so we asked them about it. Guinness Book of World Records says they have never had this in their system, while Ripley’s Believe It or Not has yet to respond.

Do you have information regarding this poker game? We are always interested in finding more information about this piece of West Virginia folklore.

Dunglen Hotel Timeline

Additions made to quoted materials for clarification are added in [], for example, [In 1901]. Author’s notes are underlined after the quotes.

Around 1909 – Elmer Johnson – Oral History 66. His father operated the Southside Saloon where Elmer worked and spent time. Thurmond Police Chief Harrison Ash was married to Elmer’s Aunt.

“He’s running the saloon there until the saloons all went out … the whole county went dry. That was one mistake they made, wasn’t it?” (1984:66.15) This interview covers many topics regarding saloons in Thurmond and several other coal mining communities. This quote refers to a saloon his father was running in the community of Springdale, but all other saloons and bars would have closed at the same time due to Prohibition.

“The Dunglen? That’s where all the gamblin’ went on about fourteen years. I was in there one time. I never fooled around there much. I, years ago, would skate down on the bottom down there” (1984:66.18-66.19). This refers to the period between the hotel opening in 1901 and the beginning of Prohibition in 1914. Note this is a reference to gambling in general, not one specific poker game.


1911 – Fayette Journal Thursday, November 2, 1911. Historical and industrial special editions

An advertisement for the Dunglen Hotel says:
Dunglen Hotel, Thurmond W.Va. / The home of the travelling public in the New River Coal Fields. / Rates $2.50 and up. / H.M. Personett / Manager


1920 – Alma Coffman visits the hotel for a dance, mentions seeing the bar. Oral History Interview 46.

“Someone had a car and we went in a car; little old narrow roads and we went do… went over to Glen Jean and then we went down to … oh, ah … the creek there to the hotel. It was on the other side of the river, it wasn’t on this side of the river, it was on the other side of the river. And, we got out there and parked and we went in. I remember, we had dinner in the dining room” (1983:42.7).

“I think it was prepared as more of a banquet. We went and we had dinner, and then they took us around and showed us the different rooms where they had gambling. And, as well as I remember, they were all draped in red velvet curtains and red plush furniture and things of that … and then the gambling machines. Thick with cigar smoke and, of course, there was a bar there and we didn’t go to the bar or anything” (1983:42.7).

“I mean we saw. I don’t know, it seems to me that it was a great big marble, fancy bar, stools around it and people settin’ around and drinking, but we went in and looked at it” “Sort of a dark marble”

“Oh, I just thought I’d been to some big city (laughter). Cause I’d heard about the Dunglen all my life and I just thought I’d been to some big city. We had a good time, but I never had a desire to go back. You know, I mean … it wasn’t the life I was used to, so I wasn’t that anxious to go back” (1983:42.7).


1920s or 1930s – Fred Quintier - Oral History Interview 104. He delivered produce and ice to various businesses in Southern West Virginia.

“Oh yes, I delivered to the Dunglen Hotel, yeah”

“[When asked what he remembered about the Dunglen Hotel] Well, not too much. It’s just a big old three-story wood building, you know, and they took people, you know, coming in there, salesmen and things come in on the train, you see.”


1943 – Eugene Lewis Scott “Believe It Or Not” City Article – claims “that epitath, said to have been given by an itinerant poker player at the Dunglen Hotel forty years ago, describes the ‘Believe-It-Or-Not’ Town of Thurmond, WV” (1943:3).

“Three times this ‘magic city on the river’ has been in Ripley’s column” (1943:3)

1. For population of 389, the Royal Arch Chapter No. 24, the first lodge in the country to erect its own building, had a membership of 950 at Thurmond (1943:3)
2. The only town in America, perhaps the world without a street
3. A unique mercantile store which did a business of some $6,000 a month and never handled a dollar in cash, Purchases were deducted from the wages or salaries of the C&O employees

“From that day [1901] until West Virginia went dry, in 1914, old timers say, the bar of the Dunglen never closed; the gambling rooms of the hotel never ceased to function” (1943:6)

“Two brothers tell of leaving the mines and visiting the Dunglen one night. For the next eight years they made their living in the gambling rooms of the hotel”

“We once had $40,000 in the bank we had won at the Dunglen’, one of them recalls. ‘Prominent men came from everywhere to gamble. I have seen as much as $50,000 on the table at one time. It was nothing to see $5,000 on the table at one time. It was nothing to see $5,000 change hands in a single game of poker. I saw a fellow win $6,000 at roulette in one night. The professional gamblers coming in from the big cities is really what finally broke up the gambling’ (1943:3)
Scott was the Editor of the Beckley Post Herald Newspaper.


1959 – Kyle McCormick – The New-Kanawha River and the Mine War of West Virginia – Editor of the West Virginia History Quarterly magazine

An article titled “15-Year Poker Game at Thurmond, West Virginia”

Thurmond the town, “It was named for Captain W.D. Thurmond of the Partisan Rangers of the Confederate Army. Thurmond was built by Thomas G. McKell … Mr. McKell built a ten mile branch of railway to his coal lands and gave it to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. That was in the nineties [1890s]” (1959:118-199).

“Mr. McKell built the famous Dunglen Hotel in 1901 at Thurmond and it was then that life in Thurmond really picked up.”

“Then for the next thirteen years in the Dunglen Hotel, the bar never closed, nor did that gambling room nor the poker game. It was only when West Virginia went dry in 1914 that the bar closed” (1959:119). Calling it “the poker game” is probably a figure of speech. It is common in WV to put the in front of a noun, even if you are not referring to one singular or specific thing (Battistella 2019).

“The poker game is said to have lasted 14 years, the longest poker game in history” (1959:199). This is the first time the gambling at the hotel was morphed into a singular long game.

“There might be as much as $50,000 on the table at one time in a Dunglen poker game” (1959:120). This quote was cut from a line in the 1943 entry. See above.
“Rev. Shirley Donnelly of Oak Hill, a noted historian wrote of Thurmond: ‘The only difference between Hell and Thurmond was in that a river ran through Thurmond” (1959:120). Shirey Donnelly wrote a newspaper column for the Beckley Post Herald.


1961 - Walter R. Thurmond – “The Town of Thurmond” Published in West Virginia History A Quarterly Magazine. Walter Thurmond is the grandson of W.D. Thurmond.

“T.G. McKell, owner of the land adjoining the Thurmond property on the east, was not opposed to the liquor traffic so he extended the corporation of Glen Jean to the New River in order to protect the bar in the Dun Glen Hotel which he has erected not too long before [W.D. Thurmond incorporated the town of Thurmond to ban liquor sales]”


1963 – W.P. Tams, Jr. – The Smokeless Coal Fields of West Virginia

“In 1896 McKell built the opera house at Glen Jean and five years later the Dunglen Hotel at Thurmond. It was a fine (for those days) hotel, with an excellent dining room which the young people of the area used for dances. The hotel was destroyed by fire on July 22, 1930” (1963:92).

Tams operated the coal mining community of Tams in Raleigh County, West Virginia. This book was an overview of coal mining life in the area and this information about the Dunglen was a brief mention in the small biography of Thomas McKell.


1965 – Shirley Donnelly – Newspaper column titled Thurmond Poker Game Lasted for 15 Years – Beckley Post Herald December 15.
“In his book, ‘The New-Kanawha River,’ which he published six years ago, Kyle McCormick tells of a ’15-year poker game at Thurmond. McCormick says: ‘Business was good in Thurmond … There might be as much as $50,000 on the table at one time in a Dunglen poker game … The coal operators, newly rich and dripping with profits, threw their big parties at the Dunglen, which where second to none … The poker game is said to have lasted over 14 years, the longest poker game in history.” (1965:16-17). This quote contains material from the 1943 and 1959 publications.


1969 – Howard B. Lee – Bloodletting in Appalachia: The Story of West Virginia’s Four Major Mine Wars and Other Thrilling Incidents of Its Coal Fields

The chapter on Thurmond begins with an excerpt from Kyle McCormick’s 1959 book.

“A few weeks before my graduation at Marshall College (now Marshall University) in June, 1905, the college president, Dr. L.J. Corbly, tod me that he had recommended me for the principalship of the Thurmond school, and suggested that I visit the town before accepting or declining the position” (1969:211).

“I arrived at the town and the Dunglen Hotel about five o’clock on a Friday evening. After supper as I sat in the hotel lobby watching the milling crows, in walked a giant of a man. He wore a gaudy uniform, with the word ‘CHIEF’ on his broad brimmed Stetson hat. He took a chair near me. I went over to him, introduced myself, and told him why I was there. His name, he said, was Harrison Ash, the town’s only policeman” (1969:211).

“Chief Ash told me much about the town’s lawlessness, took me to see the hotel’s famous poker game, and, in parting, said: ‘Son, you are likely-looking young man, trying to get a start in the world, and my advice to you is stay away from this hell-hole” (1969:211). If Lee visited in 1905 the hotel would have been open for four years. If Harrison Ash would have taken him on a tour of the gambling rooms he likely did see a poker game. Interesting that he claims he saw the “hotel’s famous poker game” with no reference to it being the supposed 14 year long game. He likely saw one game of poker being played in the gambling room, and knew the hotel was a famous place to gamble resulting in it being called “the famous game.”


1992 – Melody Bragg – Legendary Thurmond, W.Va. Dodge City of the East

“The Dunglen offered everything from roulette to poker. ‘Little Monte Carlo’ became the hotel’s nickname. It has been said that the bar never closed from opening day until Prohibition. Poker was so popular that the hotel was once listed in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not for housing a poker game which ran continuously for 14 years.” (1992:18). This is the first time the poker game is said to have been in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, although the 1943 article lists three other reasons the town was supposedly in that publication. The poker game seems to have taken the place of the “Town without a main street” listing that has been previously mentioned.

“It was nothing to see as much as $50,000 on the table at one time. As much as $5,000 might change hands in a single poker game. Two brothers reportedly left jobs in the mines and spent the next eight years making a living gambling at the Dunglen. They bragged of having as much as $40,000 in winnings from the Dunglen tables in the bank at one time” (1992:18). This quote was originally from the 1943 entry, though it has been reworded.

“Although the population of the town was never over 500 peple, it was again listed in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not as the site of the Masonic Royal Arch Chapter No. 24, which boasted a membership of over 1,000. This was the first lodge in the country to erect its own building and its members travelled to Thurmond by train to attend meetings” (1992:22).

“Thurmond again achieved a Ripley’s listing for a unique mercantile store which did a business of over $6,000 a month without the use of any cash. The currency handled was miner’s scrip and the purchases were routinely deducted from the wages of the miners” (1992:23). Both this and the above quote refer to things mentioned in the 1943 article. Note there is no mention of the town being in Ripley’s for not having a main street. This quote claims the $6,000 per month store took miner’s scrip. This is incorrect because there were no mining company stores in Thurmond. The 1943 article correctly lists the store as the C&O commissary building, regardless of the truth of it being in Ripley’s.

“Author Howard B. Lee tells a tale of a personal encounter with Chief Ash which differed from most tales of the famed lawman. Lee stated that he visited Thurmond in 1905 to consider taking a position as principal for the Thurmond school. Lee was fresh from college and his professor recommended that he take a look at Thurmond before accepting the position. He arrived in the town on a Friday evening, and went to supper at the Dunglen Hotel. As Lee tells the tale, he was relaxing after supper when a giant of a man walked in, wearing a gaudy uniform and a broad brimmed Stetson hat, which bore the word ‘chief’ across the front. Lee approached the man and struck up a conversation explaining the visit for his visit to Thurmond. The mountain of a man introduced himself as Harrison Ash and explained he was Thurmond’s only policeman. He proceeded to give Lee an outline of the town’s lawlessness and then gave him a guided tour of the Dunglen’s famous 14 year poker game” (1992:38). There are two main changes in this version of the events originally printed in 1969. Bragg here claims Lee was finished with his schooling, while the original source shows he was still in school. Bragg also writes that Lee was given a tour of the “famous 14 year poker game” while the original source from 1969 only says “took me to see the hotel’s famous poker game.”

1995 – Melody Bragg – Thurmond and Ghost Towns of the New River Gorge

“The hotel [the Dunglen] lived up to its nickname of ‘Little Monte Carlo’ by offering every gambling opportunity from roulette to poker. As much as $5000 reportedly changed hands in a single hand of the 14 year poker game and the gambling tables were even more profitable” (1995: 17). The original source of this $5,000 hand of a poker game comes from the 1943 source, and that lists $5,000 in a single game of poker. There is no mention of the 14 year long poker game in the original source at all. Also note that Melody Bragg correctly quotes this line in the book written in 1992, only three years before incorrectly quoting it here.

“Two brothers once left the mines to earn a living for eight years at the Dunglen gambling tables where as much as $50,000 could be on the table at one time. These brothers bragged of banking $40,000 at one time, earned totally from winnings at the Dunglen tables” (1995:17). Another pull from the 1943 article, where the mysterious brothers did not claim to earn the $40,000 at one time. It was earned over a period of time and was in the bank.

“Author Howard B. Lee tells a tale of a personal encounter with Chief Ash which differed from most tales of the famed lawman. Lee stated that he visited Thurmond in 1905 to consider taking a position as principal for the Thurmond school. Lee was fresh from college and his professor recommended that he take a look at Thurmond before accepting the position. He arrived in the town on a Friday evening, and went to supper at the Dunglen Hotel. As Lee tells the tale, he was relaxing after supper when a giant of a man walked in, wearing a gaudy uniform and a broad brimmed Stetson hat, which bore the word ‘chief’ across the front. Lee approached the man and struck up a conversation explaining the visit for his visit to Thurmond. The mountain of a man introduced himself as Harrison Ash and explained he was Thurmond’s only policeman. He proceeded to give Lee an outline of the town’s lawlessness and then gave him a guided tour of the Dunglen’s famous 14 year poker game” (1992:38). This has been reproduced from Bragg’s 1992 book. There are two main changes in this version of the events originally printed in 1969. Bragg here claims Lee was finished with his schooling, while the original source shows he was still in school. Bragg also writes that Lee was given a tour of the “famous 14 year poker game” while the original source from 1969 only says “took me to see the hotel’s famous poker game.”


2010 – J. Scott Legg and the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce – Images of America: New River Gorge

“The Dunglen Hotel was the social hub of the New River Gorge from the time it opened until it burned down in 1930. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not recorded that the world’s longest continuous poker game ran from the hotel’s opening in 1901 until July 1,1914, when Prohibition began in West Virginia” (2010:70). This is the first time the supposed poker game has been given a date range, and there are no listed sources for where they came from.

 

References Cited

Battistella, Ed. 2019. The Syntax and History of the Appalachian English Dialect, a guest post by Cole Barns. Literary Ashland (blog), June 22. https://literaryashland.org/?p=10865

Bluefield Daily Telegraph. 11931. Woman Acquitted on Arson Charge. 25 April.

Bragg, Melody. 1992. Legendary Thurmond W.Va. Dodge City of the East. Gem Publications, Glen Jean, West Virginia.

Bragg, Melody. 1995. Thurmond and Ghost Towns of the New River Gorge. Gem Publications, Glen Jean, West Virginia.

Coffman, Alma, interviewed by James Worsham, October 4, 1983, interview 42, transcript and recording, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Oral History Project Collection.

Donnelly, Shirley. 1965. Thurmond Poker Game Lasted for 15 Years. Beckley Post Herald, December 15.

Johnson, Elmer, interviewed by James Worsham, July 12, 1984, interview 66, transcript and recording, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Oral History Project Collection.

Lee, Howard Burton. 1969. Bloodletting in Appalachia: The Story of West Virginia’s Four Major Mine Wars and Other Thrilling Incidents of It’s Coal Fields. West Virginia University Press, Morgantown.

Legg, J. Scott and the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce. 2010. Images of America: New River Gorge. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina.

McCormick, Kyle. 1959. The New-Kanawha River and the Mine War of West Virginia. Mathews Print and Lithographing Company, Charleston, West Virginia.

Quintier, Fred, interviewed by James Worsham, October 8, 1987, interview 104, transcript and recording, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Oral History Project Collection.

Raleigh Register, Beckley, West Virginia. 1930. Night Fire Wrecks Dun Glen Hotel. 23 July.

Scott, Lewis Eugene. 1943. “Believe It Or Not” City. In Two Views of Thurmond: One Hundred Years of History, edited by Walter Robert Thurmond Witschey, pp. 3-12. Gatewood Company, Richmond, Virginia.

Tams, W.P. 1963. The Smokeless Coal Fields of West Virginia: A Brief History. West Virginia University Press, Morgantown.

The Fayette Tribune (TFT), Fayetteville, West Virginia. 1911. Advertisement for the Dunglen Hotel. 11 November.

Thurmond, Walter R. 1961. The Town of Thurmond, 1884-1961. West Virginia History: A Quarterly Magazine, edited by Cecile R. Goodall and Kyle McCormick. West Virginia State Department of Archives and History, Charleston.