The Outcasts of Poker Flat

The rescue party in "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" finds the bodies of the Dutchess and Piney Woods locked in each other's arms, indistinguishable in death, as the snow erases their pasts. They also...

Situational irony in "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" includes John Oakhurst, an honest gambler, being exiled from a town named for a card game, and the "virgin" Piney Woods befriending prostitutes...

At the camp, Mr. Oakhurst's group, consisting of himself, two prostitutes, and Uncle Billy, is joined by a young couple, Tom Simson and Piney Woods. Tom, known as "The Innocent," recognizes Oakhurst...

Piney Woods is a fifteen-year-old girl in Bret Harte's "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," characterized as a "stout comely damsel." She runs away with Tom Simson to marry him against her father's wishes....

The searchers from Poker Flat find Duchess and Piney dead, holding each other for warmth, having frozen to death yet appearing peaceful. They also discover John Oakhurst's body, who shot himself...