Interesting Times on the Potomac

There once was a Robber Baron who lead a crime family that became powerful through corruption but successfully hid their sources of wealth. They were lead by an aging man that liked to gamble with other people’s money. He sat at the poker table, drinking heavily in spike of his deteriorating mind, and losing badly. As he lost, he signed yet another marker and took yet another loan against the industry that kept his town in jobs.

The bartender was also happy to extend him house credit as long as he thought he’d get paid at the end of the month, but it was pretty obvious that not only was The Baron in his cups, but he was losing badly and didn’t have a clue. The Baron looked to the bar for another bottle, but - with the welfare of the entire town at stake, as well as a pretty substantial bar bill, the bartender finally cut him off, shaking his head slowly.

Just back from an overseas trip, The Baron, corrupt to his core, was beyond angry. As he fumed sitting at the table, he lost yet another round of poker to another bad hand, and began to suspect that the dealer wasn’t really on the level even though this was his town, and his game. As he shakily tried to stand, looking through the fog that was once his mind and turning over the table, he realized that he’d gambled away everything. His business, the job of every worker in the town that trusted him, the scraps he threw to the drunks on the street, and the business itself.

Still, standing there in the mess, he looked to the bartender and asked for another drink on his tab, and the bartender shook his head slowly because the robber baron was cut off for good.

Still The Baron didn’t give up. He wanted another drink and didn’t care where or how he got it. He walked over to the bar, drew his finely made Colt from it’s crafted holster and shot the bartender, knowing that nobody in town would stop him or even arrest him. As the bartender fell, The Baron started to reach for a bottle over the bar.

This time, other patrons in the bar took notice. The ones that did work knew that they were out of jobs. The ones that didn’t have jobs knew that there would be no more “credit”. Even the professional gamblers knew that the game was up.

What do you think happened next?