 In his spare time during and between holding political appointments and serving in elected offices , Jones regularly embarked upon " pleasure trips " to various American cities including Baltimore and Richmond . Another known pastime of Jones 's was gaming . According to Maxwell and Swisher in their History of Hampshire County , West Virginia ( 1897 ) , Jones had been gambling over the course of several days while in Richmond until a final game left him with only one shilling remaining in his pocketbook . Jones was wearing a coat fastened with twelve gold buttons each valued at five dollars , and undeterred after losing his last shilling , he began staking one gold button at a time until he was left with one . Without hesitation , Jones removed his final button and remarked : " Here goes the last button on Gabe 's coat . " Maxwell and Swisher state that Jones 's remark " became a proverb in Hampshire County " and was used when someone had been driven to extremes and utilized what little resources were left at their disposal . 
