St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-09-23
Tbt gntelligenter.
Gambling on the Mississippi.

We are told that gambling prevails
to a fearful extent on board the steam
boats that pass up and down the Mis-
sissippi river. All sorts Of games
are practised there, and among those
who travel, are some of the most
plausible and finished rogues. A
short time since, a party of blacklegs
induced several returned Californians
to venture few hundred dollars upon
the changes of the cards or dice, and
at the end of the game, the Califor-
mans discovered that three counter
felt bills, for fifty dollars each, had
been passed off upon them. They i'm
mediately demanded good money in
exchange. This was refused for
time, as the blacklcgs pretended that
they had none. They were then given
to understand, that unless they recti-
fled the fraud Immediately they would
be forced to take their chance for the
night at the very next uninhabited
island that the boat should reach.
Finding the alternative rather serious,
they reluctantly made the exchange
demanded, and endcavored to concili.
ate the Californians, by inviting them
TO drink. The same knaves a day or
two before, contrivcd to win nineteen
hundred dollars from very young
merchant of Louisiana, who was Oh
his way north to buy goods.
Gambling on the Mississippi is
profession which is followed by hun.
drcds, old as we'll as young. All sorts
of combinations are formed by these
gentry. They will come on board a
boat from different points, and as APP
parent strangers, and after getting
acquainted with the various parties,
two or three will sit down at the gam
ing table, with the object of merely
killing time. Gradually, however,
they will tempt the inexperienced, by
drinking and excitement, and then
: proceed to cheat and plumber them, as
coolly as if they were engaged IN
some creditablc employment. On one
occasion Il nuttu .oun.ciiuit.' ""'
discovered to be OH boat, when he
f was Immediately put ashore, and at
! point where the prejudice agalns
a countcrfciters was so great that the.
often hung them up without judge o.
iurv. Life on the Mississippi is char
actcrizcd by extraordinary scenes an'
y incidents. 1t is stated that on re
= cent occasion, clergyman was earn
c. estly engaged in preaching to con
siderable audience at one end OF
steamer, while in the middle gamblin
was in busy progress, and at the othe
TO- end of the saloon were music an
dancing. Many Of the boats are II
ted up in the most magnificent styi
- and amount, in fact, to floating palace
II often occurs that they are occupit
/. bv five thousand souls and upward
The cost of cabin passage from Ne
Orleans to st. Louis is about twen
dollars. That of a deck passage
of course, much lower. All the lea
"a ing towns and cities are stopped
and thus constant changes take pla
in the inmates Of the boat. In Sol
Is, cases, large profits are realized. In
$, a few weeks since, steamer u
Y sailed. from New Orleans to st. Lo
- had freight list which amounted
$4,000, in addition to the receipts
70 " passenger money and the bars. !
quantity of wood consumed is
mense, it ranges sometimes as h
. as two hundred cords day.
scenes of wooding," especially
" night, are full of excitement ltso
times happens that nearly every
,sses ton on the face of the globe has
20 20 representatives on board of one
- these steamers. The travel up
{, down the river amounts to tens
thousands per annum, while the frel
IA, that passes inward and outward
citing be estimated in value at millions
us". friend from whom we gather Il
aptly facts, informs us that a short
as in since, he had occasion to travel
alton New Orleans to st. Louis, and a
given or two after he was on board the I
he became acquainted with mo
and unassuming young gcntle'
whose manners were so mid,
,oo conversation SO intellectual, tha
supposed he was young lawyt
physician, or perhaps, studen
"' divinity. The next day he disco'
WA. that he was one of the most &C
; short si"r. plisl.ed gamblers Of his age il
icited western country. How easy it
be deceived by appearances
1t is insinuatcd in a communlc
tie in a of the New York papers, that no
;nJs % Of sage has ever been transmitted
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