Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-07-25
Ohio sS''tatesl1:,.9r,
HOW / WAS CURED OF GAMING,
A MIDNIGHT, {. .ADyENT1tUIaRlEE. Vt b RE

A MIDNIGHT, ADVENTURE. 4,
-irae 10 o9Yiionbaz-- --sal ssw a. ,aasd TOD
My friend was captain of one of the
mail steamers, plying between sl New Or
leans and Mobile, He spent some days
with me not long, since; and among
other adventures which had befallen
him, he related the, following;, eds RI, ,q,
81 had been engaged on the, steamer
something over a year. and was then
serving in, the capacity of mate. Dur
ing the first few months / had been very,
shy of. New Orleans by gaslight. / had
heard so many stories of robberies and
murders and of strangers being, at,
tackled from mere wantonness, that, /
preferred to keep myself as safe, as pos,
sible. Sometimes 1 spent the night at
the hotel, where the officers, of the, va
rious steamers had assembled for So
cial time, and sometimes went to a the
alter. At length, however, as / became
aoqaaintea with the ieisys the old timidi-
ty were off, and finally accompanied
some of my brother officers to places
where the more startling episodes of
real life in the city occurred. From the
hotel we went to the theater, and from
the theater we went to some of the most
famous gambling houses. y p - 49,
Suffer me, my friend, to inform you
here that / am not a gamester. have
played little, as L shall be obliged to
| confess, but the charm was broken, as
you shall hear. ~, ---..f "a. - -
= On the third or fourth visit to the gam
bling house one of my companions laugh
ingly proposed that we should make a
small venture at the faro table. With a
smile upon my countenance threw down
/ a quarter eagle. The banker asked me
if I bet upon the queen. l told him
"yes." I was then admonished to put
/ my money fairly upon the card. I push
ed the piece further on; and the con-
fusion l exhibited must have informed
the bystanders that 1 was slightly ver-
daht touching the rules, regulations and
mysteries of the faro bank. The banker
began to slide off the cards, and pre-
sently he drew in the piece of gold which
] had ventured, and threw down in its
place an ivory cheque representing five
i dollars. l had won. / smiled at my
luck, and when the cards were next
shufaed. L placed my cheque back upon
the queen. won again, and again l
smiled, for the thought that 1 was gam
bling did not enter my mind. 1t was
sport of new and exciting kind
l bet upon the queen again, and again !
won. Before the next play l calculated
a little. 1t was not likely that the same
card would win again, so I made my
venture upon the ace. The queen lost
and the. ace won. At the end of ar
hour L had won $75 or $50, and ther
went with my companions to the hotel
where we spent another hour before re
pairing to our boats. sg =. .,s-,
| After this frequently accompanied
! my friends to the gaming houses, and
also made future ventures at the fare
bank. A love of the excitement grew
upon me before was aware of it-greW
upon me so strongly that more than once
1 ventured alone into the gambling house
not far from our hotel. One evening
four of us officers were at the St. Charles
and after supper the question was started
as to how we should dispose of the mex
few hours. Two were for the theater
and two for the gaming house. How
should we decided As neither party
: seemed willing to give up, it was finally
3 arranged that we should go just as our
inclinations led us. Two went to the
theater, and two started for the gaming
. house. 1 was one of the latter. My
e companion was Captain of an up-rivel
t boat, and before we set out he Informed
me that he must be on board by mid
: might, as he was to start early in tht
morning. This was all pleasant to me
as I had already made up my mind tina
would be in my state-room before tht
Q hour he had mentioned. g So off we went
over towards the third Municipality
nearly mile and half from our hotel
!, where we found the gaming house W,
: had planned to visit. We sat in the bar
: room while and smoked a cigar, anG
then went into the hall. We lounget
, about, and observed the progress of tn,
different games, and finally stopped at I
faro table. l made another ventur,
which was successful. I made anothe
o. venture, and lost; another, and won.-
Then bought $50 worth of cheques.
When / bought my cheques ther,
. were seven players beside myself at tn,
g table. Two of them were steamboat
captains, and four of them were either
L merchants, or gentlemen of that stamp
They may have been gamblers by pro
o fession-regular blacklegs-but tha
? doesn't matter. They appeared to b,
!, gentlemen, and certainly they behaved
: as such. The seventh man at the table
e was study, and had there not been al
!. overbalance of apparent gentility in til,
e company, I should not have stopped
+ where he was. He was evidently &
r boatman, and when l heard him speak
. 1 made up my mind that he was
B Hoosier. He had come down from Ohio
T with his Aatboat, and sold his cargo anc
: useless lumber, and was now on bit o
''time.' He was truly rough look
ing customer. He must have stood
o six feet and two. or three inches
4 high, with frame like al
q OK. His shoulders were broad and heavy
3 his arms long and muscular, and his
3 hands so long and hard that it was diff
cult for him to put down his cheques
: OF his face but little was to be seen, tn,
lower part of it being covered by thick
long beard of a grizzly color, while thu
I. upper part was shaded by the slouchine
of the broad rim of an old felt hat J
could see his eyes, and they were blacl
: and keen enough. They looked blacl
= when in the deepest shade, and when hi,