Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-06-06
HANDSOME JIMMY.
The Lucky and Fancy Gambler Of
Memphis Turns Oatto be a Dead
Heat

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The Lucky and Fancy Gambler Of
Memphis Turns Out 90 be "a Dead
Heat.
There was trouble and commotion
among the gamblers on the cloth Of green
yesterday owing to the absence from the
city Of Jimmy Burk, the best dressed,
handsomest and luckiest sport in the
city. Second street, near Court Square,
was 10 deep mourning. and Monroe
street, between Front and Second, was
excited. Jimmy" has been a resident
OF Memphis for several years, and for
some time past has been in partnership
with Colonel Mike Blessing and General
L. ). Baldwin in the banking business,
from a faro standpoint. He was acting
as dealer at the upper house of the firm,
and on Saturday night was at his post of
honor aud responsibility as usual, deal
ing cards, issuing chips aud taking in
greenbacks. On Sunday be was seen in
the forenoon, but in the afternoon he
Jumped" the town, vanished from sight,
and his partners began to ponder over the
words, Though Loaf to sight, to memory
dear"
1t was rumored on yesterday, and sp.
parently coming from good authority,
that Burk carried OF with him the bank
role or capital, amounting to some
fifteen hundred dollars. He had also
borrowed literally of his friends, taking
in a fifty or a hundred here and there on
Saturday last. The gambling men re-
garded Burk as q most lucky nan and
all the faro banks, but one, in the city
were closed against him. they being
afraid to lat him try HIS wonderful luck
OF science on the outside Of the table.
The one bank which permitted him to
buck lost some ten thousand dol
lars by the transaction since Jan.
uary last. AS he played, the small ones
followed. When he bet tens and Gfties
on a card, the poor devils put down fifty
cents and dollar chips on the sans cards,
they believingin his star Of destiny. At
the bank in which he was a partner he
wal an accomplished dealer, and usually
won for the bank. But he was playing
both ends against the middle, and be
squandered bis wealth in a princely man
ner. he was a handsome little man,
dressed With taste and elegance, wore a
diamond pin, and was a toast among the
leaders of the demi.monde. When he
and his crowd, OF his particular friends" "
visited a questionable house, the doors
we're closed and the orgies commenced.
1t was not unusual for him to open from
one to three hundred dollars worth of
champagnein a nights debauch, to get his
friends and the unfortunate women in q
Bacehanalian state Of intoxication during
which scenes we're enacted that caused
even the hardest face to blush with shame.
He %squsndered his ill.gotten gains on
the demi.monde, on hackmen and others,
and be was regarded as a prince of good
fellows by all he played a splendid
game Of billiards and pin pool, and his
brilliant play usually attracted large
crowds around the table when he waved
the cue AID unraveled the mysteries of
msssai draw aud combination shots
Hundreds of young men gazed and won.
dered and sighed, 20, that l could play
billiards like'Jimmy Burk." Could they
do so they would at once tackle Sexton,
Slossen, GARNER and Dion for the cham.
pionship Of the world. But be is gone
where the woodbine twineth, carrying of
the money belonging to Lis partners
the money borrowed of his friends, dia-
mond pins and rings, aud other %jewelry
belonging to his too trusting friends, and
leaving any amount Of Indebtedness IN
settled and unpaid.
1t is asserted hat his partners, Bless
ing and Baldwin, intend hunting him up
and bringing him back to face a Crimi-
nal Court jury as loon as possible. All
hat can be said in his defense is that be
was a representative of the fast youth Of
the land, was ge%ntlemsnly, polite aHd
pleasant in manners, was generous and
liberal at times, and had secured the con-
fdeEce of numbers Of gentlemen in our
city who now realize the fact hat all il
not gold that glitters." His career is a
warning to a score Of fast youths in
Memphis, who, taking him as an exem-
plar, are following rapidly in his tracks
on the highway to ruin.