Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1878-09-05
THE FATAL CARD.

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river was noted for its "foating
palaces" as the large steamers ply
ing between New Orleans an! the
ports above were called. Now the
railways have driven nearly all the
fine boats off the river, and left the
field to the frcight-boats, whose ac'
commodatiJns for the passengers
are by no means palatial. The
former class of steamers were in
many respects delightful, but they
never ceased to be objects Of dread
to timid people, fer IT the racing,
which was reduced to system, did
not result in the loss of the boat,
there was sure to be one or more
encounters between the lawless por~
tions of the travellers, in which ris-
tol-bullets would fly rather too
thick for the comfort of steady-go-
ing people. The cause Of such dis
turbances was generally a quarrel
over the ganbling-table. The
regulations Of the boat usually re-
quired that all such amuselnents
should be conducted in saloon
provided for that purpose In the
''tcxas, or officers cabin,o situated
on the hurricane deck but tho
sporting gentry were by no means
careful TO obey this rule, and the
gaming was most commonly car
ried on on the dining-tables i'll tho
main saloon OF the steamer, to the
great annoyance of two-tlirds q
those on board.
Mary professional gamblers uset
to make these boats their home
travelling back and forth with them
and feeciDg all who were verdan
or foolish enough to fall into thei
clutches. So well, indeed, was thi
system managed that the variou
members of the "craft' seemed t.
have their different steamers mark
ed out for them by common con
sent, so that no one would trespas
upon the domain OF the others. =
course these men were warm friend
of the officers of the boat, who wer
either too sincere in their friend
ship to put stop to the practice
, or too much afraid of the gambler
to care to provoke a qnarrel wit
; them, for in those days it was
9 common affair for such men to re
sent any faucied affront with a pis
t toI shot.
One of the most remarkable me
: of their class was named Dani'
: Sturdivant, Frenchman, the SO
of a broken-down scion of nobiIit,
n who had settled in New Orlear
. before the transfer Of Louisiana
;. the United States. Sturdivant he
Is been raised as "sentleuian" |
y y his aristocratie father, but upt
d, coming of age, and finding his TO
tunes very bad, had taken to car
ne as means Of bettering them: H
8 success in this fed was so gre
e, that he was induced to contintte
ne it until at the time | write, and
d, was one of the ttiost notorious ga
Gs ln. blers between St. Louis and NJ
in Orleans. He was forty-tive ye;
m m old, but had kept himself SO w
is that he seemed much younger.
ss h's was man of fine personal appcs
in ance and of great physical streng
IL, He was also noted for his person
.;k lsk courage. AS gambler he v
most expert and successful.
md md There we're dark stories of de,
,er, ,ea, which he had committed while I
Z; der the influence of play and liqu
yeda and it was said by some that he
sbis killed half dozen men in his Ii
d sno to time. Yet no one cared to sp
berr lssf these stories openly, for no
,she the cared to bring upon himself the
the ger of such a man. There VI
40 few who knew him who re-
ss we1 I cared to play against him, but t
arr arr feared refusal to do SO might
volve them in a quarrel with |
and rarely declined his invitati
n: 0 About fifteen years ago, the