The Osceola times., 1882-12-30
SLIM JIM'S BURIAL.
His Strange Career as Told by
One of the Mourners.
The Lite and Death Of the Most Expert OF
Three-Card Monte Men.
New York sun.

There was q strange funeral from the
shop 80 Greenwich street
yesterday afternoon. No minister, no
weeping relatives, no flowers, no tears
were to be seen. Only couple of dozen
rough men went into the shop, singly or
in couples, and took look at the corpse.
1t was the body of a man OF 80, with a
high forehead, prominent nose and the
expression of a man who had seen life in
some of its toughest phases. The under
taker said: There is no use in publishing
his name. His last request was that it
should be kept secret, because he did not
wish his poor old mother to know of it
She is 20 years old, and living in COM
Portable home down East which he pro-
vided for her He said it would not do
any good to let her know he was dead.
'fle was the slickest-handed man that
ever tossed pasteboard," sal | one of the
bystanders. "He went by the name of
Jordan, but his real name was Bruce. He
was well known among the sporting fra
ternity as the original Slim Jim, king of
the three-card monte men, His real
name was James Bruce, and he was a
farmer boy away down in Maine up to
1868. One day he went to a county fair
and saw man tossing the three cards,
He thought he could pick out the little
Joker. 1t looked so easy to make s. by
saying that's the card when he sawthe
corner turned. He bet and lost, and bet
and lost as many greenhorn has done
before and since. In trying TO get S25 out
of the three-card-monte man, on what he
thought sure thing he lost S25. Then he
made up his mind it would be good
game TO learn. He learned it 90 well that
he made over 100000 out of it.
"Jm was five feet eleven inches tall,
weighed one hundred and fifty pounds,
had smooth face, and looked like
natural verdant, or sucker To look at
him when he was made up for business
you would think kim country lout, who
needed to be taken care Of He used to
wear a pair of dungarees,' or brown coun-
try garments, that made him look like a
farmers man in store clothes. When he
got on those dungarees, with straw hat,
big boots, with his pantaloons tucked in
and hunk of Gingerbread, he was ready
to skin the sharp9st countryman that
ever tried to rob monte man by pre-
tending to guess card when he thought
he had it sure.
Jim, dressed in this rig, would stumble
into an express train at a country station,
sprawl over the floor, spill few out of a
bag of s20 gold pieces, swear that he had
been robbed of a part of his money he
had got for selling his farm, and in
clumsy way bring out the cards to show
how the gamblers got the best of him.
His cappers or confidants would gather
about, and soon Jim would have a first
class game under way. The greenhorns
would be sure to bite. Jim would turn
up the corner of the ace in,such clumsy
way and let them win few times to get
them excited. Then the simpletons would
bet all they had and Jim would scoop it.
"For years Jim had been known at
races, fairs and on the principal railroads.
He worked them all as long as he could.
He was very successful on the Union Pa
cific and Central Pacific Railroads, and
was the best 'sure-thing gambler in
America. He was the equal of the cele-
brated Canada Bill, the three-card
monte man who died in Philadelphia re-
Gently.
1 "Jim offered the Union Pacific Rail-
road Company $4,000 for permission to
ply his game on their road in 1870, and
agreed that he would not fleece anybody
but deacons and clergymen. He used to
say that it was perfectly fair thing to
swindle the pious people who tried to
cheat others by betting on what they
thought was a sure thing.
"Jim was well known in Utau, Califor-
MIA, Nevada, and, in fact throughout the
West. Often the railroad companies
would put detectives after him to keep
him off the trains. Latterly he has
worked the trains between New York
and Washington. He was not without
sympathy. If he won from man who
could afford to lose he would not care
how much he took away from him. But
it he thought the victim could not spare it,
he would give back part ofthe money with
the good advice, "Don't gamble don't
even bet that you are alive
"Jim was registered at the Park Hotel,
Mat Gooderson's old place, as James
Jordan, and by that name he was mostly
known. A week ago last Saturday night
he was out with some friends pretty well
on TO Sunday morning. He got scufIiing
and fooling, all in fun, with Mat Carroll.
Carroll got into a scuflle with another
man and shot at him, hitting him by
mistake. The ball lodged in the groin,
and he was taken to Bellevue Hospital
where Ne died. Some of the bows visit
ed him at the hospital, and did what
they could for him. They raised $3.50 to
bury him decently, and some of them sat
up with the body last night Who were
they? Well, perhaps there is no use say
ing who they were, as the man was
crooked. But, though he was crooked
man, he had good heart, and many is
the dollar he took from those who could
afford TO lose it and gave to some poor
emigrant without dollar in the world"
What p.rlsiaps Nina If,ou