Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-04-08
Atlantic Sharks.

ing 10 reporter the other day In the
rotunda of the Palmer house. He
had mild blue eyes and hair slightly
tinged with white, and he was clean
shaven, save for an iron-gray mus
tache, which gave him rather a dis
tinguished appearance. To look at him
one would think that he was a pros
porous lawyer, who yet retained some
of the military bearing acquired dur
the war. He had also a sort of un-
defined yet perceptible "churchy" air
about him which added to his "solid"
appearance. But the reporters COM
panion was far from being either a
lawyer or a church deacon, for he
was no other than colonel, major, or
captain, whichever title he was known
by for the nonce, George Phipps, the
well-known New York gambler, and
one of the most noted of atlantic
sharks" otherwise, men who make it q
business to cross and recross the At
lantic in the fast liners, bent, not on
catching whales, but on catching
gudgeons.
"Yes," said the colonel, who was
not the least bit ashamed of his voca-
ton, 81 have crossed the Atlantic
pretty nigh going on hundred times,
and I'm not tired of it yet. The fact
is, I'm regular old salt now, and I
can eat better, sleep better, and alto
gether feel better on board ship than
| do ashore. When l was a young
man, in the days before this European
trip was as fashionable as it is now,
| and Tom Crabbs, who died the other
day, used to work the Mississippi
boats for all they were worth, but,
bless you, they were nothing compar-
ed to the big Atlantic liners in the
season. On the river boats, don't you
see, there were too many of us at it,
and it was case most of the time of
Greek meeting Greek. But on the
Atlantic, when few of us get on
board, we work together and pretty
near run the ship. Lord how I've
laughed sometimes" and the colonel
chuckled at the reminiscence, "to see
some of the poor devils who were 60
ing over to do Europe with 81, 800
or $4,000, get done themselves on
the voyage and 60 ashore clean
broke"
What do you gamble at chiefly ?'
queried the reported.
"Oh, we go in for everything-pok-
er, euchre, monte mot three-card), },
Napoleon, and loo; but the most
common, as well as the favorite, is
poker. Then we bet and have pools
on the run of the ship, and if you
know anything about it, and stand in
with the proper officers, you generally
can win one or two of them. There's
an inside track in the run Of ship
just the same as in the running of a
horse. Then we run in the suckers,
too, with catch bets, such as guess
ing nearest the height of a table
that you have previously measured,
or how many times around the rim of
water-bottle makes its height, or
marking the height of plug hat on
the door. You can always make
your wine bill and little over off
these BETS"
Speaking of catch BETS" continued
the colonel, IL remember one of the
smartest of eur crowd being neatly
done by young fellow on board a
White Star steamer. This young fell
low wouldn't touch a card or make a
bet, and he looked as meek and mild
as member of the Y. NJ. G. A..
Harry Wilson, my pals name, was a
great man for these catch bets, and
was always trying to rope this young
fellow in, but he wouldn't bite. At
last enc day we three were sitting in
the smoking-room when Harry said i:
Look here, I'll tell you what I'll
do, Mr.. A. I'll bet you $50
guess nearer the number of tags at
the end of this sash than you do," at
the same time holding window sash
with a number of leather tags at the
end of it, which you may be sure
Harry had previously counted. But
the young fellow would not be tempt
ed, and presently we both went off for
walk on deck. We returned in
about an hour, and Harry began to
badger the young fellow again.
"Well, will tell you what I'll do"
said he to Harry, "if you promise not
to bother me any further I'll have one
bet with YOU"
Agreed" replied Harry. "What
shall it be ?"
"Well, suppose we have the number
of tags on the tassel you were talk.
ing about"
How much for?"
"Well, say $50, as it is to be my
only bet" Somehow or other / never
could exactly tell how they began
raising each other, and soon the bet