The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-05-27
"CRAP"AND SKIN" GAMES
TWO GAMES THAT COLoRED GAM
BLER6 PLAY MOST.

Tho Green Cloth Tables In the
Dives of Yemacraw, Froztown and
the "Old Fort"
Guy Berrien (colored). violating city ordi-
nance, gambling and keeping gambling place
on olive street, near Farm, ll:20 O'Clock a. H.,
May "a, 1889. Fined so or thirty days
That was the entry on the police docket
Saturday morning. The initiated know
Guy Berrien. He is the king gambler of
Coopershop lane, and while his fine was
paid and he was at large Saturday night,
there was feeling uneasiness in the lane
until Berrien could be conferred with as to
the possibilities of the future growing out
Of the arrest. The question which agitated
the sable heart was, are craps and skin to be
banished from the lanel If so, the deni-
gems Of that malodorous locality would de-
sert it like rats desert sinking ship.
The sneak thieves would have no further
use for Coopershop lane if they could not
| blow IN their pennies shooting craUS" and
| dealing skin" 1t was decided, however,
that the games would not have to be sus-
| pended, but that a closer lookout would
have to be kept for the fly cops, and by
midnight Saturday the crap and skin tables
in that locality ere crowded, as if Caleb
Stanley, another character of the lane, lad
not avid out of a small hole by pointing
out Chief Guy as the only guilty one in the
lane.
CRAPS NOT FOR WHITE PEOPLE.
Crap shooting and the "skil" game are
the favorire gambling devices among the
colored people, nearly ali of whom partici-
pate IN the excitenents incident to the play,
and often the dirk, the bludgeon or the pis
tOl ends the row over the turn Of a card or
| the row Of a dice
4 Mamnhfs napar with kuOyviuouasS
that shows that the investigated of t
writer have been limited, fixes the age of
| crap shooting at u years. 1t has been
| played in Savannah for more than Aalf a
century. An old negro, whose hair is
white ID whose form is bent was induced
to suspend an exciting game long enough to
talk craps to the rep rter-
"How long has crap shooting been played
among you colored folks, uncleF' he was
asked.
"Fore God, boss, dar you's too hahd foah
me, he replied. ~ done bin shootin' craps
nigh onto sixty year, and dey shoot craps
long foah dat, boss"
"Who origIna ed the gamer
"Sahi" the old man asked in a puzzled
way. II don't 'zactly get de pint, boss"
| who first introduced crap shooting and
what state was it first played inW
| Now / undeFsta IS you, boss. Well, sab,
dats de question. De buckra man always
beats de niggah at keards, b S. and l ex-
poses dat de buckra man vented de crap
shootIn'. Dsy done play it in old Fargin
| when | was a picaniuny, and d-y been
| shootin' craps in Caroliny way back dar in
de times Of George Washingtum; de has
for fac'.n
THE WAY CRAPS IS PLAYED.
you wants to know how it is played,
boss! Len me dime, and you see how it is
done, tor shuan."
A dime was drop ed into the hand of the
| old African. A table ABOUT eight feet long
and about four feet vide, covered with can
vass, was in the back room of a Yama-
craw saloon kept by a colored man, and
around the table were gathered some ten or
| twelve negroes, from Buys of IL to Old men
| Of 20. One Of the men had a couple
of dice in his hand which he would throw
the full length of the table, and such
expressions "you's done crapped olt."
! 81 wins on dis MAN, 'Heah, CUB me de
Dice md kindred phrases were heard on
all sides. The old man turned to toe one
who had got the dice and said: "Heah.
niggah, give the old man main for
| nickel" The dice were thrown with
"huah," a heavy grunt. 81 wins, he dun
crap out" said the old man.
After watching the game awhile some
| thing was le5rned IT he rules which govern
it. The one who first gets the dice throws
tine "main." Say three are playing,
the dice thrower throws "a, that counts
10. II he next throw ll-that is, 6-5 or
74-he wins and the 10 loses, and the II is
the second mans main" II on the first
throw he throws Z, he wins again, and that
is the second mans "main," but the or
! the II wins only on the first throw: but he
| loses throwing tie after the first throw to
all players around the table except me man
who uas "main'' of Z, and he wins that.
| if he throw 2, or 3, or II on the first throw,
u craps out aud loses all, and be always
''craps" out on the after the first throw ;
but he does not crap" out on the 2, 8 or IL
except on first throw. He has the advan-
| tage as lopg as he holds the dice, but when
he 'craps" out he loses all bets except on
anothei's "main" Of Z, and in Graphing"
out he must pass the dice to the next PLAYER
on his left.
WHITE SPORTS SICK OF THE GAME.
Crap shooting" is not wholly confined to
| colored players, but is played by few
| white gamblers and street bows. BOSS,
you don't have to go down into Yamacraw
TO find crap shooting; look over dar. Oars
a game on de street" sal an old gambler
And sure enough five white boys, oldest
not over 10 years of age, were squatted
about pile OF pennies on the sidewalk, on
Bryan street, shooting crap" by the
! reflection Of the electric light from a drug
store ON the opposite corner.
| Crap shooting once had quite a run
among the whit gamblers. An old roundar
said that he had once seen $500 change
hands ON the throw of pair of dice 1t IS
hardly considered the proper tnlng now
among white porting men, who deal faro
and poker almost exclusively, although big
money sometimes changes hands on a rub
Der of euchre or cribbage.
During MORNING NEWS reporters in
vesu yations in Nanacraw he was ad uitted
TO a room which was locked Wit 4 padl C
TO all corners. This, it was explained, was
10 keep out the impecunious who had o
money to put upon the game of "skin, -
which is played under lock and key An
admission fee of 20 cents is charged THIS
is called taking TOLL Half Il zen coll
ored men were seated around a small table,
upon which was fastened a covering Of
C Immor mating to dro the noise Of the
lists often eXcltedIy brought down some
disputatious pla err who wants a "main, -
or who ipsis,s be has won on his main"
AROUND "sKINn TABLE.
Some eight or ten more players were
standing around the table interested in the
game OF skin" Ihi is played wi h a full
deck Of cards, the advantage being largely
with the dealer.
This game was started by three men in
the outset, who were called principals, aud
although least dozen more came into