Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-14
COME HERE, MY SUSIE.
A Description of the Game of Craps,
as Played in the South.
EASY TOLEARN,BUT HARD TO BEAT
Applying Pet Names to Winning Numbers
on the Dice.
ASHARP LITTLE SOUTHERN SHOEBLACK
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH. ]

|
The negro is born gambler and the most
Intelligent of them cannot resist the temp
tation to occasionally try their luck at
some game of chance. The more intelli-
gent of the Southern negroes buy tickets in
the Louisiana lottery, play policy, bet on
horse races and gamble in various ways, but
the average negro shoots Scraps" A very
| few negroes play poker, number of them
are experts at the game of "seven up" and
occasionally one is found who attempts
three card monte and other tricks with
cards, but they all play ''craps."
The outfit of the average negro gambler
consists of two dice, razor and the left
hind foot of graveyard rabbit. The latter
are weapons of defense. The razor is the
negro's favorite weapon in a fight. and the
rabbit foot is supposed to ward off bad luck
in every form. Very few negro gamblers
will play in game of craps without rab-
| bits foot in their inside pocket.
The game of craps is played with two dice
and it is so simple that any novice can
learn in half an hour. Two men or dozen
can play in enc game and an unlimited
number of spectators can make bets among
themselves on the game The dice are taken
in the hand and thrown on the table, floor
or ground. They must be thrown, this rule
is imperative.
WINNING THROW.
If the thrower turns up seven or II spots
he wins. IT the two skies or the aces are
up he loses. If he turns up other than the
spots named he makes point. For exam
pie, if the total of the spots on the upper
sides of the dice is eight that number is the
players point He then throws again and
a MI IL mir ha
must again throw eight before he throws
seven or IL.
Ii by chance seven or eleven spots turn up
before the player makes his point of eight,
or whatever the number may be, then the
thrower loses, and the next player takes the
dice and throws until he loses. So the dice
pass around the board, but the throw does
not increase the thrower's chances of win
ming unless he is an expert. There is no
limit to the game except the limit fixed by
the purses of the players. A months wages
are often won or lost on single throw of the
dice. Twenty-Five cents throw is favor
lite pot, and with this limit S100 can be lost
or won in a few hours. The spectators at a
game of craps make bets among themselves
on every throw. They bet that the player
will or will not throw seven the first throw,
or after player has made his point bets
are made that he will throw seven before he
hits his point, in which case he loses.
THE FINE POINTS.
The rules of the game are not always the
same Sometimes it is played with to
win and IL, deuce or tray to lose on the
first throw. In this case the thrower has
chances to lose 10 / to win on the first
throw, but the rule allowing him to make
point if he misses Z and does not ''craps,"
which means throwing one of the losing
numbers, makes his chances about equal.
1t is after player has made his point
and is throwing to make that number again
before he turns up the fatal or IL that the
game becomes interesting and often ex-
citing.
When negroes play they usually seat
themselves in a circle on the floor of a
room, or on the ground when they play in
the woods, and the spectators, standing up,
range themselves in circles around the
players, so they can watch the game. When
the stakes are large, and player is trying
to make his point, then all the superstition
in the negro's nature is brought into play.
The thrOwer rubs his rabbit foot on the
dice, mutters something in an undertone,
and then as he makes his throw all the
players and the spectators, who are betting
on the result, begin to call for their win
ming numbers. The dice are called by such
names as "Susie" Liza Jane|' "Han-
nah" etc., and those names are often ap-
piled to numbers.
CoAxING THE DICE.
For example, players point is nine, and
as he throws the,dice from his hand he says:
"Come heah, my SusieP' The other player,
who wants seven spots to turn up, at the
same time makes motion toward the dice
with his hand and says: Come to me,
Liza Jane" Failing to make his point or
''craps" the thrower exclaims: "Oh, yop
Hannah! Now you's comin'?" and again
he shakes the dice in his hand for mo-
ment and as he throws them he bends low
over the dice and stakes and says: "Whar's
my Susie?"
In addition to calling for their winning
numbers by name, the negro players call
out as they throw: "Come heah, my. 'IebenT'
"Oh, you seben. what you doin' dar ?"
To fully realize the intense fascination the
game of craps possess for the average negro,
one must see them playing. Hour after
hour they will sit and play until some one
who has long run of luck finally wins all
the money. Then if they have a pistol,
razor, overcoat, watch, or anything of value,
they will stake that on throw of the dice
Throughout the game no one ever seems to
grow weary, and nothing is heard save the
croning monotone of the players as they
call, "Oh, dat 'leben!' "Come heah sebenP'
ssWhar YOU, Susier' 'Git dar Liza Jane!'
"Oh, my Rannahf' "See dat man shoot
dem craps!
LOSE OR WIN ALL
A game often lasts all night or all day,
Sunday being the favorite day with the
negroes for crap shooting. A player never
retires from the game until he is broke or
wins all the players have. When broke
they will stand around and watch the game
as long as it goes on, or go away and try to
borrow stake in order to play again.
In this city and about the mines and furnaces
dozens OF negroes live in comparative lux
ury on the money they make shooting craps
In craps, like almost all other games, there
are plenty of chances to cheat, and woe unto
the country darkey who falls into the
clutches of the professional crap shooter
One of the favorite tricks of the experts is
sliding the dice. The two dice are placed
in the hand with the winning spots up, and
instead of throwing them out they are, by
simple twist of the wrist, sided out of the
hand without being turned over. The trick
became SO common that round-cornered
dice came into general use. 1t is very
difficult to slide the round-cornered dice
from the hand without turning them over,
and only an expert will attempt it. There
are a few other tricks, the principal one of
which is "loaded dice" Dice are made
heavy on one side, and when thrown will
fall with the winning spots up. AS a win
ming throw entities the thrower to throw
again and again until he loses it was an
easy matter for experts to win all the