Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-08-16

expert; and it is because of his uniform
luck in throwing the bones that he is
recognized as the king of bone throw.
ers.
If you could once see him dressed in
his Sunday clothes you would recog-
nize him as one of the most dis
tinguished men in the capital of the
nation. The coat of many colors which
was once worn by Joseph, the cele-
Grated Hebrew who turned his back
upon the wife of Potiphar, would have
paled into insignifcance in comparison
with the coat and vest of English
goods, of very decided stripe, which
are worn by Liver Lip Jack. In his
trousers there are also stripes of the
very loudest quality, and q careful OBJ
server can discover every color of the
rainbow in them. The red necktie,
which floats over percale shirt front,
gives iiauuty air to the king of the
bone throwers, and the plug hat which
is set upon one side of his head and
balanced upon his large and generous
ear, completes the unw~itten story
that he is the o-oudest man in the vi
clnity when ne jumps off of the train
which crosses the long bridge and steps
upon the public reservation where the
game of craps is most INDUCED in upon
Sunday afternoon. Ii his loud and en-
phatic costume should prove insufficient
30 command the homage of all of his
followers in the vicinity, Liver Lip
Jack could readily and quickly produce
from his capacious trousers pocket a
long and keen razor blade with which
the king would as lief carve a man as
carve a possum.
The game is played with dice, which
are supposed to be made of ivory, but
which are generally made of bones;
and this fact accounts for the common
designation of the game, as bone
throwing" Although it IS supposed to
be purely a game of chance, there is
considerable opportunity for cheating
in it, as indeed there is in all games in
which professional gamblers indulge.
This game of craps was invented by
some plantation negro slave; but his
name has never been inscribed upon
the walls of the temple of fame. In the
good old slavery days the negroes were
not allowed to gamble, nor indulge in
any games in the cotton fields. A pack
OF cards or dice box could not be car
ried without discovery. Inasmuch as
necessity is the mother of invention, of
bad things as well as good, and there
SCSl1So W NC d hcCSSSlGy 1OI
even among the poor, 1owly and litter
ate, game was invented by means of
which some amusement could be had,
and the gambling mania coddled, with
out discovery by master or overseer.
The game of craps, played with only
two dice, and those dice thrown from
the hand, instead of from a box, was
invented under these circumstances.
The tho Hnd To
freedom; all were ultimately enamel
pated; later on they were enfranchised;
finally they became full-hedged citi-
zens, with a realization of greatness
which was thus thrust upon them; but
they stuck to craps. The surviving
negroes of slavery days. the veterans
of the plantation, their sons and grand
sons, are playing craps to-day just as
their ancestors play ed in cotton field
and canebreak beneath the sunny
southern skies. But nowadays they
play for money, whereas in that elder
day they played for pins, buttons and
and tobacco. Before the war the
stakes for which they gambled were
put up ''just for fun in monkey
like imitation of their owners. To-day
they are gamblers, pure and simple,
with the gaming instinct fully deve1-
oped. They throw the bones for
money, and will use the razors for dead
ly purpose to defend their winnings.
Therefore they are Anathema before
the law, and the blue-coated gentlemen
from Ireland who patrol this city are
after them day and night.
The illustration of a game in lineup
alley is taken from life. Only one
block away is famous Pennsylvania
avenue Four blocks eastward is the
capitol building. But these little fell
lows have no horizon beyond the bat
tered tenements, with their paneless
windows and doorless doorsills. The
pavement of the alleV is of cobble-
stones, bat the soles of their feet are
so callous that they suffer no pain as
they dance about the bones One lit
tie fellow carries his unsold papers I'M
der his arm. If he wins at craps he
need not try to sell them. If he loses, he
will have to tell his gin-soaked black
father that '-papes wouldn' sell t.
day" The little angel in black skin
who is throwing the bones has
dropped his backing box and dropped
all ideas of business with it. He is the
only urchin who has earned any money
to-day. The others have either stolen
or borrowed their pennies. They are
so intent on the game that they do not
see the big policeman approaching.
However, they are too small to arrest.
The bluecoat scareS them and they
vanish The grown-up colored men
grow intensely interested in their game,
Just the same way, and when they are
discovered the guardians of the peace
approach from several points at once,
and not only scare them, but arrest
them The magistrate in the police
court fines or imprisons them But
when they get out they play craps
again. lust the same. SMITH D. FRY.
"Nhat sort OF q tax does the tele-
phone company have to pay, pa?"