The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-11-29


groups In the shade Of the trees, out OF
sight Of the big house." and play all
day long. or until the wages which
they received on Saturday night are
gone. In the cities they gather on the
wharves. in the corners OF warehouses.
or any favorable spot out OF sight Of
the "cop" and play for any amount
they may possess. from coppers TO dol
lars
The Savannah bootblacks and news
boys. like those OF any other city.
gamble away their earnings. and many
a game Is carried on In the lanes, the
players often becoming 50 interested
that they lose all thought OF the po-
liceman until that worthy appears In
their midst and nabs n couple OF the
players, White boys play the game
too. but negroes OF an ages and sizes
shoot" craps There is only one other
game which equals craps IN fascination
for them. and that is policy. and as pol
Icy Is more likely 10 be lnterfered with
by the police. craps has all the advan-
tage.
There are fasclnatlons about the
game peculiarly African. Il Is not
without Us intricacies. The ordinary
come seven, come eleven" plan Of the
game Is simple enough. but n there Is
a crowd around the players there may
be a half-dozen interested In the game
and a dozen side bets How they man
age TO keep run Of the game is a mys-
terry to the ordinary observer. but they
DO so with unerring accuracy. Fights
over crap games are rare.
The expressions common TO the game
ARE amusing New dress for de baby"
exclaims one 'sse my sal Sunday
night" exollims another. de little
number 3" says che. as that unluoky
number shows up. Il eight YOU" says
another. meaning that he bets that that
number viii not turn up again before
the lucky seven" And 80 Il goes.
The city council OF New Orleans has
Just passed law making the game Of
craps Illegal II does not matter where
Il Is played. whether In the streets. In
the club or at homo. craps Is especially
singled out as the most depraved OF
gambling games. not to be tolerated
anywhere, The game. according 10 a
modern writer Is OF New Orleans ORR
sin and over 100 years old Barnard de
Marlgny who entertained Louis Phil
ippe when he came to Louisiana, and
who stood seventy years ago as the
head OF the creole colony OF the state
as is wealthlest and most prominent
eitiEen-he was entitled to call himself
Marquis In French-was the inventor
OF father Of craps. and brought Il into
high favor as the fashionable gambling
Of the day. When he laid OF his plan
tation. Jus, below the then city OF
New Orleans-it Ia now the Third dis
trlct, but was then the Faubourg Mar
lgny-and divided It into lots. he named
one Of the principal streets Craps"
and explained that he did 70 because
) he had lost the money he received from
the lots on that street IN this fayorlte
game OF his
II remained Craps street until a few
years ago. when a protest was raised
against such a dlsreputable name for
a very quiet and respectable street. es-
pecially given 10 churches. THE Craps
Street Methodist Church" sounded par
ticularly bad. After Bernard Marlg.
ny's death craps as gambling game
descended IN the social scale and waf
finally mainly monopollzed By
negroes and street gamins. Some Ave
or six years ago. however, some Chi.
cagoans who happened to be on ths
levee In New Orleans were struck by
the game as Offering novelties to the
faded taste Of dice-players and took Il
home with them.
II crept into favor az once In IN,
west. and craps now ranges from IN,
Mississippi to the Pacific. and no we'll
regulated gambllng-house Ia without Z
craps room" But. while II has -four,
ished elsewhere. Il has been tabooed n
It's birthplace. And now, not conten
with the ordinary laws against al
gambling games. the council has De
elared craps especially prohibited. ant
not TO be played for money even II
ones back bedroom with the blind
pulled down In front.