The herald., 1896-10-04
for any amount they may possess. from

81.
coppers to dollars.
The Savannah bootblacks and news
boys, like those of any other city, gam
BILE away their earnings. and many a
game Is carried on in the lanes, the
players often becoming SO interested
that they lose all thought Of the police
man until that worthy appears in their
midst and nabs couple Of the players.
White boys play the game, too, but me-
groes OF all ages and sizes Shoot" craps.
There is only one other game which
equals craps in fascination for them,
and that Is policy, and as policy is more
liable to be interfered with by the po-
lice. craps has all the advantage.
There are fascinations about the game
peculiarly African. 1t Is not without its
intricaciea The .ordinary "come seven.
come eleven" plan of the game is SIM
pie enough, but where a crowd is around
the players. there may be half dozen
interested In the game, and dozen sids
bets. How they mango to keep the run
OF the game Is mystery 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. "See my gal Sunday
number g." says one, as that unlucky
number shows up. II eight you," says
another, meaning that he bets that
number will not turn up again before
the lucky seven" And so it goes.
The city council of New Orleans has
craps illegal. It does not matter where
it is played, whether in the streets, in
the club or at home, craps Is specially
singled out as the most depraved OF
gambling games, not to be tolerated
anywhere. The game. according to a
t. (<.-p-
origin. and over hundred years old.
Bernard de Marigny, who entertained
Louis Philippe when he came to Louisi-
ana, and who stood, seventy years ago,
at the head of the creole colony of tho
state, as its wealthiest and most promi-
nent citizen-he was entitled to call HIM
self marquis in French-was the in
brought it in high favor as the fashion
able gambling Of the day. When he
laid off his plantation, just below the
then city Of New Orleans-it Is now the
third district, but was then the Fau-
bourg Marigny-and divided 1t up into
lots, he named one Of the principal
streets Craps" and explained that he
did so because he had lost the money
he received from the lots on that street
in this favorite game of his. 1t remained
Craps street until few years ago, when
a protest was raised against such dis
TcpuldUic udulc lOl d very QuleL anu re.
spectacle street. especially given to
churches "The Crap Street Methodist
church" sounded particularly bad. AZ
ter Bernard Marigny's death craps as
gambling game descended in the social
scale. and was finally monopo1ized
mainly by negroes and street gamins.
Some five or six years ago, however.
some Chicagoans, who happened to he
on the "levee" in New Orleans, were
struck by the game as offering novelties
to the jaded taste of dice players, AMI
took 1t home with them. 1t crept UNTO
favor at once in the west, and Craps"
now RACES from the Mississippi to the
Pacific, and no well regulated gambling
house is without 'crap" room. But
while 1t has flourished elsewhere. 1t has
been tabooed in it's birthplace. And
now, not content with the ordinary laws
against all gambling games. the council
has declared craps" especially prohlb-
tied, and not to be played for money
even in ones back bedroom, with the
blinds pulled down in.front.-Savannah
News.