The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-23


ness and rambunctious violence printed
in the papers from time to time are
told. as a rule, of places far west or
out of the usual run of travel, SAID
the gray-headed young-looking man
who sat in the card room of an up
town club the other night after the
game had broken up. Il don't mean
bv that" he continued, .'to question the
truth of any of these stories. 1t only
occurs to me that the writer's take uh-
necessary pains IN going 50 lar away
for their material L have seen, rlshc
along the banks OF the Mlsslsslppi
river-and we call that pretty well
east now-some things as exciting as
any of the mining camp yarns. anu
everything was wide open IL some OF
the towns. too 1 haven't been out
there since 80, but that's not so long
ago. and then it was not uncommon 10
find a gambling saloon on the man
51oor IF the 4,rincipal hotel in a flourish
ing town. You could walk in as freely
as you could into the barroom and play
faro. keno, or poker at any hour OF
the day or night
saFhe great food of 80 rather ac-
centueted the devil-may-cdre condition
OF things; partly, 1 suppose, because
there was not so much travelling on the
river as usuasand none at all by ran
S Strangers we're scarce in the river
towns. AND the inhabitants were re-
duced to the necessity OF gambllhg
among themselves. No. there WASH
What you might call very much shoot-
sng. but every man carried pistol,
and occasionally there would be some.
There was enough, at al events. TO
make the citizens of Memphis enforce
pretty strictly city ordinance against
fhem..'
That's right" said a drummer who
was Of the party. Il was IN Memphis
then. and I remember the mayor of
Kentucky City being sent TO jail for
ten days for carrying d pistol. He had
plenty of money and plenty of infiu-
ence, too but neither could save him
from Jail"
We'll Memphis was the only city I
struck on the river" said the first
speaker. where such a law was OBJ
served 1 got caught in Arkansas City,
l remember when l was trying to get
to Little Rock. I arrived there just
after the train had gone, so 1 had to
stay over for 4S hours It's only about
q hundred miles, but there was only
one train, and that took all day going
Up and all next day coming down. 1t
was an accommodation train, and I
saw il stop Is minutes for a darkey
who signalled from a distance, with a
basket OF eggs on his arm which he
wanted to ship as freight. The con-
ductor told me, when I asked about it,
thai that was quite usual, and little
while afterward he stopped the train
to lei passenger get off and get
quail that he shot from the car.
Bat the stop in Arkansas City was
lively enough, if it was only two days.
a darkey was drowned trying to get
across the street, the first day [ was
there, for the town was so far under
fa- 2 f1a oil
of the levee had been washed away
Only the houses on the highest ground
were habitable, and there wasn't such
a thing as a sidewalk visible. A few
timbers were strung along here and
there, and people jumped from one to
another of these when they went from
house 10 house, unless they were going
far enough to take skiff. This poor
fellow jumped and missed his footing,
and was drowned in sight of a dozen
people. I asked the man who told me
about it whether any effort had been
made 10 save him. and he said no, that
there was no boat handy And when [
expressed some horror he seemed sur
prised and said:
Why, twas only a niger You
couldn't expect d white man to take
chances to save him Niggers were
not so valuable then as they were be-
for the war"
so strictly drawn, though interrupted
the drummer again. II saw roust-
about fall into the river one night at
New Madrid, and he was a white man,
too, but no effort was made TO save
him. The mate stepped to the side of
the boat and looked over, but he did no
more, and not one of the other rOuSt-
ers stopped work even for a moment.
They were unloading freight in a great
hurry, and 1 think they were afraid of
the mate. It was dark, to be sure and
the current was swift enough to carry
off the strongest swimmer; but still
was surprised TO see. no effort made TO
save the poor devil. Before I recovered
from my surprise, it was too late to
do anything, and it didn't seem to be
wise to say anything, either"
Good policy sometimes, not to- re-
sumed the good-looking, gray headed
men 4 learned to keep my mouth
shat at a card table long time ago.
and that IS why had no part in a lit
tie disturbance that occurred the sec
ond day ] was in Arkansas City.
don't think there was more than one
other stranger in town when l was.
He had come there the day before me
on the train, and was waiting for a
boat up the river ! struck UP an ac-
quaintance with him, and he told me
he was on his way home after a bus
mess trip. / congratulated him and
we took q drink on it, next door to the
hotel
I'VE We're both tired waiting and
there was nothing better to do in the
place, so we both sauntered to the room
just back of the bar. The door was
wide open, and we saw card playing
inside. Three men We're playing poker.
and we stood for a few moments look
ing on One of the three was a com
ical-looking old fellow, evidently q
superennuated gambler. He must have
been 40 years old, and his hands were
Very shaky, but 1 could not make uD
my mind whether he was palsied or
had been drinking. or whether he was
assuming decTepitude in order to watch
the cards more carefully as he dealt
them. The latter seemed likely
enough, and suspected marked cards.
so I pleaded ignorance of the game
when che of the other players-the pro-
prietor of the place, as l learned later
looked UP with a pleasant smile and
suggested that perhaps my friend and
] would ike to join in.
My FRIEND as he called him-I did
not ever know his name-was willing
enc Ugh and he sat in. 1 stood by.
sTlIciing and looking on for a few
minutes. though pretended not 10 be
Watching the game very closely. You
can't be too careful about observing
the etiquette of the place you're in
I have always noticed, no matter what
place it is, that the people around a
ord 1,Ir al liob Ia 70 ,.oe,,,+