The Saint Paul globe., 1897-03-08

cence Of the appointments on the great
Mississippi river steamboats," said the
gray-haired, young-loOking man in the
club smoking room, to the New York
Sun. 1T seems to be the generally ac-
copied belief that forty years or so
ago people went up and down on the
bosom Of the father of waters in float
ing palaces, enjoying something like
the extreme Of sumptuous luxury.
Maybe that is true l didn't travel the
river so long ago as that, and, Of
course I can't say what the condition
OF things may or may not have been
when l wasn't there to see. What
can say positively is that if it was
true in those days, the war or some
either disturbing cause changed things
very materially before I became as
familiar as I did afterward with the
river boats. My notion is that the
whole thing is a tradition, resting on
very little foundation excepting COM
raTison. The mere fact of having a
stateroom to sleep in, with only one
Stranger as roommate, and seat at
table with room for waiter to pass
behind you, served to make you think
you were in luxury, because you hadn't
experienced It before. And [ imagine,
from what I know of a later period.
Jhat that was about the extent Of the
luxury. Certainly none of the boats
was ever on, in the SOS and '70's,
compared with the North river or the
sound boats Of the same time. And
even those would not seem very lux
urIous to travellers Of the present day.
Tt was on a trip from Memphis to
gamble in public. The boat wasn't
crowded, but there were, perhaps, fifty
passengers on board, and among them
were six or eight ladies and this
woman. That she was a social outlaw
was evident enough at a glance Not
only were her clothes Of a fashion too
pronounced for respectability and her
5eWelry too ostentatious for DAYLIGHT
wear but there was a frank deviltrv
IN her eye and a defiant swing-aImost
sWagger-in her carriage that told
the story all too plainly. Her behavior
was correct enough. She was, or SEEM
ed 70 be, travelling alone, and she took
the somewhat too conscious avoido,,oe
OF the ladies in perfectly good part
pretending to be utterly uncopsnio,,5
OF II, and ignoring them as completely
any overt encouragement to the er
forts that some Of the men made 70
cultivate her acquaintance 1t was evi-
cent that while she took no pains to
conceal her character, she did NOT nro-
pose TO make herself ObnOxiOus Nra--
uralIy every one was curious to l5nov,
VINO she was, and L soon learned. as
supposed the other passengers all did
LnaI she was a notorious character i,
New Orleans. where she was l1no1r,p az.
ldSh Kate. What her business bod
peeh IN memphis, did not hear. b114 q
uozeh stories were told of her reckless
ness ana general cussedness. ana
among other things it was said 49,
she was a confirmed gambler.
After supper, the first evening we
were on board, the tables n the main
saloon were cleared, and, as if It we're
matter of course, two games or rcker
were soon in progress. 1t was nIain
enough that two of the men in the
game that l watched at iirst We're
professionals but the game was sr7au
ana fouHd no great excitement in if
though it was, in a way. interes7ino, to
notice how easily the others We're beino
heeceo' Ilrlng, after time Of watch
ing so bold a fraud, l sauntered over
10 the other table, and found a very
different game in progress.
In the first place, it was a bigger
game. They were playing table stakes
and each man had a wad of green
backs lying alongside his chips. White
chips were dollar, and bets of fen
or twenty at once were common. There
were several thousand dollars in sight
and 1t looked as if any moment noiyb+
pr4ng on struggle between hands that
would draw down big money. Then if
dld not take long for me to determine
that two of the men in this game also
were professionals. The third man at
the table l knew. He was a cotton
FACTOR in New Orleans. who had hean
up the river on a business trim invee-
tlgaung some Of the advances he and
his partner had made to the planters
lie was young-not over thirty T
should say-but / knew he had tho
reputation of being a bold Speculation
and II did not seem surprising tO SEQ
him at cards. The other two men
there We're five playing me
one was veteran soldier You could
tell that from his military bearing
without waiting to hear him addressed
as major but an eX-soIdier of either
army might be anything from a gam
bier TO bank president. The other
was nondescript. There didn't seem
to be any points about him to distin-
guish him from anybody else, but I
afterward learned that he was a cattle
dealer
The game lasted far into the night,
and was interesting all the way
through, but. somewhat to nv surprise
there was no very desperate struggle
over any single pot. The hands ran
fairly well, and some few big ones were
held, but no two unusual ones happen
ed to be held in the same deal. So far
as | could see, the play was absolutely
fair and l wondered little that the
gamblers should attempt no tricks
Later on / understood it, They We're
laying the foundation for the second
nights play, and their game was to
lose a little at the first sitting. Ac-
cordingly they did so, and one pulled
out soon after midnight, saying with
a laugh that he had lost all he wanted
to. The cotton factor was a loser. TOO.
though not to any very serious extent.
The other two were ahead Altogether
it was a pleasant sitting, and it was
a foregOne conclusion that the game
would he renewed, as 1T was, the next
evening. After supper the five seated
themselves without loss of time. and
the spectators stood two deep inside
of a few minutes. The clerk of the