The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-12-23
"CRhPS."
Game Was Introduced I'm New Or.
leQna &Qciety O Ycara Ago.

Gene Was Introduced I'm New Orr
leans Society 1OO Years Ago..
Savannah (Ga.) News: II there Is one
game to which the Savannah negro Is
devoted above all others it is craps. City
or country, 1t is all alike. On Sunday
the country negroes gather In little
groups in the shade of trees, out of sight
of the "big house." and play all day
long, or until the wages which they re-
ceived on Saturday night are gone. In
the cities they gather OH the wharves,
in the corners of WI 'ehouses, or any
favorable spot out of sight of the cop"
and play for any amount they may pos
sess, from coppecs 10 dollars.
Tha Savannah boOtblacks and news
boys. like those of any other city, gamble
away their earnings, and many q game
is carried on in the lanes, the players
often becoming so Interested that they
lose all thought of the policeman until
that worthy appears in their midst and
nabs a couple of the players. White boys
play the game, too, but negroes OF all
sizes and ages shoot craps. There is
only one other game '2hich equals craps
in fascination for them, and that is pol
icy, and, as policy is more liable to be
interfcred with by the police, craps has
all the advantage.
There are destinations about the game
peculiarly African. 1t is not without its
intricacies; the ordinary come seven,
come eleven plan of the game is simple
enough, but there is a crowd around the
players, and there may be a half do3en
intert sted In the game and a dozen eide
bets. How they manage to keep the Sun
of the game is a mystery to the ordinary
observer, but they do so with unerring
accuracy. Fights over rap James are
rare.
The expressions common TO the game
are amusing. New dress f"r de baby"
exclaims one. See my gal Sunday
night exclaims another. DE little
lumber two" says one as the unlucky
lumber shows up. II eight you says
another, meaning that lie bets that nun
Der will not turn up before the lucky
seven" And so it goes.
The city council of New Orleans has
just passed a law making the game of
craps Illegal. It does not matter where
Is is played, whether in the streets, in
the club or at home, craps Is specially
singled out as the most ~depraved of gam
bling games, not to be tolerated any
where. The game, according to a writer
In Harper's, is of New Orleans origin,
and over one hundred years Old. Bernard
de Marigny, who entertained Louis Phil
/ lips when he ca ne 20 Loui ,ana, and who
stood seventy years ago at the head of
the creole colony of the state as its most
wealthy and prominent citizen-he was
entitled to cali himself marquis in Fran e
was the inventor, or father, of "craps,"
and brought 1t In high favor as the fash
ionable gambling of the day. When ne
laid off his plantation, Just below the
then city If New Orleans-it is now the
Third district, but was then the Faubourg
Marigny and divided 1t up into lots, he
named one of the principal streets
Craps" and explained that he did SO
because ne had lost The money he Ye-
ceived from the lots on that street in this
favorite game Of his. 1t ,en1ined Craps
street until n Few years rgo, when a pro-
test was raised against such a disrep-
utable name for a very quiet and respect
able street, especially given to churches.
After n lrd Ma-iyny's death craps as
i gambling game lie ;cended in the social
scale. and vas finally Ino1opolized main
ly ty negroes and street gamins.