New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-12
THE GAME OF CRAPS.
WHEN PLAYED BY THE MEMPHIS NEGRO
EVERY THROW is ACCOMPANIED BY
SOME STRANGE EXCLAMATION

plant are the dice in a game of craps, which has
for its votaries in the main the negro popula-
| tion
| A dozen or more resorts where games are said
to be in full blast nightly have opened up in
Memphis recently. Players who were satisfied
to shoot craps all summer in alleys and out-of-
| the-way places now seek the fascinating glare
OF green baiZe under electric lights
| With negroes craps may he described as
racial pastime town without craps has no
| entcemcnt for the c ,iored person, and is con-
sequently not good 'nigger town"
| If it is doubted that negroes take an enduring
interest in craps the doubt may be quickly dis
PEELED by watching game The colloquasms
OF craps are peculiar and numerous.
| In an out-of-doors game crap-shooters-no one
familiar with the game would think of calling
them anything but "shooters'-squat upon the
ground in n circle. A pair OF dice-mOre famil-
| iarly known as the "bones'-are tossed on the
ground. Each player is privileged to take them
vent any enc from ringing in peetes"
! "Peeties' are dice with double numbers. There
are two kinds Of "peetes"-those with which it
| is impossible to throw seven and others made
so that they can turn up only seven.
After examination Of the dice the first player
losses n coin on the ground
| Fade me. niggah"' he exclams
Another player fades" him by covering the
money The first player blows into his hand.
| picks up the dice. juggles them in the hol-
low OF his hand and rolls them on the ground
| In 'front.' or him. He never fails to utter some
| thing which he believes will bring him good
luck The stock expressions are
|
| Seven 'leven"
| Lay him down"
| get me dat money 'levenr'
| dis TO n path o shoes"
Hook um die"
Look out dah niggerr'
Fade you
Take my gal 10 Cairo,"
thousand other EXCAVATIONS are indulped
In according TO the players concei;
II the Shooter" throws seven or eleven he
wins. lie picks un the money and the dice and
says: Come agin'. black man.
| II got YOU fadcdr cxclaims another plaver IN
acceptance Of tn" challenge He throws down
a second coin to match that OF the shooter.
INC oty'r players max" side bets on the result
me irst man shoots again. II he throws
two three or twelve he loses or craps out"
IL ne throws foIr, five. six, eight. nine or ten
the humhcr thrown Is called his point and he
continues 20 throw until he either wins by re-
peating 1t or loses by throwing seven
As long as the throwcr continues To- win be
may keep the dice. When he loses he passes"
them to the next player who throws
III a player suspects that loaded dice or
peeties have been struggled into the game
ne may al any time pick up the bones when a
player makes first throw When the dice fall
ne says. My dice as a meaning OF his inten-
ton. He takes them up examines thern and
th'y are found to be square he losses them
Your dice. Shoot"
II the dice are "crooked' the game usually
comes To tumutuOus end by the plavers
shatChlng up stakes and using raZors on the
".'"'o''l! vi ule man VINO rung in the pecties"
IT an attempt is made to examine the dice NJ
any time except on the first throw trouble 10
likely to arise. ''O'e 10
Inc person who covers a thrower's money Is
lader Nearly every point on the dice is
named. -Four is called Little Joe. five ia
rhuDe or fever; six is known as Jimmy
! HICKS nine is Lex" and ten sometimes is
Big Dick and at others Big Tom"
All crap players indulge in Characteristic
negro actions when PLAYING. They blow upon
the dice. rattle them in the hollow OF their
hands. throw the dice the ground snap their
fingers sharply and utter a deep aspirated "Ahr,
When players money has been faded" and
he is trying to make a point by the aid OF ex-
CARNATIONS OF Come seven leveni" Come IN
See me, Little Joe" " Big Dick" or whatever his
point may be- the 'fader' tries to counteract
thc spell OF the conJure invoked by saying Cut
MN OF, seven, Cat his throat, seven: Come
under him. sevenr' ~
The usual accompaniment to Jimmy Hicks"
throw of six. is. Big Six, take my gal to Mem
phs."
In Memphis there many old and Young
male and female crap shooters Bows gather in
alleys and squat about the ground while senti-
nels stand guard al each end OF the passage
TO warn them Of the approach of policemen
Lucky nggers." with pocketfuls OF money sit
up all night in cramped back rooms behind
saloons and gamble with feverlsh anxiety. When
money Is gone, clothes are taken from their
backs and pawned ~ get another stake
Roustabouts on Steamboats, perform almost
superhuman drudgery for a whole month and
take their pay of $50 to some crap joint or
gamble 1t away on top of a bale of cotton in the
cargo OF boat They play night and day on
long trips until every cent Is gone. and they are
forced to beg from lucky players enough to buy
5-cent smack" majority of the murders
among roustabouts grow out OF craps
In st. Louis white gamblers tried To change
the name Of the game to "oontz" This peculiar
appellatlon failed to strike the fancy OF the
darkies, and for twenty years II has been known
as craps"
Memphis police constantly raiding games