Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-04
LOUIS PHILIPPE PLAYED "CRAPs.,
ihe Game Was Introduced to New
Orleans Society 100 Years Ago.

orleans society 100 Years Ago.
From the Savannah Ca, News
If there is one game to which the sa-
Vannah negro is devoted above all others it
Is craps. City or country it is all alike.
On Sunday the country negroes gather in
little groups in the shade of the trees. ont
OF sight of the big house" and play all
day long, or until the wages which they re-
celved on Saturday night are gone In the
cities they gather on the wharves, in the
corners OF warehouses. or any favorable
spot out of sight of the cop" and play
for any amount they may possess. from
coppers to dollars.
The Savannah bootblacks and newshovs
ike those of any other city, gamble away
their earnings, and many 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 ;he
players White boys play the game too,
out negroes 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
10 be interfered with by the police, craps
has all the advantage.
1here are destinations about the game
peculiarly African. 1t is not without its in
tricacies; the ordinary come seven. come
eleven plan of the game is simple enough
but there is crowd around the players,
In the game and a dozen side bets How
they manage 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" ex-
claims one. See my gal Sunday night"
exclaims another. DE little number two"
says one as that unlucky number shows up.
Il 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 lust
passed a law making the game of craps il
legal. 1t does not matter where ii is play
ed, whether in the streets, in the club, or
at home, craps is specially singled out as
the most depraved of gambling games rot
to be tolerated anywhere The game, ac-
cordlng TO writer in Harper'S, is of New
Orleans origin and over one hundred years
old. Bernard de Marigny who entertained
Louis Philippe when he came to Louisiana
and who stood seventy years ago at the
head of the creole colony of the state as its
wealthiest and most prominent citizen-he
was entitled to call himself marquis in
French-was the inventor. father, of
craps" and brought it in high favor as the
fashionable gambling of the day. When he
laid off his plantation, just below the then
city of New OrleanS-it is now the third dis
trict, but was then the Faubourg Marigny
and divided it up into lots, he named one
OF the principal streets Craps" and eX-
planned that he did so because he had lost
the money he received from the lots on that
street in this favorte game of his 1t re-
manned Craps street until few years ago.
when protest was raised against such a
dsreputable name for very quiet and re-
spectacle street, especially given to
churches. THE Craps Street Methodist
Church" sounded particularly bad. After
Bernard Marigny's death craps as & gam
bling game descended in the social scale
and was finally monopolized mainly by
negroes and street gamins.