The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-07-15

or the table 10 play III Win AaAia-
''Eph Horn. the pioneer minstrel, was
so infatuated with gaming tnat ne
never could go to bed so long as theIe
was a light burning over a green cioth-
He had a boy named Henry CahaH,
whom he supported, and the boy was
quite an expense to him. one Gay IN
/ the old Arcade Horn sat WITH SUI
/ tary white chip in his hand. the last OF
/ his $50 a week He was hesltdtils
whether to bet it or not, when up Came
/ Henry and said:
Hurry ND. Eph, and make VIII
ming. so we can go 10 dinner
! Me? Me make a winning with -FOUR
/ bits? You might as well talk OF lower
/ ing a fireproof safe out OF a WINDOW
with horSehair.
Star Davis was a great old boy. jim
f, McLane's mother allowed him Sle,VeV q
/ year not to come near her, but ne was
! broke nearly all the time Tor all thaS
and he had to gamble 10 make MS
way. Hank Johnson was daisy q
I hard PLAYER. who never wore par OF
/ boots worth less than $50. Glib Cohern
and Tom Mackey were the dresSers OF
| the river Antheir winnings used 10 go
/ into clothes. They'd send TO Paris Tor
/ their underclothing and all that sort Oh
/ thing. They were great rivals in those
days, when dress went for something
! Doc Hill was McLane's partner Ihen
7 there was big Alexander, who WORKED
out of Natchez; jim Mcdonald, a deta
shot with a pistol; Ashlcck, who could
do more funny work with a deck or
! cards than l ever saw before or since.
I couldn't name them all. They were
good fellOws-free with their money as
water. after schemEng to bust their
! heads to get it.
why, it wasn't anything but gamble
after p boat left ST. Louis until II
reached New Orleans. I've seen a faro
! game, roulette game, three poker
games and monte running in the CABIN,
and the deck hands playing chuck-a-
luck. l once saw planter, relative
/ of Jefferson Davis, play roulette win
/ s. gold pieces on the steamer Molly
/ Brown. have known men to drop Sl,OUO
/ at faro before one could smoke half q
| cigar. l once saw two Louisville to-
| bacco merchants bet 500 at a clatter
upon quoit-throwing on deck. saw
man from Memphis lose his whole cot
ton crop in one night and get up and
never mind it particularly. Poker was
mostly the game. They played bluff
| and brag a good deal, and there was
generally a big game on every boat.
| Many a time I've seen a game PLAYER
Just take of his watch and rings and
! studs and play them in. Men lost their
goods playing in the way-bills. I've
seen them betting a bale Of cotton at
q crack, and il wasn't at all uncommon
TO hear an old planter betting off his
negroes on a good hand. Every man
who ever ran on the river knows that
these old planters used 10 play in their
body servants, valuing them all the
way from $500 to 81 500. saw a little
colored bow stand UP at $500 20 back
his masters faith in little flush that
wasn't any good on earth. The niggers
didn't seem to care particularly about
it, and it was so common that nobody
noticed it particularly.
Some gamblers would come in dis
guised in hayseed clothes to skin the
passengers. Maybe there'd be four or
five on a boat, all supposedly strangers
. to each other, and playing into each
others hands. Sometimes there would
: be a kick, and the captain would get
hot. When a passenger would squeal
! the captain would ask him to pick out
the man who robbed him, and the gam
! bier, if nabbed, would have to give UP
the stuff and get off the boat anywhere
; the captain chose to run her in. The
) tricky gamblers used TO have false
whiskers and wigs for these occasions,
: so that when the kick was made they
: couldn't be picked under their dis
guises. Many time I've known them
to jump off the boat into the water be
fore the boat landed to get away before
| the kick was made and the victim
could look at the passengers to pick
out his man. There wasn't much pros
eeuting then if a fellow was caught
The captain was boss, and he made
the man give Up, put him OF the boat
and that settled it. They didn't jug a
[ man right away.
Were there any shadows TO the gay
times on the Mississippi river steam
ers? Yes. occasionally. The saddest
event was one that happened in the
! fall Of 1858. At that time John Powell
, , was the most famous sport He was a
! square man. handsome. brave and moi
snowy. He desDised the tricks Of the
: tin-horn gentry have been telling you
about. He had known Andrew Jackson
personally. and had declined 3
; nomination TO congress from 2
! Missouri district. We younger fellow,
used to envy Powell, and we aped al
! MS acts and talk, for we saw that h.
! was the greatest all-round gamble
that ever drew breath. He was abou
% years old in 1858 He owned ther
the Mccall Opera House in New Or
leans and had a fine 500, 900 stock farm
and negroes in Tennessee. 1t seemed
as If everything he put his hand Il
. turned to gold. and he was courted by
such men as Sergeant S. Prentiss
Stephen A Douglas and whole raf
of big politicians in Louisiana. On,
day we were coming down the river
and mad made good wad Of money
, Powell was on board, and he got int,
a private game with handsome. fresh
faced, blue-eyed young Englishman
who was going down to Texas ia p,
into ranching. We all took a. fame,
TO him because he was so well dresse,
inst mt of