The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-09

a c4r1- In his dark face there is only
a mild interest The battle win cor
tinue until all the rouIeaus are gone
or some thousands have been taken
from the gam bler's pile. Whether win
nhng or losing, the old hidaIgo never
forgets his politeness. He asks par
don when he Is slow in placing his
wagers, and he thanks the dealer when
he gets his winnings
How's gambling in the western
states nOWadays2 Very dul1 EXCEPT in
Montana and San Francisco. There are
no big games anywhere in the Union
nowadays, except occasionally In New
Orleans have recently talked with
gamblers who have been everywhere
here in the west seeking places where
big games are played, and they all say
the stagnation that has cone over the
western gaming fraternity is the most
general and complete they have ever
known the same thing obtains in the
eastern states. I know personally of
hundreds of the time gamblers who
are broke and canrot get even a chance
at a foOthold to climb into easy circun-
stances again.
Barton's Schooling In Poker
How long have 1 been gambler?
Practically all my life. I was born a
slave on the Hambin farm in south
ern Missouri about 1886 but 1 had an
indulgent, kind master ard mistress,
who spoiled me by leniency. l had an
unusually good common school educa-
tioE probably the best tuition that
any negro boy had had in that region
of Missouri. My master proposed
making me his bookkee l9er or business
manager among the colOred folks on
the farm when he was away selling
his crops. But 1 was not taught to do
hard work, and to know the. value y
patient toll I knew how to play cards
when a mere fodder. Mr.. HambilI
used to have me called to his house
from our cabin to show his visitors
how skillfully I could play several
games of solitaire. That must have
been when 1 was about years old 1
learned poker from watching the games
that my master and his planter friends
used to play day after day for a week
at time at the farm. ! must
have been about II years old
when / had a fairly correct idea of how
poker was played.
When the civil war broke out was
about Is years old, and my master hav-
ing gone into the confederate army 1
ran away. and finally got to Chicago.
There / worked in a saloon, and my
talent for cards soon became known
worked for 50 q week for Just two
months. Then, with a hacker, who
agreed to give me $50 month for
came a professional poker player. The
fact that l was black and had a better
education than a good many of the
bum gamblers whom l met about the
green table gave me a reputation. That
was what I wanted. l had clerks book
keepers and smalI-fry gamblers hunt
me up in those days and make dates
with me for. a game. / used to have
superstitious gamblers-by the way, all
gam blers have some particular super
stitions-cOme around and beg me to
have a game with them, because they
had been playing in hard luck for a
season. They thought that if they
could win from a black gambler they
would have decided change in luck.
BEFORE L was Is. although lack of sleep
and my nervous, exciting pursuit made
me look several years older, l was
playing il games in Chicago where a
jackpot frequently contained 5000 and
$780, The very day the Chicago news
papers published the news that Lincoln
hal signed the emancipation prOclama-
tier and 1 was a free man l figured UP
my cash and personal assets. which
were $4,000. Had I been a free man a
few years before 1 might have then
had double that capital but I was con-
stantly afraid some one would find out
was a slave and take all my money
on a threat of sending me back to old
Missouri, and I never cared much to
accumulate wealth.
Great Games In Chicago.
1.-THE most wonderful days 1 ever
knew for poker playing were in the
first ten years after the war. The sol
der boys came home from army and
camp life expert poker players, and the
game had an extraordinary revival. I
believe IT was about 1870 that General
Robert g Schenck of Ohio made the
game famous in Europe. The poker
rooms in Chicago and ST. Louis multi
piled fast and all did a smashing big
business just after the war. The Alca-
Ear club on Madison street in Chicago
was run by three eX-army officers, and
1 had some stock in it. In 1867 and 1868
a total investment of SIS 900 there
yielded $4,000 a year clean profit. The
Morrison club on Polk street was a
gorgeous affair, and know personally
that its net annual profits were over
600 per cent on the investment.
Prom Chicago 1 went west. I was
in Virginia City in the marvellous days
when men sprang from mining Iaborers
to multi milliOnaires in a year Then
I went to San Francisco, and since 1875
I have played for weeks and months
in every town of 80, 900 or more popula-
ton in the west. The fact that l am
a black man has been the greatest fac
tor in my success for over a third of a
century. Every day / have people come