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

Cal, the other day. He was Major
George Nj. White. For fifty years he
made gambling his sole pursuit. He
knew all the old-time antebellum sports
OF the south: he travelled all over the
country and to the Bermudas, 10 Mex
leo and TO Honolulu, for gaming reasons
and. first and last, he won tens OF
thousands of dollars. At one time he
was worth some $50, 900 in race track
stock at St Louis and water bonds OF
Memphis, Tenn. but he left an estate
OF less than $500. Even that was sent
as gift TO him in his old age by
circle OF young gamblers in New Or
leans. As boy in the old St. Charles
hotel N New Orleans he saw some OF
the greatest ga .4bling games between
| rich planters. United States senator's
and southern orators that were ever
played. Before he was 20 he was an
adept at poker, and before he was %
ne was rich and famous by his remark
| able success IS a faro dealer.
In 1897, at the age of Y years, he
played his last game of cards, and with
the few thousand dollars his devoted
wife had saved from his enormous Win
nings in other days the old couple came
! to live in California. From that time
he never touched cards again. But he
lived in the memory of the old days
when he sat about the green table, and
he was always glad to chat reminiS-
Gently of all the big games he partici-
pated in. He had a remarkably accur-
| ate memory for details. There can be
little doubt that he was the best known
! faro dealer and round-table poker
player there was on the Mississippi
river steamers in the last years Dre-
vious to the civil war. The late AttOr
ney General Garland once Jlid that the
originator of many of the fundamental
principles of draw poker as it is known
today was Major White The old gam
bier was a fine type of the Old-fashiOn-
ed gambler. He was prodigal in his
living, ready to bet on any proposition,
quite abstemious in his habits. cour-
teous to women seldom excited and
never ashamed of his calling. He often
| introduced himself to strangers as an
| honest, gentlemanly gambler"
He was as famous for his reckless
extravaganza as for his unusual win
nings in his younger days. When the
| First Louisiana regiment was formed
/ in 1851 to go to the civil war, Major
| White dined the commissioned officers
at the old st. Charles hotel in New Or
| leans at a cost of 81, 400 He never
| quarreled and seldom raised his voice
/ He was sensitive about his meager
! schooling and his bad grammar; he was
particularly we'll informed, on the
other hand, on the history of his coun-
| try and affairs of the day He knew
! personally all the living men of the
| day who Travelled to any degree forty
Fyears ago.
He used to narrate anecdotes of
games of cards in which Henry Clay
and he were both participants in 1S4S
and 1S49, when White was beginning
his career as a gambler. He had a
genius for faro. and his winnings on
many occasions exceeded $1,000 in one
night. He was employed at a salary of
$500 week for several years by a club
| in New Orleans simply to deal faro
| every night in the week. At last, when
he grew weary of that, his salary was
! raised to S400 a week. He made $780,
600 in 1857 by gambling on the Missis-
sippi river, and there were a number
of years when his winnings aggregat-
ed $4,000 and $4,000 in twelve months.
But he spent his money with a reck-
less hand. He had a crowd of friends
constantly about him, and he was al
ways giving $50 and 800 to less for
tunate gamblers.
As he sat in his big easy chair one
day month before his death, he chat
ted a long time about his memories Of
the palmy days of gambling, and par
ticularly of the wonderful games he
used to participate in on the palatial
Mississippi river steamers before the
civil war.
THE most wonderful gambling days
this country has ever known were from
about 1880 to $780," he said That was
when poker and faro became the games
they are in America, and when poker
was developed. Literally every man.
except clergymen, in the Mississippi
river valley used to gamble in those
days, and / have known reputable
clergymen at that time to bet on horse
races. All the statesmen and orators
of the west and south gambled to some
extent then. / have seen all the po-
litical idols of the south for forty
and fifty years ago, except Jefferson
Davis. about a gambling table. Peo-
pie nowadays can have no idea of how
the. mania for gaming possessed their
venerated and princely fathers in those
days.
THE gamblers of the last ten years
= previous to the civil war were the
greatest sports the world has ever
seen; but they got too avaricious, be
came dishonest and brought about the
downfall of a profession that one need
not be ashamed of as it was conducted
Whewi What elegant fellows anC
what spendthrifts the Mississippi river
gamblers were when 1 came on the
stage of operations. A hundred dollar:
didn't bother them any more than g
cigar would one of US now. AND
clothes! They were all dressers. They
wore soft black hats. black clothes
high-heeled boots, low-necked shirt:
with big loose collars, and ties will
frilled bOsoms. Each had a solitaire
breastpin and a big solitaire ring, anC
one of those big long gold chains gOinE
about the neck three or four times anC
hanging down over the chest. They
didn't drink anything but wine, anC
they would ride across the streets il
hacks rather than get mud on thei
shoes. They were fine fellows edu
Gated men, who could talk to any ont
about anything. and very polite.
Oh, there are no gamblers aliv'
| now like the ones we used TO know
Look at the specimens that call them
selves gamblers nowi What are they
Why, mere kids-two-bit players. The!
have harmed the profession that wa
once not a reproach to a member of it
Since I've been living here among TIL
! oranges I've been thinking of all tn
old gamblers such as I used TO know
and deal with, and there's precious few
of them left now. There are about min
of the first class ones so far as / Cal
remember them. All but two of then
are broke and hustling for meals. Poo
fellows! But my, what big days the!
used to have in the palny days o
steamboating on the Mississippi river
. Take it twenty-five years ago, whel
the gaming began to fall off. Their
never will be days again like them il
these days, my boy-great days for tn
town, with thirty-six steamboats, a
the wharf all at once, the levee coveret
with drays and every sport with stuff
: in his pockets and lots of good clothes
There were fully 500 men VIII
worked the boats between ST. Lopi
and New Orleans, and there's no tell
ing how much money they did pull of