The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-07-15
Gentlemen Gamblers i'm
The Days Before the War
Gamblers i'm


gamblers in your life. They hadn't
anything to do and some of them
looked as if they'd just as soon jump
overheard as not
OF course. that class of gamblers
had to do something to take chances
on, and the passengers with money
were just as anxious to have some sport
invented for them The gamblers had
promised not TO touch cards on the
Doat, so necessity gave us the incen-
tive TO invent new Schmes for helping
the passengers from a plethora of gold
and silver. Dead-sure games thereby
came about. For instance. when we
landed at a woodpile and while the
deckhands We're loading the boat up
with fuel, the gamblers would get the
moneyed passengers off on the bank to
engage in various skin games. The
gamblers artfUlly got TO betting among
themselves about running Jumps
and, of course, the passengers dropped
into it. So they'd run off a gangplank
anG up TO tree TO jump when the
first gambler would say. Hello. whats
here% and stop. Behind the tree one
of the gang had been throwing three
card monte, while the others got up
the jumping scheme. The gamblers
won just to make the game good, and
the way those fellows skinned the pas
sengers was horrible The captain got
on to the scheme, and when the boat
started off up the stream the whole
gang. forty of them, were just
marooned there in the woods on a cold
night. But they took the next boat up
or down and worked their way up this
way or down to New Orleans.
That wasn't gambling; it was rob
berry. but that's what went as gambling
in those times. The follows had to be
pretty slick, I'll tell you. When a boat
started out of New Orleans, say, a
couple of gamblers would be on board
They were often well educated fellows
and always fine dressers. All they did
was just get acquainted with the men
with money and size up how much they
had. This was easily done, because
card playing was the only thing to
pass away the time. These capperS
wouldn't win any money. They were
just TO do the gentlemen, but when
they got off the boat their pals came
at some point up the river with a full
knowledge of how much money there
was on board, what men had it and
how these men were best approached.
1t wasn't hard to get acquainted, and
it wasn't hard to get up a game of
euchre after few drinks. Once the
game was on the thing was smooth; the
dealer fixed the deck and dealt out a
good poker hand TO the mark, but a
better one to his own partner, who
promptly declared:
1--we a good hand I'd like to bet
on
SO have l. replied Mr..
and then they got into betting, and
the stranger got skinned right and left.
The cards were stacked and marked on
the back so that he didn't have any
chance at all to win All the playing
I NEr-c Il NIT al cfn rI0a
fellows pick every card in a pack and
| call it without missing once. I've seen
them shuttle one for one all through
from top to bottom, so that they were
| in the same position after a dozen
| shuffies that they were in at first
/ They'd just flutter them UP like a flight
/ of quails and get aces, kings, queens
/ jacks and tens all together as easy as
/ pie. a sucker had no more chance
| against these fellows than a snowfall
! has in a red-hot oven. Every deck
was marked. 1t does not seem posi-
| pie now that such simple games were
| not exposed.
The most adroit schemer in, those
days was an Alabama man named
| James w. Streeter. He was the
| originator of many confidence schemes
that have been worked threadbare. He
was the most ingenious swindIer / ever
! came across An anecdote of how he
/ worked his game will illustrate how
abundant money used to be in those
| days and how easily the men on the
Mississippi river steamers used to par
with it. He got hold Of a rich superior
] court judge from Cairo, Ill; one day
| The judge didn't happen to have q
wad along that day, and he quickly
caught on to Streeter's game. The
/ judge went secretly to the bartender
of the boat and got bundle of wildcat
money, wrapped it around with g
couple of twentieS and put some f1veS
/ in the middle. They started on euchre
/ and the judge got the usual good poker
! hand and Jim Streeter played in. The
| judge knew Streeter's game was to le
him win. to make the final skinning al
the Surer. He lost a couple of time:
just to flash his roll and skin off hves
| to Jim. They played till supper, anC
| then the judge quit S1S5 winner. Aftel
supper Jim wanted to open the game
| but the judge wouldn't have it, and
Jim kicked. He went ashore and told
a friend about a fellow who had done
him, and just as he was telling it the
| judge came to the rail and Jim pointed
him out to his friend.
Why, you sucker, said the friend
that's so-and-so from Cairo. He knows
| every gambler on the river
Jim offered the Judge $500 suit OF
clothes not to tell the story, but the
judge wouldn't hear of il, and all New
Orleans heard the story when the judge
got off the boat.
Jack Gambill used to tell story OF
a fellow named Dan, who was a most
notorious cheat and couldn't play fail
| at any game in the world. I saw Dan
the other day. said Jack, and he was
! To Tot III oil
playing a game of solitaire And dc
you know. he hadn't sat there five min
utes before he began nudging the leg