The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-07
PECULIAR POKER CHIPS
rHnY WERE DARKIEs IN ooUTHEMN STEAMBOAT DAHS.
But tho Boiler on the Matches Burst Just Before the Bets Were Paid, and the Heirs Went to
 Law About It.


 know" he added, refectively, but what the most excitin' game ever see was the one that was goin' on the very night she was blowed up.
 There's been four or five boats of the came name on the river since I've been travelling it,, an that's been q long time now. Fast as one was burned or blowed up. there'd be another built. for there hasn't never been no superstition about names that way. But this boat that speak of was the crack boat O. the river in '5s and '5s. It were early in the spring of '60 she were lost.
 that had ever run. up to that time. An. ! don't know but she was the handsomest eyer see. There want nothin' that was ansvss tsst of at the cds time in the way boat that want in her, an everything about her was run as elegant as it was at the old St. Charles itself in New Or leans; an they did say that were the there's some in the Moth, now, that's finer. but there want none then.
 "One thing on this boat that m teilin' G1 t was % ever or, ln was that there m w was four private rooms on her. that was kept spe- cial for poker. O course, there was po- ker played on all the hoets, more or less, us knoM.s ss that st made s amy amy such @ sccommo- dations deliberate. On the other Boats 1t would be played in the staterooms, or maybe in the barroom If that was big enough, or in the main ssioon after the ladies had gone to bed. or. in the mems saloon when there was two. But here there was four rooms that was kept for People Weren't Prejudiced.
 ''Just naturally, the Matches caught the trade O sportin men. an didn't get as much O. the other ..ind as he other boats, for there want no secret made of it. an while people didn't have no great
 A&~IA IL .uzrr there was a good many that didn't care to travel where there was so much of 1t. But every man that was looktn for a big game on the river went on the Nat chez if he couid make 1t, and there was always some professionals on board to give 'em all the was lookin' for.
 "The particular trip I'm speakin' of was in February an there was a eur ous travelin'. like they ssn'iy did, in pairs. but not lettin on to strangers that they was acquainted. O. course. they all on o the boat @ knowed :sm all, but outsIG- CTS didn't always ind t out, even after they'd lost their money.
 "One O these pairs vas two sioe part ners named Wade an Peters. Wade was . slick dandy that looked to be about s5 year old, but must ha' been older: Es had girlish face, and dressed hisse.f to kill Wore diamonds on both han1s an in his shirt, an set up for a lady killer when he were in New Orleans. but when he travelled he were, one O them wicked kind that was soft spoken an easy till there was trouble. an then fit
 sf "pesers @ ssi.ays made up like a small planter. Not one O them that lived like kings on the big plantations with more nissers than they ed s, count to an 1o m;tr mGfe but a plain. well-to-do countryman that was just traveln' the river for the -nrst time an was lookin' for some excitement 'thout knowin' just how to ind 1t. O till they'd happen to get into the same
 Low Down Northerner.
 ''There was two other men on board that. trip that was partners. too, nui O people didn't have no great regard for gamblers. but they had a great sight less for nigger traders; an these two was used to SSuy niggers at auction in New Orleans, an take 'em up the river on speculation. them days. an there was heaps O money made at it, too. but it were a business that there want every body would go into. Folks'd buy niggers from 'em but they wouldn't have nothin to do with em more'nl they'd help:
 These two was a low-down Northern man named Smithers an feller that come i'm a family pore whites in Mis- sissippi, named Barker They'd bought up country to sell to the planters It was auctions that winter. an was takin. em a pretty big lot, for niggers was worth good money; but these fellers had made money, an they was middlin' rich. reckon they had ths over sSooSE Sss %orts on the s1O,0o0 or $i5. 900 on ,em by the time they'd They'd sold some of 'em on tHe boat. for there was number O planters aboard that had been down to New Or leans on business or pleasure, or both, an was gettin' home. But. O course the planters wouldn't have nothin' to do with Smithers or Barker, any one on 'efn, out
 "Just naturally the gamblers didn't have no suah prejudices. an Peters had marked these two s.ss as Eo9'SS s'S zane; G.1 afGTs watched 'em pretty close an got talkin' with 'em. but he didn't buy no nissers, though he looked 'em over, an talked about buytn', like he were reely a planter. but he seen 'em make two or three sales an get the money. His idee was that him an Wade would get the money later an maybe, if the traders was game they might get some O. the nissers' too'
 The traders was no fools. but don't reckon they stfspicioned that Wade an Peters was partners. an when Peters IRroIRosed II%It se pass ths erenin they was Wln enough thiniin that Peters was likely goin to buy a nigger or two an 1t were l their play to keep in with him.
 70 course. he. got Wade into the game an they had one O the four ruoms I was tellin' about, p 1t were in that room tt,.t thst ,sh9slseaNuM soin' on when the
 'frhere want no reel necessity for bust 1 in that biler. but Cap'n Carruthers. that was runnin' the boat. was a headstrong sort O man, an he'd been mortified to death four or five times the year afore by havin' the Natchez beat on the trip i'm New Orleans to Natchez, by the Belle O the Bayous, that was a newer boat | than his'n, an built for speed, like the no call for him to feel bad. for the two 1 boats wasn't in the same class, but Cap'n | Jackson, O the Belle. had jeered him | some, an he were sore.
 No Crooked Dealing. So when we was about two hours be- | low Natchez that night, an he seen the | Belle O the Bayous come round turn | in the river about two miles astern,, he | says to hisself that he'd be jiggered if | he Id let her tie up shesd O the Natchez, l an he did crowd things leetle too hard. | Now, I ain't sayin' there was any | thing crooked in the arrangements in any | O them four rooms. l reckon the cap'n | if he'd knowed it. but Wade an Peters | had used the rooms afore, an if there | was anything like two mirrors that re- | fected onto each other, an give a chance | to look round corner, they was most | likely onto it An I reckon they wouldn't | ha had no scruples about lookin'.
 Anyway, they had them two traders | beat to a frazzle. right i'm the jump. That ain't to say, Q course, that they i won at the start. As long as 1t were a | dollar limit 'Smithers had the luck O the devil. He must ha been near lalIo oh xayha patnra aa1