The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-17
mossBAcK POKER.
A Game With Quick Action Played
by Hoboes Along Railroads.

by Hoboes Along Railroads.
ALTOONA (Pa.) Cor. New York SUM
mot long age. said Frank Hopkins,
Pennsylvania railroad detective, 1 dis
covered a new game. or. rather, be
came acquainted with the details OF
an old one little known outside the
tramp camps which line the railroads
For quick action il has ping-pong ana
other effete amusements backed clear
into the corner.
"One morning while I was camping
with a gang 1 had spotted, a gentle
man we called Bigfoot rose YEARLY
from his turf couch and asked me If I
had two bits.
What for?' I asked.
why, to play, of course he an
swered.
I've got four beers I said Four
beers is tramp for 20 cents.
"'WeI, I'll go you a beer on the
next messy. he said.
Look here I said. L haven't been
on the road very long. an you have
me goin. What's the gamer
What kind of a piker are you,
anyhow, that you never played moss
back poker?' he exclaimed
Show me how, l says, and the
beers is yours il you get them
you've played poker in your time,
l guess he said, with some scorn-
Il admitted l had.
We'll he went on. this is poker
with no short-card end All you need
is the coin and a mOssback train an
the game starts. You take a messy
for the deck because the cars go slowly
and YOU have time to read the figures
The engine is the first hand Say II
is numbered 2,021; you have PAIR OF
deuces. First car is my hand; say II
is numbered $3.50; you lose, for have
trays against your deuces- Are you
wiser
81 admitted / had the idea.
Here comes a messy, now, yelled
Bigfoot. as he munched the end OF
second hand cigar stub. III take the
first hand for beer a throw.
Il agreed.
!, 49, he yelled as the locomotive
passed. That's ten high; the cipher
counts a ten-spot.'
Got me skinned on an ace full hs
admitted
s.ss9 he yelled gIeefully next. You
/ can't beat trips with old 1856
How does your 5,456 suit your 1
asked.
Pair OF fives is good on them Cen
| trails he said. See l skinned you again
! on that measIy / ,146 of the Reading
Il lost again on SITS, P F. w & Z
| against a Pennsy S,99s I stil was
beer to the good in my stack. but ne
! cleaned me out on a 41.144 Pennsy
! against a 3,443 Missouri Pacific.
| Notice I had four eleven forty
1 four?' Bigfoot asked me. Then knew
how it happened.
Fellow thinks there amt no snort
| card end to the game Bigfoot conhded-
] as he pocketed my four beers. But
| there is. an I'll put you next Skin
| your eye over the train when you see
! il coming Count. back how far the
steel cars run and tx your play so you
| get all the big ones.
! IN tell you why: All the steel cars
are the last put on by any railroad
/ and the numbers run usually into hVe
! figures. The little short gondolas run
| three and four figures, and the man
! that gets them is playin' four-card
hand against five.
1T takes a quick eye to size up a
train, but you soon learn how, if you
are wise ON the graft. Cabooses always
I run big hands. They are always num-
| bered higher than the newest car, and
! help a fellow out of a big hole some
| times.
""fOnce. down in west Philadelphia,
| / doubled on the ca boose and won out
with Ill Ny pal knocked the game
sayin' nobody could hold five aces in a
straight game, but l got the money
after We had settled the point WIN
ballast
= ANY other game you can play with
mossy2' 1 asked.
We'll said Bigfoot, they're good
for craps. too. but the game is toe
slow Say, you shoot the engine foT
your point and get two. Your pal wins
if seven for the first figure on car
comes on before the two. If you get q
two for the first figure you take the
/ coin.
.. The trouble about messy craps Is
that whole rain may pass before you
win or lose. ! have played three trains
before a beer changed hands
OF course, it amt so bad wheT
you have nothing to do but loaf arounc
and wait, especially when you dom
have more than beer. Only the cheaI
skates who have no big money PLAY
messy craps. Messy poker is the thing
for quick action