The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-09
CARD SHARPERS
~ COME TO GRIEF.
Mr.. Saxton, River Gambler, Acts to
Save His Profession From
Crossroads Disgrace.

The methods OF the old-time card sharps
were always an interesting story TO me.
said the gray-haired young-looking man.
We used TO call them crossroads gam
blers. the kind mean. because of their
habit Of roaming around the country look
ing for the very smallest settlements there
were, and settling down for a day or a week
here and there until they cleaned out all
the victims they were likely to find, and
then moving on.
L don't suppose IL was any more sur
prising that they should find people willing
10 play cards with them than II u to think
that unsophisticated farmers from all
over the country buy green goods and gold
bricks and 90 up against the Wall Street
game year after year, with no sign appear
ing Of any increase Of intelligence on the
part of the general public, II seems as
If getting swinded was one Of the neces-
saries Of life, like bread and whiskey and
tobacco. and that people had TO have It,
Anyhow, they do have it, and always
have, and I suppose they always will.
and swindlers appear to be part OF the
great general schemes Of the universe.
same as mosquitoes and fleas and such.
And they all make some sort Of living.
THE cross roads gambler of the Middle
West, ~ We call il now, was, however.
a distinct type some thirty years ago.
Maybe he il yet. don't travel the country
how a. did then, and can't say, but
imagine he has disappeared AZ completely
as the queer clothes We all used TO wear
IN those days, or the boots.
A good deal Of the card-playinR on
the Mississippi and other river boats was
l. - 4, IA no, llx.
travelled by the boats because there were
not many railroads, but they were dis
tinctly inferior class TO the regular river
gamblers, being less skillful and less pol
ishcd in manner and usually not 20 pros
Porous in appearance.
They we're handles in their way, some
Of them, but not such dandies az the others.
being rougher and more tiashy in their
dress and in their ways, a. was natural.
considering the kind Of game they we're
looking for.
There was no love lost between the
two classes just Why they should have
hated one another as they seemed to, /
don't pretend to say. Probably there
were reasons for il that didn't fully under
stand, but could see. a. everybody
else could who kept his eyes open, that
the more pretentious sharper always seemed
To resent any effort on the part OF cross
roads gambler To ply ins trade on the
boate.
i don't mean by that, that there was
any hard and fast rule enforced, or even
attempted to enforce. They didnt 20
around with labels on them TO distinguish
them one from the other, but there were
some Of them who could not I've mistaken.
and the class hatred, when II did break
out, burned ferccly.
1T was in the spring OF ~ or 10 that !
took a boa, AT Cairo for Memphis and had
the opportunity, before the trip ~at con
| GUIDED, to see one of the most interesting
mix-ups, ] reckon, that ever happened,
even on a Mississippi steamboat.
A poker game WAS going on when |
got aboard the boat bat that was so ordi-
nary a happening that did not pay much
attention To- il. l looked on for time,
for poker always fascinates me. whether
am one of the players or not; but It didn't
seem to be- anything out OF the usual. and
after | had watched II Tor Few minutes
| went out on deck to enjoy the moonlight
and a cigar
There were Ave men playing. and |
| did not have to look twice to see that two
| Of them were cross-roads gamblers, Ii
| anybody ever was one. Ihey were big.
hurly fellows. both 81 them dressed like
count rymcn, bu, wearing preposterous
iewelry and neckties and waistcoats Of
! glaring colors and loud patterns.
They wore the long hair that was COM
| mon among Southarners at that time
| and might have been taken for well-to-do
! plan,ation oyersecrs before the war but
| for their hands Those, big and brawny
a. they were, were III Periect condition,
as a gamblers hands generally are.
| There was very little talking going on.
| as Is usual at poker, and ! didn't hear
either of them called 10y name; but after
| ward learned that they were two partners,
named Warner and Pitkin, who came from
| Mississippi but had been as far North
| a. s. Louis on a successful business trip
| through Arkansas and Missouri and were
| on their way home.
They had caught three suckers on the
| boat and We're working them In the usual
! way; but when first looked on tho game
was a small one, none OF the players ha wing
| more than fifteen or twenty dollars IN front
! Of him, and the limit being y.
| THE three suckers were all rough
| looking men, too, who looked as II $50
! might be small fortune to any one of
| them, and who played closely and care
| fully One Of them, imagined, was a
| lumberman from the Minnesota pine woods.
Among the four or five others who
| were looking on nj the game was one whom
know ~ a top-notch gambler. His name
was Saxton.
| Il had seen him play on the boats several
times and had set him down for dangerous
man, not simply because he had tho repu-
tation Of being fighter, but beckuse ]
had seen him handle the cards, AND felt
sure that he was UP to all the poks Of