The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-05
IN THE DAYS OF
REAL POKER.
The Last Game Worthy Of the Name
PLAYED on the Mississippi Packet
Belle of the River.

There ain ! no poker played on the river
novadays that's really worth countin','
aid Caleb Mix, the veteran bartender on
The Mississippi River packet City OF Ma
chez. Now an again you may see a
couple O. pikers start a two-dollar limit
aame in the saloon. an they may get COM
napy SOS there's some play goin' on to-
I'd midnight " the cap'nh stand FOR 1t,
which he gently will II there amt no pas
senRers round that's likely to kick.
The old man1l take a hand hisself, too,
sometimes IL he's feelin' reel sporty. but
| hsin't seen him play a reel grown-up
man $ game for more'n twenty years. The
most you'll see, In game o that sort, most
gently, is mebbe hundred or two lost an
won. an the winner II most al avs be some
little sawed-off drummer I'm up North
somewheres, that knows more about dealin
than he'd RELY ought to know. consid-
erin the rules o the game.
-That1 be when the old man ain \ playin',
though n he sets In there won't be no
funny business He's up to all the moves
on the board. an there want none o. the
professionals that he was afraid Of when
he useter play reel draw poker.
i have saw some table-stakes played,
once in a while, when some crossroads
gambler get aboard an rope In sucker.
but that amt often. The old mans got
about as clear head as anybody, an there
don't no professional start no game on
the City Of Naches thouten he's slick
enough to pass hisself OF as friend o. the
man he starts playin' with. The old man Il
stand for friendly game. but II he sus-
picions professional it's all OF. sudden.
But even the table stakes that's played
now. and not very frequent at that, amt
no more like the old-time play nor mouse
is Like tiger cat. There'll be ten or twenty
or mebbe fifty dollars apiece showed up at
the start. an II the game gets excitin' some-
body'll buy. rnebbe two or three times.
an there'll be two or three hundred on the
no KILN matter.
IF a man loses q hundred or two. 1t don't
spell ruin for him. nor mostly 1t don't get
him fghtin' mad. amt ssyin' but what
he might fight. even at that, IL there was
any crooked play found out, but there amt
one sucker in a thousand that knows enough
to know when he's been done up foul. let
alone KNOWN how it's done, an catchn'
man doin' OF II. amt saw blow struck
or a weapon drawed across the table on q
river boat for more'n twenty years.
'Afore that it was-well. 1t was different.
When the boats got runnin' again, regular,
after the war. there was things doin' quite
frequent. There was more travel. for one
thing, nor there ever had been afore.
The whole South was all tore up, o.
course. and there want no more million
aire planters lookin' round for some easy
way to get rid O. their money. like there
had bean. for they hadn't no more big
crops to sell, nor no niggers to raise EN-.
But there was people enough, I'm all parts
o the world. lookin' round for this an
that. some on 'em ruined and desperate,
They want THROWN 1t round careless,
like the planters did. but they had it.
An there was Thousands O. men that was
just wanderin'. A good many on 'em had
been In the army. some with the Yanks.
an some with the Rebs, an when they was
or they went home an reckoned they didn't
care nothin' about stayin' there. Tor one
'Mebbe they moved where they was
goin. and mebbe they didn't. Anyways.
they vas on the e. an -, q good many was
They want mono too quiet, neither. . good
many on EN-. An the boats was pretty
lively.
You never knowed, them days. who
was q hghtin' man. an who wasn't, same
Who didn't. but just naturally there was
heaps o gamblers on the 60. lookin' for
game an fndin' It frequent. The cap
Of river boat. them times, had enough to
do without interferin' much with what was
goin' on among the passengers. an poker
WANT such an ALFRED big game.
gently, as I've saw played afore the war,
but sometimes II were tol'able stiff, an
there was moro likely to be trouble afore
the game broke up: You cd always reckon
on everybody havin gun Sn With :, him an
.Oh. there was things dom enough. for
few years after the war. to suit anybody.
Times was tolable good, an more. with
the gamblers. They didn't make such
IN the old slavery days, but they made 'em
frequent.
.Then there como another change. long
u the 70s. Things got more settled, an
there come a prejudice agin gamblin'.
don't reckon there: any les ss, Of II dom done
an a. fur an the boats is concerned there
amt none to speak Of, as was sayin'. out
side OF a small game now an agin. that
don't hunt nobody, none to speak on.
'The cap'ns OF the boats got turned gin
draw poker, mostly because 1t led 10 trouble.
an one after another they stopped II.
When they made up their minds 70 do It
h was done, too. What the cap'n says
eoee on q. Mississippi boat. you can bet,
and ! amt never seen nobody put up no
other proposition with any great amount
o success
'Irecolect mighty well how twas stopped
on the Belle o. the River. that I was workin
on at the time II looked for q minute or
two q IL there might be dead cap'n an
4 rough heuse al over the boat, but there
want Stead o that, there was two
men set lahore on the Arkansas banb.
an want no regular hndin place
neither.
'There'd been two or THREE shootin
acrapes on the boat that season, though
there hadn't been nobody killed, and Cap'n
Withers. that run the Relic an was part
owner Of her. was gettin' kind o tired o.
the excitement. He hadn't said nothin
but cd zee I'm the way he looked at four
or 1--WE men that was playin' poker one
night that he was gettin' hot, an u things
wasn't mighty quiet, he was likely TO break
boee
He was q little bit Of q man with a.
squeaky sort OF q voice that folks laughed
a., sometimes, when they fust heard IL.