The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-10
4 tIEkE ) almighty queer people
comes aboard o. these boats

veteran bartender on the Mississippi
river packet City Of Natchez. that ran
between Vicksburg and New Orleans.
Even now you see EN- sometimes, an
there is trips. now an again, when
you'd take the boat for a bughouse
with paddlewheels, bit somehow you
cont seem 10 see so many on em as
there was a Zoos many years ago.
For one thing the gamblers was
travelin' the ssvers them times, and
nowadays there amt none on 'em, or
none to speak Of. Tier another thing
was. there Was In0rs fgEtin' men mOY-
IN round than there IS now.
II amt a-sayiu they was travelin' 90
find trouble. Maybe they want But
they was the kind o men that wouldn't
never step out o. the way if they seen
any trouble comm toward EN-.
L remember a felley that come down
the river on the old Creole Belle that
] was workin' on. long in the sos. He
got on at Helena, Ark. an he didn't
hat to tell nobody Z he'd come down
quite recent I'm tn Ozark mountains.
TO begin with, ne were foot tai
ier'n any man Ia sany call TO be.
Mostly those men, that live IN the
mountains is tail. ] reckon they has to
be 10 see over the tops o things, but
Dressed Tolerably Rough.
Then ne were sessed toTable rough,
even for them days; wheE there was a
right smart o homespun worn in
good many parts o the south. An
then he had the talk O the Ozarks.
Dye ever hear it,
We'll, they say they can tell people
I'm all the different states by their
ak. an / don't know but there's them
tnat can 10 It. 1 can tell a no therner
I'm q soutGerner myself. but / don I
reckon / ia pick out any particular
locality 'ceptin tn Ozarks. An you
can't never make no mistake about a
man I'm there
Then he wore his gun so careless
you cd see he butt Of it stickin, out of
Ills trousers pocket behind. 'TWa'n't
no revolver. ReyOlvers want common
them days. But it were dOuble-bar-
leled deTringer an q good one. An he
wore knife in his boot that he want
nOways p'ticular about keepin' hid.
Il looked at him tOl'able close when
y he come aboard, thinkin' TO myself
that he was a queer lot, an wOnderin'
what sort he'd turn out to be. Judgin'
I'm the usual run. / reckoned it We're
almost likely he'd prove to be a fighter
an I says to myself it'd be bad for the
other Teller. He had arms on him that
'peaTed to be a yard an half long, an
as big as a mans leg up by the Shout
der. an he carried hisself mighty
straight an moved like cat.
They Tackled slingsby.
well, he didn't pear to be none
quarreisOme the first day or two. He
come into my room a good deal an
dTinked powerful sight o. corn juice,
but il didn't seem TO take 10 hold on
him, on'y to make him more sociable.
Told NE all about hisself an his
family an his little place up in the
mountains, just like a boy would tell
things, an he told me what s'prised me
cOnsid able, that he was rich. Not just
rich for mOuntaineer, but very rich
Feared he owned two sugar planta-
tiOns down the river that had come to
him by viii from his uncles, an lived
up where he did just because he allus
Gad
ers on the boat. for I didn't tell nobody.
but when we got 20 Arkansas City
do ashore, an when the Creole Belle
pulled out I'm there there was two o
the Arkansas City poker players traV-
elm along with Us.
I don't know whether we ever run
Up against that crowd or not. Likely
rot, for this we're were nigh fifty year
ago. as I was sayin' but they was the
a1I-6redest poker players anywhere up
an down the river. ony they didn [
used to 60 on the boats much.
Feared. though, Z they'd heerd O
this here Roy Slingsby-that was the
tail Ozark mountains man-an' they
knowed somethin' about him, like most
jeOile in Arkansas did know. So they'd
talked il over, an Jake WinterbottOm
and Joe Bassett had come aboard to
take a short trip on a speculation.
Didn't Appear Quarrelsome.
We'll, they tackled Slingsby. like
they'd come on board TO do. fore they'd
been aboard more n two hours. Got
fim to driukin', which were an easy
=, hing TO do, ar while they were taIkin'
over their drinks they got discussin'
draw poker. an Sliugsby said he didn
know nothin' about it.
THAT 'peared to be a monstrous
queer thing, even for them times. Poker
want played so much as it were TWEEN
~ years later. but most everybody
played il more or less, an for a man
in Arkansas 10 let on that he didn't
know the game were d surprise Fl
ANYBODY 10 hear, an I thought Winter
bottom an Bassett would fall down
when they heeTd IT,
that he'd seen the game played, but
hadn't never took no interest in it, be
cause he was a great. old sledge player
Feared there was a half a dozen old
fellers that played old sledge where he
come from. an they was suited so well
with that, they hadn't never took the
pains to learn TO other game.
An SliEsSby were bent on playin
Old siedge after they'd introduced tbs
e-Fh
game, but I-seen EN- lookin' at each
other kind o curious when he proposed
it, an then Bassett, he says:
We don't know nothin' about old
sledge, pardner, same as you don't
know E0thin' about poker. Wed like
TO play keerds mighty well. both on US
bat likely We can't make up no game.
It Was a Bluff.
90 co'se that were a blun. an
'tN-a MT no time at all afore they was
all three argufyin' about whether they'C
play poker or old sledge. An just nat
urally Slingsby. bein' one to two. was
the one to give in
1He said he was willin' enough tC
learn. long as he couldn't get nobody
70 play his game. So they got the cards
ard chips from me an set right down
IN a little back room that I had for
players that didn't care about playin
in the main saloon. There was some
even them times. but 1 don't reckon
those three cared, On'y twas handy
rfgat where they was
s'Wen, say. il was more fun than q
monkey 10 see that Slirgsby takin' his
instructions. He had 10 be told some
things half a dozen times.
iva mt necessary. though 10 tel
him but once about the chips. Hs
T7rr.npd his so gz-fr II the of here 1ff-e ffrr