The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-22
New York sun,

the superstition t pears for to get
nailed onte a mans mind. Pears like
a man Z gives hisself up to that there
soul destroyin' vice is plumb sure to let
go o. most O. the qualifications of a
real, sure enough man, an take up
with the moral attributes of a onrea-
sonin' ape.
There was Ike Taylor. 1 reckon he
were about as bright an shinin' ex-
ample o what II happen to a man t
frickers hisself away gamblin' as you
ca ind in the hull south. There want
no more likely your g5ters n him In all
Mississippi, when he come TO be old
enough to come in for his nip where l
was 'tendin' bar for Billy Ginter over
to Athens. His family was some poor,
count o. never havin' did nothin since
the war, an not havin' money enough
to work the old plantation; but he
lived to home, like the rest Of 'em did,
an growed up gentleman, like gen.
tleman al'ays does.
1.-The only thing anybody had to say
agin Ike Taylor was t he were a fool.
Bein' a gentleman o. good family, an
good lookin', he cd "a married most
any woman in Mississippi. but, what
did he do but fall in love with a po'
white. The gal was putty enough. but
her OF man was wuthless, an she
hadn't no ma.
You'd "a thought he'd "a married
her offhand an done with it. but pears
his family r'ared up consid' able. an
told him he couldn't never bring her TO
the old home; so he quit 'em an swore
he'd make home of his own afore he'd
marry. Then 'twas't folks said he was
fool
Il didn't reckon he was. Not yet.
Feared to me he might brace up an
git sense, but alter he'd talked with me
some l wavere1. He was gropin' round
FIR somepin' to do, an / mentioned
draw poker, bein' as that's the best
ockypation 1 know on f'r a man I
| hain't no business trainin.
But Ike Taylor he says no. Draw
poker, he says, is all right FIR them as
has science, but rarnin' the science
takes time 1 was down to New Or
! leans once he says. an 1 seen a man
win $500 in five minutes playin' faro.
Now. ii 1 sh'd on'y win $500 an hour for
a few days it'd do me-
Then I lost patience, an / says,
| There amt no doubt but what it'll do
you all right. Faro amt nothin' but
game O. chanst. when faint nothin'
worse, f~says, an any game o. chanst
/ is gamolin'. Bein' faint dealt honest,
not frequent, it's wuss'n gamblin'. Oh,
| it'Il do you
well, couldn't do nothin' to stay
| him, an ne started FIR New Orleans
next day. Afore he went he come to
see me again, an he says, You're
wrong, Greenhut. 'Tain't no game O.
chanst I'm goin' TO play. l just can't
voodoo charm last night an there amt
no such thing as losin' FIR me. It's a
niger boss thiefs little finger, he
says, cut off while he was a-hangin'
afore they cut him down.
AN what happened to Ike Taylor
| pears to happen to everybody what
gets took up with gamblin'. First, they
get superstitioGs an then it ruins 'eIn.
The old man lighted cigar carefully
and smoked for a long time in silence.
Finally Jake Winterbottom spoke.
About this here Ike Taylor, did he
lose, spite of his l1oodoo? Or how come
he was ruined? Pears like you didn't
finish the story
The old man smoked on for a full
minute before answering. Then he
said: 81 reckon done told enough on
it so's't anybody with the perspicas-
hoUsness of a mule cd see what the
end was. But if you uns can't see
through a ladder / en- tell you some
more.
like Taylor, he went on down to
New Orleans like he said, an won
every bet he made at faro. He broke
night FIVE thousand winner an married
the gal"
Looks like that there finger must
"a been consid' able virtuous," remarked
Joe Bassett
That's what little chillun in a Sum
day school might reckon said Green
hut, with fine scorn. ''The reel mean
in ont is, I Ike Taylor pulled outen a
game O. chanst winner cause some
body had to win, an If happened to be
hims The finger didn't nave nothin'
TO do with it Stands to reason. But
he was so wrapped up in superstition
I he couldn't see nothin' straight an
he done married the gal, the same be-
in, o. course, his teetotal ruination. Su-
perstitiOn aPays works hathaway"
well, amt d-sayin' nothin' much, >"
observed Jim Blaisdell, but / knowed
a niger oncet in Vicksburgh used to
play poker with the other roustabouts
an had 'em all skinned a mile. He
had a caul, an used TO wear ii on a
was born into it."
That's different" said old man
Greenhut, hastily. First place, poker
amt no game o. chance Hits sci
ence. There's lots o. ways o. provin'
that. Next place, q caul amt no voo-
doc charm. Hits one o. them
special interconlmissions o. Providence
what means prosperity in all undertake
ms pervided they're legitimate Stands
to reason caul wouldn't do man no
good if he was to gamble, cause the
chanst o. losin is the same as the
chanst o. vinnin
when It comes TO draw poker it's
sure different. Bein' scientific, hit calls
FIR ali the wit an intelleck there is into
man, an bein' as we don't know
nothin' about what a caul's for, stands
to reason it may have some mysterious
inflooenee. That amt superstition.
i've knowed a powerful heap o. men
win at poker, t didn't pear to have no
license to win. Stands TO reason they
must a had somepin' sides dumb luck
for 10 make 'em win. 'Tain't al'ays a
caul. I've knowed IL to be a rabbit
foot. There's a good many don't be-
Iieve in rabbits foot but that's Only
because they don't get the right kind of
one. that's all