The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-11-08
THE NOTORIOUS
GAMBLERS ROW
Was Scene of Many Thrilling
Tragedies
IN ANTE-BELLUM DAYS
Luxembourg, Ind, Has the Distnc-
tion of Having Possessed the Most
Notorious Sporting Colony
In the Country.


residence thoroughfare of Lawrenceburg,
Ind, are three picturesque old houses
known as Gamblers Row, within whose
walls were once conducted the most no
torious gambling establishments ever op-
Grated in the Ohio valley Each was
equipped with almost every kind of de-
vice used in games of chance and over
their gaming tables, where play was un-
limited save by the resources of the
players, thousands upon thousands Of dol
lars are said to have changed hands al
most nightly. Within their aluring- pre-
cincts, it is alleged, scores of luckless
gamesters staked and lost both fortune
and honor upon the cast of dice or the
turn of a card
Gamblers Row was established in 1888
by John and Wesley Hickman and Rob-
ert Brashier, famous professional gam
blers of ante-bellum days. The former,
who were brothers, came to Lawrence
burg from Ohio. They were of an ex-
cellent family, but went to the bad young
and never reformed. While still in their
teens they began to frequent the gam
bling dives of Cincinnati, there, under
expert tutelage, acquiring a skill at cards
which in after years proved a source of
wonderment and terror to their profess
sional contemporaries. Ere long, as sea-
soned gamblers, they operated on the
Ohio and Mississippi river steamboats,,
which at that time were a sort of Mecca
for gentlemen of the green cloth. While
engaged in this important and lucrative
branch of their profession they made the
acquaintance of Robert Brashier, then a
steamboat pilot. Brashier belonged to one
of the first families of the south, whose
a14fa416 4fa11.
through his evil exploits. He aided the
Hickman brothers very materially, and
their intimacy with the pilot ultimately
led to an indictment which resulted in
his retirement from the river and the es-
tablishment of Gamblers Row.
A thrilling version of this incident,
illustrative of the many scenes of vo-
lence enacted among gamblers of that
early day, was once related to the writer
by the late Capt William Huff, a vet
eran river pilot, who at the time of it's
occurrence was serving his novitiate on
the famous old Mississippi river packet
City of Natchez. The narrative, prefaced
by some "reminiscences of the Hickmans
and Brashier, is here given as nearly as
possible in Captain Huff's own words:
1.-THE Hickman brothers worked pretty
steadily on the City of Natchez, aided,
whenever possible, by Brashier, who was
second pilot. Aside from certain kindred
evil propensities, the three men were
very dissimilar.
Wesley Hickman was raw-boned, un-
conventional in dress, and with face
that didn't express more than average in
te1ligence. But it wouldn't do to put him
down for q fool-not moro than once,
anyway-for he was about the smoothest
customer with a deck of cards that ever
sat in a game.
John was the most peculiar looking indl-,
vidual I ever saw. He was Of medium
height and slender, with brick-red hair
and one black eye and one that was a
sort of blue-green. He was a dandy like
most of the top-notchers in his profession
those days. His taste ran decidedly to
f1ashy jewery, and he was as particular
about his clothes q woman. But when
it came to g. fight there was nothing wo-
manish about him-he was a regular
wildcat. He had rather a clerical look
ing face, that was as deceptive as The
rest of his personality. In a game OF
poker he was as steady as a clock; he
took chances that would have made your
hair stand on end.
objection, anyway. He had nerve like |
with some extra devilish qualities thrown
in for good measure He stood feet 2 |
inches, and was as strong as an OK. |
His face was guileless and bland, con-
veying the impression that he was only |
waiting for some sharper to come along |
and scoop his wad. But nothing like |
that ever happened-not within my rec |
affection anyway. He had nerve like |
STEEL and one night when pretty stiff |
game of draw poker was III progress en- |
the boat, he did something that 1 would |
not have attempted for all the treasures |
of the Andes.
The Hickmans were in the game and, |
while pretending to be strangers, they |
were working together TO get hold OF ev-
erything there was in sight. The other |
players were professionals, too and we
looked for some pretty big play, for every
mothers son of them was loaded to the
guards with money. Brashier, for some
reason, did not take a hand, but stood
behind John Hickmans chair, watching
the game.
Along about the middle of the evening
fellow named Milford, from Vicksburg,
took a hand. Milford was a tall, wiry,
black-haired fellow, with pair of the
most devilish looking steel-gray eyes
ever set in a mans head. He was the
type of gambler who always had knife
or gun conveniently located about his
clothes every time he sat in a game, and
WAS Teduy " uIdW IL Oh LIS bllSutSSt pIo-
vocation. Milford usually made the pro-
vocation himself. l felt that there would
be the worst kind of trouble If he de-
tected any crooked dealing, and 1 was
right. IN
Milford seemed unluclsy, from the very
go. He lost half a dozen good-sized pots,
and then plunged on three kings. In the
showdown John Hickman had four sew
ems, and Milford had not bettered. The
next few hands went the same way, Hick-
man and Milford holding the only good
cards out, and the former pocketng the
pots, usually on aces. Milford began to
grow ugly.
You seem to know pretty well where
the aces are" he finally exclaimed when
John Hickman showed down an ace full
that he filled on one-card draw. He
seized the cards and examined them crit
ically.
Hickman was as cool as ice, but I saw
his eyes snap as the Vicksburg man
called for fresh deck before dealing the
next hand.
It'll be bad for you, stranger" MA
ford said, insolently. 'if these cards get /
scratched any while we're playing
Hickman merely laughed. He was get
ting cooler as he saw the others passions
rising. and, naturally, the advantage of
the play was with him thereafter.
Milford had lost a thousand or there
aho,1ts when he Sezed a. N ace and scrl1- |