Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi Part 12

He got up, turned his seat, and said, "They had some kind of a game that they bet on; I got to pranking with it, and I just lost $2,000 afore you could say Jack Robinson."

"It must have been seven-up, or some game of cards," said I.

"It wasn't no seven-up, for I reckon as how I can play seven-up with any of the boys."

"Well, tell us about the game," said the old gentleman.

The cow-boy then took out an old dirty rag, which I suppose he called a handkerchief, unfolded it, and produced three cards, saying, "Them thar fellows gave me these ar cards, and I'm going to larn that ar game, so as when I get back to Texas I can beat all the boys."

I told him to show us how they could bet on three cards. Then he bent them up and began throwing them on the seat beside him, saying at the same time, "I'm not as good at it as those Chicago chaps, but I'm going to practice, and when I get down in Texas I'll get even on our boys."

I asked him if they got all his money.

"Oh, no, I just got loads of money; and then when I sell them thar steers in New York, I reckon I will have some more. Now you see this card has got an old man on it, and you have to guess this 'er'

one or you lose."

We guessed a few times, and then I bent up the corner of the old man card, saying to the Michigan gentleman, "Now we will have some fun." Then I said to the cow-boy, "Will you bet money on the game yourself?"

"I can't play it good enough yet to bet; but as I have two cards to your one, I would just as soon bet on it as on a pony race, and I often put up big money on a pony."

I told the Michigander not to turn up the card with the corner turned up so long as we were guessing for fun, so he turned up one of the other cards, and the cow-boy said, "You see you are just as big fools as I was in Chicago."

I then said, "I will bet you $1,000 that I can turn up the old man the first time." I told the old gentleman that we might as well get some of his money, as he would lose it anyway before he got back to Texas.

Finally the cow-boy took out another dirty rag, unrolled it, and displayed a roll of money the size of one's leg. He counted out $1,000, saying, "I'll go you once, for I don't 'low any man to back me out." He mixed the cards up, and I turned up the one with the bent corner and won the money.

The cow-boy laughed and said, "Well, I'll be gol darned if you didn't get me. You must have right smart eyes, for I swan I didn't know which one it was myself."

The old gentleman asked if he would bet with him.

"Oh, yes; you are old, and can't see like this feller," said he.

"Don't be so sure about me not being able to see well," replied the old man.

"You couldn't keep the run of them like this fellow; and then I guess as how you haven't got much money," said the cow-boy. The old gent then got out his leather, and it was chuck full of big bills. He took out $500 and put it up in my hands. The cow-boy told him he would not bet less than $2,000; and said he, "The Indians bet more'n that on a foot-race down where I live." I told the old gent it would serve the fellow just right if he would win all his money; so he put up the $2,000, turned a card and lost.

I s.n.a.t.c.hed up the old man card and turned up the corner again, then said, "How in the name of common sense did you come to make that mistake?"

"Why, I turned the one with the corner up," says he.

"No, you did not, for here it is," I said, picking up the winner.

The old fellow thought he had made a mistake, and the cow-boy told him he couldn't see well, for he was too old. I then told him to mix them up, and I would bet him $1,000. He did so, and I won.

Then the man from Michigan got out what he had left, amounting to $1,200, and said, "This is all I have with me, but I will bet it."

He turned a card, but again he lost. He then settled back in his seat as though he was going to stay right there, and I don't believe he would have got out if the car had run off the track.

The cow-boy put his cards back into the dirty rag, and remarked, "I be gol darned if I haint larning to play this 'er' game nigh like them Chicago chaps; and if I hadn't been pranking with you feller with the smart eyes, I reckon I would have been about even."

He got up, bid us good-day, and started out.

We sat there talking about the cow-boy's tricks for a short time, when in came my partner, Tripp, all dressed up so that no one would suspicion that he was ever a cow-boy. I introduced him to the old gentleman from Michigan, but he was not near so talkative as he was when we first got acquainted. I did not want to hurt his feelings, so I did not say anything about the game before my partner; and I believe the old fellow was glad of it, for he looked just as if he would rather no one but that d----d cow-boy and myself should know what a sucker he had been. When we changed cars we bid him good-day, and I said, "If you see that fool with the steers in New York, tell him not to go pranking any more new games, or he will lose all his money." He looked at me in such a way that I believe he did not want to see him, although he did not say so.

CAUGHT A DEFAULTER.

It is a singular fact that most of the men who turn out embezzlers, defaulters, and dishonest clerks, sooner or later lose their money gambling. Oftentimes it is their love of cards that induces them to commit the crimes they do. I very well recollect a number of instances of this kind, and one in particular. I was going up the river on board the _J. M. White_, when I received a card requesting me to call at room No. 14. The name was written in a business hand, so I knew the card was from a gentleman. When I knocked a voice said, "Come in!" Upon entering, I saw a young man that I knew very well, who was a bookkeeper in one of the largest cotton houses in New Orleans. I at once inquired what he was keeping himself locked up in his room for, and he replied, "I am afraid to show up in the cabin, but I will tell you all about it before you get off;" as he knew that I rarely went above Baton Rouge.

Late at night he came out of his state-room so completely disguised that I did not know him. We took several drinks together, until he began to feel jolly; then I asked him what he was up to. "Well,"

he replied, "I have been playing the bank and poker for some time, and have been several thousand dollars loser, and I knew sooner or later the books would be overhauled, so I collected some money and skipped. Here I am, and what to do I don't know, nor where I shall wind up."

"Oh, there are plenty of people in the same box that you are," I said. "Don't flatter yourself that you are the only one who has taken money; but perhaps they will now go through the books, and, discovering the deficit, arrest you."

"Yes, but I don't intend to be caught. I think I will go to Canada.

I am now traveling under an a.s.sumed name."

"Are you sure none of the discharging clerks saw you when you came aboard?"

"I was in this disguise, and came over two boats until I reached this one, and having a friend with me, he secured a room for two."

"How much did you get away with?"

"Seventy-two hundred dollars."

Which he had collected the day before he left. He proposed going out and shaking the dice for the drinks. I stuck him again and again, and at last he proposed to shake for five dollars. That suited me; and when he proposed to shake for ten dollars, I was ready.

Then I began to work on him, for I thought I might as well have that money as anybody, as I knew he would gamble, and never reach Canada with it. I suggested that we go to my state-room, as the bar-room was too public a place, and he acceded. In half and hour we were throwing for a hundred dollars a throw, and when I quit I was $4,100 ahead, as I knew that it would not do to win it all from him, so I told him that I was sleepy and tired. We took a drink at the bar, and he drank so heavily that I was obliged to tell the porter to see him to his room.

I knew that he must have money to go out of the country, and it would not do to break him, as I would then have to loan him money.

We were then twenty-five miles from Baton Rouge, and I slept on a couple of chairs in the cabin, and was awakened by my partner, who wanted to know if I wanted to sleep forever--as I had retired with him, but, unable to sleep, had risen. When I told my partner of the roll I had made, he said that I was the luckiest man he ever saw; but I told him it was no luck to hold out the dice most of the time.

When we reached New Orleans the detectives were hunting him high and low, but they thought he had gone out on one of the trains, and I never made them any the wiser. When I inquired if I had seen him, I replied: "Oh, such fellows wouldn't get on a boat where I was." From that day to this I have never seen him; but I think he went West, as when he was under the influence of liquor he talked a great deal of that part of the country.

HE'S ONE OF US.

Tripp and I at one time played an early train from Chicago down to Michigan City, and there we got off to wait for another train to take us to Detroit. We were in a saloon, and wis.h.i.+ng for something to turn up that we might pa.s.s the time until the next train arrived.

There was an old fellow in the saloon who was very talkative, and we learned from his talk that he was well posted about that part of the country. I did not think he had any money, so I had no idea of playing him, but thought I would talk about the country, crops, and such like. We had not talked long until I found he was waiting for the same train that we were expecting to take. I asked him if he would play euchre to pa.s.s the time, and he said he would.

We then sat down and began a game for the drinks. Once in a while the old fellow would say something about poker hands, so I finally ran him up the old chestnut of four queens and an ace, giving Tripp four kings, and taking nothing myself. I came the old spit racket, and exposed my hand. The old fellow says: "I've a good poker hand."

"How much will you bet on your hand?" I inquired.

He said, "I will bet five dollars."

"Put her up," says I.

He pulled out his money and put up.

Tripp then said, "I believe my hand is worth a call."

I gave them the old "Bush" laugh, and said, "Boys, I believe you are both bluffing, so I will raise you both $25." Then the old one got out his money again and called. Tripp said, "You fellows haven't got anything, and I will make you lay down; I will raise it $100." He was right, so far as I was concerned, for he did make me lay down. The old fellow said, "I'm still on hand, boys." So out came the money again, but this time it took all there was in the roll. He put up, and called the bet. Tripp had hardly time to show his hand when the old fellow, feeling so confident, began to pull her down. Tripp showed down the old four kings, saying, "Hold on! old fellow; not quite so fast." He put up his last hundred dollars to see that hand, and he saw it.