THE YELLOW JEANS.
At one time on the Upper Mississippi, while playing monte, I caught a Jew from Quincy, Ill., who had been down to St. Louis buying a stock of jewelry. I won all his money and the most of his best jewelry. I would not gamble for anything but good stuff in the jewelry line. After I beat the Jew he set up a big kick, and got some of the other losers to join him. They finally agreed that they would make me give up; so they all got after me, and I knew there would be some fun. I got my gun, backed up against the side of the cabin, and said: "Now, gentlemen, I am ready to pay out; the bank is open. The first one that comes shall be the first served, so don't be backward." But, somehow or another, no one wanted to be first, and I stood pat until the boat landed at a town called Warsaw; then I backed out of the cabin, down stairs, and off the boat. When they saw me on the shore, they set up a yell of "Police! Police! Arrest the fellow with the yellow jeans suit." The marshal came running down, and I told him I was the man they wanted arrested; so he waltzed me up to town, and nearly all the passengers followed us—some to get their money back, and others to see the fun. The Captain said he would hold the boat if they would decide the case at once, so the Mayor convened his court and we went into the trial. I had sent for the best lawyer in the town, and he said he would clear me for $50. The Jew was put on the stand, and he swore I snatched his jewelry from him, and a great deal more of the same sort. Some of the passengers that had seen the game swore they did not see any body do any snatching except the Jew. My lawyer handled the case so nicely that I was acquitted. Then you should have heard the passengers laugh at the Jew for all his trouble. They would ask him if he did not want to trade some jewelry for a yellow jeans suit; but he did not have any good jewelry left, and he knew I was not sucker enough to trade for any other kind. There was another boat at the landing, and many of the passengers went up to hear the trial. I went on board the other boat, and in a short time was on my way back to St. Louis. During the trip I ran up a poker hand in a game of euchre, and lifted a man out of $300, which more than paid the expenses of the trial.