Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi

by George H. Devol

THE HIDDEN HAND.

While in St. Louis just before the war, I got acquainted with a man from Detroit by the name of James Scott. He was dealing faro bank, and was such a square fellow that all the boys would play against him. He had a big game one evening, and had downed quite a number of the boys, but he did it on the square. He quit dealing to go and get his supper, and while he was out the boys tried to think of some scheme to stick him for enough money to get a square meal for themselves. Finally one of them thought of the same racket that I played on my Jew partner, and they manufactured a sucker. When Jim came back, they were playing a single-handed game of poker. Jim loved poker, and as he had not finished picking his teeth, he stopped at the table to look on. That was just what the boys expected and wanted, so the two hands were run up. Jim was behind the fellow that had the three kings and a pair of sevens; but just after he saw them, some one spoke to him on the other side, so he went around the table. The man with the kings made a big raise, and the other fellow said it was more money than he had. Jim saw his three aces and a pair, so he said: "I am with you, old boy, for $1,000." The money was put up, and then the sucker said he had made a mistake in his hand, and wanted to take down his money; but everybody said he could not take down. Then the fellow threw down two cards and called for two more. The old boy (Jim's partner) gave them to him, and the sucker made another raise just large enough to use up the balance of Jim's thousand. The old boy called the bet just in time to save Jim from putting up another thousand, for they did not want to strike him too heavy the first time. They showed down, and the sucker had caught another king in the draw, and he won the pot. Jim did not say a word, but began to deal the bank. The next night some of the boys that had eaten a good supper at Jim's expense invited him to the theatre. Jim wanted to know the play; they told him "The Hidden Hand." Jim said, "No, boys; I saw that play last night, and I would not see it again for $1,000." Jim is now living in Detroit, and is one of the wealthiest men in the city. His father left him a fortune, and he has not laid down a dollar on a gambling table since; yet he likes the boys, and can tell some of the best stories of any man in this country. He is very fond of the theatres, but he says he never goes when they play "The Hidden Hand."

CAUGHT AGAIN.

While sitting in the hall of the steamer Petonia, I noticed a fellow who kept looking at me so closely that I at last said to him, "Do you live on the river, sir?" He replied, "Are you speaking to me?" "Well, yes; I asked you if you lived on the river." He answered me very gruffly, "No sir." I let him alone, for I thought I had seen him before, and it might be I had beat him out of some money; so I got up and walked down the cabin. After I left, he asked the barkeeper who I was, and he told him I was a planter, and the son of one of the wealthiest planters on the coast. The fellow said: "Darn me if he don't look just like a fellow that beat me out of $5,000 some years ago." "I guess you are mistaken; although all planters gamble more or less," said the barkeeper. "Well, let's take a drink; but I was sure he was the same man."

Just as they finished their drink, I walked up and called for some wine. The fellow spoke up and said, "Have a drink with me." I said, "No, you join me, as I see you have finished yours." He accepted, and I ordered a bottle of wine. We sat down to drink the wine, when he said, "You must excuse me for the manner in which I spoke to you a while ago, as I took you for a man that beat me out of $5,000 on one of these boats, some years ago, at a game they called monte." "Well, now," I said; "it must have been the same fellow that beat me, for that's what they called it, monte; but I did not care very much, as I was spending the old gent's money at that time." He replied: "But I did mind it, for I had just sold my place, and was going to put the money into business; but on account of that d——d rascal, I have had to work hard ever since; and I have sworn to kill him the first time I met him." "I do not blame you for feeling as you do, for you could not afford to lose the money; but I did not care, as the old gent had plenty more that I could get whenever I asked for it; and as he sometimes lost pretty heavy himself, he would say to me, 'Son, if you bet you will win or lose; but if you lose, take it cool; for if you could not afford to lose, you had no business to bet.'" "You're right! I did not have any business to bet; but I thought I had a sure thing of winning. I would have killed that fellow the next morning; but when I began looking for him, I found he had got off the boat, and I have never seen him since." I laughed and said, "If you had won the money, you would not have felt like shooting the fellow, would you?" "Oh, no."

I found out the fellow had about $60; but he was just as much a sucker as he was when he lost the $5,000, and I made up my mind to win his money, and then tell him that I was the same man that beat him before. I excused myself, and told my partner all about the fellow, and that I wanted to win his money.

After supper I opened up monte, and caught a good many suckers. My old producer was watching the game and me too. We had about finished up, when my partner said to my old friend, "I would like to make a bet, but I am unlucky; will you bet this $50 for me?" He took the $50, put it up, and won. Then he put up $50 for himself, and lost. My partner wanted to know how he had made such a mistake, when he swelled up like a porpoise, and said: "I believe that is the same fellow that beat me out of my money before." He walked away, and my partner followed him. They were standing at the bar when I came up, and I invited all hands to join me in a drink. Everybody accepted the invitation, except my Arkansas killer. I made up my mind that we would have a fight, so I thought I would not put it off any longer. I turned to him and said, "Come and take a cigar with me, for I see you are not drinking." He replied, "I pick my company." Then I said, "You are in better company just now than you ever were in your life, except the time, some years ago, when you were in my company and lost $5,000." He said, "You are a d——d rascal." I then called him a liar and a coward. He attempted to draw, when my partner caught his arm and gave him one in the face, which was not a very heavy one, for he did not appear to mind it. I had old "Betsy Jane" out and had him covered; then I said, "Lay away your old pop, and we will go down on deck and have it out. You are a much larger man than I am, but I will take a licking from you, if you are man enough to give it to me." We gave our guns to the barkeeper and started down. I heard some bets $50 to $25 on the big Arkansas man, so I gave a friend of mine a roll and told him to take all the odds.

When we got down on deck, the mate made a ring with some barrels, and said: "No man but the fighters shall get inside the ring." The big fellow stripped down to his undershirt, and looked like a young Samson; then the bets ran up $100 to $25. I pulled off my coat and vest, and stepped inside the ring. We shook hands, and time was called, the mate acting as referee. He made a lunge; I dropped my head, and he hit it a terrible blow. Then he got one in below the belt, and I thought for an instant I would lose my supper and the fight; but I rallied, and got a good one in on the side of his neck, which doubled him up like a jackknife; then I ran in, caught him, and let drive with my head. I struck him between the eyes, and he fell over as if he had been shot. I took a seat on one of the barrels, folded my arms, and waited for time to be called. The mate said: "That will do; this man can't fight any more." They took him up stairs, and had the barber fix him up. I was not much the worse for having been in a fight. My friend handed me all my money, and over $400 besides, that he had taken in on the result. I treated all hands, and sent some wine, also the $50 I had won, back to my Arkansas friend. He told the mate and some of the passengers that he had been in a great many fights, but that was the first time he was ever whipped. He said he "whipped himself when he hit my head; but when I gave him that butt, he thought he had been struck with a bar of iron." He told them they did not fight that way out where he lived, and he did not think it was fair. The mate told him everything was fair in a rough-and- tumble fight. I felt sorry for the big fellow when I saw his face, for his nose was broken all up. He forgot all about that he was going to shoot the man that beat him out of his $5,000, for you see I returned the money that I won from him when I had him caught again.

MY LITTLE PARTNER.

A man by the name of Dock Chambers was working with me at one time, and he was like my partner Foster—he would stoop to little things. I was playing poker one night with a man, and broke him. He got up from the table and went back into the ladies' cabin, and in a short time returned with some diamonds and a lady's watch and chain. He wanted to put them up, but I told him I never played for women's finery. A man offered him about one-half what the stuff was worth, and he was so crazy to play that he was about to let them go, when I advanced him much more on them than the stranger had offered; for I knew he would lose them. We began our play, and in about an hour I had won all the money that I had advanced him on the jewelry. I asked him if he was broke, and he told me that their passage was paid and his wife had some money. I bid him good night and went to bed. The next morning I put the jewelry in a cigar box, gave it to my partner, and told him to find the lady and return it to her. He found her and returned the box. She opened, and found everything her husband had lost; then she gave him $300, and told him to thank me for her. He came back and gave me the thanks, but did not say one word about the $300. I was well paid with the thanks, until I found out that she had sent $300 with them, and that my partner had hogged onto it. I did not say a word at the time, but waited until I could get a big even.