Part 19

That pleased him. "All right," he said, and the $800 and pistol went up in my partner's hands. Over went the wrong card. I grabbed the pistol, and told my partner to give me the stake money. Pulling the gun on him, "Now," I said, "you have acted the wet dog about this, and I will not give you a cent of your money; and if you cut any more capers, I'll break your nose." I presented the pistol to the mate of the boat, who kept it for a number of years, and said that it was the best he had ever owned.

Another time on the same boat I was playing euchre with a Californian, when we got to betting on poker hands. He lost $1,600 and his watch, then told the clerk that he was going to his state-room for his pistol, and going to kill that gambler on sight. The clerk soon gave me a hint, and I got out old Betsy Jane; and pretty soon he came along, holding his pistol under his coat, and just as he stepped out of the cabin door I pulled down on him, saying, "I have got you, my boy, and if you make one move I'll turn her loose." He saw I had the drop on him, threw up both hands; and taking his pistol away, I threw it into the river.

IT WAS COLD.

There are many occasions when a shrewd man can get in his work on gamblers, it matters not how smart they are, provided his conduct is not suspicious, and his ambition so vaulting that when it leaps it is not lost upon the other side. I shall never forget the trip I made down the river from Louisville in the good old ante-bellum days. When we reached the mouth of the Cumberland River, Anderson Waddell, who is now one of Louisville's wealthiest citizens, and William Cheatham came on board bound for the New Orleans races. Charles Burns and Edward Ryan, better known to the sporting fraternity as "Dad Ryan," were along with me. Both Waddell and Cheatham were gentlemen of good repute in Nashville, and it was not long before they proposed a game of poker. Burns and Ryan both sat in the game, and at the time they were unknown to the gentlemen. The wine flowed freely, and everybody felt very happy, and I resolved it was about time for me to go to the bar and procure some cards similar to those they were playing with. It did not take me long to run up three good hands, and, sitting down by Ryan, I laid the cold deck in Ryan's lap. It was not long before the cold deck came up, and then the boys began to bet lively, each getting in a few hundred. Then Waddell commenced to smell a rat, and turning to Cheatham, said, "Hold on, Bill, don't go in any deeper, as I think this deck of cards does not feel as warm as it did a few minutes ago."

"Oh, no," responded Bill, "I hardly believe there is anything wrong."

At last they came to a call; then they knew that they had got the worst of it, yet they never uttered a word or make a kick, and when we reached New Orleans they confessed that the boys had made suckers of them. Poor Bill is now dead, and Waddell, who is still living, would, if asked, laugh and say that he had long ago learned not to hunt up poker games on steamboats.

HOW I WAS BEAT.

Sam Houstin and Harry Monell were in business with me working the Missouri Pacific, and we were very successful, making a great deal of money. During the summer we played the bank, and in the winter operated on the river and Southern roads. Immediately after the big fire we resolved to go to Chicago, but, at the last minute, Houstin was unable to go; but I told him he should be in with the play, and share the profits as if he was along.

Monell and I started, and made a few hundred dollars, and when Houstin joined us he received his share of the spoils. We were all stopping at the Tremont House, on Lake Street. We made a little money, and one Sunday morning I arose early, and resolved to go out on the road about twenty miles. While waiting for breakfast I made the acquaintance of a gentleman from Texas, who had just sold some cattle that he had brought with him. We had a cocktail together, and I sent the porter to awaken my partners, whom I duly introduced to the stranger, letting them know that he had money, and to keep a sharp lookout on him until Monday morning. When I returned at night I found that my partners had beat the Texan, and he had Houstin locked up in jail. I carried him down a good supper from a restaurant, and then hunted up the Texan, who told me that he had started in betting, and at first won and then lost $7,600, and that his only object in arresting Houstin was to scare him so as to get his money back. The other man he could not find. He said he had gambled when in Texas, but these fellows were too smart for him, and that he could not afford to lose that money.

When the case was called for trial, the Judge dismissed it on the ground that they were all gamblers. Nothing was said about the settlement of the game for a couple of days, when one morning they both arose, paid their bills, and skipped, and I never received a cent of that money. I have since learned that Monell is doing time at Sing Sing, along with "Paper Collar Joe," while Houstin is an old man trying to lead a square life, I understand, down in Florida. The late Sherman Thurston once said to me, "George, those fellows are rotten apples;" but I did not heed his advice, and let them alone.

SETTLED OUR HASH.

Jew Mose and myself were once traveling on the Missouri Railroad, having headquarters at Cheyenne and making a good deal of money, when one evening I picked up a man on the sleeper and beat him out of $1,200. That game settled our hash, for he proved to be one of the directors of the road, and as soon as he reached Omaha he had a lot of handbills printed and hung up in the cars, not only prohibiting gambling, but that conductors permitting the game on their cars would be at once discharged. I was then running a game in Greer Brothers' Gold Room Saloon, and occasionally slipped out and started a game on some of the trains. There were a dozen cow- boys aboard one night, when Mose opened out and took in a couple of them. They began to drink heavily, and then resolved to make the gambler disgorge. I expected fun, so I told Mose to get off and jump on the engine at the first station. He was none too quick, for the boys went through the train and never found him; but they never said a word to me, as they supposed I was a sucker like themselves, for at the time I was very roughly dressed. These cow- boys, while very blustering when on the trains, were peaceable enough when they entered a gambling-house; for the gamblers would stand no foolishness with them, and were always prepared to draw at a second's warning.

I RAISED THE LIMIT.

I recollect playing in a game of poker at one time on the steamer Natchez. It was a five-handed game, and the party were all friends of each other. We were playing on the square, with a straight deck of cards and for a small limit. I could enjoy myself in such a game for a limited time, then the old desire to play my tricks would come over me, and I could not resist the temptation. I did not want to beat my friends only on the square, but I did want to have some fun; so I excused myself for a few moments and left the table. On my return I sat in again, and the game went on as before. We had been playing a short time, when one of the boys picked up his hand, got a glimpse of it, and then threw it down as quick as lightning, saying, "What's the limit?" All the others looked at their hands, but none of them seemed to remember what limit we had been playing. One thought it was $10, but was willing to raise it to $20 if the others would agree. I remarked that the limit had been but $5, but I never kicked if anybody wanted to raise her. So they all consented to raise it to $20. The one next to the age put up the limit, the next one saw that and went him twenty better, the next one did the same. I said, "Boys, you are bluffing, so I will just call." The age then raised her the limit, and it went around until most of the boys had put up all their money. Then it came to a draw. Some took one card, some stood pat, and I took three. Then the betting was resumed at a lively rate. Those that had put up all their money borrowed from friends; and, to tell the truth, I never did see four men have so much confidence in their hands. I kept calling, and finally it was a call all around, but no one wanted to be the first to show down. I threw down three tens, when they all said, "I've got you beat." I said, "Gentlemen, it's a call all around; why don't you show down?" They all came down about the same time; and you should have been there--for all the passengers on the boat were looking on. They saw each other's hands, and I be gol darned if every one of them didn't have fours, and they were all aces at that. All four of them spoke up in the same breath, "Who dealt the cards?" I replied, "I did." We sent for the first and second clerks to bring a quire of paper and figure out who won the money and how much each one was entitled to. After the problem was solved we resumed the play, but first the boys made me swear I did not have any more cold decks on my persons with sixteen aces in them. As I had raised the limit to $20, I took the oath, and we again settled down to a square game.

GOT OFF BETWEEN STATIONS.

A man by the name of Charlie Adams, Tripp, and myself, started out from Chicago on the Michigan Central Railroad one day, to turn a few honest dollars. We took separate cars and began looking for a game. I was in the ladies' car, and thought I saw plenty of material, but the most of it was handicapped with female riders. There was one old gentleman sitting alone, so I took a seat beside him and began to feel his pulse. He had sold a pair of horses for $800, and an interest in a patent for $1,600. I did not want to play him in that car, for I wanted some of the other a little later on; so I invited him to join me in a smoke. He declined, and told me that he never smoked a cigar, chewed tobacco, or drank a drop of liquor in his life. Then I knew he would be a darling sucker; so I invited him to go over in the smoking-car until I could have a little smoke myself. He consented, and we went over. We took a seat just behind a green looking countryman who was smoking a cob pipe, and it was not long until he turned round and asked us the name of a station we had just passed. We did not know the name, so he said: "I don't wonder you can't tell the names, for I never saw so many towns strung 'long a railroad. Why, out where I live we don't have a town only about once in fifty miles."

I asked him where he lived. He replied: "When I'm to hum, I lives on a ranch in Colorado; but I've been to Chicago sellin' of my steers, and them thar fellows came nigh gettin' the best of me with some of their new-fangled games; but they gave me some of their tickets, and when I get home I'll make the boys think I didn't take my critters to Chicago for nothing. I guess as how they would have got more of my money, but I left it up at the tavern with the feller that had his hair all glued down to his forehead as if he thought it would fall off. So when they got all I had with me they thought I was broke and let me go."

The old gent asked him to show us how they beat him with the tickets. He said, "I've not larnt it yet, but I will try and show you;" so he got out his three tickets and began to throw them on the seat, explaining that we must guess the ticket with the little boy on it. We guessed, sometimes right and sometimes wrong. I bent up the corner of the little boy ticket, and told the old gent not to turn that card until we got a bet out of the fool; so we would miss it every time after that. Finally I offered to bet him $500 that I could turn up the boy ticket the first turn. He said, "No, I won't bet on her yet, for I can't play her good 'nough." Then I offered to bet him five to two, so he got out his big roll, saying, "This is the money I left up to the tavern, so I'll just try you once." I put up my $500, and he put up $200. I turned the ticket with the corner bent, and won.

He looked at me a moment, then said to the old gent, who was holding the stakes, "Give him the money, for gol darned if he didn't get her fair."

Then I offered to bet him $1,000, but he said, "You got an eye like an Indian, and I don't want to play with you any more; but I will play with your pap" (pointing to the old gent).

The old fellow said, "I am a church member, and never bet; but I expect some one will win all that fellow's money before he gets home."

"Certainly," said I; "and we may as well have it as any one else."

The old gent got out his money and wanted to bet $100, but the fellow would not bet less than $1,000. I then offered to put up the balance, but the fellow would not have it, saying, "Your eyes are too good." Then the old gent put up the money in my hands and turned the card; but it was not the winner, for somehow, in mixing them, the corner of the boy card had got straightened out and the corner of another was turned up. I put a mark on the boy card with my pencil while the fellow was putting away his money, and then told him as he was a little winner he should let me bet once more. He said, "All right," so I put up $1,000, turned the marked card and won.

The old church member could not stand it to see me win all that fool's money, so he put up $1,000 more in order to get even. The fellow told him he would make it $1,500; and as that would get him out ahead, up she went, and he turned the marked card; but, as was the case with the crocked corner, the little mark was on another card. The old gent dropped back in his seat with a groan, and just then a gentleman who had been sitting across the aisle got up and said, "You fellows have been trying to rob this boy out of his money. I have been watching you, and will report you to the officers at the next station." The old gent got up and started back to his car, saying to me in a whisper, "You had better get out of this, or you may get into trouble." I replied, "I think so myself." So I got up and started back with him, but he was in such a hurry that I got lost from him. When the train got up to the next station, there were three less passengers on board than when that fellow said, "I will report you to the officers."

A GOOD NIGHT'S WORK.

There had been quite a number of communications received by the officers of the Michigan Southern, complaining about the gamblers beating the passengers on that road, consequently orders were issued to the conductors not to allow any gambling on their trains. They did try to prevent it, but the boys were too smart for them, and got away with many a good dollar while the conductor was collecting fare or out on the platform at a station. The result was, the complaints continued to go to the officers of the road, and some of them went so far as to claim that the conductors were in with the gamblers. The poor conductors insisted that they could not watch the rascals and their trains at one and the same time; but the superintendent thought they could, and threatened to discharge any one who was complained of again. He found out one day that he conductors were right and he was wrong. I will tell you how he was convinced.

Tripp, Adams, and myself got on a train going out of Chicago on the Michigan Southern one evening, and took seats in different parts of the car. In a few moments after the train started, the conductor and a fine looking old gray-headed gentleman came into the car where we were seated, and something told me that he was one of the officers. I saw them talking together a short distance from where I was sitting alongside of a big fat man. The conductor was evidently pointing us out, for I could see by his actions that they had us spotted. The other boys knew what was in the wind, for we had all been there before and understood our business. The conductor left the car, but the old gentleman took a seat facing us; so we began to think the jig was up for that trip, for there was a pair of eyes constantly upon us. But as we did not make a move, the old fellow got a little careless, took out a package of papers, and began to look over them. When I saw he was very much interested in the papers and began to use his pencil, I gave Tripp the wink, and he slipped over to my seat. We went through the old business about the same as if the old pair of eyes was not in the same car, only we talked low, and while the car was in motion no one could hear what was going on.

Just before we reached a station, Tripp beat the big fat man out of $600, and he had beaten me out of $500 before we got him to put up. I gave him the office to get off at the station; so when the cars stopped, he was on the platform.