Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi

George H. Devol

Informations

• Publié par: thioz
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 63
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Forty Years a
Gambler on the Mississippi, by George H. Devol
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at
no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the
terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi
Author: George H. Devol
Release Date: November 22, 2007 [EBook #23587]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK FORTY YEARS A GAMBLER ***
Produced by Ed Ferris
Transcriber's note:
Typesetting errors have been corrected, but
what appear to be the author's spellings have not
been changed.LoC call number: F353.D4
FORTY YEARS A GAMBLER ON THE
MISSISSIPPI
BY GEORGE H. DEVOL.
A CABIN BOY IN 1839; COULD STEAL CARDS
AND CHEAT THE BOYS AT ELEVEN; STOCK A
DECK AT FOURTEEN; BESTED SOLDIERS ON
THE RIO GRANDE DURING THE MEXICAN
WAR; WON HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS FROM
PAYMASTERS, COTTON BUYERS,
DEFAULTERS, AND THIEVES; FOUGHT MORE
ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE FIGHTS THAN ANY MAN
IN AMERICA, AND WAS THE MOST DARING
GAMBLER IN THE WORLD.
ILLUSTRATED.
FIRST EDITION.
DEVOL & HAINES. CINCINNATI: 1887.
Entered according to Act of Congress, the 6th day
of October, 1887,
by
DEVOL & HAINES,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at
Washington, D. C.[All rights reserved.]
PREFACE.
The author of this book has written the stories as
they would recur to his memory, and no effort has
been made at classification. They are not fictitious;
many of the persons named are now living, and
they can and will testify that the stories are
founded on facts.
He belongs to the celebrated Devol family of
Marietta. His grandfather, Jonathan Devol, was an
officer in the Revolutionary War, and was well
known to the pioneer history of Ohio. He was one
of the passengers on the Mayflower, which he
constructed for the use of the first company of
emigrants to Ohio. He erected a house on the
Campus Martius in 1788, and was joined by his
wife and six children in December of that year. He
was one of the committee to explore the country in
search of suitable places for mills and farming
settlements. In 1791 he repaired to Belpre with his
family. He succeeded in clearing a patch of land,
and built a log cabin not far below the house of
Captain William Dorce. The news of the Big Bottom
massacre reached him while attending court at
Marietta, and he hurried home. Mrs. Devol, hearing
that the Indians were on the war-path, ordered the
children to lie down with their clothes on, ready for
the danger signal. He became famous by building
the floating mill. In 1792 he built a twelve-oared
barge of twenty-five tons burden for CaptainPutnam. The author's father was Barker Devol,
who died at Carrollton, Ky., on the 8th day of
March, 1871, at the age of 85. He was a ship-
builder, and worked with his father at Marietta. He
left a widow and six children, who are all living,
except one, the youngest being George H. Devol.
The Author.
CONTENTS.
A Religious Captain
A Cold Deck
A Woman With a Gun
A Shrewd Trick
A Paymaster's Bluff
A Crazy Man
A Good Night's Work
A Euchre Hand
A Good Stake-Holder
A Mile Dash
An Honorable Man
A Bull Fight
A Duck Hunt
A Hard Head
A Square Game
A Coward
Ancient Gambling
Boyhood Days
Blowing Up of the Princess
Beat a Good Hand
Butler in New OrleansBroke a Snap Game
Before Breakfast
Bill Would Gamble
Bill's Present
Caught a Sleeper
Collared the Wrong Man
Called a Gambler
Control Over Suckers
Caught Again
Caught a Whale
Caught a Defaulter
Canada Bill
Close Calls
Cheap Jewelry
Cold Steel
Didn't Win the Bags
Don't Dye Your Whiskers
Didn't Win the Key
Dicky Roach and I
Detectives and Watches
Even the Judges Do It
Eight Hundred Dollars Against a Pistol
Fifty to the Barkeeper
Fight With a Longshoreman
Foot Race
Forty Miles an Hour
Fights
Got Up Too Soon
Got Off Between Stations
Good LuckGood Luck
Governor Pinchback
General Remarks
George, the Butter
Home Again
Hard Boiled Eggs
He Knew My Hand
Her Eyes Were Opened
He Never Knew
He's One of Us
How I Was Beat
He's Not That Old
Indians Can Play Poker
It Made a Man of Him
I Had Friends
It Was Cold
I Raised the Limit
It Shook the Checks
Jew vs. Jew
Judge Devol
Knocked Down $300
Kickers
Leaving Home
Leap for Life
Lost his Wife's Diamonds
Lucky at Poker
Lacked the Nerve
Left in Time
My First Keno
My Jew PartnerMy First Love
Marked Cards
My Crooked Partner
My Partner Alexander
Married His Money
My Cards
My Little Partner
Mules for Luck
My Visit to Old Bill
Monumental Gall
Mule Thieves
My Partner Won
McCoole and Coburn
Mobile
Now a Gambler
Nipped in the Bud
No Play On This Boat
No Money in Law
Narrow Escapes
No Good at Short Cards
On the Circuit
Put Ashore for Fighting
Pittsburg's Best Man
"Pranking" With a New Game
Posing as Nic Longworth's Son
Quick Work
Red and Black
Rattlesnake Jack
Reduced the PriceSaved My Partner's Life
Sold Out by a Partner
"Snap Games"
Sinking of the Belle Zane
Snaked the Wheel
Stolen Money
Signal Service
Settled Our Hash
She Kissed Me
Salted Down
Strategem
Saved By His Wife
"Short Stops"
The Game of Rondo
Ten Thousand in Counterfeit Money
The Frenchman and the Horse Hair
The Chicken Men and Their Silver
The Hungry Man
The Big Catfish
The Sermon on the (Mount) Boat
The Monte King
The Daguerreotype Boat
The Black Deck-Hand
The Juergunsen Watch
The Cotton Man
Taught a Lesson
They Paid the Costs
The Boys from Texas
The Quadroon Girl
The Captain Spoiled the Game
Too Sick to Fight
The Gambler Disguised
The Best Looking SuckerThe Alligators
The Big Sucker
The Crazy Man
The Brilliant Stone
The Hidden Hand
The Three Fives
The Killer
The Deck-Hand
The Black (Leg) Cavalry
The Paymaster's $3.500
The U. S. Detective's Bluff
The Young Man From New York
The Yellow Jeans
The Jack Fish
The Black Man
The Persuader
The Lap-Robe
The Preacher Away From Home
The Cattle Buyer
The Green Cow-Boy
The Police Signal
The Good Deacon
The Natchez and the Lee
The Trick Knife
Two Forty on the Shell Road
The Arkansas Killers
The Englishman and His Gun
Traveling Keno
The Two Judges
Tapped the Till
War With Mexico
Was in With the Judge
Won and Lost