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

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** 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.