It is well known upon the western waters, that the firemen and other
hands employed upon the boats spend much of their idle time in playing
cards. Of the passion for gaming, thus excited, an instance has been
narrated to us upon the most credible authority, which surpasses the
highest wrought fictions of the gambler's fate. A colored fireman, on
board a steamboat running between Saint Louis and New-Orleans, had
lost all his money at poker with his companions. He then staked his
clothing, and being still unfortunate, pledged his own freedom for a
small amount. Losing this, the bets were doubled, and he finally at
one desperate hazard, ventured his full value as a slave, and laid
down his free papers to represent the stake. He lost, suffered his
certificates to be destroyed, and was actually sold by the winner to a
slave dealer, who hesitated not to take him at a small discount upon
his assessed value. When last heard of by one who knows him, and
informed us of the fact, he was still paying in servitude the penalty
of his criminal folly.
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