I was on board the _City of Louisiana_, bound for New Orleans.
There was a large number of passengers, and a heavy load of freight.
The roof was literally covered with coops full of chickens and
turkeys. I had old monte running in full blast, but the chicken
men could not bet, as they were going to market instead of coming
away. They were so very much interested in the game that they
forgot to watch their coops. After a while one of them went up,
and found that some one had stolen some of the chickens. The pilot
told him he saw the man taking them, so he went down and told the
Captain, and he sent for the pilot to pick out the thief. They
found him and brought him into the cabin, when some one proposed
to try him by judge and jury; so they elected me judge, and I
impaneled a jury. We heard the evidence, and the attorneys made
their arguments. Then I charged the jury, and they retired to the
bar-room (as we did not have any regular jury room). They were
out about as long as it would take a first-class barkeeper to make
up twelve drinks, and then they filed back into the court-room,
each one putting his handkerchief away, as if they had all been
crying over the awful verdict they were about to render. I asked
the foreman if they had agreed upon a verdict, and he said, "We
have, your Honor." Just at this time there was some commotion in
the court-room (occasioned, no doubt, at the sight of the twelve
handkerchiefs). I told the sheriff to rap for order, but it was
some little time before it could be restored. I then told the jury
to stand up and hear their verdict. The foreman read the verdict,
which was: "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty." I then told
the defendant to stand up and hear his sentence. "You are to return
the chickens to their owner, pay a fine of six bottles of wine and
the costs of this suit, and be imprisoned in the bar-room until
the fine and costs are paid."
As there were no other cases on the docket, I ordered the sheriff
to adjourn court (to the bar). The sheriff went up with the man
who had lost the chickens, and they picked out three dozen. When
they came down and reported to me that they had returned three
dozen chickens, the criminal yelled out that he had only taken one
dozen. The poor fellow did not have the money to pay for the wine,
so he had to give a bill of sale for his chickens.
After all of my judicial duties were performed, and while the bar
(of justice) was full of people, and the people were full (of what
they got at the bar), I opened up the dear little three-card racket,
and in a short time I owned every chicken and turkey on the roof
of that boat.
What to do with my live stock I did not know. I had a bill of sale
from the chicken men, but what I wanted just then was a chicken
buyer. I at last had an offer from the second clerk which was much
less than the market value; but as I never had much use for anything
I could not put in my pocket, I accepted his offer and sold out.
The chicken men had no business in New Orleans, as they had sold
in transit, and not one of them had any money; so I called them up
to the office, and gave each one money enough to take him back to
Cairo.