Devol tells the story that when Hickok placed a $50 bet, he lost. Supplying perfect opportunities for Devol’s operation, he followed the railroad expansion between Kansas City and Cheyenne in the early 1870s.Īccording to his account, Devol was working the Gold Room Saloon in Cheyenne when he encountered Wild Bill Hickok. Many of these burgeoning towns, often filled with railroad workers, miners, and cowboys provided all manner of vices, including prostitution, numerous saloons, and the ever-present gambling halls. When the war was over, the railroads began to head west, with settlements sprouting up all along the way. However, Devol would always return their money, along with this advice: “Go and sin no more.” But to the many soldiers, paymasters, farmers, thieves, and businessmen, he was not so kind. One trick that Devol liked to play was betting against ministers, who inevitably lost their meager wages to the professional gambler. Working the steamboats of the South, he joined in with other card sharps, including Canada Bill Jones, Bill Rollins, Big Alexander, and many others over the years. Devol continued to hone his skills and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the years before the Civil War. While back in Ohio, he mastered the games of Faro and Rondo. But he grew bored with soldiering, and with his pockets filled with his ill-earned gains, he returned to New Orleans, although not for long.Īt the tender age of 17, Devol’s pockets were filled with almost three thousand dollars as he headed back home to Ohio, laden with gifts for his family. While aboard the Corvette, he met a man who taught him how to “stock a deck.” Upon reaching the Rio Grande and joining the forces, he quickly utilized his newly learned skills to swindle the other soldiers. Soon, Devol thought it a good idea to go to war and got a job as a barkeeper on the Corvette, bound for the Rio Grande and Mexico. Seeing the high lifestyle of the professional gamblers on the boat, Devol was determined to follow in their footsteps, and by the time he was in his teens, he could deal seconds, palm cards, and recover the cut.įighting would continue to be a natural part of his life, and he soon developed skills with a gun, never hesitating to pull it.īy the time the Mexican War broke out, he was on a boat called the Tiago. Evidently, Devol did a good job in this capacity as he soon took a better-paying job on a boat called Walnut Hills.Īnother boat came soon after – the Cicero, where Devol learned to play “Seven-Up” and the art of bluffing. While his father was away building boats much of the time, his mother would be forced to call in a neighbor or passerby to help with his punishment.ĭevol ran away at the age of ten, serving as a cabin boy on a riverboat steamer called the Wacousta. When a teacher attempted to discipline him with a hardy whipping, he would turn on them, hitting them with stones that he carried in his pocket. The unmanageable boy was also prone to fighting, coming home almost daily with scratches and bruises from his numerous scuffles. Though Devol had good opportunities for early education, he didn’t like school and spent most of his time playing hooky. His father was a ship carpenter and was often away from home. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi River. He was also a con artist, a fighter, and a master at manipulating men and their money.īorn on August 1, 1829, in Marietta, Ohio, George Devol was the youngest of six children. – George Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi Doctors have often told me that my skull was nearly an inch in thickness over my forehead.” “I don’t know just how thick my old skull is, but I do know that it is pretty thick, or it would have been cracked many years ago, for I have been struck some terrible blows on my head with iron dray-pins, pokers, clubs, stone-coal, and bowlders, which would have split any man’s skull wide open unless it was pretty thick.
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