G R Williamson

George Devol - Notorious Riverboat Gambler, Card Sharp & Scam Artist G R Williamson

Without a doubt, George Devol was the most notorious of the Mississippi riverboat gamblers. He mastered the fine art of card manipulation at an early age and by the time he reached twenty he was an accomplished card sharp. Devol could stack a deck, deal seconds or from the bottom of the deck. Though he had large hands, he could nimbly palm cards or insert cards with ease. He knew all the tricks to skin wealthy plantation owners, merchants, businessmen, soldiers, and even ministers who traveled on the busy waterways of the nineteenth century. At the same time, Devol was a maestro at working the short cons, particularly 3 card Monte. He and his partners raked in millions from fleeced suckers over the course of his forty years as a crooked gambler. George Devol - Notorious Riverboat Gambler, Card Sharp & Scam Artist tells his story in vivid detail based on solid historical research. Then, Devol tells his own story through his meandering, semi-autobiography, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, he published in 1896 at the age of 67 when he retired from gambling. In a series of 179 memoirs, he recounts the major events of his gambling life. Though heavily embellished, his accounts divulge his cheating technics and his philosophy about skinning his victims. Allowing for his penchant for self-aggrandizement, the memoirs are a hoot to read. George Devol's book is included with all of his stories appearing exactly as he published them in 1896, with all the spelling and grammatical mistakes intact. The steamboat scoundrel was a major character in the history of the Old West and his story is told in a humorous, entertaining style and is the first book to cover his entire saga.