St. Louis Side-Step

Jimmy was a desperate man, he'd been in St. Louis almost two hours now and was

pretty near broke. He figured he had seventy cents or so left in his fancily

tailored, "Baltimore Haberdashary", pants pocket. The suit being the parting gift of his

father after he had passed all his schooling, but refused to enter millitary service.

James DeLong had spent most of his greenbacks parading like a dandy around

Chicago.

He was trying in vain to impress upon a group of upstart, well-to-do, entrepreneurs

that his east-coast saavy was the final key to their unbridled wealth. James treated the

Chicago boys to a two week blur of hedonism. Scotch whiskey and Irish women were

the lure for the boys...a partnership for James was the catch. Jimmy was politely

brushed aside by the fraternity after a fortnight, their reason: He was too young, too

rash, too fopishly eastern! The bastards, he thought, those unrefined self-smug

apes...To the devil with 'em anyway!.

Following a bumpy ride into Galena Illinois, President Ulysses S. Grant's

hometown, James purchased himself transport upon the riverboat Biloxi and made

passage for booming St. Louis Missouri. It was the last metropolis, the frontier border,

the wealth of that vast western land pouring into it's bosom. Everybody he spoke with

said that was the place where fortune awaited.

Settling in for his first riverboat ride filled James with renewed vigor and optimism.

Lunch aboard was ample and two or three draghts of ale enhanced his well-being.

Surely divine providence was pushing him toward his destiny of wealth and affluence on

America's wilderness edge. Feeling as sure as Lincoln and as proud as the Biloxi

herself, James DeLong sat down at a Faro table with four distinguished looking men

and called for a hand. How pleasing it was for James to finally encounter some

gentlemen of culture and refinement! The richly dressed men welcomed the newcomer

to the game and chatted with him of his home and eagerly asked of all news from the

east coast. Within two hours the card players had relieved Jimmy of all the news of

home and, conveniently for them, the bulk of his money. Jimmy acted as if he lost

twenty dollars gambling every day, had plenty more to spare, and politely excused

himself from the game. The card players in their finery graciously thanked James for

the news of home and invited him back soon to join them for a game and a beer and

bade him farewell. As Jimmy sauntered off he was sure he heard the word, "fool", and

muffled laughter from the table.