Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi Book

A cabin boy in 1839 could steal cards and cheat the boys at eleven stock a deck at fourteen bested soldiers on the Rio Grande during the Mexican war won hundreds of thousands from paymasters, cotton buyers, defaulters and thieves fought more rough and tumble fights than any man in America and was the most daring gambler in the world. George H. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi. Born in Ohio in 1829, he ran away from home and worked as a cabin boy at age ten. At Fourteen he could stack a deck of cards. Over the years, he bilked soldiers, paymasters, thieves, cotton buyers and businessmen alike. He fought more fights than anyone and was never beaten. This is his story. Nobody was ever bored by it. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pierides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original

Library Journal

As the title to this 1887 volume reveals, Devol was a riverboat gambler who made fortunes, and even if only half of his many tall stories are true, he lived a remarkable life. He begins the story at age ten when he ran away from his Ohio home to join the crew of a riverboat. There he learned not only about being a sailor but how to cheat at cards. Though it should be taken with a grain of salt, this nonetheless makes for fun reading.