Chapter 5

We left the bordello at about 11:00 AM the next morning. That was when I found out that Beau had paid $220 for each of us, but he insisted on absorbing the entire expense. He said that was his present to me in appreciation for how fast I was making progress with his plan. That was fine with me, and I thanked him for the experience.

Our next goal was to gain entrance to The Golden Slipper gambling house. That was the next step up from Le Beau Chapeau, and should be good for around $500,000, maybe even more. The Golden Slipper did not open for business until 5:00 PM, so our time was free until then. With that much time to kill, we needed to go by our hotel and transfer the money from my carpet bag to our strongboxes. We flagged down a cab and took care of that chore.

We had recently eaten breakfast before leaving the bordello, so neither of us was hungry. I was kind of stiff after that unfamiliar exercise last night, so I wanted to walk around to loosen up my muscles. I did not want to be distracted by cramping muscles tonight when I was working. Beau agreed and we went for a walk through the streets of the French Quarter.

Most of the businesses in the French Quarter operated 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, so you could always find something to suit your fancy there, whether it was women, food, liquor, gambling, or any one of several other pastimes which I had rather not go into. We were walking past one such place when there was much screaming and applause coming from inside. Suddenly, a very young woman who was naked from the waist down ran out into the street and bumped into me.

She was not especially pretty, in fact was somewhat on the other side of the coin, but she immediately got my sympathy when a man ran out of the doorway behind her brandishing a bloody cane. That was when I noticed the bleeding welts on her legs and butt. I also noticed the broken cord attached to her wrists.

The woman cried to me, “Please, Sir, don’t let him take me back in there. If you do, I am sure that I will not survive.”

The man with the cane ran up and grabbed her wrist. “Come back with me, you stupid whore. I paid you to let me whip your ass, and, by damn, I am going to get my money’s worth.” He hit the woman across her butt with the cane and she collapsed to the wooden sidewalk with a scream of pure agony.

Well, I could not stay out of this situation since the woman had appealed directly to me. I was probably foolish for doing so, but I said, “Step back, Man. Can’t you see that you have done enough damage?”

He snarled at me, “You step back. This girl owes me another 25 strokes with my cane, and I will have my due.”

“I think not. She has appealed to me for help, and I intend to provide it. If you don’t back off, I will get more insistent.”

The man dropped the cane to the sidewalk and reached inside his jacket for what I could only assume was a gun. There was no time to waste. I drew my gun and fired into his chest. The mushrooming bullet did terrible damage at only about six feet of distance, and the man was dead before he hit the sidewalk.

By this time, Beau had also drawn his gun and stood with me as a crowd of men boiled through the door. One of them shouted at me, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! I PAID GOOD MONEY TO SEE THIS GIRL’S ASS BEATEN, AND I DEMAND SATISFACTION!”

“You will not see this woman injured any further. She is now under my protection, and I plan to defend her against you and any of your cohorts. Back off while you still can!”

The troublemaker was standing behind several other men, so I could not get a clear shot at him. I am sure that he took this into account as he reached for a gun. I was not about to stand around and let somebody shoot me without doing what I could to stop him. He was a fool in more ways than one because the men between him and me were pushing to escape what they were sure were to be flying bullets in short order. Well, they were correct.

I saw the gun in his hand, a derringer, and I could not wait any longer. I fired my pistol that I was holding in my hand, and I put a bullet through his forehead. This seemed to be enough to convince the rest of the small crowd of men that I was not someone to be trifled with because they took off in both directions up and down the street to escape any more bullets.

Things had returned to more or less normal, and I went through the pockets of the two men that I had shot. I found a lot of silver dollars on the man with the cane, too much money to count at the moment, and $40 in gold coins on the other man, as well as some silver coins. I also picked up several guns in reasonable condition and useful enough to be sold.

I was just in the process of helping the woman to her feet when a constable showed up. I told him what had happened, and several witnesses verified my story, so he ruled that I had acted in self defense. However, he wanted a dollar to pay for burying the two corpses. That was agreeable with me, so I gave him the dollar and turned to the girl.

“Where are the rest of your clothes, my Dear?” She directed me into the place where she was being beaten and pointed to her skirt and boots in a corner. She put on the clothes, though it was painful, while Beau and I waited. I gave her the money that I had taken from the two bodies. Hell, I was so rich at this point that I could not have cared less about the money from the two bodies.

On the other hand, the young woman was ecstatic to receive that much money. I was willing to bet that it was the most money that she had ever held at one time. Amidst her thanks, I found out that she was a prostitute who worked the street, and she had been hired by the man with the cane without him telling her exactly what he planned for her. I advised her to be more careful in the future about her customers, and she agreed to that. With all of the money that I had given her, she could afford to take a few days off from work to let her welts heal, though she was going to be spending most of that time on her belly in bed.

Beau and I resumed our stroll, and he asked me if I intended to play the knight errant every time I saw a woman in distress. I answered that I probably would: I just could not help myself. Beau laughed and said that he would then find it necessary to back me up in order to protect his investment, though the very idea of doing so frightened him to death. I snorted in derision, and Beau laughed again.

We walked around for a while, but the afternoon heat began to take its toll, so we headed back to our suite for a cooling bath and to dress for tonight’s activities. I expected to have to go through the same sort of screening process that I had done at Le Beau Chapeau before I could break into the higher priced games.

We arrived at The Golden Slipper about a half-hour after it opened for business. I was carrying my small carpet bag with $15,000 in gold bars in it. I did not expect to need that much money tonight, of course, but I had it along to prove that I could afford high-stakes games. We were met by the doorman, and Beau talked to him for a few minutes. The conversation did some good because we were not steered to the main floor, but taken to a private room where there was a game about to start. There were four players and a non-playing dealer—I made the fifth player, and that was enough to get the game started.

This was a $10-ante and no limit betting game, so I was where I had left off at Le Beau Chapeau. Okay, I did not complain, but dropped a few eagles and double-eagles on the table to establish that I was earnest about playing for real money. Beau took a seat behind me, and play started. I was the last one in line to bet on this round, so that just made things a bit easier for me.

I dropped my ante into the pot and was ready to play. This time, I started the game with a low-card two pairs. I followed along with $20 when it came my time to bet, but I figured that this hand was the usual lost cause. To my surprise, everybody else folded on the second round, so I won the pot pretty much by default. I figured that these guys were crazy if they played the whole evening that way, but I was willing to take their money. I raked in $170 on that first hand, and I still was in the dark about my co-players.