The boat was detained at a landing at a small Kentucky town where the laws against gambling were supposed to be very strict.  Some of the officers of the boat were determined to kill time by staking a few dollars at poker, faro or something worse, and inquiries were made in consequence as to where a game could be found.  These resulted satisfactorily from the gamblers’ standpoint, and the crowd took themselves to the appointed spot, taking with them the very stout, good-natured, but not very speculative first mate.  The game was played in a small room at the rear of an almost equally small restaurant.  Everything went well for awhile, and those who were winning thought they had everything the heart could possibly desire.  All at once one of the colored help came rushing in with a notification that the place was being raided.

It was a case of every man for himself.  As is usual in cases of this kind, one or two got under the table, where of course they were promptly found and arrested.  Two others jumped out of the window, into the arms of two deputies, who were standing there to receive them.  The mate, caught for the first time in his life in a gambling resort, thought of a very good plan of escape.  Snatching up his hat and coat he walked into the kitchen, where he found a good-natured colored lady hard at work stirring batter in anticipation of some table luxury for a coming meal.  With admirable presence of mind the mate picked up an apron, tied it around him and telling “mammy” to take a few minutes’ rest as she was evidently overtired, he seized her wooden spoon and went on stirring the batter as though he had never done anything else in his life.

In the meantime every other member of the party had been caught and taken to the little frame building which answered the purpose of jail and police-court combined.  Various conjectures were exchanged as to the fate of the mate, whose ignorance of the events incidental to gambling raids was expected to prove very inconvenient to him in a variety of ways.  All anxiety on this score was, however, thrown away.  The old man acted his part so well that when the raiders saw him laboriously at work with the wooden spoon they concluded that he was a member of the establishment.  In consequence of this they let him alone, and when the raid was over he replaced his hat and coat, with the indifference and nonchalance of an experienced actor, and went quietly back to the boat.

Here he informed friends of the incarcerated individuals of the fix they were in, and advised them to go to their release, preferring himself to keep as far as possible from the representatives of the law.  Liberty was obtained by the payment of considerable sums in the way of fines and costs, and although the event took place some years ago, the way in which the inexperienced gambler escaped, while his more hardened and experienced friends were caught, is still a constant source of merriment among officers and passengers.