Gambling in American History

“Canada Bill” Jones (1820–1877) was the master of three card monte in the middle years of the nineteenth century. Stories are told about characters in the gambling world, and some of the best are told about Canada Bill. When he was circulating through the South during the post–Civil War years conning people with his monte games and looking for any action, he found a poker game. As he entered the game he was warned that it was a crooked game. He responded simply, “I know, but it is the only game in town”. Certainly the same story has been told about other gamblers. It was quite likely to be true about Canada Bill, however, who in his lifetime won millions of dollars on his own specialty game. He then turned around and lost the money gambling in other games, usually poker and faro games.
After his funeral in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1877, it was reported that while two gamblers were lowering the coffin into the ground, one said, “I’ll bet you my hundred against your fifty”. “On what?” said the other. “I’ll bet that he isn’t in the coffin”. He then related that Canada Bill had squeezed out of tighter boxes in his lifetime. Indeed, he had gotten out of town ahead of his victims on more than several occasions. During the 1850s he traveled the Mississippi River with his monte operation in a partnership with George Devol. Devol was a fighter. But Canada Bill was only 130 pounds and afraid of a fight. He knew how to get Devol to make a defensive stand as he led the escape from the “tight” situations.
Bill Jones was born in Yorkshire, England, to a family of gypsies.  He was raised among fortune-tellers and horse traders and thieves. He learned that the secret of living involved using con jobs. In his early twenties he moved to Canada, whence came his nickname. There he met his gambling mentor, Dick Cady, who taught him the sleight-of-hand operations of three-card monte, a card game that worked like the proverbial shell game. When Jones heard about the riverboats, he left the frozen tundra behind, becoming a man of the South.
After touring the river for several years, he worked his scams on the new railroads in the United States. He actually proposed to one line that he be given a monopoly concession for the train. He was denied the exclusive opportunity and had to travel with other gamblers – probably guaranteeing that he would not keep his winnings. Canada Bill was the best at three card monte, as he could almost change a card as he was throwing it down to the table. In his later years he worked county fairs and a world fair, and also racetracks. He was unlike other professional gamblers of the era, as he did not dress to impress. Quite the opposite, he always appeared as the rube, unshaven, in rumpled oversized clothes, looking like a sucker ready to be taken. He often said that “suckers had no business with money, anyway”. He was what he appeared to be. He died a pauper. <