Showing posts with label gambling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gambling. Show all posts

Famous Skaggs: "Brother Skaggs" the Gambler

A few years ago I wrote a post about two Skaggs brothers from Western Kentucky who made a living gambling along with other pursuits.  One of the brothers, E. H., was evidently quite famous and wealthy from Faro gambling.  From the book Sucker’s Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America by Herbert Asbury:
His name was Elijah Skaggs, but he was better known as "Brother Skaggs, the preaching Faro dealer" because of his costume, which never varied throughout his professional life regardless of climate or weather - frock coat and trousers of black broadcloth, black silk vest, white shirt with high-standing collar, white cravat of the choker type wound several times around his scrawny neck, black stove-pipe hat and black patent-leather gaiters.

Famous Skaggs: The Real-Life Maverick Brothers

Remember the Maverick brothers from 1960s TV?  Bret and Bart Maverick were brothers in the Old West who were constantly getting into and out of trouble, usually involving money, women or both.  Well, there were two Skaggs brothers, E.M. and E.H., that were a lot like these guys in the same time period.

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