Crossoaders of Nevada of Years Ago

  I received an email the other day in regards to a post I had done on a forum site some time ago. I had used the term "crossroaders" and the email inquired as to what I was referring to with that term.

  It is an old "Nevada" term referring to a type of thief, one who learned a move of some kind on a game or table in a casino, and as a result of his or their "hit" on a club, could win money, not necessarily legally.

  Then, after the "hit" they would meet outside of town, at the "crossroads," thus the term "crossroader."

  Working in the casinos I knew some, and they were a unique breed. They practiced their "move" hours a day, and in many cases, they were the only one who knew that particular "move." They were all extremely intelligent, had razor sharp minds, and as we said, "had more guts than a slaughterhouse."

  I liked every corssroader I met. They were a unique breed, never wanted to be too loud or pretentious, just did their "move," smiled and left the table.
  They all loved to get away with things, anything they could. They practiced their art, whether in a casino or in a carry out or a clothing store.
  On one occasion, I was sitting box on a crap table at the Primm. I had just come back from a break, and was talking with the two dealers on the table and mentioned that I had just been to a men's clothing store, saw a suite I liked, described it briefly and that was it.
  When I went on my next break, a man i recognized beckoned me outside to his car, and there was the suit, and in my size, half price. Crosssroaders were good.

  Buster Smoot, Wesley West, Blondy Johnson, were a few I knew or came into contact with.

  My introduction to "them" was at the Nevada Club, I was training to be a dealer. Early one morning I was on a table my myself with a shill. A "hick" came up to the table, bib overalls, plaid shirt, a real hayseed. He made a few stupid bets, threw the dice, and won. Made a few more stupid bets and won. Made a few BIG bets and was getting ready to throw the dice when I heart Fitz let out a yell. The "hick" picked up his money and headed for the door.

  It was Blondy Johnson, he saw a new dealer, at first, Fitz was not in his "cashiers cage" so Blondy took a shot. Made a few bucks so he was happy. They showed me what he did, so I learned a good lesson, so that was the end of it.

  Not to long ago I heard from a Granddaughter, I think she was, of Buster Smoot. She had never met him, and wanted some information. He apparently had been shot and killed in Las Vegas. I told her what I knew.

  Buster was a real Nevada character.

Update

Letter to the Editor
From: Justin O. Smith
Update on the Arcade Project

My dreams have changed. I have received so much positive response concerning the opening of my brothel in the Arcade that I no longer want to open my truck garage on the South side of the Square. I have been approached by the Pennnnn Corporation who inquired about leasing the street level portion of the building to open a casino, and moving the brothel into the basement.

They indicated that the possibility exists that they have located a Hopewell Indian survivor, living under a bridge in Toboso. Her Indian name is Owaahtanah and according to her, she was originally from Dresden. She stated that her great, great grandfather, Chief Mawahmantoso, translated means 'basket weaver" had relocated his tribe to the Dresden area  "many moons" ago. They survived by making baskets and selling them to the local population.

She related too, that the Dresden Vocational School had persuaded her father, The Chief, to teach classes at the school on Basket Weaving. Rumor has it that one of his early students was named Longaberger.

When the Pennnnn Corporation was contacted regarding a gaming license for the proposed "Casino in the Arcade in the Mustang Building,"  their representative commented, "No problem, we will get an Indian Casino License, we found one living in Toboso who showed ownership papers of the entire downtown area." She also told us, "I have a country club golf course too, with a pool and tennis courts."

She further stated, "Eef awl of theese works out, Little Running Wolf  Siam and I weel be able to get married, I am veery excited."

Construction on the new complex will start as soon as building permits are acquired.

The New Masthead

I think it needs a bit more explaining.

Joe Conforte, Nevada brothel owner, who I dealt craps to on numerous occasions in Reno, is in this photograph seen shooting craps in prison in Carson City, Nevada. Gambling, of course, is legal in Nevada, so they had a casino in the state prison. It was reportedly the most honest game in the state. You didn't want to get thrown out of there, there was no place else to go. Joe is not living in Brazil.

I remember Joe pulling up in front of the Primmadonna in a cordovan colored Lincoln Continental convertible, camel top coat, nice fedora, big cigar, walking in to the club with a few of his girls, all nicely dressed, in town for some entertainment, generally on a Thursday night.

Ernie Primm had a special bottle of something, just for Joe, and a box of cigars for him also. Joe spread his money around pretty good, so everyone took good care of him. I had a few occasions to not only deal to him, but also to chat. I always liked him.

The Chris Craft on the pond. Well, I always loved boats, in those days they were all wooden. I had driven a Chris Craft on one occasion, in Michigan, on Burt Lake, that was owned by Hoppie, I think his name was John Hopkins. He was a dashing figure of a man, vacationed at the lake, made a lot of money during the war and moved up to the lake. He bought John Greenmans's store and tavern, turned it into a full time tavern, and it still is there today, changed quite a bit, but still Hoppies.

We had the pond, I saw a Chris Craft for sale, and the practical person I was, bought it, put it on the pond, got it running and had a ball with it. Don't ask what happened to it. I decided to refinish it, ADD kicked in, end of story.

Don't bring up the subject if you talk with my wife, please.

Casino

Well, the voters in Ohio have voiced their opinion, put the casino on the West side of town,which, oddly enough, is where the developers wanted to put it.

Now. everyone on the West side is excited. One guys has a pizza place right across the street from the casino, how lucky is he? Everyone is looking for more business and traffic. Construction jobs, casino jobs, prosperity in the West of Columbus.

Ironic, in a way. Voters turned down many levies, libraries, schools, education, they are not voting for anything that costs them money. Wiith the casino coming to town everyone will have more money. Where does all that casino money come from? OH, people losing their money, the money they saved by not voting for the schools can now be lost in a casino. Makes sense.

Where does the money come from to pay all those casino workers. OH, people losing money.

Granted, some people buy a drink, they pay money and they get a drink. Some buy food. Some will pay for a room, so some people do get something for their money. But the BIG bucks are made in the casino, people wagering and losing their money. Most voters rationalize, and maybe don't realize, what a casino is.

A casino get a license from the state, and I think they also have to get a federal gaming stamp and probably some city, township and other licenses, but basically, a license to take peopless money. As we always called them in Nevada, a license to steal.

Now the homeless, living across the street, will have a nice casino to look at. New, elaborate, opulant and I think they are going to call the Columbus casino something about Hollywood ....

Casino on wheels

With the high-speed rail controversy still raging in Ohio, the Pen Corporation, which is putting the casinos in the four locations in Ohio is planning to ask the State Legislature to change their licensing options to include a Casino Train which would run from Cleveland, to Toledo, to Dayton and on to Cincinnati.

Fountaine Pen, CEO of the corpoation stated, "With the train serving all these locations we will have no construction costs, and all those mamby-pambys who oppose casinos, and our moving in to their areas will have nothing to complain about. Looks like a win-win situation to me. I hope the legislature is "all-aboard" on this one, no pun intended."

Pen said he envisioned a train with a locomotive and 12 cars. four used as casinos, one entertainment car, one lounge car, one office car, and four used as motel units with sleeping accommodations. Phil Rassen of the Columbus Dispatch pointed out to Pen that was only 11 cars.

Pen's answer to that, "Sorry, in the casino business we are used to "short counting" everything. Actually, we will need one car to count and store the money."