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Cross, George

Extortionist and former banker in 1876.[1] (August 28, 1834 – August 27, 1891)[2]

Cross was a Kansas banker in 1874,[2] when he sat in a high-stakes poker game with Bret Maverick. He played badly, losing hand after hand, chasing his losses. Bret won $50,000 from him, but Cross couldn't accept that he could lose that much money if Bret wasn't cheating. Afterwards, he swore he would get even with Bret someday and regain his losses.[1]

A poor cheat himself, lacking the dexterity to manipulate cards, he was always looking for other ways of gaining the advantage in poker. He discovered an obscure rule in Hoyle's Games where straights were not admissible in five-card stud poker. He realized the popular, more informal rules of poker were so prevalent in most games in the West would not allow him to get away with claiming a formal rule of Hoyle amongst the unsophisticated cowhands and farmers he had opportunity to play.[2]

in 1876, he met Samantha Crawford, who he knew could play men and gain their trust and bow to her feminine charm and presumed innocence. Knowing Bret was traveling from St. Louis to New Orleans aboard the riverboat Delta Star, he devised a plan in which Samantha  would get into a game with Bret and, amongst the more gentile and wealthy poker players aboard, she would be able to spring the rule of Hoyle on him and get away with it. He hired her to take Bret for as much as he had, for ten percent of the take. Cross also employed Henry Tree, a private detective, to watch Samantha's movements to ensure she did not double-cross him.[1]

Samantha managed to take Bret for $12,000 on that trip without using the rule of Hoyle. Knowing Bret would try to recoup his losses, she still had the advantage of the unused rule, and played him again aboard the Stonewall Jackson out of New Orleans back to St. Louis. After several hours of play, the opportunity she was waiting for came about and she beat Bret's straight with a pair of nines. When challenged, she produced a copy of Hoyle's Games and invoked the rule, to which Bret conceded.[1]

Afterwards, Samantha admitted part of her plan to Bret. She still needed another $25,000 to fulfill her bargain with Cross, but invented the ruse that Cross was her father and serving time for having embezzled $50,000 to replace his losses of 1874. Bret proposed they partner to raise money they both needed by investing some of her winnings to buy gambling equipment in St. Louis to set up an operation in Wagon Wheel, Wyoming Territory and put Joe Riggs' corrupt Golden Bucket Saloon and Casino, out of business.[1]

Listening from the shadows, Tree overheard their plans and reported them to Cross once the Stonewall Jackson docked in St. Louis. When Cross confronted Samantha, Tree convinced them to allow Bret to continue with his plan so Cross could take Bret for even more money, exacting the revenge he had dreamed of for so many years.[1]

In Wagon Wheel, Cross negotiated with Joe Riggs to hand over the gambling equipment Bret had bought in exchange for ten percent of the Golden Bucket's profits for the next three years. this would leave Bret out in the cold and Riggs and Cross would both see a healthy profit.[1]

Before the gambling equipment could change hands, Bret proved to the residents of Wagon Wheel that the Golden Bucket was a crooked operation and the customers smashed the saloon to bits. Riggs was forced out of business and had to sell the equipment to Ma Braus, leaving him and Cross out in the cold, as they had intended to do to Bret.[1]

Defeated, Cross, Tree and Samantha left Wagon Wheel the next morning for Kansas City. Cross never challenged a Maverick again.[1]

See: According to Hoyle