Bucking the Tiger

<p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Bucking the Tiger</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: The Life and Times of John Alexander The Black Prince of Gambling.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>For some three decades John Alexander was arguably the best known African American sporting man in the United States. Wherever he went he was hailed as The Black Prince or even Alexander the Great. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>A longtime resident of Columbus Ohio John was born on the estate of General William Henry Harrison in North Bend Ohio. After the death of his parents however he was raised by a white family until he went to work on a steamboat as a teenager. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Quickly rising to the position of steward John was doing well for a young African American man in the Antebellum South--that is until he was charged with being a fugitive slave and confined in a parish prison in New Orleans. He finally regained his freedom following the intervention of his white friends in Ohio and the devoted young woman he would marry. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>After abandoning his budding career on the river John decided to make his living as a gambler having learned from watching some of the best riverboat gamblers in the United States who sometimes bet their slaveholdings on the turn of a card. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Renowned for being on the square John prided himself on never cheating a man never running a crooked game and never allowing a drunk to play at his tables. He also declined to take money from a customer if he knew the man's helpless dependents would suffer. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>A respected citizen and philanthropist in his hometown John harbored a deep secret which he never divulged to anyone if in fact he knew it at all. For like his childhood playmate future president Benjamin Harrison he was also the grandson of President William Henry Harrison! </span></p><p></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Bucking the Tiger</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is the incredible story of a Black man from Ohio who became a national celebrity in the Post Civil War Era. It is a tale of fortunes won and lost character and resilience in the face of adversity and an indestructible marriage between a gambler and a devout church woman. </span></p><p></p><p><span> </span></p><p></p>