Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1857-01-02


We find IN the L.,ud ~ Daily News Of the 26ih
uli. the following summary of mn extraordinary
trial
The action was brought to recover g.. 900 on
a bin Of exchange. drawn by A,kin.. and accep-
ted by the defendant, Mr.. Sidebottoin. Culver
well. the plaintiff in the action, was tie holder
| Of the bill. The defence that the bill was
! given for money lost in gambling. To sub.
! sianiaie this defence, Mr.. Sdebdiioln, the de.
PENDANT. wns called and the story thai he had a.
| tell was certainly one that did him M credit The
son of a wealthy cotton manufacture near Man.
| chester, Mr. Sidebottom's juvenile worship Of
the almighty dollar" WIS manifested in a some
what irregular way. lie came up Ia London for
the fret time in l5I7. WHEN bn was about TWEEN.
weight years Of nge, aud he appears no, to have
been long in the metropolis before he made the
acquaintance ii james Atkins. the drawer Of
the bill which he sued. The place in which
be made this anspicous friendship was the Berk.
eley gambling house, in Albemnrle street, ut
which establishment ATKINS was one OF the mon
ey lenders.
Al gambling house. as at the theatre, there
s,e two worlds the world before aud the be-
hind the scenes. Mr.. Sdcbotiom introduced US
Ia the firsi-anuiher and a more practised hand
must admit US in the other. What Mr.. Sidebot.
tom saw and experienced he thus de scribes:-
When went n the game Of hazard was going
on 1t is played with dice. When have been
tHeTt lsiiNhNh t''U Alk1D-. lie sat al the table,
and seemed TO be the money lender There
two bankers Atkins was one of them
lie sat al IA small table AT tho end of the ROOM
and seemed 10 have the general management of
the place. Persons almost always play with
counters. They are given out by tho croupiers.
Money Is raid for them. When there was no
money forthcoming. the croupers asked Atkins
whether they should give counters. When he
gave his consent the croupiers handed the coun-
a u the parfips bn nj
sometimes not."-Such was tho process. Mr.
Sdebotiom then proceeds to give the modest his.
tory ct his losses. On the first night he lost
Ee000. He went on thus night after night, play
ing MI night, and far into the next day-making
his heaviest losses when played against the bank
hlone. The upshot was, that in the course of
various visit, between the years 1917 and 1859,
he lost ON tie whole almost G260OO, OF this
enormous sum he paid between fifteen and six
teen thousand pounds--the residue including tho
G2OOO bill which yesterday action WAS brought,
he declined 10 li1udate. Such were Mr.. Side
bottoms experience of the Berkeley gambling
house lle does not appear TO have suspected
that there was anything wrong. Luck went
against him. and there nothing more TO be
said about II. except to grin and pay.
Nav, let US look behind the curtain Mr.. Jas.
Davies will give US the tntree. This gentleman
how. II appears, I'm the public line of Stoke
Newngton' -las kindly consented to tell US all
he know. And first. he knows u good deal about
Mr.. Atkins. Il have known him says the publ
can, q dfranf sinner, ''for thirty years. have
been in partnership, with him in keeping gam
bling house. When first knew him he door
keeper Mt 100, Picadilly which was II gambling.
house. took him in as partner at Mt the corner
of AIbemnrle street. 1t was chilled the Stick
ShoP.' SO much for the earlier biography of At
kjns. The next Mr. Davies knows is u little n
bout colyerwell. tho holder of the bill, and tho
p'ai6tif in the action "When first knew him
says Davies he was II tailor. hove seen him
on several occasions at these gambling houses
with Atkins. ! heard Atkins apply TO him for mo-
my, That is whore the money came from. At
kins would shy to Culvcrwcll, The bank broke
last night aud We want more money, and Cu-
verwe'l would supply it. But tallow and money
lender did not exhaust the list of Mr.. Culver
wells professional cmploymenis. He was also
regularly engagedat "bonnet to tie berkeley.
We hope that some Mt least of our readers
may be IN happy ignorance of what the word
"bonnei, n n term "t art precisely means. Hero
Is MIR Davies definition. According to this
th"illY, al Is byeword for person who pre-
tends to play when any stranger comes in, but
always wins Aristotle could not have done the
thing i'll fewer words. Mr.. Davies, indeed, had
that mid 10 genius which is supplied by perfect
knowledge. for. he admits. that he had EN-.
ploycd Culverwe|l many times ut his own table
IN the capacity which he has so well Defined
But it was not merely by the fundamentally of
gentlemen who only played to win, that Mr. Side
bottoms t26,0 900 was extracted from his pockets.
BESIDES nll his other points of knowledge, MI Da-
vieS coniesses also to some acquaintance with
loaded dice. lie knows too, something about an
other sort of dice, called "despatches.' AS my
Lord Campbell who knows thing or two, CON
tessed TINT he had heard of "despatches" before
the render may not be ashamed 10 avow equal g-
noranee. and Mr. Davies shall dcfne again. The
despatch dice Gays this Arstnteian tapster)
have double hves and double skies. They are in
favor OF tables should say fifty To one-in fact
all the 'rorid against one" Mr.. Davies shall also
tell "a how they ARE used They are changed
tor oiher dice in the course of the play some
times by the bonnet and sometimes by the
room polter-'rung in rs it is termed
Have our readers had enough of it! Have
they the shadow Of n doubt how Mr. Sidebottom
lost his t26,OO0l If they have, they are slow
er in coming to n conclusion than the jury, who
stopped the further progress of the case by an
indignant verdict against the "honnet., who had
tho nndacity To claim at the hands of the law
share of the plumber made by its llaerant and in
famous violation. Need we add any moral to
this reading on the principles and practices OF
gamblingl-lt would be worse than idle to do So;
the clearest exposure of vlany has never we
fear, tended TO arrest the downward course of
dupes. There may he, however, some who
hating ON tho threshold; and upon them the ex.
perienee of Mr.. Sdebottom, and the revelations
Of Mr.. Davies. may not he thrown away.
a Womnn 10 thr Zip Of Her Tongue.
laughable war of vituperaton has recently
been waged between two newspapers at lazoo
city, Miss. one the banner edited by Mrs II.
n. Preweit, and the other, the "Sun," by Mr. w.
u. Roy. This war was one of nnexamped bit
tcrness and personal acrimony, especially on the