The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-12-30

stantaEeous with tho report, comes tho !
crash of tho broken wine-glass, dropped
from tho hands of the gambler, who, dying, |
falls to tho floor. Tho startled crowd rush !
to tho street, and ere quarter of on hour
has passed, tho murderer is iE tho bands of
the angry multitude, and with ropo about
his neck, pleads for his life They will not
listen. lie must hang.
Fathers and mothers in Geauga County.
remember that these are not fancy sketches,
but arc scenes based upon facts. Do you
say-my son will never como to such fate
as this Wait, for from effects l am seeking
to trace out causes.
Let us 90 and ask for the doomed mans
Confession. Lisien now. He says: "Somc-
time ago, camo down from the mines,
bringing with me tho dust which had dug.
| intended to deposit it in Bank, that
might sond q draft homo to my friends.
But met the man whose lifo have taken.
We played. at first, for small sums, always
winning. We drank-excitcd by my sue
cess, l staked all, and at single gomo, no
swept it from mo. l swore revenge, aud
for NY money his life has paid tho forfeit.
Still farther back, used to play with my
comrades in tho mines, for "tho whisky"
When in the States, / was in the babit Of
occasionally spending an hour at cards, for
sport, having learned to play among tho
bows at school, sometimes stealing away
with them to tho fields or barns for q
gamo.
When invited to q social party, II attend
cd, found il, oftentimes fashionable
amusement, and therefore thought it no
harm to play. My will was not at all times
strong enough to resist temptation, and,
fatterod with tho hopo of success, yielded
to the ent;cements of tho gamblers, and
have como to a felon's DOOM"
Hero, then, lie tho plain case. Ho first
learned to play; secondly, learned IL was
right, because fashionable; thirdly, had not
will sufficient to resist temptation aud,
finally, lost his money, took life, lost his
own, dying at tho hands of mob.
This is not an isolated case. Many that
have come to tho commission of criino, find
their first step downwards in wrongs that
arc winked ut by community.
But, says one, l can play cards FOR amuso.
ment, and novor gamble. Others have said
tho same, before you, and from the midst OF
their ruins, comes up to us tho cry, echoing
far back along their history, to the starting
point. just where you arc now, Don't try
Would you sail clear of danger, put tho firm
hand Of principle TO the holm. Thus
guided, you need not fear reef, nor rock, nor
) sboal."
Ask tho yourg man WHO went penniles'
from tho steamboat, and hope tho wiser
for his dear. bought experience, for tho first
; cause of his error. Ho will point you tc
his playing with boys at home, for amuse
, mont, or with the ladies at parties, or will
tho doctors, tho lawyers, tho clerks. fol
cigars, in the store after hours. or it may bt
in tho barroom, for tho ale. He did not &c
to our city dens to take his first lesson.
Ask the friends of E. r. Sterling. if he wa'
not strong to resist temptation if he die
not weep bitter tears over his errors; ye
; was drawn slowly in, and went down, a
, last, to a sad, sad fatc.
We are in tho habit of looking at things
as being afar off.
When q case like tho ono last noticed, tn,
; blood of which wish might stain The tarc'h
hold of every gambling den aud drinking
saloon in tho city of Cleveland, until al
who cross them should trembe, comes up
wo shuddor and say, "Terriblo, terrible" littl'
thinking that tho same evil lies at our owl
door; that the long, fine roots of 80 deadl.
Z Upas tree reach out for nourishment, int
the very circles Of our own society. Fo
instance: card-playiDg in some OF our town
and villages, is fashionable A young maj
!, attends party. He learns to play. To
; ; morrow he goes out into the busy worl'
wears pass 5y, he meets with gamblers, ant
I goes down to ruin. Has not the seed, roote,
at homo grown up in the world, to a dead
l ly tree, tho bitter fruits of which droI
= poison on his sinking soul?
To illustrate from another great evil -
Somo man in your town. sells liquor b.
|, tho barrel and by the drink. Tie grrd
and gtdring evil. All talk about it, ever
body talks-all condemn tho man. Some
body prosecutes, and your court fine hir
D fifty dollars. Tho town says, served hir
' rght-wish tho fno had been moro.
j Tonight, two ladies in comfortabl
homo, receive calls from gentlemen, and tn
5 company spend social hour, chatting merr
0 y over choice glass of wine, never for
y moment dreaming, that they are suck in
D through straws, in a small way, tho sam
erH which tho dealer rolls out to his fcllo
man by the barrel.
Tomorrow, merchant A. starts for Ne
: York. His fine, leather. covered, cup-cappe
), brandy bottle finds choice place in hi
!. pocket. No thought o fhis, so much as him
y that il contains tho same poison which tn
u largo dealer, whose practice no so much de-
tests, pours out by the glass, for the d.
:. structiOn of his fellow man.
Thus short sighted are we. as to the wrong
II upon which lean some of tho great evils {
j. society.
CLEVELAND, Ohio.