Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-01-08
/ National convention Of Gamblers.

/ 4 National convention Of Gamblers.
The latest novelty in the way of Con-
|yentions. is the convention of the sporting
fraternity. or gamblers, from all parts of
the country. at Chicago. The Democrat,
of that city, says that the city has been
..fast filing up" With the delegations from
the different States, sent to attend this Con-
vention. Alabama, Rhode Island, Mime
sofa were the only States remaining unrep-
resented on Wednesday last, and delegates
from these were on their way to the great
meeting. Although this is gathering Of
..hard cases" morally, the Democrat de-
|scribes the appearance Of the delegates as
highly respectable. "a finer looking set
|of men we have. never seen than they are,
taken upon the average. They are all fat
and are well. very well dressed, with jew
lelry in abundance, and some Of them are
said to be, what their looks indicate, men
Of talents" f
These men are seen in every town, and
lare generally known by their sleek appear
ance, sharp looks, and display OF jewelry.
professional gamblers are often regarded as
respectable members of society, and their
success is looked upon with something Of
the same veneration that Americans are apt
Ito feel for those who gain largely and wide
lily in what are considered legitimate trans
factions; and it is too often the case that
even the successful libertine is regarded
with sort Of admiration. The Democrat
Isays:
| Gambling is carried on much more Sc
|cretly than formerly, and therefore it IS not
lso dangerous as when the ''tads'' would 60
out in broad daylight and solicit men to 60
to Gambling Houses. The gambling rooms
are sometimes in hotels, and changed from
room to room by previous agreement But
more generally they are in eating saloons.
Pretended business men go into an eating
|saloon, and 90 up stairs under pretence OF
eating. If the police will watch, they will
find these men tarry long while, and Of
ten all night, at their meals.
It is, Owe suppose facetiously) remarked
|by the Democrat, that the Convention will
adjourn over the first day without transact
ing any business than merely announcing
the death of their friend, who kept the
great establishment at Washington SO many
years, and passing the usual vote OF con-
dolence
There will be two important matters TO
come up before the Convention.
One will be the revision Of the old rules,
and the adoption Of new ones for the vari-
Gus games. The rules are construed diff
ferently in different States. Several lives
have been lost in broils arising from this
difference in their Interpretation. Uniform
ity of construction is demanded by all the
delegates.
= The other viii ,be the non-interference of
professional gamblers in politics. There
will be very warm debate upon this sub
J: ject.
! An Arkansas correspondent writes us
! that ''the memory Of Mr.. Squibob, Of Lit
; tie Rock, is very treacherous in respect to
! proper names, and many have been the oc-
J casions on which he has been exceedingly
: annoyed by this strange defect in his men
tai organization /; sometimes even to the ex-
! tent Of being obliged to refer to some paper
, about his person to discover his own name.
;. So common has this become with him, that
he has sort of system by which, when
thus oyertaken by his faults, he extricates
himself sometimes without being obliged to
. make known his weakness in this regard. -
= On one occasion, however, his cherished
. expedents sent him out Of the frying pan
Q . into the fire. He had made trade with
: his neighbor, John Jones, and it became
= necessary that he should draw writing II
! which Mr.. Jones's name should appear. -
= |Squibob scrubbed away very well until hi
: came to where Jones's name should come
lin, when he was taken with his old fault
). ard came to dead halt. lie tried ane
! tried, but the name would not come. Tx
! knew it as well as his own, if he could only
! think of it! He scratched his head, nlbbee
! his pen, hoping to get at the name without
the humiliation of an acknowledgement t.
r. Jones Of being the possessor Of such al
. unreliable memory; but the harder he trlee
: to call the name to mind, the farther Oft i
- seemed to go; until at last, in his despair
: he bethought himself Of an expedient which
! had often served him good purpose; ano
"a |so, pretending to commence writing again
y he asked Jones, without looking up, how
;, he spelled his name?
r. His neighbQr very slowly spelled it out
- sJ-o-n-e-s.'
= ''Squibob, seeing what predicament h
had got into, thought be would come GU
d with flying colors by another expedien
q which, in such cases, had served him goot
:, purpose; and so he very composedly re
. marks-as though he, Of course, knew
Jones's surnan,e-'Your christen name,
- meant"
y, y Jones again slowly spelled out-J-o-h- n
n Whereupon Squibob caved, and, to saw
N his reputation as to his knowledge Of or
10 typography, made, then and there, full con
fession of his weakness aforesaid, and Of tn
~ expedients with which he attempted to hid
~ it from his neighbor. "-Harper's Mag.
70 A THRILLING NARRATIvE.-"Twas fear
u full night; the storm king, out Of humor, lie
70 the bowling wind and pelting rain and cloth
ed the earth with pail Of darkness as dens
Of and impenetrable as an Egyptian sepulchre
all instructive life was hushed, save th
II tempest bird, whose shrill screams mingle'
W with the crashing blast and made it ye
er more terrible in its mighty frenzy.