Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1863-10-15
A GAME AT CARDS.

here to-day in honor Of the election of Broush
and Curtin.
A GAME AT CARDS.
From Temple Bar
Major Sprott " as an In nyeterate gamester n
joaGst sros Jea. The highest stakes were pow.
erless to make him finch. There WAS rs
have hinted, public gaming taolessat AK la
Chapelie in those days, and the Major looked
in for two or three hours every afternoon at
hursaai. As rule, although q careless play.
er, he won largely, one night he carried away
5000 Napoleonsi on another he broke the bank,
which was limited TO 5000. But il was OBJ
served that he never approached the reuls,tc
table, addlcting himself always to the rouge ct
aOfr or frerte ct 9aardate--a game which. as you
should know, is played with cards, and in no
way depends upon the treacheroRs revolutions
OF an ivory bail.
After all, these attendances at the Kursaal
We're only pdur sc destraire 1t was in private
that Major Sprott made his largest gains. At
tnnsGEe net, At ptques, at ecdrte, al whist, at
eSTgtetam, he was unconquerable. He always
won; and that, too, by seemingly the most in =
different play. Atloo, he is said to have sed
enormous SUMS. 1t was impossible to bring
against him the slightest accusation OF foul play;
but at last the grand dukes and am bassadors
whose pockets he emptied, began to look with
some uneaslness upon the terrible American.
He didn't play or system; he scarcely looked
at his cards, and yet he always won.
There was al this time at AK a dasting ad-
ventUrer, OF Irish extraction, whose real name
IS believed to have been O;kefiy, but who
called himself the Baron de kolli He had
been mixed up in the mysterious and dIsraDu-
table intrigue by means of which the British
Government endeayored, bat unsuccessfully
to i1berate Ferdinand of Spain fthe Virgins
petticoat embroiderer) from the clutches of
Napoleon Ut Bayonne. The Baron de KoiH
mad come to AK on the chance OF something
turning up IN the way Of adv venture or sWInd.
hng, and lived from hand to mouth, like high
melted amester as was. He could not gain
admission to the patriotic society in which
Major SpTott was q welcome guest. but the
knrsan was open to everybody who had a
decent coat on his back; and to the KursaaI
and to the trente-et qudrdnte table the Baron de
kolli came afternooa after afternoon, p,ayinp
little when the odds were favorable but
occupying himself much more with watching
the game Of the Man with the Tortoise shell
sIeetasis
bending across the green baize to stake a hand
ful of Napoleons on the rouge, one of the strings
which, besides the tortoise SHE'LL confined the
sspectacles to his head, became Ioosened and
those appen dages slid of his nose and fell ON
the floor. He stopped rapidly to pick them mn:
but the Baron de Kolli had been beforehand
with him. He had placed the heel of one OF
his Eessian boots on the glasses and crunched
them into a hundred fragments.
Major Sprott the had won the stake by the
way) looked extremely disconnected, and turn
but the latter coolly Whispered
al did 1t on purpose. You may pick up the
pieces and put them in your pocket if You like.
l think I've spoilt your little game, my dar-
lint"
Major SpTott angrily shrugged his shoulders
muttered something about san awkward boor,'
and pocketing his winnings, turned to leay
the room, when the Baron de Kolh laid hi
hand on his wrist.
you'll just 60 on playing, my jewell he
whispered-"just for one little half hour. I
want to zee how you'll get on without those
cats-back barnaclss Of yours. II you don't,
declare that I'll pick quarrel with you, and
blow your brains out before sunrise to-mor-
M. n.,o., a. u.,,
be as good a. his word, and Major Sprott went
on play iag without his tortoisssnsll spectscles.
He staksd low, till the Baron, whispered to him
that, aniess he Pe. on the Iapolsons little
promise. A. the end Of half an hour, Major
Sprott lad lost 800 HsPolsons.
land now, "hssaid familisrly taking the Ma
and sss what they are doing thsrs"
"Tush! don't want 70 bs ruined" qaotA
Major Sprott. 81 play 70 win, and not TO lose,
hGn ,S.r n;,,. aslc cone nv ry; ana wen settle
They walked into the garden Of the Kurusal:
and when thsy had reached Q secluded nook,
the Ansrioaa said: ..r -a..
worldly wealth, Barona" - ! >
"1 am .. poor" he replied. sas Job. or a gen
heman could wen BE-" .
81 thought %. Well, you have broken my
game; and, besides, you have killed the goose
that laid the golden eggs I could easily leave
You ba0ed and uncertain; bat like peace and
'Qutetnese, and would rather not have . spy
watching my movements. Here are i've ro-
leaux, each containing Q hundred Nnpoleons,
for yon TO hold your tongae for forty.sight
French f2ontier. Win that Hd DO r, - a's0'' 'ns
The Baron bowed, and protested eternal graf
ituds. The Major gave him the money, which
he lost within fortnight at roulette.
As for Major Sprott, he discharged his bill at
the hotel, and, leaving handsome gratuity for
the servants, left AK the next morning in a
post. chaise for Belgium. He forgot however,
to bid fareweli to the Princess Schmutsikor
ture it was discovered that the rubiAs and dia-
nonds he had been so liberal disposer Of were
all paste.
AS for his tortoise. she'll spectacles, and tho
CONNECTION between those apparently harmless
aids to weak sight and his enormous gains at
cards, that little mystery was not cleared up
until ten years afterwards: In l0so' man
minal Court Of Assize at Cologne, charged
with half dozen acts OF forgery and swind-
ing. He made, after convicnon, Clean breast
roRues volunteered the confession of 8 great
many crimes Of which he had never been sus-,
It appeared that at the time Of the Congress
of AK Ia Chapelie he had been in q large Way
of business as amarufacturer OF playing cards.
Thousands or packs of the Devils books
were wanted to assist the Congress at their de-
5liberations, and Gougenheim made them All
He had been for long time, and. in rnultifa
rions nefarious transactions, in league with the
pseudo Major Sprott Polish ad yentr1rer. x,ho
had spent many years at the French galleys.
These wsrthies hut upon q very notable device.
On the engraved backs OF the cards Goueen-
helm placed several cabalistic nnarks, denaf;nr
their color and value, quite invisible 70 tbs
naked eye, but discernAble by means or q pow
erfui magnifier. And the tortoise shell spec-
tacles were simply very strong masnifying
). How Koiii ever got an inkling Of the frand
was never discovered; but 3 large fortune had
been realized BY the tortoise shell be-
finally levanted, however, Ne contriyed to
swindle his confederate OF his share OF the
plumber, and, weighing all the pros and cons
human standaru, incline 70 think that Major
Sprott, Or wharever his name was, has every
right to be reckoAed as great man. 81 -
- A draft TOR $3.50 men has been ordsrsd IN