The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-10-26
II 6.s55 G Gtsll 81 81. !.


---=--z,%r, .-.-,------
TIE Dcos} Gambler.
B4- J Is REYNOLDS.
Among the thousands Of gold=seel1eFs
Who landed ia Sacramento ii thessun-
mer OF the year 1873, on their Wy te the
p1tceres on the South, Middlea and North
forks Of the American river, was . pre-
possessing looking gentleman by the
name of iiardie. His only companion
was his son, q lad 0fsome fourteen years,
but who, Notwithstanding his extreme "a.
youth, was sharp, shrewd and intelil-
gent. Mr.. Hardie was what might be
called, as the fashionable phrase goes, a
''reticent man, He had once been
wealthy; but his passion fer gaming he'd
ruined him. He was not a professional.
| Indeed, he looked with contempt upon
all who kept games OF chance; but his
personal dislike fer such characters did
not prevent him from risking his money
upon the turn of a card or the east ofthe
dice. His son, fully of his fathers
only failing, sought by every possible
means TO keep him from the table, i'll the
hope, vain though it was, that the pas
sion would lose its hold upon him, and
that eventually he would be thoroughly
Weaned from cards.
Hardle landed in Sacramento with
about one hundred dollars in money
the last o. his once ample fortune, and,
without an hours delay pushed for the
mines which had just been discovered to
the eastward Of Coloma, formerly Suit
| tersville,1 where it WAS rumored very
rich veins had been discovered.
BY a fortunate chance, Hardie and his
son made the acquaintance on the road
tod SD1|-
ors, and together they determined TO
prospect the country.
! On the fourth day from their leaving
Sacramento, the little company entered a
gulch which subsequently became ia
nous as the "Oregon," and there sue
ceeded in securing q claim that amply
repaid the adventures for their time and
labor Atthe expiration of four months
the company had realized twenty thou
sand dollars. This was equally divided,
one-half being handed to Hardie and his
son, while the other noiety was retained
by their co-laborers. When the division
had been satisfactorily made, Hardie be-
came suddenly restless. He intimated
desire to return to Sacramento, there
to engage in some mercantile pursuit for
which his early education had fitted him;
and he offered to sell his own and his
sons interest to the sailors. These men
were reluctant to part with him. The
lad also was averse to the proposition,
but Hardie persisted in his resolution,
and finally disposed OF his claim for
twenty-five hundred dollars.
On returning to Sacramento, father
and son, as the reader perceives, had the
snug little capital of upwards of twelve
thousand dollars to begin with. Had
Hardie, as ne honestly intended when
at Oregon canon, at once embarked in
trade, he could have in Il few months
trebled if not quadrupled his capital, and
perhaps in the course OF a couple OF years
returned to the Atlantic States with a
fortune quite as large rs he was master
of before the mania for gambling came
upon him.
Unfortunately for him, however, before
he had fully arranged his mercantile
projects. he renewed his acquaintance
with a gentleman who, like himself, had
been addicted to gambling, and was by
him induced to visit the Empire Saloon,
at the time the leading "bell'' Of the
town, where faro, monte, rogxe et NOR,
and other games OF chance, We're openly
played-a 'heA' where miners, after
4 months Of exposure, perhaps sickness,
and always hard labor, would lose their
w Ol NtQll.tfS III q Sill
gle night, and then be compelled to re-
turn to the die gings with satldened hearts
to win from the rivers and hills those
: SMILES which fortune had denied them
: at the tables Of the gamblers.
: Hartlie had barely entered the saloon
: when his old thirst returned to him
, and even before he was fully conscious
of his actions, he found hinlselfseated at
] a faro table. Unfortunately again fol
: Hardie, he rose from it the winner Of &
: thousand dollars.
r The passion for gaming once aroused
5 in the man and he conld no more restrain
himself from indulging in it than bro
G ken down, thirsty topper keep his lip:
It from tasting the fiery potation that slim
e ulates and poisons.
It The neXt night and the next Hardi
y was at the table; now, however, accom-
1t panied by his son-who, With tears il
7 his eyes, stood by the chair III which hi
u father sat, and trembingly saw their lii
tic capital gradually passing into til