Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-05-08
AEorrissev's Moral.

/ Moyyisseys Moral.
i There is an instructive lesson in tn
career of John Morrissey whicl
should not be wasted by the presen
and the rising generations. He wa
typical sporting man, and his fail
ures and successes are we'll calculate,
70 paint moral and adorn tale.
From the very outset he displayed
such pluck, energy and endurance q
few men have possessed. He wa
iuil OF aggressive courage; he wa
loyal to his friends and unhending I,
his foes; he lived bravely through va
rious vicissitudes such as few mel
have experienced, and he always KEEP
bis word. These are I'LL good quail
ties, and few men have made thei
mark in the world without possessin,
them in greater or lesser degree
But what use did Mr.. Morrisscy max,
OF his fine faculties? How did tn,
life he lived help the world or him
self! His start was unfortunate, ant
may have had much to do with tn,
course Of his after life. While vet
wild, half-tamed boy, he was sent t.
the Penitentiary for short term fol
freak which was too severely term
ed burglary. As he grew older biz
immense physical strength and cour.
age drew him into the price ring
then held in higher favor than now
From this he became q gambler, in
which capacity he achieved nation.
al reputation. He began his career
as gambler in 1850, but did not
adopt 1t as means of livelihood till
1893. From that time he has been
the most prominent professional in
this country. At various times dur
ing the past twenty years he has own
ed as many as half q dozen gambling
houses in New York, Washington
and Saratoga. His gains at three
New York houses alone amounted to
y, 100000. So great was his power
that he played against politics and
won, being twice elected to Congress
and twice to the Senate of New York.
Faro was not big enough, so he went
into Wall street and played against
the game there. On Black Friday he
dropped 100000. He managed to
get along very comfortably, however,
as he had four gaming houses, and
countless fools in them pouring mon
ey into his pockets. Of late years he
had given much attention to politics,
and his pool-room in New York and
gaming house in Saratoga. In 1876,
he was chief striker for Mr.. Tilden,
and every one remembers how his
pool-room was used during the cam.
paign to bolster that gentleman's
claims, by showing that the betting
odds were in his favor. After all his
winnings he died poor man. When
his debts are paid, his estate will not
realize more than $4,000 for his heirs.
The life he led involved vast ex-
pense; his money came and went
easy he played for high stakes, and
he lost quite as often as he won.-
Notwithstanding his splendid phys
iquc, dissipation and the disease incl
dent to it undermined his constitu-
ton, and death took him twenty years
before his time, though, it would
seem, not much too soon to save him
from the old gamblers inevitable
doom Of penury and neglect. 1t is a
queer coincidence that, on the day Of
Mr.. Morrissey's death, BENJAMIN
Wood, another New York gambler
and politician of national nOtoriety,
filed . petition in bankruptcy, show
ing vast array of liabilities and q
beggarly account of assets. OF the
two, Mr.. Morrissey was unquestiona-
bly, the luckier, for he quit a little
ahead of the game, which is more
than can be said Of one gambler in
ten thousand.
But was the game worth the can
die? If John Morrissey or Ben
Wood had devoted one-half the en-.
ergy or perseverance to honest and
decent business that they did to gam
bling, they might be respected and
wealthy men to-day. We have no de-
sire to prose over the immortality of
gaming the pulpit has done that for
ages without materially diminishing
the number of men who are eager to
stake their money on the hazard of a
die or the turn Of card. Gambling
is chiefly bad because it doesn't paw !;
if nobody lost it would be as moral
and harmless as preaching. 1t is
wickeder to lose than to win. But
men who play will lose. All expe.
rience proves that in the end the
game beats the man, no matter wheth-
er he deals or plays against the bank.
The professional is as certain to quit
a loser in the end as the amateur who
'just plays little for pastime." The
"rake-down" gets all the money, and
the man who gets the ''rake" loses it
in fast living or in another game.
1t makes no difference whether the
game be faro, keno, draw poker or
stock jobbing; not one player in
million quits ahead. In this country
poker is more generally INDUCED in
than any of the others. In all our
large cities there are countless little
club rooms in which its devotees as
semble nightly to win each others
money. IfhOnest evidence of all the
poker players Of the country could be
taken to-day, il would be found that
not one in ten thousand has made any
thing by his playing. Every one of
them could show losses in the shape
of money, time, temper and fitness
for their ordinary avocations. The
professional poker players are, as q
rule, next to the tramps the poorest
and most useless Of the community.
The stock and grain gamblers are no
more fortunate in the long run, and
no more moral at any time, than than
their cousins of the green-topred ia
bio.
The sum of the worlds experience
proves that the forlornest of all for
lorn hopes is for man to try to live
on his wits. Gamblers, speculative
stock jobbers. confidence men, check
raisers, burglars, train robbers and
professional politicians all try it and
fail. If men possessing so great abil-
tiles as John Morissey, Benjamin
Wood, Daniel Drew, Jim Fisk. Boss
Tweed, are beaten at their own game,
what hope ia there fer the ordinary
mortal who would find it hard
enough to make an honest living
Each of there men lowered above his
fellows, and all might have made the
world better by their lives and exam
Piles and left honorable records.
They were all ambitious for fame,
power and wealth. Which one Of
them possesses these properties now
Gambling broke every one Of them
1t doesn't pay. GLOBE Democat.
An Impending Danger.
From the Cleveland Leader.
Mr.. Augustus Maverick publishes
in the New York Tribune a six col
umn letter, showing how completely
and successfully the Communists
shave succeeded in capturing and
turning to their own purposes many
of the most powerful trade-unions in