The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1878-10-22
A GAMBLERS STORY.
Of How Ae Brought Himself and
Family to Ruin and Woe.

-. Louis Post.
Gambling. as i, exists in st. Louis.
has many phases and many bearings.
/. involves the men Who keep the
houses. the men who 90 there to play.
and the official, who protect it AMI
allow IL To prosper. Those who suffer
are the players and the ones depen-
dent on them. The pr"pri",rr- reap
the FIR; profit; the .,:-..l---w..i!.
this is rather delicate ,a.,',r. !, Is
intended that nothing u:reaso,,a:.'e.
malicious nor exiravagan,iy scEti-
mental shall appear in the Posts arti-
cIes on gambling. II is a grave
subject. aud demands grave and
earnest treatment. Bu, it is INTENDED
,ha; every hi,leous feature " ga:G-
bin. shat: be revealed, :" that the
public NAV know the enormiiy at the
evil that is allowed :, exi>, without!
restraint. The law has put gambling
under the ban b.cause il is wrnn.-
beca,i.e il Is an enemy {" the peace ana
substantially %. socie;y-ani becau>t-
it is devoid Of single r''icen:ing
quality. As above remarked. the
sufferers are those who p.tr"n!ze the
gambling houses. Upon these the
pr"prictprs ot these establishments
feed rs the hi. fi-h feed on the lesser
Ones. They spread their nets, an.'
the unwary go in AMI are swaii'"e'!
up. The v,rng an,i the inexperienced
are the ones sought after. They ATE
the green ones and the most in"l:>h.
The professional gamblers make hu'
little "tf one another, and If garhlin.
were confined Ia them hat little evil
would follow. \ Pos reporter met
with Il young man Yesterday who i
a victim %: the gamblers. lie told
his story. Said he: Il have barn
readin. the articles in the Pot "r
gambling aud have reason 10 sympa-
THU with the efforts "f the paper u
break il up. came IN ~. L.u;-
three wear, a:-o ana t,",k ii pls;,iun IN
one "f III. vi."!c-.,Ie drr -.nis h"u>e-
nn Fifth street. [ had been in =
country Store aud becnn,r ,erv -.sSI
Sale-man. I went into NV Position
here n. u salary of S,J 81 week. | !i:..i
Il wife AID nne little boy. AMI :h,
future locked VERY bright To- ne. The
CITY WAS a Bcw thing. AMI b-in..
naturally al q very s"c;ah!e di>po>i-
ton. made many friends. Amnng
the nnmi'er was gentleman VIII" WIS
at the hea.! of All ex.en>iv. hnot and
shoe house. He wis well knosn
among AL The sa!asmen in town. a:.d
commanded Il iar.. salary; ro'r.
poor fellow. h. l. not here Eow-wer;
down To- uotl,ing and sunk cut 81 rnwn
like Dig. He hah a family. and one
of hi: children WAS u beau::.u! cir!
nearly Crown. NIL iurme.! Very
favorable opinion If him. AMI looked
upon him IL "A model. ThIou.h him
I MAS le.i into the gambling business.
| had confidence III i:im. AMI have
seen him win Il great deal If moucy.
| wcul,i STAY away from horn. I'LL enc
or two o'clock tIeunen;lv. anl when |
would gn home I woni,l almost lie
with remprSe. aa'; some good luck
at faro. | remember one tine went
into place on Sixth street. with
only 81 in NV pocsci. II Was hardly
enou.: tn take me through the hai.
ance Of the week. hut rnt !, all up
and won. Ion: np ami won again.
and again. Igni excited and bet up
a> high - so at a iire. Sometimes
| lost. but lack va, with me most at
the time. and at three o'clock in the
morning | MAS 500 ahead. lresolv-
ed t" draw ont. They begged me to
keep on: sail 1 would break the
bank an.. yet rich in = single nj ..i.
that ia'i bette: play when my luck
was good. But Insisted. and drew
out INV $500 ut winnings The next
morning | put a Sloo bill under my
wife's plate "a; the breakfast table. but
when she fnoh ii eat. she cried because
she haa aa i,I.a how made it. BE-
fore l left tor the store she and | had a
talk and | promised i,er tia, l wcu!d
quit. | believed l could when |
promised. | went L. work that dav
with strcn. resolution io attend to my
duties heller. hut hefnr. night had
met one or two friends and / tol,l
them Of my good luck. They said We
must have "a spree that night, We did,
and after we mad got pretty iul! 1
ioared one hundred dollars To one of
the boys the play a, iaro with. and !
went home. IL was rot a month I'LL
nv money was all gone and 1 was
hard up as ever. hal lived pretty
fast and drank a goph deal. { took
five hundred dollars ana went To iry
nav luck nj tar one night. won
three hundred dollars. and believed !
WAS going 10 he a. lucky As before.
But the thing changed. | lD-; INV
three hundred dollars and NV original
i've hundred, ani Was left without
cent. l went home as miserable a
man a. ever Won saw. Frum that
time l began 10 have all kinds of bad
luck. but WAS continually trying tn
make raise at gambling. l went To
extremes Ia get mvnev-u>ed what al
my earnings | could spare often left
INV dear wife aud little boy with"u.
wha, they really needed. Finally l
was driven TO such a strait that |
pawned my clothes and everything
else that could gel nv hands ON. /
drank a good deal. ard one morning
Was told that my services were no
longer needed. |, came like a clap of
and did not know what OIL
earth to do. went down and got a
place in Il second class house. where ]
did not stay long. From worse to
worse il went all the time. / had got
a terrible mania for gambling. and /