The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1879-11-01
! NIGHT II i eAMsLIsG HOUSE.

They we're hard times for ME in San
Francisco in the pioneer days Of the
winter Of 1852 and 1853. Recovering
from q severe and nearly fatal illness,
was totally without means or any
steady employment. Educated. unfor-
tunately, as gentleman, and having
passed the greater portion OF my life
among books. with strangers / made no
friends wno might have assisted me in
obtaining work Others, there were.
doubtless, who, like myself, preferred
hunger to making a confession of pow
erty, or asking aid from the mocking
lips of charity, for Californians of the
early days could suffer silently without
making any loud complaints of their
needs 1t seemed better to die rather
than beg from fellow men, and pretty
near / came to it that winter.
In o miserable garret, open to the
winds of heaven, unprotected from the
cold and assailed by hunger, can
never forget those long, weary nights.
A dull, hopeless despair seized upon
me, and life and death were alike in
different. In the daytime it was better;
some little employment could some
times be Ind to keep away the wolf,
hunger, and make few dollars
I had obtained work for few days,
and by that means put something in my
pocket, but still it was only tempor-
airy relief; and, after the small sum was
eked out to its utmost capacity for
bread, then, as had happened before,
another period OF suffering was to come.
All this, combined with past naisfor-
tunes, nearly broke down my spirit,
| and hope was departing from the hori-
zon of my future. | was weary of dis
| appointment, almost of life. In this
unfortunate state of mind, reckless as
indifferent, / was one evening walking
along street of San Francisco, which
led by wharf to the waters edge. I
had half formed idea in my head
! that on reaching its termination, /
| should have before me the means at
least, by which could be ended all my
sufferings. As / recollect my feelings
at the time, do not imagine that for
a moment | seriously contemplated
suicide, but rather that there was a
certain fascination and pleasure in see
| ing the way by which moral troubles
| could be left behind. In those days
gambling in all its varieties, was the
great feature of life in California, and
/ its hells were to be seen on every hand
over the city, but from mate feeling of
disgust, more than from reasoning. I
had never gambled; for it always seem
ed to me that a dollar obtained by in
telligence of the mind and honest la
| Dor was worth far more than many
dollars gained by mere blind chance
/ had too much manhood to stoop to
the trickery of cards or dice for money.
l should have the power to gain by
more intelligent means.
! Before reaching the end of the wharf,
/ | was reused from my troubled
thoughts by the confused din of voices
and sound of music, amid which,
| above all others, arose the shrill screams
of an ill-played elarionet. Turning
around, found was in front OF one OF
| the yilest and most notorious hells on
thr city water front, where rumor said
many crimes were committed with i'm
punlty, for Justice was very blind and
deaf then, and rogues often did what
seemed proper to their own eyes. As
gazed within the large, crowded room,
remembered that an acquaintance was
employed as a musician in the orchestra
on one side of the room, and, governed
by the impulse of the moment, l pushed
my way through the mass around the
tables to speak to him. After few mo-
ments' conversation, he turned and said
to me in quiet, low tone:
Whenever You come in this place,
never be tempted to risk dollar on any
game played, for not square game is
played here; and, more than that, the
worst thing a man can do is to win
money here"
Saying this, he resumed his occupa-
ton. Not caring much for the informa-
ton, gazed about at the scene, with still
! greater reckless depression of spirits; for
vice and virtue seemed mere words with
out meaning, and actuated by weak and
foolish thoughts, the question arose, Is
everything in life mere chance, like the
turning of dice and cards? is there any
God who directs, who protects down
trodden virtue, or Furnishes successful
vice.
There lay in piles on the tables gold in
coin and dust and a very small portion
of one of them would have made me
happy, and far better, would have ena-
bled me to relieve from suffering others
| far away, who were dearer than life.
Gold was changing hands constantly,
passing into the possession of those low
~
used it only in low debaucheries; where
was any kind Providence to be regarded
in all this? ! walked carelessly up to a
roulette table, and from the feeling of
the moment-alike Indifferent to the
| frowns or smiles of fortune threw down
as stakes the three dollars in loose silver
In my pocket. 1t was as quickly won by
the gambler, and indeed, afterwards
met the very mechanic who made the
table, and who explained to me its secret
springs, by which other fools, like N.Y.
self, had been robbed.
Passing along with the crowd, Ifound
myself at the center of excitement and
attraction-a faro table, around which
were some newly arrived successful
| miners, Judging from the bags of dust
| they had on the table. Under the inf1u-
ence of bad whisky and the vicissitudes
of the game, they were apparently as
| reckless as myself to consequences.
Taking from my vest pocket q ten dollar
| gold piece, which was all I had in the
world, / threw it on card at random as
last stake. 1t doubled and doubled,
again and again, many times, and the
pile of chips grew larger, until at length
even the half drunken miners, who were
playing for such heavy sums, took an in
terest in snch strange luck, and the mar
bic faced dealer, whose attention hitherto
had been entirely devoted to them,
turned his eyes with a sinister look upon
me. When my card won for the ninth
time took up the chips, and received
from the bank S5120 in gold, with stolid
GOODNESS / have since many times won
dered at, and putting it in bag given
me by one of the miners thrust it in my
pocket. As stepped aside to leave the
>able the dealer, turning, said to some
.me, giving him peculiar look of intel
tlgence, and laughing:
That's heavy pile to carry"
| soon found out the truth of his re-
mark. Not wishing to elbow my way
through the crowd directly to the door,
passed round behind the tables in the
back part of the room. Leading from it
were some badly lighted passages-one
was quite dark, after the glare of the
main saloon. As / went by the latter,
before I turned towards the street door,
man standing in the obscure shadows
beckoned me towards him, with warn
ing gesture. Without thinking, STEP
ped through the passage towards him, to
learn what he wished, and when within a
few feet of him, as took step, quick as
thought, the seeming solid floor passed
from under my feet and / was sinking
deep under the waters of the bay. With
the instinct of self-preservation, strug-
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