The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-07-04
GAMBLING IN WASHINGTON.

than half dozen members we didn Z
know well, in a business way, but ]
swear now, as gentleman, that not
more than four members of the last Con-
gress ever come to our rooms. They get
together on short cards in their room at
the hotel and play on 25-cent ante and
50 limit, and if a man loses $40 in the
course of a night he goes out next day
and puts Grape on his hat. Why. the
man that wins SD on d turn now. thinks
that his reputation as a gambler is es-
tablished, and he begins to talk about us
fellows that play. If we can't do better
than that We will have to turn in and
eat each other up.
Now, in old times we thought nothing
of having thousand or two up on a
turn. There was old Humphrey Mar
. shall. He was prince. l never saw
an amatuer in my experience of forty
years who would put down as much
cold money out of his hands as Marshall.
Some fellows, you know, are queer about
/ cards. There was the other Marshall
He was different from Humphrey that
way. He laid himself out on piling his
stack of chips up to the ceiling But
! Humphrey would come in andpull down
cold cash out of his clothes and put it
/ all down on a turn. He made lots of
money, lived like a lord, and never seem
ed to be short. Hold up, yes, he was
, short once, that's fact 1t was about
| the time that he came from Chilli where
he was American Minister. He came
into the rooms one day, and said his
wife wanted an addition to the house.
and he was going to give her money to
build it with right off that table, and, by
/ the Lord, he did He played just like
| one of uS-coOl as ice all the time
One of the grandest old men at the
/ business was Thad. Stevens. Thad.
played pretty game not very big, but
/ scientific and then, too, he was regular
/ about it. Never came across any one
who had bigger soul of honor about
him than Thad. l used to love him
like brother. He always played chips,
never got excited at all. but took more
solid comfort out of it than most any
one | ever saw. Poor old Thad / re-
/ member when he was on his death bed.
/ The doctors had been giving out that
he was sick of this thing and that, and
wouldn't let any one come into his
room. He sent for me. When l got
/ there the hOuSe-keeper said that she had
been positively ordered not to let any
/ person talk to Mr.. Stevens. but Thad,
happened to hear my voice, and he called
out: Bob, = said he ''these old fools
are trying to find some excuse for killing
me off, but it's all nonsense. Seventy
eight years in my complaint. ] wanted
. to see you. old fellow. before l passed in
my chips for the last time - and he died
/ that day. the grandest and best old fel-
/ low we've had in public life for many
/ a day. I tell you.
+ Some of those foreign fellows used to
be game. especially the Russians. |
guess it 5 in the blood with them any
how, they all had it in the old days,
/ from Bodisco down. lie was a queer
coon. but the most systematic man at
the game you ever saw. He used to set
aside Just so much money for this little
/ fun. If he was in luck ned play ahead,
and sometimes cleared stake, but
/ generally he didn't turn up well, and
/ when so much was gone he'd push his
chair back from the table and say quiet
! ". in always the same words, ''Ze ap-
preparation for Zat is all exhaust.
Then. if he didn't feel tired. he looked on
/ for a while before going home. He
never went over his limit on the appro-
I priation. The fellows connected with
. the Russian Legation they used to come
around nearly every day, some of them
playing big. If they didn't have the
/ cash it made no difference for they were
Just as good as old wheat. The bank
kept a regular account with them by the
.
came around they'd clear the slate. But,
. Lord don't belive any of those good
old fellows are in the country any more.
Just appt ars like a pestilence or a hur-
ricane had come along and swept the
whole crowd into the grave.
In the old days there was money in
/ the game, and it paid to dine and wina
your patrons When game used to
clear upward of 500. 900 i'll a season, we
could afford to be generous and give
away the lunch. | can remember one
year when we got away during the sea-
son with / 800 baskets of champagne.
Yes, of course. it cost a great deal less
than now. but other values were in pro-
portion We never thought of asking a
/ gentleman what he'd have to drink.
But nowadays there isn't a customer
| who comes to the rooms who don't eat
up his head and drink up his jaws three
times over in twenty-fOur hours.
Why, would you believe it, even the
old summer resorts don't care any more
for the game. | went down this sum-
mer to White Sulphur, Just to see if |
couldn't find some of the old Southern
blood. We opened out. One day the
bank took S34 then did not do cent S
worth of business for several days, until
some youngsters dropped in and we
cleared about $40. That sickened me
and l packed up. I thought, you know
if there was any game left in the ole
stock it would grow up at the White
Sulphur, but it changed the crowd:
there are different getting too gener-
al. too prOmiscuous and too poor. The
men sit around on the verandas, take
the girls driving and buy ball ticket:
for them--all such soft sport as that
but they've quit risking stakes on {
turn like the old boys 1t made me fee
sick looking round that place. to thinl
how changed everything is. But must
go. So long.