Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-12-06
CONTINUED from first page. j

audiences by the adroitness with which he
handled the cards. After having the law
passed in this State he went to Kentucky,
then to New York then to Ohio and Mary
land. where he had similar laws enacted.
During the course of his lectures here a
well-known professional from South Car
DINA, named Freeman. denounced him a
fraud, a cheat and hurnbug He insist
ed that Greene could not do the tricks he
claimed, and challenged him 10 publicly
debate the subject This Greene accepted
and the Chinese Museum. then at Ninth
and Chestnut street, was selected a the
place. Rev. VIM. Elder acted a Moder-
atOr, and ON the platform were Rev. John
Chambers, Leonard Jewell and DR. VIM.
Gibbons. For three days the debate
continued, and when it closed. ard Greene
won signal victory. Freeman was so i'm
pressed with the force of the arguments
used that he renowned the profession and
became one Of Greene. most ardent sup
porters. ''And not only that said he !;
.'all his gambling tools were presented to
me, which / still have in the house"
When he gave up the business he made
restitution Of all he had acquired while in
it. In Woods county. Va, he gave to
different parties 10000 acres Of land in
Cincinnati he gave away a number OF
very valuable houses and lots. and in
other cities did he give to different people
vast fortunes. BY his lectures he made
but little, by the sale Of his work entitled
Greene on Gaming" he made less. and
a series of misfortuncs has reduced him to
penury. His work on gaming is acknowl-
edged BY experts TO be the most thorough
f.1. IL. IL
appeared in print. He has for two years
past been arranging series of letters on
the subject. which he proposes to eolIate
under the head of Sixty Years a Gambler, |
which will be interspersed with anecdotes
of famous men Of the green table which !
have never yet appeared in print. II am
rs expert to-day with the cards, he re-
marked, las | was in my best days. II is |
a thing man never torgets if he once
thoroughly acquires the art. The eyes |
may fail. the memory become oLsci r.,
but the hand never loses its cunning. Iie-
sides my gambling operations partici-
pated IN the Texas war of independence
in '36, and served in the late Rebellion rs
Captain Of Company F. Thirty-iiilh In
diana Regiment See. here is a scar on
my arm. have two on my chest, and Il
bullet went through my cheek. have
spent life of dishonor commingled with |
good work. ! was the first man to take
cards from the bottom of the pack. and |
the only man who did it for three wears,
when the trick was discovered. Now /
every gambler does it, know all the ,
noted gamblers Of the country. and have
played with them. Just after had the /
Gaming Act passed man named Kicrson !
who kept lately in the old Arcade on
Chestnut street below Seventh. won SlS /
from clerk of Townsend d Sharpless, ,
and refused to refund it. He was con- /
victed and sentenced to three years in the !
Penitentiary under the act All sorts OF |
influences were brought TO bear upon
Gov. Skunk for his pardon. but he refused
until | made the request. and he granted |
1T. That was his last pardon, for he died |
soon after"
DESPITE his poverty Green still retains
his spirits, and hopes at no distant day to !
be able to retrieve his lost fortunes, ut
least sufficient to he placed above the ac-
tual want he is now in. when the little |
house at No. 1902 South Juniper street |
can be supplied with some of the comforts
Of lite and his family released from the |
severe pinch of poverty. The ladies of
the Twenty-six Ward Relief Association
have become Interested. and are consd- |
ering ways and means of relieving the
necessities of his family.