Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-19
SEASIDE SINS.
Fashionable Folly as Exhibited at
Long Branch.
The Prominence into Which Gambling has
Suddenly cOme-Tays Of the WO'
msn-A PiOus Thief.
Spceial Correspondence.

SDcciUf bFFcsg'butttCf
NV York, August l7.-DOwn in that
NORTON Of New York city located for the
summer at Long Branch the gambling con
tipuss to he Is open and fashionable 8 fes-
ture as l have described in a previous letter.
Men whose positions demand better con.
duct. and whose good sense might be eI
pscted TO deter them from such folly, play
publicly at the suddenly popular game Of
roulette, and Individual losses Of as much
as $1,000 are by no means few. Bat in
one respect the proprietors Of the club
houses have failed to
Realize Their Expectations
SEEING that otherwise respectable women
in ON the gambling tables Of Europe,
m, counted on introducing the fashion
hrrr, out all the splendOrs OF the three
leading club houses at the Rrauch, al the
glamour Ui polite surroundings, and all tn-
IpdusIriOuSiy circulated accounts OF heavy
winnings have failed TO extend the vice De
NOl q The masculine gender. The women
went III crowds to view the premises, early
in the Sc ason, ON the day appointed for eX
hihiting the freshly furnished houses, aud
they ate aud drank Of
The Good Cheer
bountsously set forth by the hosts, but
tLey made no second visits. The device OF
uslng a richly dressed and soft hammered
female ss q stool pigeon proved no more
successful. She had been brought from a
tisrsnCe, SO that per character could not be
Ies0iiy AsCs rLaIned, aud she had been care
tullN chosen, 20 that she might be mistaken
Tor q lazy. But il wasn't any use. She
lsy ed - yeral evenings with the cleYer!y
minated manner Of sn. amateur, and
Won HeAV lily,
of course. but the spectators declined to
SIC. Ut her for what she wasn't u he
wuu'tn continued u stay away.
y YerthrleSs, the ways Of the women
uru,ide about all thai there is Of divertIng
srgLls al this resort. Their eccentIicities
OF II amer, their eXtrayagances OF dress,
and their high average of attTsctlyeneSS,
wi rel az looking at. They give US inter
estir . II Illustrations Of curious phases Of
u an nature, too. When > woman seats
brrssIf on q crowded hotel Veranda in one
chair. r. SITS All elbow on an other, and her
feet on q third, her display Of
SaII>6-d SeIhshneSs
a. she plscidly contemPlates those who are
fuugued With standing, Is so comlcal that
enc almost fOrglves her. The perform
anCts by painful elOcutiOnists, unmelO
dIOus yoCalIsts AMI abnormal prOdIgIeS, In
the r~arlrrs, exsmpliiy the free lanch sort
OF ayiuity with which people swallow what
they don't like, because it is. free, and the
tricks Of tie fascinating girl are ever di
yerSlfed TO the OBS, rVer who IS out OF
hams wby. One of these is bOrrO wed
from the sage. Tue depafting belle goes
sway with her bands and lap full Or
floNtrs. presumably presented by Senti-
mentally effected beaux. The sight Is fun
nrer. OF tour.e, when she has previously
Oeen the recipient OF 10 attention from
The OPpONiIe Sex,
and vet Tugs Uf Il basket Of costly flowers
a. ever al actress arranged to surprise her
self With purchasing beforehand.
LesytI the matter of morality out OF
question has Charles K. Beckwith found it
worth while To steal = quarter OF u million
dollars Previous to ten years ago, a book
kteI er in the employ of BSbOitL the soap
manufacturer. He bad control OF the pur
chase of materials for the factory and his
relation to the business made it possible to
abstract over $4,000 from il in live years
without The loss being felt by his employ
tr. BtckNi,h Wasa
YeTy Religious.
even pious man, as many Of his friends be-
l,tv,d He WAS a deacon in a church ami
sup. r%intendent of the Sunday school. An
aCIiYe, 6apper little man, he thrust him
self into social and business circles where
he was welcome for his s~erYility rather than
any considerable degree of popularity.
similarly, be worked himself into import.
snre i'm BabbitI's establishment by persist
rnt usefulness without ever being person
aiy liked by his employer. A cooler or
more q calculating Robbery
than that which be perpetrated l never
heard OF. Neither sudden temptation nor
oppressive need of money actuated him.
He stole the money ~methUdically in sums
just large enough to aggregate $4,000 a
y,ar, taking q thousand a week, with the
regularity of wages. He did not risk his
cash in spt EQUATION, but invested il SO safe
II that il has never been discovered. He
fixed the liu'i' of his thieying at five years,
and wfEn thst time expired, he resigned
lis rOsiriOn snd made a show Of going into
business for himself. His plan undoubt,
,dly was to ave
His Possession OF wealth
become known so gradually that it would
sem to hsve been acquired by honest sue
cess in new enterprises. But, though Bah
bit VAS so ricn and unObservant rs not TO
feel the immense robbery, Beckwith's sue.
,esSOI was sharp enough to soon discover
lha there bad been something wrong in
the management. He called attention TO
this. end a long investigation resulted in
complete exposure. At this pnintthe thief
was given q choice between taking punish
mtnt for what he had done and giving up
the fortune which he had stolen. He took
q week 10 decide and consulted with com
peteut lawyers who assured him that
Conviction Was Certain
ifhe went To trial. II was equally foregone,
too, that bis term of Imprisonment would
be twelve years, or the longest provided by
the law. He concluded not TO give up the
money.
II am innocent" he said in his Sunday
school manner, and have no stolen money
la restore
The trial was q mere formality, so clear
" Was the case made out against the pris-
Cner. He tmplOyP ed able lawyers, but they
could do nothing effectual 10 save him. He
went TO Sirg Sing under a twelve years
sentence, snd has Just quietly emerged,
good conduct thereafter having shortened
his service He
Disappeared % QuiekIy
n quietly after his release that the pa.
Psrs made no note of it. Babbitt thinks
that he went TO Canada, and q detective
Who has lsbOred 8 great deal in the case
SuTniSfs that he is in England by thi
time, the impression being that the money
vas invested there. Anyhow he has gons
TO begin life anew, with nothing but the
money 10 do 1t with. Irepeat the question,