Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-06-06

from severe anu uo".'J
ness. I was totally without mean
or any steady employment; Ed
: -ucattaf ns /, gentleman, and hav.
i1g passed the greater Part Of m.
life among books as scholar.
h d no friends among those who
might have assisted me in obtain
ing work and bread.
How many in like circumstan-
cas may. have passed away IL
death throughout the length and
breadth OF California, and whose
sad stories and fate shall never b.
told. In di NIL garnet, assail-
ed by the tortnr,ng pangs of hun
gar, 1 can never forget those
long; weary nights. Yet during
all this period concealed my
suGerings, AMI none knew OF my
destitute condition
l had obtained work for a few
days and put a few dollars in my
pocket, but after the small. sum
was eked for bread another peri
cd 81 suffering came. All this
had nearly broken my spirit. ]
was almost weary of life. In this
Aunfortunate state of mind I was
one eveng walking along 1irane
st. San francisco. Ihad half
: formed idea in my head that on
reaching it's termination | should
have at least the means by which
/ could terminate present suffer-
! ings
Before reaching the end OF the
wharf, ] was aroused from my re
vsrie by the confused din OF many
voices and the sounds of music
Turning round 'E-found was in
one OF the vilest and most notori-
Gus hslls in the lower part OF the
city. As gazed within the
large. crowded room, / remem-
bersd that an acquaintance was
employed as a musician in thu
ochestra, and governed by the
impulse OF the moment. l pushed
my way through thas mascot per
sons around the table to speak to
him. After few moments con-
versation with the musician. he
turned to me and said, in a quiet
tone of voice:
"Whenever you come in here,
never be tempted to risk dollar
on any game played for not
square game is played here; and
more than that. the worst thing
man can do is to win money here. "
Saying this he resumed his oc-
cupation. ! gazed alb nut me at
the scene. I walked carslessly
up to the roulette. table. and from
ths feeling Of the moment Il
threw down as stakes the three
dollars in loose silver I had in MY
pockets. It was as quickly won
by the gambler, and, indeed !
afterward met the very mechanic
who made the table, and who ex-
planned to me it's secret springs,
BY which other fools like myself
were robbed. Passing along with
the crowd, ! found myself at the
center of excitement and attrac-
tion--a faro-tahle, around which
were many newly arrived and very
successful miners. judging from
the many thousands Of dollars
they had on the table. Taking
from my pocket a ten dollar gold
piece, which was all had 10 the
world, l threw it on a card at
random It doubled and doubled
till at length even the half drunk
en- miners. who we're playing for
such heavy stakes, took an inter
est in my strange luck; and the
marble faced dealer, who atsen-
ton hitherto had been entirely
devoted to them, turned his eyes
with q sinister look upon me.
When my card won I r the ninth
time, I took up from the table il
coin five thousand one hundred
and twenty dollars, with stolid
GOODNESS 1 have since many times
wondered at, and putting it in
couple OF bags given me by one
of the miners, / thrust them int
my pockets. As I stepped aside
to leave the table, the dealer,
turning round to. some one in the
crowd and giving him peculiar
look of intelligence, said, with
laugh:
That's heavy pile to carry"
Not wiehing to elbow my way
through the crowd directly to the
door, I passed round bshind the
tables ia the back part Of the
house. Lsading from the room
were number Of badly-lignted
passages--one, or two were quite
dark. As I went by one of the
latter, before / turned round
toward the street door, a man
standing in the obscured light.
nearly concealed behind The door
post, beckoned me toward him
with q mysterious gesture. With
out thinking, I stepped through
the door few feet to learn what
he wished, and, when within a
\ few yards Of hun, Ms took anoth-
or step, quicker than can tell,
the floor passed from under my
feet, and was sinking many feet
n under the waters OF the bay.
With the instinct Of self.preser-
vntion I struggled for the life !
had held SO cheap: At length,
after what seemed q long time to
Fine, almost suffocated and weigh
8 ed down by tho fatal gold. l
L. AZ.