The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-11-18

After tho voting and through the count.
ing the most miserable, restless md dis
satisfied mon were those two had stakcd
money or other valuable things OH the
result. When Il seemed that n small
plurality in Now York would fall on the
Republican side, tho Democrats OF this
class swore there had been fraud and that
they would never submit. When the
tide turned Republicans stepped in to
inkc the places Of tho explosive Demo-
Gratis, and tho melo.dtnma OF discomfort
and buster lost nothing by the change OF
cast.
The men who had put their money on
1t" were unreasonable, OF course morbid!y
suspicious; Mt first, and until III over
whclming better sentiment subdued them,
~sayagely determined that the result mus,
come their way. hecrowdsthatbl blocked
tho streets in front OF the bulletin
boards in the days aud nights Of the sus.
pense was Il thick sprlnkling OF men who
had gambled on tho result. Some had
s.aked money which they could not afford
to lose, some had rissed money not their
own-all were excited, ieverish, in no
mood to accept calmly attd rs good citizens
should tho verdict Of the people. il
trouble had CONE in any ofthe great cities
the gamblers would have been chiefly re-
sponsible for it. II was the betting mcn
who knew there had been fraud, first OH
one side, then on the other. 1t was they
who declared that the returns were being
dociored for q purpose. They had private
advices that couldn't be wrong. The ten
dcncyoi all this was TO disquiet anlinilame
other men.
1t was Il remarkable phase OF this. state
o fatTairs, that the men who had bet, and
who, therefore, knew more than the clcc-
ton returns could tell thcm, were most
impor!unate for newspaper news. They
pressed their way into the innermost re-
cesscs Of newspaper offices. They kept the
telephone in constant and annoying ope-
ration. Ii they were cut short and re-
minded that it WAS n time Of great anxiety
and activity i'll newspaper oilices-ihat
there was not a moment to give to any
thing but the ensrossing business in hand
the reply came back, "Wcll, I've got
my money on tlis!" And that was
thought to be a sufficient apology and
justification for all interruptions.
:, The telegraph brought in inquiries 10
know whether it was safe TO bet on this or
that, and how would the newspaper nd
wise wagcrs to be laid, anyhow. OF course
all this did not come from professional
gamblers. 1t came from all classes OF poo.
pie who had "backed their judgement"
or the judgement Of somebody else, and
were nervous about it. No consideration
mitigated the annoyance to the newspaper
and tho danger OF the thing itself to the
public veal.
1t may be doubted whether there yer
VA more money riskcd on any election
than on that which has Just passed. The
mania seems to have spread further and
struck deeper than ever before. Thus the
menace to free elections increases. The
close vote in New York will illustrate
what might happen. Bets were nude
mostly on the general result and on the
State OF New York. II the gamblers
could have forcsecn that their chances
were going to hang upon SO slender n
thread they would have made TIP 4 pool
and used it in that great State, each side
in the hope Of determining the result. In
the great cities, where there urc guilds OF
gamblers, there would have been little
trouble 10 come to an understanding. The
result might have been Tor Blaine or ever
more ~pronouncedly for Cleveland. We
have already loo much OF "moncy in
elections" without pushing this new
peril. The thoughtful mind will see great
and increasing danger to the Republic in
the practice Of betting on elections.