Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-23
BETTING TO LOSE.

BETTING TO LOSE.
The Passion of Some Men for Games. OF
Chance Poor Tom Mallory's Last
Wager.
"No," said a gentleman who wore a
pair of light-colored pantaloons and a
red pair of side-whiskers to a reporter
of the Aibune, yesterday afternoon,
eve don't often come across suckers of
this kind, but I have seer some that
were worse"
The speaker was a sporting nan He
was an intelligent and observing men,
Der of that class which has made human.
nature a scientific study, andca tell not
only how much money the average and
gaping agriculturist has in his leather,
but how much he is ready to investin the
delights Of the junglc-or, in other
words, in pursuit of the elephant. He
had just parted with a pastoral being
who wore a buffalo overcoat and three
lines of stumpy hair beneath his chin.
His head had the general appearance of
a scrubbing-brush, and the height of
his forehead can be compared accu-
rately and concisely with that of the
hen. He had left the gentleman with
the l%ight-colored pantaloons with a
broad and CHASTITY smile, and promised
to come back again when he had made
some financial arrangements with a
friend.
THAT fellow" said the gentleman
with the light-colored pantaloons,
''would spend every dollar his mother
had in Il vain effort to discover the
difference between a full hand and a
bob-tail flush. He has been down here
now three days and has twice drawn
upon his friends at Anoka. He didn't
succeed in raising very much, but every
mortal cent he did raise he blew in
against the game upstairs, and the boys
did him up after the queens taste.N
''What's the matter with him?" asked
the reporter.
''Well he's got the mania for gamb-
ling, and when a man gets that the
best thing he can do is to collect all his
resources, turn them into cash, do the
whole business up in a neatly con
structed package and throw it in over
the transom of the faro room"
Why is this?"
because he stands no more chance
of winning anything than you do of
being appointed Chaplain OF the next
House of Representatives. Why. sir,
don't you know that gamblers, if they
are men who have any hearts in them
at all, hate to see such men come
around, There is something more than
the money made in the business which
%infatuates the gambler, and when he
is compelled to take money away
from a chump, who would mt
know he was alive unless he
the business becomes distressing.
Gamblers like the business for the
reason that it is exciting, and there
is more or less Of adventure connected
with it, but there is neither amusement
nor excitement TO be extracted from a
game where a sucker sits with his
mouth wide open and allows everybody
in his vicinity to play with his pocket
book. Now, that fellow must have
known from the moment he tackled
the first game upstairs to the moment
he left, that he was being skinned out
Of his money, and yet he insists upon
coming in here and tempting the boys
around about the house to relieve him.
l took him aside yesterday and said,
kindly but firmly: Now, my friend,
suppose you make up a load and walk
home. You are getting yourself mixed
up with bad company, and the quicker
you wander back to the moral haunts
which have delighted your childhood,
the better for you and for the dear ones
at home. You will lose every cent
you've got, and it is just ten to one
that, if you remain here Il week longer.
you will have to wrap yourself up in
the warm hope of the future redemption
to keep yourself warm; for there is a
fellow in the next room who is looking
forward with Il passion he can moi hide
from me, to the possession Of that
beautiful buffalo o%vercoat of yours"
"And what did he say?"
''Why, he was indignant and said he
guessed he knew his own business, and
didn't propose to be considered green.
He will go off now, and if he can find
his friend, he'll be back again this
evening blowing in whatever he can
raise. We can't preventit, but Illgivc
you a tip right here, I'd a good deal
rather he wouldn't come. The first
thing you know he will give one of the
gentlemen around the house a mort
gage on his farm, and then suddenly
he will begin to realize what an infer
nal fool he's been, and then comes the
%squeal."
"But you were saying that you had
seen even worse than hep
Eyes. it's a fact" replied the gentle
man with the red side whiskers, II
have seen men come intothis house and
get mad because they couldn't get a
chance to lose their money. Did you
ever know Tom Mallory? You didn't?
Well, Tom Mallory was here for anunl-
Der of years, and was nobody's fool.
He was always looked upon as a pretty
fly sort OF a man, whether at the card
table or in the business house. He had
a wonderful knack, too, of making
money, and in many speculative deals
he came out with a big roll to his credit.
Yet he would walk into Il gambling
house, sit down at a faro table and de,
liberately squander his money on what
he knew to be a brace game"
'tHow did he know it,"
"He was told about it time and again.
HSIl thr --.