The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-09-13
SUPERSTITIOUS SPORTS.
Gamblers Who Trace Misfortune
to Trivial Events.
Happenings That Are said to Portend III
neutrality-suspicious. That Fill PeO-
pies Heads with NonsensIcaI
Conclusions.

is not only superstltiOus, but morbidly |
so. Their dreams, the way in which
they get out of bed in the morning, !
whether they see the new moon over
the right or left shoulder. action of
animals and a thousand trivial occur
rences guide the gambler in his move
ments and lead him to play or abstain
from playing on certain days. Super
stition follows the gambler to the card |
table and never leaves him, and there /
are hundreds OF the fraternity who |
would quit a game at the outset should |
any thing happen to induce him to |
think the fates were against their win |
ming at that particular time. Il have |
not won at poker for more than a year |
now" remarked a veteran sport, land |
I'll tell how it happened. l have a
wholesome horror of cats, and espe-
cially of black ones. A little over a
year agO-I had been playing poker
the night before and had won a hand
some stake-I awoke late in the after
noon, about dusk, and hurried out of
bed to don my clothes and try my luck
again, feeling like a four-time winner
Imagine my feelings when large black
AAb O0AAAA QLlGN INC III bllG OOOFt anu LOT
time barred my passage. Every time
/ would attempt to leave the room
that cat would bristle up and show
fight. ] finally hurled n bootjack at
the creature, striking it fairly in the
head, and the animal turned and ran
away. l will confess that the Incl
dent unnerved me, but after taking a
'bracer' and enjoying a hearty supper,
] strolled around to a popular resort
and bought a stack of chips, sitting
into a game where there was plenty of
money and the players easy marks
for professional l lost from the
start-couldn't win a pot. And the
hands l had beaten would break
mans heart-threes, flushes, fun
hands, aye, even fours-would not win
for me. After losing heavily, l sud
denly thought Of the incident in my
hotel, with the big black cat, and
quit right there and then. l didn't
play for quite awhile, but finally
thinking the spell had passed, / again
set in, but lost as before, and that has
been my luck right along. l believe
the visit of that cat was a warming,
and if had obeyed it and not played
that night, l would not have struck
this streak of bad luck. If my luck
ever changes again I will never touch
a card the same day l see a cat in
the house or on the street"
AS the narrator of the above absurd
reason for his losing at cards was
evidently imbued with superstition.
he was asked TO relate other incidents
where card players had been pursued
by adversely for not paying due heed
to significant warnings.
There is any number of them" he
continued. There is something
peculiar about it all, will admit, but
there are many who can testify that
IN luck usually follows a warming Of
that kind. 1t may be mind reading or
an intuitive knowledge of what is to
happen. but those who disregard the
admonitions of their own reasoning
powers invariably regret it. At the
last meeting of the St. Louis Jockey
Club a we'll known sport lost heavily
every day until the closing day
OF the meeting. His continued i'll
luck had unnerved him, and he had de-
termined to let the races alone that day.
But he couldn't stay away from the
track. and concluded to 90 out and
look at the fun any way. On the way
out the conductor of the street car
failed to collect fare from the sporting
man, and just as he ahghted from the
car he saw something shining in the
street. He stopped and picked it up.
IL was a silver dime. Things are com
ing my way to-day he said, and I'll
r., I
any way. He did, and won. He re-
peated and won again. And that SUI
perstitious' man, as you would call
him, not only won all he had lost dur
inc the meeting, but came away with
clean winning of over $500 Now.
there may have been nothing signif-
cant in his getting that free ride and
finding that dime, but if he hadn't he
would not have risked dollar. His
superstition stood him we'll in hand,
and ne could never be convinced but
that there is something in signs and
incidents which prompts a man to act,
aud as a rule TO act properly and sue
cessfully. He wouldn't take ten dol
lars for that lucky ten-cent piece he
found in the street, and now wears it
as a watch charm.
But the most superstitious of all
gamblers is the poker player The
Slightest sign or annoyance breaks
him all to pieces. I once saw 4 poker
rIaver enter a room, remove his coat,
light a cigar, invest in a stack of chips,
and as he pulled his chair up to the
table he discovered that there was a
c>oss-eyed man in the game, That
settled it. Without word he arose
turned in his checks, and, donnlng his
coat left the room. When asked what
his peculiar conduct meant he replied
.''Why, wouldn't play IN a game
o. cards with a cross-eyed man II ne d
-iyc me his money.
"'Whyp 1,
..WeI. ] can't say why, but | have
. pro9onition tina, il is bad luck ana