The daily state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 188?-1891, 1890-12-20
STORY OF Whitley RUPP,

Popular Superstition Among Gam.
blers Apparently Verified in One
Case.
1t is one of the superstitions of gam
bier that he must relieve distress. Were
it thousand times day that the hand
os indulgence and suffering should be ex-
tended he would feel compelled to load
1t with silver of his wealth. 1t is not
SO much innate benevolence on the part
of the soldier Of fortune as fear that
his luck may turn black and bad should
he refuse. There is one Imitation, how
ever, your gambler lays on his largesse;
that Is, the beneficiary, in the event of
his being one of the craft, cannot make
it the basis of play or bet against his
benefactor. This another and potential
superstitution of the giver contradicts.
1t is a popular belief that vast losses
| would attend the free-hearted giver in
case his money impaired in charity was
played against himself. Gamblers tell
many stories in illustration of this.
Whitley Rupp, one time proprietor of
a strong and prosperous faro bank in
Wichita, is, in his fortunes or misfor-
times, an example often pointed to
among the men of chance and hazard.
1t was N the earlier eighties, and one
afternoon as the fortunate Rupp was de-
scending the stairs which led to the lair
of his particular tigar q broken sport
named Bill Chenault sought aims at his
hands. Rupp was in good humor.
His bank had piled up the ingots the
night before; he had just eaten COM
Portable dinner; and at this very juno
ture was meditating Q ride behind
dashsng span he had the title to. He
paused long enough in his pleasure to give
Chenault $50. Then Rupp went on.
Chenault, an inveterate gamester,
himself, ate briefly and sparingy on
twenty-five cents of the gift and then
fastened back to Rupp's bank with the
balance and began to play. Had the
dealers known the fatal source Of his
wealth they would have barred him.
Chenault won. He won again and
!. again. He then divided his possessions
among several of his cronies looking on
, There was Tom Arnold, who now deals
I monte in Ell Paso; Sam Arnold, who
was subsequently shot to death in Okla
. homa City, and several others. They
blithely showed the money about
Rupp's layout in way to insure the
widest faction"
There never such luck attended 80
) diminutive raid. Rupp was only riding
an hour and thirty minutes. Despite
) his reasons for high and elate heart,
, he felt worried. The shadow of coming
ruin and disaster had fallen on him He
9 came back to his rooms, and, as soon as
q he discovered what was in progress,
with curses and maledictions stopped
the play of Chenault and his coterie.
0 Not, however, until they had rolled
. their bundle of plunder up to the neat
0 outlines of $2,70O. The amount itself
was scarcely tinscratch to so storne
8 bank as Rupp's but he took it in especial
:. grief and gloom as the beginning
Il of his downfall. Rupp began tt
d drink, and, to vary his carousings, took
large slices of his own bank roll ant
played against his neighbors' games 81,
lost thousands in this way. While b
was losing to other games his own wa
IS being raided by outside gamblers at th
pace of thousand an hour. His ba'
luck, invoked by the treacherous turn
ing of his gifts against himself by th
" unprlncipled Chenault, never tagged O
t. faltered in its stride, until, in less tha
!, two months, Whitley Rupp, loser of $40
. 900. left Wichita, a ruined broken sport
ee Kansas City Star.