St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-29
Some Famous Episodes in
Fast Life at Long
Branch.
Men Who Lose Too Heavily
to Afford Much of a,gs@e
Vacation. So gfg
ST. b.
Some "reminiscences Of a
Celebrated Game in Which q
a Senator no
Was Interested---FarO That
Broke a Bank and q K,
Mirror.
Long Branch Letter.

The Branch never seemed prettfer,
the ocean more exhilarating, the girls
more fascinating than they do this sea-
son. Nor has that tickle goddess, Dame
Fortune, led the crowd more allurlng
race down here by the seaside than the
one just begun. for / hear wild stories
of great games and greater losses in the
luxurious domains over which she pre-
sides. But we have yet to be startled
by the details of one nights stay at the
seaside, such as Senator Wolcott spent
here about this time last year. Nearly
$4,000 then passed in and out of his
possession between sunrise and sunset.
His return ticket to New York
was about all that remained in
the morning of snug fortune
won and lost. am told that the Col
orado senator's play was the biggest OF
last season. Between 10 o'clock and
midnight he won within a few hundrad
of $4,000 from Phil DAILY, and cashed in
his checks intending to go to his hotel.
He went to John Daly's club house in
stead. and lost every dollar before day
light. Then he made another plunge at
the Pennsylvania club with $1,000 that
had borrowed, and after that was gone
took the train to the city. He had a
partner in his losses who came here the
other night for revenge.
l won't mention MS name. but you
can find it on the West End register in
pretty big letters with Colo" at the end
Of the line. 1t was race night, follow
ing a fair day on the turf for the talent,
so that it required the energy OF Phil
Sr. and well as Phil Jr. to keep the
cover on the limit at the Pennsylvania
club. Both sat down on it pretty hard,
but they didn't know when they'd be
lifted off. Constant appeals to take off
the limit met with no response until the
crowd had thinned out, when Wolcott's
cattleman yelled out that he wanted
a hundred-dollar game or none at
all. That settled it. Phil Sr. nod
ded assent, climbed into the Watchers
chair beside the dealer, and the
game went on. The modest white
check gamblers stopped to watch. and
right and left looked upon the Western
plunger's bets with as much interest as
their own. 1t was a great game for
awhile, but it didn't last. Ten thousand
dollars was swept into the little drawer
under the table before two hours had
passed. and the cattleman turned from
the board with the request that Mr..
DAILY toss a coin ten times for hum
dred each time. He declined to do it,
but offered to turn card. odd or even,
for $3.50. The cattleman raised the bet
to $500, lost it, and departed in silence.
He is knocking about here still, and, L
hear. is waiting another stake from
Colorado, with which to tackle the club
house again. r.
Not What 1t Used to BE.
But the day of the big plunger at the
seaside games is rapidly becoming a
"Reminiscences. Perhaps half dozen in
all appear in the course of season, but
only few years ago Wall street and
the dry goods district were well repre-
sented at the tables every night, and
one layout in a quiet corner of the club
house was known to have the ''limit"
off. Here the plungers gathered nightly
and small fortunes hung on every turn
of the cards. The late Charles Woerl-
shoffer and Pierre Southland had cot
tages here then, and led the coterie of
princeIy gamesters. Woerishoffer was
the more persistent card player of the
two. Phil DAILY related to me yes
terday a story about him. The in
cident occurred about four years ago.
Woerishotfer had come down to the
braffch for rest after hard day in Wall
street, but he was victim OF insomnia,
and on this particular night. deSpairing
of sleep, got out of bed, dressed nim-
self and crossed over Ocean avenue to
Daly's. The game was on and Woeris-
hotter joined in it. half dozen other
J., III oanfn6 or0nnd hn
table and few checks under $50 apiece
were to be seen. The Wall street bear
was i'm bad luck, and towards 4 o'clock
concluded to stop.
.sLet me have a check to fill out for
you, Phil" said he. as he threw down
the last remnant of ten 81 ZOO stacks.
''All right" was the reply; 'but wait
and take a bite to eat and small bot
tIe."
II don't mind if l do take sand
wich," rejoined WoerishOffer. 'Tell
the boy to hurry, though. I'll lose the
rest of these chips while he's gone, and
then I'm off for home."
The boy disappeared into the restau-
rant for the sandwich, and WOerish0ffer
threw the few hundred dollars he had
left at random ON the board, with no ex-
pectation of winning. just here the
tide changed for him, however, for in
stead of losing his checks they doubled
and trebled in amount. Ten minutes
passed before the waiter returned with
the sandwich and wine, but in that
time Woerishoffer had won back more
than a thousand dollars of his losses,
and was too busy at the game to notice
the dusky attendant. The waiter stood
there holding the sandwich and wine
for half an hour, during which the
player not only made good his losses,
but put $4,000 to his credit. Then he
ate his luncheon, cashed in his checks,
and left to snatch few hours sleep be-
fore the morning train brought him up
to town to watch bigger game.
1t was the dearest meal the Pennsyl-
vania club ever served.
Some "reminiscences of Faro.
"Only one really great game of faro
has been played in this country,
though" said Phil Daily this afternoon
while toying with pack of cards at the
center table in his .palatial gambling
house. "That was the one which ended
when John Morrissey picked up the
layout and threw it to the other end of
the room, with the remark that all one
needed to make hogs of certain people
was to get the bristles. He had lost
S135,OOO to Ben Wood that night, and,
as you can imagine, he was in mo- AIM
liable frame of mind. The game was
played in Morrlssey's house on West
Twenty-fourth street. 1t certainlyswas
a battle between giants, for Ben Wood
in those days was more feared than all
the other players 'on the outside . put
together. When he was in the hualof,
he would never quit until be had broken
the bank or exhausted himself. He not
only broke Morrissey and all his partners
that night, but he also won three of
their houses. including the one in which
they played. Both men were too gamey
to cry enough. though it took their last
penny, and l guess Wood would have
taken in much more had he not made a
remark which so angered Morrissey
that he flung the layout clear through
a costly mirror at the back of til room.
Eyes. have met Wood, too, in battle
array" continued Daily, quiet smile
coming over his face as he recalled the
event. 1T was right here at this table
that we played cribbage for 5000 a
game. 1t was my first season with this
house, and l had heard rumors that
Wood was coming down to break my
baak. Well, he carried away about