The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-03-18

road stock. w DeCher you paCrOnlZ9 auctlou
pools "French mutuals" or "book-making,"
whether YOU employ faro or billiards, rondo
and keno, cards or bagatelle, the very Idea OF
the thing is dishonest. for it processes to be-
stow upon you good for which you give no
equivalent.
tendon eighty million dollars pass from
hand to hand through gambling :practces,
and every year in Christendom one hum
dred and twenty-three billion one hundred
million dollars change hands in that way.
There are in this cluster Of cities about
eight hundred confessed gambling estab.
lsshments. There are about three thousand
five hundred professional gamblers. Out
of the eight hundred gambling establish.
ments, how many Of them do you suppose
profess to be honest? Ten. These ten pro-
fess to be honest because they arc merely
the ante-chamber to the seven hundred
aud ninety that are acknowledged fraud
ulent There are first class gambling estab-
lishments. You so up the marble STAIRS.
You ring the bell. The liveried servant in
troluces YOU. The walls are lavender tinted.
The mantels are Of Vermont marble: The
pictures are "Jephthah's Daughter" and
Dore's "Dante's aud Virgirs Frozen Region
of Hell"-a most appropriate selection, this
last. for the place. There is the roulette
table, the finest, the costliest, most exquisite
niece of furniture in the United States. There
Is the banqueting room. where free OF charge
to the guests, you may find the plate and
viands and wines and cigars sunptuous De-
yond parallel.
bling establishment. To it you are intro
duced by card through soma 'Toper-ln."
Having entered, you must either gamble or
6ght, Sanded cards, dice loaded with quick
.ilyer. Door drinks, will soon help you to get
rid Of all your money to tune In snort
meter with staccato passages. You wanted
to see. You saw. The low villains OF that
place watch you as you come IN. Does NOT
The panther, squat in the grass, know caif
when he seas 1t? Wrangle not for your rights
bloody Into the street, or dead into the East
River. You 20 along little further and find
the policy establishment. In that plaza you bet
On numbers Betting on two numbers is called
a SADDLE. betting on three numbers is called
as'gig," betting on four numbers is called
tthorsen and there ara thousands of our
young men leaping into that SADDLE" and
mounting the 'gig," and behind that
"horse" riding to perdition. There is always
one kind Of sign on the door Exchange"
a most appropriate title for the door, for
there, in that room, aman exchanges health,
peace and heaven for loss Of health, loss OF
y,
Exchange sure enough and infinite enough.
Men wishing to gamble will find places
lust suited to their capacity, not only In
The underground oyster cellar, or at the
table back of the curtain, covered with
greasy cards. or in the steamboat smoking
cabin, where the bloated wretch with rings
In his ears instead of his nose, deals the pack,
and winks in the unsuspecting traveller
proviiing free drinks all aIound-but In
gilded psrlors and amid gorgeous surround
ings.
Again, this sin works ruin by killing indus
try a man used to reaping scores or hun
table will not be content with slow work. He
will say: "What is the use Of trying to make
these fifty dollars in my store when can get
Eve times that in half an hour down at
sBilly's?n You never knew confirmed
gambler who was Industrious The men
given to this vice spend their TINA, not ac-
lively engaged in the game. in idleness or
into1ication or sleep, or in corruptin5 new
victims. This sin has dplled the carpenters
saw and cut the banl of the factory Wheel, EEL,
sunk the cargo, broken the teeth OF the
farmers harrow and sent strange light
uing to shatter the battery of the phi!oso.
phcr. The very first idea in gaming is at
war with all the industries Of society.
This crime is getting its lever under many
q mercantile house in our great cities, and
before long down will come the great estab-
lshment, crushing reputation, home, com.
fort and immortal souls. How it dlverts and
sinks capital may be inferred from some
authentic statement before u.s. The ten gam
ing houses that oncs were authorizsi in Paris
passed through banks, yearly, three hundred
and twenty-five millions of francs. Whero
does all the money come from? The whole
world is robbe1! What is most sad, there
are no consultations for the loss and suffering
entailed by gaming. If men fail i'll lawful
business, God pities and society commiser
ates; but where i'll the Bible or in society ls
there any consolation for the gambler? From
what tree o. the forest oozes there balm that
bottle where God keeps the tears OF His chill
iren are there any tears OF the gambler? DC
the winds that come to kiss the faded cheek
If sickness, and to cool the heated brow OF
the laborer, whisper hope and cheer to the
emaciated victim OF the game OF hazardf
When an honest man is in trouble he has
sympathy. ''Poor fellowr' they say. But
10 gamblers come to weep at the a3onies OF
The gambler?
In Northumberland was one of the finest
estates in England. Mr.. Porter owned it,
and in year gambled it oil away. having
lost the last acre of the estate, he came
riage; went back, put up.his horses and car.
,iage and town house and played. He threw
and lost. He started home, and in side
alley met a friend from whom he borrowed
ten puineas; went back to the saloon and be.
fore great while had won twenty thousand
pounds He died at lass beggar in st.
Giles How many gamblers felt sorry for
Mr.. Porter? Who consoled him On the loss
Of his estate? What gambler subscribed to
put stone over the poor mans grave? Not
oneI
furthermore, this sin is the source of un-
counted dishonesties Tho game Of hazard
itself is often game Of cheat. How many
tricks and deceptions in the dealing of the
cards! The opponents hand Is ofthmes
found out by fraud. Cards are marked so
that they may be designated from the back.
Expert gamesters have their accomplices,
have been found loaded with platina,. so that
.doublets" come up every time. These dics
are introduced by the gamblers, unobserTed
by honest men who have come into plgy; and
this accounts for the fact that ninety-nine
cut of hundred who gamble, however
wealthy they began, at the end are found to
be poor, miserable, ragged wretches, that
would not now be allowed to sit on tile door
step Of the house that they once owned. In
gambling mouse III san rFhnclSco youhS
man having just come from, the mires 0e-
posted large sum upon the ace, and won
TWENTY-FIVE thousand dollars. But the tide
turns Intense excitement comes upon the
countenances of all. Slowly the cards went
forth. Every eye is fixed Not sound is
heard until the ace is revealed favorable to
the bank. There are shouts of Foul"
'.Foulw but the keepers of the table produce
their pistols, and the uproar issilenced and the
bank has won ninety-hye thousand dollars.
Do you call this game of chnncsn There is
no chance about it.
But these dishopesties in carrying on q