The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-04-14
RELIGIOUS.

Pulpit Review of Current, Events by Rey. ThOs.
Dixon, Jr, for Sunday, April5, 1891.
THE GAMBLING sCoURGE.
Rev. Thomas Dixon, Jr.. Pastor of
the Twenty-third street Baptist Church,
preceded his sermon at Association
Hall this morning, by the following
Review of Current Events:
The following news item appeared in
the New York morning papers, Mon
day, March Both:
could Nor Pick THU WINNERS-A
WELL-DREssED MAN HANGS HIMSELF
NEAR THE GUTENBERG RACE Track
The body of an unknown man was dis
covered early yesterday dangling from
a beam under the grand stand at Mon
itor Park, Weehawken. The body
was taken to the MOrgueat Hoboken by
Coroner Murrer. The suicide was a
man of fine physique. He was six feet
tall and weighed 225 pounds. He was
neatly dressed. He WOre a livery cloth
~overcOat, Prince Albert coat, satin vest.
striped trousers, white shirt, cuffs and
collar and derby hat. Three cents and
a match were all that his pockets con
tanned.
1T is said that he has frequently
been seen at the Guttenburg Race
Track, and the presumption is that he
has been unsuccessful in selecting win
ners at the races, and becoming de-
spondent decided to hang himself"
The same old story. The body was
identified next day by the man who
had accompanied him to the races. But
a sad old story is this. We are hearing
it very often nowadays. In anguish Of
soul we cry, Chow long, OLOrd! How
lone ChoI1 this inforno1 do tho
gambling race-track-thrOw it's hellish
shadow across our life2" In mud and
slush and rain, through winters storms,
and summers scOrching suns, this
take in souls, this barter of
damnatiOn goes on without in
terruptiOn. Look for a moment on
the mob of smoking, swearing,
drinking, bowling, jOstlng brutes, that
call themselves men and women. They
once were men and women; but the
humanities of life are lost in the brutal
now. One thought fills the soul and
body-the vile desire to take a neigh
bor'sgoods without return-called theft
in Olden times, renamed "spOrt" for
modern uses. This thought brings all
to a common level-the bottom. The
society swell and the Bowery bun are
one at the races. The leaders of the
u0d1L-lL1OlINO Nll1OO LII pCl1CCU q
mony with Ward McAIlister's 400 fools
"a democracy of human %poison-a
carnival of hell
1.-THE damagedOne on the race track it
self werea all, we would count this an easy
escape. But the race track is merely
the table on which the fakirs shuttle
their cards. Scores of crowded pool
rooms honey-comb the city. These are
veritable sinks of iniquity into which
daily flows the life and manhood of the
people. The business districts of the
city are dotted with scores upon scores
of these gambling bells, run daily in
open defiance of law. Into them go
the husbands of loving, trusting wives.
Into them go the handsome mothers
boy, haIlowed from the cradle with a
halo of divinest prayer and hope. Into
them go the young and foolish. Into
them they go to stake at the bidding of
thieves, their money, their manhood,
their honor, their hopes, their peace,
their life. Once thoroughly initiated,
they never return to the world of sani-
ty. If they do, they return as wrecks
cast upon the beach bereft of all.
The last annual report of the Society
for the Suppression of Vice gives a
tabular statement made from news
paper clippings from the year 1890,
showing the victims of the gambling
mania. Though necessarily incomplete
and imperfect this statement gives a
glimpse of the terrible facts: One
hundred and twenty-eight persons shot
or stabbed over gambling games; six
attempted suicides; tw~enty-four sui
cides; sixty murders in cold blood;
many driven insane; sixty-eight per
sons, principally young men, ruined by
pool gambling and betting upon horse
races. Among the crimes growing out
of this record, committed by the vic
Tins in efforts to obtain money to
gamble with, were two burglaries,
eighteen forgeries, eighty-ive embez-
Elements, while thirty-twO confidential
officers in banks and other places of
trust absconded. The proceeds of these
embellishments and crimes amounted
to $2,898, 372. This was the price of
blood alone that went into the pockets
of the villains who ply their trade to
the ruin OF society. How many other
millions rolled in without immediate
criminal results, God only knows. The
loss in broken hearts, homes, and beg
CARED, orphaned children can only be
known in eternity. Well may a recent
writer who has given his life to the
problem say:
Wherever public gambling is toll