Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-14
Digging Up an Old Statute.

he is hedged will save the General and lieu
tenant.
Digging Up an Old Statute.
Several radical members have endeav-
ored, SO far unsuccessfully, to elude the
Speakers loyal vigilance, by putting ques-
| tions on the order book as to the illegality
of the proceeding at Tranby Croft by a
statute passed early in the present reign.
1t is declared: --r
| Every person who shall by any fraud or
unlawful device or ill practice in playing at
| or with cards, dice or other games win from
| any person to himself or any other or others
! any sum of money or valuable thing shall be
deemed guilty of obtaining such money or
valuable thing from such other person by q
false pretense with intent to cheat or de-
fraud such person of the same, and being
convicted thereof shall be punished accord
ing to law.
In a test case tried only two or three
years ago an attempt was made to prove
that baccarat, being game of skill, was not
unlawful, but the judge unhesitatingly
ruled otherwise, and his decision has never
been challenged. 1t is pretty certain there
fore that the whole merry party at Tranby
Croft, men and women, field marshal and
lieutenant, could be made amenable to the
law. But the world will not be gratifed by
such sight. The Prince has been in the
witness box in divorce court and in other
tight places, but all the forces of the Crown,
Government and judiciary would, if need
arise, unite to keep him out of the criminal
dock.
Cumming Feels His Disgrace Keenly.
Sir " III1an G. Cumming heard of his ex-
pulls; on from the army last night just as he
was leaving Nottingham for Scotland with
his American bride, and the news came as
terrible surprise for both. Cumming sent
in his papers to the War Office six months
ago, with an application for leave to retire
on half pay. He ought to have known that
only one course was open to military
authorities, after Tuesdays verdict but it
seems that he deluded himself with vain
hopes up to the very last, and inspired his
American bride with the belief that he
would be spared the crowning disgrace of
military dishonor.
1t will be scarcely possible now for the
sadly-linked couple to reside in London.
The Prince of Wales, the high priest Of po-
lite society, has himself communicated
the man who was his friend for 20 years,
and the sentence will have the fullest and
bitterest effect in this metropolis For the
present, Sir William and Lady Gordon
Cumming will reside at Attyre House,
lonely ancestral seat in Morainshire; but
they have already decided to spend por-
ton of every year in the United States.
The Laudation of Cumming.
The most amusing feature of the case to
synical philosopher is the way In which the
man who cheated at cards has become
popular hero. Cumming, of course, has
been severely lectured for his hetrodox
manner of playing baccarat. But the
strongest adjectives and most whitening
scorn have been applied to the people who
detected and exposed him. The Wilson
family, if their members have not
recently had enough of the law
courts, have ample cause for
action for libel against scores of news
papers. They had to stink out of the royal
courts of justice under the protection of
the police, while Sir William Gordon-Cum-
ming had difficulty in getting eway from
the enthusiastic admirers who tried to shake
his hands and shouted themselves hoarse in
his behalf.
The Wilson's have not since ventured in
any public place, and even the Prince of
Wales was assailed on his way to Ascot
with rude inquiries respecting the where
abouts of his baccarat counters. But Sir Will
lam Gordon-C Cumming whom the jury has
branded as vulgar cheat, and from whose
back has just been torn the Queens uni
form, which he has disgraced, was oheered
at every station on his way to Scotland to-
day.
Elevated to a Great Hero.
The whole town of Forrest turned out to
do him honor. Triumphal arches spanned
the streets, the horses were removed
from his carriage and their places taken by
grown-up, presumably reasoning men, who
thus turned themselves into beasts of bur-
den in order to testify their devotion.
Tomorrow, Sunday, the worldliness of
England's future King will form the subject
of many discourse, and in some dissenting
places of worship special prayer is to be
offered up beseeching God ITO turn the sinner
from his evil ways, and to SO pour the Holy
Spirit upon him that he may seek for grace
at the mercy seat, and thus rule an enlight-
ened country as a God-fearing King, and to
whom justice, purity and noble aims should
be ever paramount" If the Lord sees fit to
answer all the prayers that are being offered
up Albert Edward will, in very short space
of time, become a reformed character.
A reporter asked Lady Gordon Cumming
at Nottingham to-day if she would like to
make a statement of her views for the bene-
fit of the American people. She said that
she did not desire to begin controversy,
but that she had the fullest confidence in
her husbands innocence, and that Sir Ed
ward Clarke's speech entirely represented
her feeling in the matter. She looked very
bright and happy, and said she had received
many warm congratulations from America
by cable, some of them from entire
strangers. British politics was never less
interesting than now.