Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-07
MEN WHO HAD LUCK.
STORIES CIRCULATED IN A GROUP OF
 TACOMA SPORTS.

Most of Them Were Told by Professional
 Gamblers and May or May Not Be True.
 About the Gold Seeker.
 Well, that was luck"
 The speaker was one of group of half a dozen men who were standing on Pa cific avenue putting away at Havanas and talking just to pass time away and to clear their throats. The conversation had been about the livery stable man, Mar tin, of this city, who had fallen heir to S35O,0O0 three years ago and didn't find it out until a few days ago.
 Talk about luck" said one of the group, who was gambler, i've see plenty of it. Do you know that one day last week man entered one of our gambling houses with a nickel and won out $4OO in three hours? He had gone clean busted the night before and found the nickel in an ont of the way corner in his room the next morning.
 That blollie went to the gambling house with the intention of placing his , cent piece on the number ,. He got into the room when the roulette ball was whizzing around on its tour of numbers. He rushed to the table and got down his nickel on the five just as the game run ner shouted All downr In few sec onds the ball started on its rear end bouncing, and in a few seconds more the man shouted 'Fiver That gave the man with the nickel $l.75 for his cents. Then he put $1 on No. r., and that num- Der came up, giving him $35 more. He continued to play with varying luck until in three hours he had won $4OO. And the next day he was broke again. He borrowed a nickel and tried the game again, but it didn't go."
 'I can tell a story of q man who was lucky" said business man. "In the early days of the gold excitement in Cali fornia, there came into San Diego a man who was ragged and sick almost to death. He was taken in hand and fed and fixed up. Then he told a story of a wonder full find of gold he had made. It was only few days off, he said, and he would take a party to the place if they would outfit.
 Several men who heard the story of the great gold in the mountains that was theirs to go after got up q party of 50. The start was made with that man as lthAltl. AlAtE 1l lCN NaNS ITdNel DE- came evident that the man had forgotten the way. They travelled on, trusting to luck, however Indians were hostile at the time, and they started in to mow the gold hunters. They picked of one after another with their bullets. 4 score were thus taken off. Then fever struck the party. and II more went the way of death.
 By this time the 10 survivors were crazy with rage. They had been II days out and were travelling in the most arid country. Food was growing less and less, and death faced everybody. On the afternoon of the fourteenth day the lead CT, who had caused so much misery, was given three days more to find his gold find If he was not successful by that time. he was 10 hang.
 Well, the three days had almost passed, and still there was no sign of the find. The last hour was almost up. It seemed that the man must hang. There were only five minutes more, now two minutes, now one minute, now half minute-then came his luck. Just as the time was up for the hanging that man dropped dead"
 Il don't see how hcwas lucky" put in the gambler who had told the first story.
 Why" said the business man. he was lucky because if he hadn't died he would have been hanged"
 Another gambler told how a few days ago a green Swcde who knew ming about the game, but detern.ined to try his luck, had won nearly Sl GOO He had been an unlOOker once or twicewand seen big winnings. He went to the rou- lette wheel with S2O, and in few hours he had won out $500. It seemed that no matter what number he put chips on and he played recklessly, as all new play CTS do-it came mp every time. That was pure luck. The man played no con- binations or arrangements, because he was as green as grass and knew nothing about the game.
 II have q friend" spoke up one of the group, who is connected with the city government, ''who by the merest luck made discovery that Is netting him mil lions His name is Perkins. and few years ago back ill Minnesota he made his discovery. He was a travelling man for a grocery firm, and while walking to a train to go from one country town to an other one day he whittled O stick
 He had whittled the stick i'll a trian- glllar shape On the train the idea struck him that the shape would be just what was wanted for railroad spikes The square spikes ir vogue were not the right thing because they split the grain of the green tics when driven into them, and when dry the wood shrank away from them The triangle shaped spike would not split the grain, and subsequent shrinkaSc would be dono away with. Perkins submitted his discovery to Pull man, and now the spikes are being made by millions at Pullman, Ills, making millions for Perkins and Pullman"
 Another gambler here chimed in with the statement that during the past week a gambler from Seattle had won $2 300 at faro in Tacoma rooms in two sittings. Both sittings occupied 13 hours, and the first sitting resulted in the winning of S1 300 and the second Sl,000. During the latter game the man was out nearly the whole $1, 300 he had won at sitting No. l, but he picked up and won big money. II suppose he has gone back to Seattle with his dough" said the gam bier, 'as I have not seen him for some davs."-Tacoma News
 Blunder Worse Than Guilt
 There are some penalties on innocent acts essential to human safety, and the signaler whose failure has destroyed q train must be punished, even though, when he pleads that he was in ''dwam, " he is to his own mind telling the simple
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