Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-06-14
ON THE ROAD TO RUIN
STORIES OF THE TEMPLE OF MAN.
MON AT MONTE CARLO.

Some Of Them True, Many False, but All
Highly Interesting-Backum and the
"Wellington Boot system"-A Talk With
Mr.. Spectator, . Man Who Knows.
But who should this be slipping some
iced vermouth at the marble table but
an old friend whom I will call Mr..
Spectator. He Ives at Monte Carlo, he
has passed score Of seasons here, he
has plenty of money, he goes to the
Casino every day and every evening and
he never plays a cent. 1t is his occupa-
tion in life to be an observer Of things
and to mark the ways Of man and wom-
an kind In the summer he will mark
them at Aix-les- -Bains, ut Lausanne or
at Trouville. He knows everything
about what is going OH just now at
Monty" what Russian princess
pawned her diamonds last week and
what Cuban sugar planter did not die Of
apoplexy at the Hotel Carmbole, but
poisoned himself with prussic acid.
He was fool, sir" quoth Mr.. Spec
tator. "Why didn't he 60 TO the admin
istration? Why didn't he make his dec
laration? They knew we'll enough that
he had lost 200, 900 francs in the course
of ten days They would have paid his
travelling and hotel expenses back to
Paris, or back to Brazil, for the matter
of that. He was fool, sir"
Mr.. Spectator went on to explain that
when a cleaned out player made can
did admission Of his impecuniosity the
administration gave him q sum Of mon
ey sufficient to defray his journey by
railway to the place whence he came
and his incidental expenses en- route.
He mentioned one case in which whole
family Of five persons were allowed Is
louis apiece to take them from Monte
Carlo to London, the sole condition at
tached to the largess being that the
recipient should not re-enter the Casino
unless he or she recouped the admins
tration for their outlay. In the case
which he cited, one Of the party, lady,
who had not gone farther than Nice,
received some weeks afterward hand
some remittance from England. She
went back blithely to Monty" repaid
the Is louis, re-entered the Casino, and
backing the douze dernier, not forgetting
zero, Won e300. "You are not to be-
lieve," added Mr.. Spectator, "a tithe Of
the sensational stories printed about
ruined gamesters hanging themselves to
trees in the gardens, or blowing out
their brains in the reading room. ~ The
majority of these canards are set on foot
by obscure French newspapers which
have not been subventioncd or bribed by
the administration to puff Monte Carlo.
One of the pleasantest characteristics
of my friend Mr.. Spectator is that every
time you meet him he has fresh story
to tell you about an infallible system for
winning at roulette, and this time he re-
galed me with succinct narrative Of
what l may call the wellington boot
system" Captain Eackum had played
for many years large number of sys-
TENS, and by the time he was five and
forty had played away handsome for
tune. A happy thought occurred to him.
He always wore Wellington boots. His
capital was just 8 louis. This he
changed into franc pieces, and he nev-
or staked more than one piece at time,
and if he won he withdrew his stakes aft
er the third coup. His winnings he care
fully placed in side pocket, and when
ever he had won four pieces he changed
them into louis and slipped the coin
into one of his boots. He played for
seven consecutive hours before his stock
capital was exhausted. Then he returned
to Nice, somewhat heavy of footstep,
and drawing off his boots, found that he
had won 100 louis.
"This was two years ago." continued
Mr.. Spectator, land only last week I
found Backum at third class hotel at
Nice. He was in dressing gown and
slippers and looking by no means cheer
fpl. How about the Wellington boot
system?' I asked. Utter collapse, he
replied 'Confounded run of bad luck.
And the boots:' Invent on. The boots?'
he replied. 4 pawned them yesterday
afternoon.
So this is Monty" in full swing
Monty" with its ups and downs, its
ceaseless whirl of gayety and dissipa
tion. There is no rest at Monte Carlo.
When you are tired Of play, there are
dramatic performances, there are con-
certs, there is pigeon shooting, and in
the spring and summer there is plenty
of yachting. But all these are only side
issues. The Grand Trunk line of Monte
Carlo leads to the temple of mammon.
1t is crowded night and day by people
lusting for money which they have not
earned, and it is the road to ruin
London Telegraph.