The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-27
BETTING AS A PASSION.
GAMES OF CHANCE-WAGERS IN
THEIR PRIMITIVE FORM.
Unexpected Result of the Anti-Gamb-
ling Laus-Thc Hazard Instinct.
Athletic RivaIry-Eating and
Drinking Matches-BettinG.

A biographer of Ali Pasha relates that
/ the despotic vizfer once undertook TO stop
/ all games of hazard in the capital of his
/ dominions. but gave up the attempt laugh
/ ing, when he heard that the citizens were
/ betting on the result OF the proposed re-
/ form.
The experience of that potentate has re-
peated itself wherever Legislators have at
/ tempted to NEEDLE with the eradication
/ Of the gambling instinct. They found il
easy to close lottery, but wholly impossi-
/ BILE to prevent people from rislling their
money on the caprices of chance, and the
| suppression of the Rhenish roulette sa-
/ looms evolved a large crop Of thimble-rig
| gers dog-pits. cock-pits and poolrooms.
/ A veteran advocate Of government con-
| troll of the liquor traffic sums up the argu-
| ments in favor of his plan as follows: ],
Drinking cannot be prevented. 3. The pro-
l fits of the retail trade are as enormous
as its abuse 3. Governments might as well
| pocket that profit and lessen Tie abuse.
The same logic might De appued TO the
/ Italian system of licensed lotteries. In Pa
| lermO, Naples and other centers Of an eN-
| citement-lOving population the right TO sell
/ lottery tickets is farmed out so probably
| that 1t nearly covers all deficits OF the
/ public revenues, and the monthly draw
| ings are conducted under the supervision
/ of government officials. whose vigilance
makes direct cheating Impossible. NO
/ blacklegs get a ghost OF a chance TO cor
| rect fortune" as the French call IL. ana
/ the betting of small amounts and the build
| ing of air castles on the possible results OF
/ the venture form the amusement OF thou
[ sands who cannot afford to indulge in any
/ other luxury. AS a guide TO investors the
/ ticket agents sell "smoriias, or dream
] Observation-Disclosures OF all po- slble objects
and events with their corresponding sig
/ nihcance in lottery numbers. A flock of
/ pigeons means No. ~, tripod No. 8,
/ newborn child No. ], disastrous storm
/ No. -, etc, and IL is not necessary that
/ the consulter of the oracle should dream
! of such things, il they happen 10 force
/ themselves upon his attention in any other
] manner.
The probabilities, it Is true, are that
/ nine out of ten tickets will win nothing
at all; but IL is also true that an invest
| ment of 20 cents may entite the ticket
/ holder TO a share in the capital prize OF
/ Si2JOO, and, as an ancient philosopher
says men count the hits and not the
] misses. Hope, with that slender basis OF
/ 1us Llucation sweetens the ury bread OF
| drudgery, and lottery numbers swarm
/ about the brain Of the Neapolltan artisan
/ like flies about a midsummer horse.
The government revenue from the lot
/ teries of Sicily alone amounts to more
| than 100000 year, but the average pa
/ iron OF the ticket shop probably graft
4 fies his passion more cheaply tnan tine
customers of our Wall street broker,
| and more pleasantly than the natives OF
/ the Solomon Islands, whom capt. Mucni-
/ son saw laying wagers on their ability
| TO stun their neighbors in buttng
/ match. Two able-bodied savages would
approach one another IN a straight me,
/ step back, approach again to crush doW.i
/ weeds about thirty PAGES, ana then rush
/ to the encounter like rams, heads FORE
/ most, till one of the contestants reeled IN
/ a stupor and was lugged Off by anxious
/ friends before another crash could loosen
| the seams of his skull. For purse Of "a
/ few rupees the puSlilsts OF the fl4hcc OF
/ Baroda fight with iron fist rings that tear
! the toughest skin al every hit, and Brit
I ish officer of the Agra garrison who treat
La IA DO Fvfgt "a q
/ was so provoked al their skepicism that
/ he offered bet on a Still Stranger test
/ of almighty Doodle. A handful OF silver
/ coin equivalent to about three shllllngs,
] he wagered, would induce native special
! list of his acquaintance TO XIII Dozen
rats with his teeth ana without using
his hands at any stage OF the sculne
I Two weeks after the referees assembled
in the basement OF a down.toWn ware
/ house-the main cause Of the delay having
/ been the di11culty OF procuring WE'VE
uncrippled rats Of the stipulated size.
Their biped antagonist had all along
/ been impationtly ready TO earn his rupees,
! ana chawed the life out Of the last OF the
/ doomed rodents within eighty minutes
after the call of time. The arena was
small enough to secure what Lord Nelson
/ called a CLOSE and decisive fight" and
| the trick of the two-legged terrier con-
! sisted in going down on all Tours ana
/ using his head to push ono OF the scamp
/ erIng rats into corner where he contrived
/ to keep il under control till his teeth got
a chance for a death grip. He would then
D
wriggling rat in his jaws. An audible
/ crunch, squeai and a rat dropped dead
/ or kicked about the floor in eXtremis,
| while the specialist turned his attention
Field Marshal schwerin, the hero Of
! Prague, in his younger days won bet by
/ leaping upon a wild boar and riding it, or
/ at least making ii drag him along quar-
ter of a mile before he made use of his
| hunting knife. He defended the prank on
/ the ground that ventures of that sort help
I ed to establish the supremacy OF man over
/ the lower brutcs and o similar plea might
have justified the cNplolt OF Count tran-
els Trenck in the rurkish-Russian war.
/ Card playing had been interdicted by the
Russian commander-in-chief, the young
! officers indemnifying themselves by offer
I ing bets on their various accomplishments,
and Trenck a Hercules, with "A formidable
record as a fencing hall champion, one
/ day wagered that he could stay six Turks
between breakfast and dinner and bring
in their heads as saddle trophies. Four
hours after he returned with the CHASTITY
proofs of his proves, and, as there had
been no previous skirmiShes in that neigh
borhoOd, It could not be doubted that the
six followers of the prophet had been van
pushed in single combat.
But a few years after the same mata-
dor got himself into an ugly scrape by
betting that he would capture Frederick
the Great and drag him 70 the Australian
by liberal promises and too liberal doses
of peach brandy, made a detour to at
tack the rear of the Prussian camp, and
actually reached the kings tent but, finG-
ing the bird flown. avenged their disap-
pointment by terrible outrages, which
their leader had soon after to explain be-
fore an Austrian court-marital.
His brother, Frederick Trenck, was ar
hicted with a similar betting mania and
finally won a wager by losing his life In
his fell hatred of Prussia (where he haG
been kept eight years in PRISON., he took
il in his head TO advocate the principles
of the French revolution, and bet a dis
senting friend that he would cross the
I French frontier without passport ana
make his way to Paris. For awhile the
fervor of his democratic sentiments con-
ciliated the good will of the natives, but
the moment he began to criticise the meas
ures of the Jacobins he was arrested and
sent to the scaffold on a charge of being
a German spy.
Under all other circumstances a FRANK
avOwal of his real motive might have re-
stored him to favor. for the French them
selves are inveterate hazardists and the
escape of Marshal Bazaine from the pris-
on Ste. Marguerite is said to have been
the Outsome of a reckless wager. The
traitor of Metz, it will be remembered,
was tried for his life and came very near
being shot, but as soon as there was a
rumor of the sentence being commuted
the extremists transferred the charge Of
high treason to judges and insinuated that
the members Of the court-martial had
been bribed by emissaries of the Prussian
government One hot-headed young off,
hot 1.afr