The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-07-04
ON THE ROAD'TO RUIN
PTORIES OF THE TEMPLE OF MANI
MON AT. MONTE CARLO.

f'omo of Them True, Many False, but Ali
Il Highly Interesting aclsum and the
81 wellington Boot Systcm"-A Talk With
81 Mr.. SPECTATOR, Man Who Knows.
4 But who should this be slipping some
%ced vermouth at the marble table but
8am old friend whom l will call Mr.
Spectator. He lives at Monte Carlo, he
Slas passed score of seasons here, he
Gas plenty of money, he goes to the
u Casino every day and every evening and
Me never plays cent 1t is his ocoupa-
"A ION i'll life to be an observer of things
ssmd to mark the ways of man and wom-
$m kind. In the summer no will mark
8shem at Ankles Bains, Mt Lausanne or
4lt Trouville He knows everything
lbout what is going Oh just now at
Monty. what Russian princess
apawned her diamonds last week and
what Cuban sugar planter did not die of
ipoplcXy ut the Hotel Carmbole, but
poisoned himself with prussc acid.
He was fool, sir" quoth Mr. Spec
GATOR. Why didn t he go to the admin
stration? Why didn't he make his doc
laration? They knew we'll enough that
he had lost 900, 600 francs In tho course
Of ten days They would have paid his
travelling and hotel expenses back to
Paris, OF back to Brazil, for the matter
IF that He was fool, sir!''
MIR. Spectator went on to explain that
when cleaned out player made CAN
lid admission of his inpecuniosity the
4 administration gave him sum of mon
~ sufficient to defray his journey by
4 railway to the place whence he came
md his incidental expenses en- route
He mentioned one case in which whole
family of five persons were allowed 10
louis apiece to take them from Monte
Carlo To London, tho sole condition at
tached to the largess being that the
recipient should not re-entcr the Casino
unless he or she rccoupcd the admins
ltration for their outlay. In the case
which ne cited, one of the party, Indy,
who had not gone farther than Nice,
received some weeks aftcrward q hand
some remittance from England She
went back blithcly to Monty" repaid
the ID louis, re-entered. the Casino, and
/ backing the douze dcrnior, not forgetting
zero, Won $500. You are not to be-
heye," added Mr. Spectator, ga 1.-THE of
the sensational stories printed about
ruined gamcsters hanging themselves to
trees i'll the gardens, or blowing out
their brains i'll the reading room The
majority OF these canards are set on foot
by obscure French newspapers which
have not been subventioned 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-
CALLED me with succinct narrative of
what l may call the Wellington boot
system. Captain Backum had played
for many years large number of sys-
TENS and by the time he was five and
forty had played away a handsome for
tune. \ happy thought occurred to him.
He always wore Wellington boots His
capital was just louis This he
I changed into franc pieces, and he new
I or st;lied more than one piece at time,
1 and if he won be Withdrew his stakes aft
/. er the third coup. His winnings ne care
!. fully placed i'll u side pocket, and when
4 ever he had won four pieces he changed
A them into Il 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 l
found Bnckum at third class hotel at
Nice He was i'll n dressing gown and
slippers and looking by no means cheer
ful How about the Wellington boot
SYSTEM I asked. Utter collapse, he
replied. COMPOUNDED run of bad luck. ;
4 And the boots?' Invent ON. The bootsr
he replied. I pawned them yesterday
Iafternoon.
So this is Monty in full swing
Monty" with its ups and downs, its
ceaselcss whirl Of gaycty and dissipa-
stion. There is no rest at Monte Carlo
tWhen you are tired of play, there are
dramatic performances, there arc con-
scerts, there is pigeon shooting, and in
1.-THE spring and summer there is plenty
sof yachting. But all these arc only side
Tissues. The Grand Trunk line of Monte
ICarlo leads to the temple of mammon.
Hit is crowded night and day by people
Elusting for money which they have not
earned, and it is the road to ruin
condon Telegraph.