The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-19
WEALTH LOST THROUGH A WAGER
Joseph WestIake Once Bet Basket
Factories With n Rival Firm.
From the Chicago Tribune.

" TN ~ hANAA
From the Chicago Tribune.
There is a man in Benton Harbor who
long ago made a bet which ruined him.
Now he is pointed out by the residents as
one of the sights of the town.
do you see that MANI" said driver
to a party he was taking about the place
one day not long ago. He pointed over
his shoulder to a STOPPING figure that was
ambling along in the shade Of the elms
and naples.
There was nothing at all striking about
the man. Indeed so far as appearances
go, he was of such decided mediocrity that
he did not lack much of coming under the
head Of inferiority, and at that distance
physiognomist or psychologist would
have pronounced him on the same plane
mentally.
That man doesn't cut much of a figure
in the world nowadays" said the driver
but the time was when he could buy
and sell anybody in this part of Michigan
and still have money to throw at the
birds. His name Is Joseph Westlake.
Back in the seventies, when the manufac-
turing and fruit industries of Benton Har-
Dor were in their infancy, he started a
basket and box factory. 1t was run on
small scale at first, but as fruit raising
attained greater Importance he increased
his facilities for turning out baskets, and
within couple of years the business was
not only on a paying basis but yielded
pretty fat income to the manipulation.
About that time another factory was
put in operation down by the river, and so
great was the demand for their wares
that both concerns could have become rich
by sticking to legitimate business. But
right there Westlake's Unborn propensity
for dabbling in things that did not be-
long to him broke out after suppression
of three years or more.
He was a born gambler. From the
time he was old enough to talk he was
happiest when making bet of some kind
and it seemed that the bad luck that had
generally attended all his hazards of for
tune only served as a stimulus for fur
Their experiments in that line. To be sure
his betting had never been done on a very
extensive scale up to the time Of his in
vestment in the factory, for what prop
erty he had was in his mothers name and
the only way he could get at it was by
first obtaining her consent, and as the
old lady was aware of his great fault
and strove to guard against the gratifi-
cation of his desires, that was not such
an easy thing to do.
His basket-making business was in the
third year of its existence when the mania
attacked him. Both factories were going
at full tilt, and there was considerable
rivalry between the two capitalists as to
which could turn out the greater product.
One evening Westlake met his competition
in a drug store, and as usual they stop
ped and interchanged a few remarks rel
alive TO their work.
- III bet you, said Westlake, that I
can turn out more baskets than you can
between now and the 1st of September
So confident am l that 1 am willing to
stake my factory on it
His rival had just put in some new
machinery and had taken on several adj
ditional hands, and he knew that the ca
pacity of his plant had not yet been fully
tested Westlake spoke in all earnest
ness, and after considering the PROPOSE
ton for a few moments, he said:
4" I'll take you up on that. Let's make
it out in black and white
"They went to a notary the next day
and had a contract drawn up whereby it
was agreed that the one who manufac-
tured the smaller number of baskets
should forfeit his factory to the other.
ION the LIST day of September they took
an account of stock, and the figures show
ed that Westlake had made 1850 baskets
less than the rival firm. Westlake's
friends wanted him to fight the claim.
but his disappointment had taken all the
life out of him. and he turned over his
entire factory without the least show of
resistance. That one disastrous bet was
practically the end of his career, and from
then on he has been what you see him
nova dead weight on his mother s
hands"