Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-11-05
A DISASTROUS BET.
How J"s'S'h ~"stlalsr Lost His weal
Through Wager.


Through Wager.
There Is man in Benton Harbor
who long ago mado bet which ruin
Cd him Now he is pointed out by
tho residents as ono of the sights of
tho town.
DO you 500 that MANI" said q
driver to a party he was taking
about tho place ono day not long ago.
He pointed over his shoulder TO a
STOPPING figure that was ambling
along.
There was nothing ut all striking
about tho man. Indood, So far as ap-
pearanCes go, he was of such decided
mediocrity that he did not lack
much of coming under tho head of
inferiority, and at that distance
physiognomist or u psychologist
would have pronounced him on the
same plane mentally.
That man doosn t out much of a
figure in the world nowadays, said
the driver, but tho time was when
he GOULD buy and sell any body 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 manufacture
ing and fruit industries of Benton
Harbor were i'll their infancy, he
started basket and box factory.
1t was run on small scale at first,
but as fruit raising attained greater
Importance he increased his faoili-
ties for turning out baskets, and
within couple of years the bust
ness was not only on paying basis,
but yielded n 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
belong to him broke out after a sup
preston of three years or more.
He was n born gambler. From
the time he was old enough to talk
he was happiest when making a bet
of some kind, and it seemed that the
bad LUCK that had generally attend
ed all his hazards of fortune only
served as q stimulus for further ex-
periments in that line To be sure,
his betting had never been done on
a very extensive scale up to the time
of his Investment in the factory, for
what property 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 qualification of
his desires, that was not such an
easy thing to do.
His basket making business was
in the third year of it's existence
when the mania attacked him. Both
factories wore going ut full tilt, and
there was considerable rivalry be.
tween the two capitalists as to which
could turn out the greater product.
One evening Westlake met his DOM.
petitor i'll drug store, and, as
usual. they stopped and interohanged
u few remarks relative to their work.
III bet you, said Westlake,
that l oan turn out more baskets
than you can between now and the
list of September. SO confident am ]
that l am willing to stake my fac,
tory on it.
His rival had just put in some
new machinery and had taken or
several additional hands, and he
knew that the capacity of his plant
had not yet been fully tested. West.
lake spoke in all earnestness, and
after considering the proposition foI
a few moments the former said:
III take you up on that. Let's
make it out in black and white.
They went to u notary the next
day and had contract drawn Ut
whereby it was agreed that the one
who manufactured the smallest
number of baskets should forfeit
his factory to the other.
ION the 1st day of September they
took an account of stock, and the
figures showed that Westlake had
made 4,360 baskets less than the ri.
val firm. Westlake's friends wanted
him to fight the claim, but his dis.
appointment 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 now, q dead
weight on his mothers hands. -
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