The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-05
An Incident cd saratogn.

| Inc man who makes a fashionable gam
bling-place his headquarters, and keeps
his eyes open, can pick up enough mater
| ial in few days for a number of TRACE
| dies, dramas and roaring faTces," said a
| man Just returned from Saratoga, accord
| ing TO the New York Tribune. The club
| house attracts thousands of people, many
Of whom go into the brilliantly Illuminated
| parlOrs to look on, become Interested and
| then buy few chips ''just for luck" Those
/ are the gamblers who furnish the stories
| for the observers The regular guest who
| comes in after dinner and selects a IA
voritc spot at the faro or roulette table,
| orders his chips with a wink which the
person in charge understands, and then
plays in cool, calm way, and remains
! perfectly composed whether the stack
| grows or dwindles is of little consequence
TO the man who looks for scenes
"One case which happened last week, >"
said the observer, lis well worth telling
You may not believe it, but there are peo-
pie in Saratoga every season who go for
! their health, TO drink the water. A guest
Of this kind was a nice little woman, who
was living at one of the modest smaller
hotels, with her five-year-old daughter
Her husband is a clerk in an eastern bust
ness concern, and two days before il was
time for his little family to leave he went
to Saratoga. He was daZzled by the glory
of the Grand Union and the United States,
and watched the Broadway procession I'M
til il was time to take his family to their
temporary home, and then he went out on
his own account, and, of course, landed
in the clubhouse. The game fascinated
him, he drew nearer, and finally had
chip on the black. He won a little, and his
face assumed that this-is-dead-easy air
which have seen so often in cases of his
kind; he made a modest plunge, won some
more, and then his luck turned and his
chips began to melt away. When they were
all gone he bought more, and then be-
gan to grow nervous, lost his air of brava-
do, and, to make the long story short, he
left the house broke. There was the hotel
bill and railroad fare home to pay, and no
money to pay them with. He found some
people at the hotel to whom he complain
ed, said he would sue for his money, and
made the usual country kick The men
urged him to do nothing. You can't recov-
er, they said, and an action at law will
snow your house that you gambled here
and that may cost You your place, and,
besides the good advice, they made up
purse sufficient to pay the Saratoga bills
and TO carry the family home.
But the spell was on the man, as I have
often seen it, and whenthose who had be-
friended him because of his wife and little
one were out of sight he liptoed out of the
door and went to the innocent-looling
house, with its fiower-beds, fountains and
general appearance of responsibility, to
try his luck once more 1 saw him buy his
first chips, and I was present when he
cashed in about $4,000 and went away with
the air Of a man who had accomplished
good work
wen, he and his family left Saratoga
the next morning. He paid all his bills,
and bought a lot of Saratoga souvenirs, but
the funny part of the story is that he
did not pay the men who staked him the
night before, when he feared that he
would have to walk home"