Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1897-08-11


is my friend who started out the other
day with but little money. and in one
night, so great was his luck, t~r rolled
up hundreds and thousands of dollars.
IL he got il why not II 1t is such dull
work, this adding up long lines OF fig
ures in the counting house; this pull
ing down of hundred yards of goods
and selling remnant; this always
waiting upon some body else, when L
could put 500 on the ace and pick up
thousand.
This sin works very insidiously.
Other sins sound the drum, and Haunt
the flag. and gather their recruits with
wild huzzas, but this marches its pro-
ccssion OF pale victims in dead OF
night, in silence, and when they drop
into the grave there is not so much
sound as the click OF dice. Oh how
many have gone down under il. Look
at those men who were once highly
prospered. Now their forehead is
licked by tongue of flame that will
never go out In their souls are
plunged the beaks which will never be
lifted. Swing open the door Of that
mans heart and you see coil of adj
ders wriggling their indescribable
horror until you turn away and hide
your face and ask God to help you TO
forget II. The most of this evil
Is unadvertised The community
does not hear of 1t. Men de-
frauded in gaming establishments are
not fools enough To tell of it. Once in
while, however there is an exposure,
as when in Boston the police swooped
upon gaming establish mcnt and
found in IL the representatives of all
classes OF citizens, from the first mer-
chants on State street to the low Ann
street gambler, as when Bullock, the
cashier of the Central railroad of
Georgia, was found TO have stolen
SOB, 900 for the purpose Of carrying on
gaming practices; as when a Young
man in one of the savings banks of
brooklyn, many years ago. was found
TO have stolen SO, 900 to carry on gam
ing practices; as when a man connect
ed with Wall street insurance com
pany was found TO have stolen $50
600 TO carry on his gaming practices.
But that is exceptional
Generally the money leaks silently
from the merchants till into the game
ster's wallet | believe that one of
the main pipes leading TO this sewer
of iniquity Is the excitement of bust
ness life. Is it not IA significant fact
that the majority of the day gambling
houses in New York are in proximity
TO Wall street? Men 90 into the ex-
citement of stock gambling, and from
that they plunge into the gambling
houses, as, when men are intoxi-
Gated, they go into a liquor saloon to
get more drink. The agitation that
is witnessed in the stock market
when the chair announces the word
northwestern" or FIT Wayne" or
Rock Island" or New York Cen
trial" and the ratl tat. tat! of the
auctioneer's hammer, and the excite
ment of making corners and getting
up pools" and carrying stock. " and
"break" from so to 40, and the ex-
element of rushing around in curb
stone brokerage, and the sudden cries
OF buyer three" Buyer ten" Take
en- How many?' and the making
or losing of SO, 900 by one operation
units man togo home, and so he goes
up the flight of stairs amid business
Offices, to the darkly curtain
ed, wooden shattered room. gailv
furnished inside, and takes his place
| can not tell all the process by which
men get into this evil. a man went
to New York. He was n western mer-
chant. lie went into gaming
house on Park place. Before morning
he had lost all his money save 81, and
he moved around about with that dol
lar in his hand, and after awhile,
caught still more powerfully under
the internal infatuation, he came up
and put down the dollar and cried out
until they heard him through the sa-
loon: One thousand miles from
home, and the last dollar on the gam
ing table"
Many years ago, for sermonic pur-
poses and in com pany with the chief of
police OF New York, visited one of
the most brilliant gambling houses .r
that city II was night, and as gv.
came up in front all seemed dark
The blinds were down. the door was
guarded, but after a whispering Of
the officer with the guard at the
door we were admitted into the
hall, and thence into the parlors
around one table finding eight or ten
men IN mid-lIfe, we'll dressed-all the
work going on in silence, save the
nos, OF the rafting chips on the
gaming table in one plrlor and the re-
vo.yIng bail OF the roulette table in
the other par.or. Some OF these men.
We are told had served terms in prison:
some were shIpwrccked banker, and
brokers and money dealers. and some
we're going their first rounds Of vice
but all intent upon the table, as large
or small fortunes moved up and down
before them. Oh. there was sometime
awfu.ly solemn in the silence the
intense gaze, the suppressed emo
tons OF the players. No one looked
up They all had money i'm the ran
IDS, and have no doubt some saw. as
they sat there. horses and carriages
and house, and land, and home and
family rushing down into the vortex.
mans life would not have been worth
iarthing in that presence had me not
been accompanied by the police. il he
had been supposed 90 be on a Chris
tian erraud OF observation Some
Of these men went in by private
key, some went in bv careful in.
PRODUCTION, some were taken in bv
the patrons pf the establishments The
officer OF the law told me. None
get in here except by polio. mandate
or by some letter Of patron While
we were there young man came in
ruf l.. frgu4.. Ig.gr, ,,r