Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-08-06
The Last Dollar.

found TO nave stolen flOoi OVO 10 carry
on his gaming practices But that Is
exceptional.
The Last Dollar.
Generally the money leaks silently
from the merchants till into the game
ster's wallet. believe that one Of the
main pipes leading 10 this sewer Of in
iquity is the excitement Of business
life. Is it not a significant fact that
the majority Of the day gambling houses
in New York are in proximity to Wall
street? Men go into the excitement Of
stock gambling, and from that they
plunge into the gambling houses, as,
when men are intoxicated. they go into
a liquor saloon to get more drink. The
agitation that is witnessed in the stock
market when the chair announced the
word Northwestern, " or Fort
Wayne, " or "Rock Island, - or New
York Central, and the rat, tat, tat, OF
the auctioneer's hammer, and the ex-
citement Of making "corners, " and
getting up pools, and carrying
stock, ," and a break" from so to 20,
and the excitement Of rushing around
in curbstone brokerage, and the sud
den cries Of Buyer threep' Buyer
tenr" Take 'eml" How many?" and
the making or losing of $40, 600 by one
operation, units man TO go home, and
so he goes up the flight Of stairs, amid
business offices. TO the darkly curtained,
wooden suffered room, gayly fur
nished inside, and takes his place at the
roulette or the faro table. But | cannot
tell all the process by which men get
into this evil A man went to New
York. He was a western merchant. lie
went into a gaming house on Park
place. Before morning he had lost all
his money save 81, and he moved
around about with that dollar In BIZ
hand, and after awhile, caught suli
more powerfully under the informal I'd
fatuation, he came up and put down
the dollar and cried ont until they
heard him through the saloon, zone
thousand miles from home, and my last
dollar on the gaming table.
Lost Property and Souls.
Many years ago for sermonio pur.
poses and in company with the chlei
of police of New York | visited one Of
the most brilliant gambling houses in
that city. 1t was night, and as we came
up in front all seemed dark. The blinds
were down, the door was guarded, but
after q whispering Of the officer with
the guard at the door we were admitted
into the hall, and thence into the par
lors. around one table finding eight or
ten men in midlife, well dressed-all
the work going on in silence, save the
noise of the rattling "chips" on the
gaming table in one parlor and the re
volying bali cf the roulette table IN the
other parlor Some of these men, we
we're told, had served terms in prison,
some were shipwrecked bankers and
brokers and money dealers, and some
were 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 something
awfully solemn in the silence-the IN
tense gaze, the suppressed emotions OF
the PLAYERS. No one looked up They
all bad money in the rapids, and have
no doubt some saw, as they sat there,
horses and carriages, and houses and
lands. and home and family rushing
down into the vortex. a mans Hte
would not have been worth farthing
in that presence had be not been ac-
companied by the police, if he had been
supposed 10 be on a Christian errand OF
observation. Some Of these men went
by private key, some went in by care
ful introduction, some were taken in by
the patrons Of the establishm nt The
officer Of the law told me, "None gets
in here except by police mandate or by
some letter of a patron. While we
were there a young man came IN, put
his money down on the roulette table
and lost; put more money down on the
roulette table and lost; put more money
down on the roulette table ana lost'
then feeling in his pocksts for T''rs
money, finding none, in severe silence
be turned his back upon the scene anu
cnssod ont While we stood there men