The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-21
FORTUNES LIGHTLY LOST.
GAMBLERS III DID NOT COMPLAIN
WHEN DI6NSTEh CkMH

y D"HN
Out of n Noted San Francisco Gambler
A Coal Miners o~3,OoO-Ons Hard Loser.
WASHINGTON. May 20" THERE'S no way OF
telling in advance how a man is going to take
his complete wiping out in a game OF chance"
said the eI-Mayor Of a Colorado city when the
talk at the club drifted around to the subject
Of hard losers and the other kind. There's
no rule about It. I've seen men Of long-tested
eameness go all TO pieces after big losinRs
seen them suddenly struck spsechless. as
weak as children. with their lips trem-
bling like those OF women who are about
TO cry. On the other hand. I've seen chaps
with low foreheads and weak chins. and
regulations for crawflshine and backing water
in tight places. stand four square to the
finishing wrenches Of long runs OF devilish
luck and take their bitter medicine with
hearts apparently as brave as their faces
were weak. Probably the best educated
and the most highly organized men are
the hardest losers. American men do not
often kill themselves over gambling losses. as
they appear to do on the other sids In consid-
cradle numbers. II there 10 any truth in the
yarns that we get from Monte Carlo and such
places. The hard loser out in the Western
country is liable to stun himeelf with drink for
a while after being jammed to the wall on the
turn Of the cards or the whirl Of the wheel. but
ne u0een often walk OUT INTO the night air ana
blow his head of over his obliteration.
THE gamest loser I ever saw was q sheep
herder who didn't look to have enough oharac-
ter to him to stun a enat pelt. He wss bunch
ing sheep on the Idaho a G ranges for $25 .
month and his grub when an aunt In Connec-
ticut whom he had scarcely ever heard OF,
much less seen. died and left him $4,000. He
didn't have to come East to get the money; a
lawyer handed 1t to him In a bundle in Poca-
tello. He went to Jim Hosford's faro bank and
told Jim that he wanted to make q few thou
sand-dollar bets. Hosford told him that he'd
better hang on to his money. The herder told
Jim that he wanted action on his money,
and that II he couldn't get It ut Hosford's
layout. why. there were others. SO Hosford
dealt them from the box himself with q
$1,000 limit. 1 saw the whole play. 1t only
lasted forty five minutes. The herder wasn't in
1t at any stage OF the game. Coppored or open.
he couldn't land right. 1t was the ~flercest run
Of evil luck I ever saw a man have at faro.
When the herder had lost SD. 900 Hosford
said to him:
YOU'D better pinch out that remaining
5000. Opbrey: give Yourself q chance,
plIedi on 3Ss ha hs1s me wi WSs another or, eSxtuI, FL FL
The man was p~ertsctly. cool and collected,
and s1"fi fsst iSsfr Fined ' 'e% ana ana st. sesr ted s sast 2Ss;
1 @inut en ana sf tSsP h ws pat his 'h fsst s si,6 sp on ~ sh q
high card. That kind Of lonR-shot playing don't
DO for cinch work; and The bet trimmed him
his features when he struck q match and cooliy
lit a cigar, l think those. who saw the play
f Sim a S9od deal sorrier for him that he did for
hoe, m '; ,ss5 s sSI's 3D. to at shs hssds s,. I'm MN no
and ha bA0An In NOunf ont half If fha uoopa-
"So. w" you 'f Son IT. s repfIsa %t TIE herder. but
you can give me a drink and a bottle to put in
".Better take a couple thousand and run to
a agifsS o. p esdSss f Ho.f esGe a "nirl out OF it.
Ids wasn't sulfX at ali: and he didn't ~ e
",,Where are you bound for powr asked
hS @Bsek st 70 the sst aId gig i2F t s%id dT the Serd.r, and
bought three blue idanne! shirts, q pair Of top
s set gut T't 81 f liz i sis 5 sSndi Il. H mhek so Sss' f sl1 ss
stin on the south bank OF the Snake River the
tom Vanbrugh. who in the late seventies
r ran the n1o two ;I s 6iGe est lay .oU On the Pacific
Years. ySar.Sa ago A Ip M fIS afps 3 &%sstr sahss was "a q snr
S SSns5 s sPse9BS Byron l0s Mear a!s r'y nog II ssa fbs ad a
Pc faro layout on Kearny street. Thetwo men
didn't particularly fancy each, other. Mo-
standstili; ,vanbrush closed the Portland place.
to t"SS" anSrueh'Fs San nff Franels SEQ S %inH.n ana. a %isR
an almost unprecedented run OF luck.
l S4ssR o III n Yssb s1s9 = ae sfss, s ssS s .SSS a. yP Il:
McGregHr's KeaTny street place. McGreaor
have deserted him apd he lost every dollar Of
his money. He was broke;
100000 a year and a percentage II youll run a
No. game here for me;
worked too long for, myself to be trectable in
ANOTHER mans employ. I'm going to take a
"'Wouid SOS. 900, say. be OF any uss to you
to make a start2' McGregor asked him. Tho
two men. as I say. weren't particularly fond OF
each other. but they were very square and gem
ha n.Sg t si,In @ you SSod I es snSrt f ;esws M Ma g., We
E $ sSS \. + I$ ;. e. r S. r. s,ss rs e e e %s 81 AZ s S H. h ES1s s@s''s : iSs
in San Francisco. but he smilIngly asked them
not to talk business during hours Of diversion.
bound Tor Australia. and he never RET rsturned to-
half million When no died:
worth. In 1881. He had been making So a day
in the mine, and WAS unmarried. He wasn't a
drinking man. When he knocked off work on
summer evenings he would bat a ball around a
lot for the young fellows until darkness pam on.
cidcnt in Ireland. and a New York lawyer came
along one day and handed, Larkin $4,000.
Larkin washed up and took the money over to
one OF the, priests. The priest told him he'd
better bank the money. and the two started
downtown for a bank. On the way down a
little girl hurried up to the priest and told him
her mother. was very i'll and asking for her
contessor. The priest told Larkin to keep
right on ahead to the bank and to put the
money therein Immediately. not stopping by
the wayside for any purpose. Larkin got in
~positors be'orV the window Of the, receiving
teller. Instead Of taking his place in line. he
waited at the door. Across the street he saw
the attractive. window Of Col. Jamison's bon
ton gambling layout, which was wide open at
that time. He drIfted across to look on for a
while until the line at the receiving teller's
window should become reduced somewhat. He
dropped the whole $4,000 at q stud game In
less than an hour. and he walked back to his
boarding house whistling The Rakes o. NAL
low He finished out the afternoon batting
the ball around the lot for the younRsters. and
the next morning. with his tin lamp in his hat
and his dinner bucket, he set out for the coal
mine, still whistling merrily. he succeeded In
lodging the priest for a couple OF weeks, but
the priest finally corralled him and gave him