The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-02

the prospect of suicides, prevention was
beyond it, for the regulations of the play
room must be observed under all circum-
| stances and the roulette will take orders
from no one.
l am not supersttious, by any means,
! but can't bring myself to doubt that
strange fatality attaches to the suicide
table. 1t is an octopus that sucks In VIC
| TINS from all parts OF the globe. Our
croupiers are hardened men, to be sure;
! it's their business to be sCulless, to be
machines but the suicide table has, TO
my own knowledge, given three or four
| OF them heart disease
TRY TO BREAK EVIL LUCK.
Whether any of the suicide candidates
have 4 fOTeboding Of evil when they come
to our table, l don't know, certain 1t is
that few try hard to escape their goal
They come thanked by hunchbacks, loaded
down with amulets, primed with prayers,
or holding pieces of hangmans rope be-
tween their fingers. Others try to insure
their fortune by paying the croupier 100
francs before the days work begins. OF
course he accepts the bride. Why
shouldn't he? He isn't tampering with
his employers profits.
The table is cursed, cloth board and
legs, but there are various degrees of
dGmnation connected with its twenty
four chairs. My ten years record shows
that some of the seats are more fatal to
their occupants than the others I trem-
bic when l see a man or woman sit down
to the left of the croupier facing the en-
trance door. Seventeen death candidates
sat there to my own knowledge toying
with fate. In seventeen bloodstained,
pain-distOrted faces at the morgue l rec
ognized acCuaintances OF chair No. g
The twenty third chair in the round ac-
ccmmodated eleven suicides, six women
and five men. the others have records
of eight, five, four, three and one DEATH
One day, five seasons ago, my neigh
Dor at the table was a young Partisan
He sat in one of the ope-death chairs.
and won and won. When the doors
closed he carried off 200 0G0 francs I'M
agine my dreadful anticipations when
next morning 1 found him installed to
the left of the croupier. I felt like tear
ing him away or like slipping a card
into his hand, warning him against the
awful significance of the seat he had
chosen, but my official character for
babe me to interfere, and besides, my
advice would have been sc0rned in all
probability, for the fellow gamb!ed like
one mad He lost and lost He lost
his winnings of the day before and
100000 francs of his own money. I saw
the cold sweat stand on his face l saw
the goose skin on his head. When his
last LOCO franc note was gone, he rose,
and swaying to and fro like a drunkard,
stumbled out of the hall, laughing i'm
moderately
TWO of the men were led a merry chase
by this unfortunate, and when at last
they caught up with him, he jumped
off the railway bridge near st. Devote
church, knocking out his brains.
Another case that haunts ny dreams!
One day not Ions ago an elderly gem
tleman, Signor Antonio Cecare, a captain
in the Italian army, who knew my en-
nection with the casino, compelled me to
giye him the seat 1 was Occupying, hat
next to the croupier. I did so with a
bleeding heart, for this old man was
the very picture of health, good nature.
and favorable circumstances, and I was
besides an intimate friend of his c0us n,
the mayor of Bentinigl:s. Still I had 10
hold my peace.
Well, this gentleman lost nearly a hum
dred thousand francs in the course Of
the day and evening. When he got I'D.
his own mother wouldn't have known
him, so changed was his whole appear
ance He looked ten years older; his
Hesh had fallen away; madness sta ed
out Of his eyes. He, too, ESCAPED nv
yisilants in the darkness, Next day they
hshed his body from the lake at Men
tone.
Then there were the Parlingtons, re-
fined English people, a young gentlemen
and younger lady. They were en-
their wedding trip. I never frgat the
look of delight with which you~g Mrs.
Darlington pocketed her first small gain.
The pretty bride fairly coaxed her hus-
band TO stake 10 fran s. Alas! he wen.
Madam too, won again. When night
came they had couple of thousand
francs in their pockets. Next morning,
they took chairs Nos. % and a. which
happened to be vacant. They gained
$4,000 francs. But on the following day
came the inevitable chang Tie 300
francs went back to Us, and the coup'e's
little fortune followed They walked
from the room deathly pale, hand in
hand, My detectives Informed me that
they took the train for Nice without
troubling about their baggage.
They shot and killed themselves the
Windsor hotel there
&C. Benvenisti.