The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-25
GAMBLING In THE WORLD.

Writing under the pen name of
Rouge ct Noir," a man whose por-
trait used by way of frontispiece shows
him to be old and gray brings forth a
large volume called THE Gambling
World" CT much interest and contain
ing powerful moral. Most of the per-
sonal matters in the book are drawn
! from the Writer'S own experiences as d
! player OF games of chance during q
! long lifetime, and no one understands
the evils following on the heels of such
a pursuit better than the man who has
been through it. The work is wide
enough in scope to permit an inquiry
! into various frauds, and the conclusion
| of the whole matter is justification of
an old saw Wherever you find j
gamester there is a swindler close at
hand
There is a pleasant little story told
of the follies of betting, which goes to
! the effect that Struthion, the dentist
of Abdera, once hired a donkey to
| take him to the fair at Gerania. He
started with the driver rather late in
the forenoon and found himself half
| way between the two places at midday
| almost overcome by the heat of the
sun. So he dismounted on the arid,
| treeless plain, proposing to rest for a
| time in the shadow of the donkey. But
stating that it was the donkey
| Struthion had hired, not the donkey s
shadow. But the shadow is part of
the donkey insisted the dentist. If
! it's part of him." said the driver,
what becomes of it in the dark" So
they fell to disputing, agreeing finally
| to bet on it and leave the decision to
the judges.
Back to Abdera went the two-three,
with the donkey-and the question was
duly submitted for adjudication. The
town took up the matter with pro-
found interest, and bets were made In
profusion. When the affair came up
for trial. the arguments lasted for
days, during all of which betting went
on so freely that whichever way their
! decision went, at least half of the popu-
lation would be ruined. In their per
pleXity a riot broke out, in the course
of which the innocent donkey, cause OF
all uDroar, was torn to pieces by the
contestants. Eagerly Selling upon this
as a preteXt, the judges decided that,
both shadow and donkey having dis
appeared from the face of the earth, all
bets We're off Incidentally, it settles
that important question, Whoever
saw dead dcnkey?" but it is other
wise instructive.
There is a chapter on lotteries which
shows how prevalent was their use IN
a time not very remote, and that the
Latin countries of Europe, Spain and
Italy in particular, still sustain them as
part of the income of the government.
The author is not aware that the
Louisiana lottery in this country has
been closed up for good; but he shows
that in our colonial days the lottery
was resorted to with considerable fire.
quency. Harvard college derived a
considerable amount of money from Its
authorized use. There is a curious
computation added to prove that Eng
lands foreign investments up to 1880
total of e6O0,OOO0O0, about a lottery
chance.
There are some curious stories told
of what is called, for lack of better
word, luck" A friend of the author
took the equivalent of $4,000 to Monaco.
In days play he made $4,000 more
and set about going home. When he
got to the railway station he found
that there was no first-claSs nor sec
ond-class seat to be had. This he re-
garded as d. sign that he was to remain
and play his luck out He went back
to the table. In a few hours he had
lost everything and had to telegraph
for money to come home on. Once the
Sunday. A clerical gentleman came up
to him and informed him that he had
just had a warning and that he was
properly punished for breaking the
Sabbath. But the banker?" cues
toned the writer. HE won on the
Lords day; what sort of warning is
that?" The incident closed.
In 1860 a professional trickster at
cards went to Homburg with $4,000
francs and won 100000 early in the
afternoon. The maximum stake was
$500. which he increased with the
banks consent to $4,000 francs. When
the rooms closed he was almost $1,000
900 ahead. He left, but returned the
next year and lost 100000 francs with
in week. sent to Paris for another
LOCO 900 and lost that in six days Soon
after he was sent to jail for plaYing
marked cards. Within a year or two
Woolfe Joel, Barney Barnato's partner,
and Frank Gardner. the Australian
millionaire. won 100000 francs at
Monte Carlo by the reds turning up
twelve times running. Woolfe was
shot soon after-by a gambler