The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-05-10
HE BET ON THE SEVEN
A GAMBLERS SCHEME THAT WORK.
ED WELL FOR AWHILE.
He Forgot Ono Very Important
Thing, However, and His Last
Plunging Wager Brought Ruin
md Tragedy In Its Wake.

Plunging Wager Brought Ruin
md Tragedy In Its Wake.
A gentleman who lives In the Blue
Grass and who has been a very ex.
tensive traveller has a silver service 80
magnificent in design and heavy in
weight that Its peers in the whole
world may be numbered on the fingers
of one hand. The owner is even now,
when past middle age, a good fellow"
who loves conviyiality, and no game is
too hazardous for him IL he has the
amount of the stakes. lie takes pleas
ure In telling the history of his sery-
ice, as 1t concerns the most audacious
game Of chance he ever witnessed.
when was in Bolivia some years
ago." he always begins, II got in with
u crowd Of men, English and natives,
whose passion for gambling knew no
bounds. Strange as it may seem, none
Of them knew poker, and l made N.Y.
self solid with them by teaching them,
but their great game was roulette.
'There was little shop In Bogota,
where they had miniature Monte
Carlo, and many nights did we spend
around the great wheel. with our mon-
ey and prospects hanging on the black
or red. The wheel was entirely made
Of wood, and when it was spun around
cover was put over the machine so
that they could keep on betting when
it had ceased to turn.
'Therc is worm down there In
that climate that gets into furniture
and bores until nothing but shell is
left. You may sit on chair that
locks perfectly strong, but at the first
touch 1t collapses. This seems irre1e.
want, but it Is not. as you may see
later In fact, that worm plays the
title role in the tragedy l am going to
tell.
"rhere was wealthy Bolivian plant
er who had been a general in the war
between Bolivia and Chile back In the
early eighties. He was never absent
a night from our games, but he would
stand about for week and
never make a bet larger than $40.
Then he would suddenly cry out just
as the operator was about to lift the
cover and register the highest bet the
house would permit. Next he would
place all the money he could find TAX
ers for among the gentlemen present.
Before the season was far advanced
be had won great sums, and we had
all felt the results of his freakish luck.
It seemed that when he played Z
black he could not lose, and he seemed
% realize 1t, for when he did call that
number he would put all he owned in
he balance.
"Still he was gentleman and IA |
nous dueliSt, and no one cared TO |
question his methods. 1t went on this
way for two months. Then one night
he wheel stopped, and there was the
Hence of the prairies in the room.
We could hear the ball fall into the
distinctly. We could
ear the distant tinkllng of a mandolin.
he planter leaped up US from cata-
apsy: 'Seven-black, senores. will
AXE all any of you Oh all Of you will
et.' Well, had been winning strong
nd was so much to the good that I
ras reckless.
"'Five dollars I said
"'Good, senor,' he replied.
Gle placed his entire fortune In diff /
rrent wagers. There were number
f strangers present, and they all
ecmed big flush. Then slowly, as a
riest officiating at some solemn, bar
aric ceremony, the banker removed
le top. We all stood for a moment.
nd the tension was such that car
age wheel OH the cobblcstoncs out
de made us all start. Red came
,e announcement.
"rhe Bolivian was white as snow,
ut his voice was unshaken as he said:
Gentlemen, you shall all be paid. AS
,r me. am ruined
THAT night he shot himself, and his
ill, which had been written just be-
,re his death, arranged for the pay
ent of all his debts. | was to re-
i've the service for my share, though
is worth much more. But what l
llued much more than that was q
,te in which he expressed his attach
ent for me and asked me to accept
e silver as gift and not n debt.
"He left also a curious manuscript.
ritten some time before, which SEEM
to be sort Of private journal. He
ated in this that his ears were so
curate that he could detect the diff
renee between the fall of Il pin and a
edlc. One night, so he says, he heard
G ball fall into the compartment with
hollow thud, and when the machine
Is opened he made note of the num-
r and color, '7-black.' Later, when
)ne for a moment, lie found that the
orssaid worm had bored under that
He sounded the excava- i
N with a straw and found that it
tended no farther than that one
luber. Then all he had to do was
listen and when his acute hearing \
ID him that his number had come to {
t all the money possible on 1t.
Yes, gentlemen, he had all his plans !
d to perfection. There was only one
,ak spot in his calculations. He for {
t that those worms could keep ON I
."-Louisville Evening Post
No. na.nnuS;NI~