The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-09-22

invited him into Pringle's. Pringle's
at this time was the finest gambling
house in Washington. The proprietor
served three elegant meals day 10
his guests and patrons without charge.
1t was n rendezvous for all manner
and kinds of men with money. You
could meet there in groups foreign
ambassador, a United states senator,
judges. generals, and of course men
like myself, who followed the green
cloth as profession. | was then in
or about my thirtieth year, and
thought no more Of win or lose $1,000
than | would now of a single five-dol-
lar bill. There were no ten or twenty
five cent chips in those days. The
whites cost 81, the very lowest price
for them. Nobody thought of buying
a stack of chips under $50, and play
was high. / was as high a roller as the
best of them for just previous to my
arrival in Washington | had lost as
banker in two nights over 100000
We'll, Senator Rice and myself en-
joyed Pringles fine spread. l intro
duced the senator, and as he had nev.
er played a card, like old Matt Car
penter he knew all the boys and was
gracious and democratic in his asso-
Citations with them; he felt embarrassed
over eating such an elegant meal and
not having to pay for it. Passing a
faro layout in the next room, he
threw down flve-dollar gold piece on
a card, expecting to lose it. To his
| surprise and Chagrin, however, he won.
| This ma le the matter wunse than
ever, as he did not want to win. but
to lose the s. as an Indirect payment
| for the meal he had eaten. While
he was in a quandary bought a stack
of chips and soon became absorbed in
! the game.
THE senator's bets were placed hap
| hazard, he not knowing whether they
were placed right or not, and not car
| ing, except that he wanted to lose, and
| get out of the place. But lose he
| couldn't and I soon dropped out, be-
| ing broke, to watch his play and mar
| vol at his ever-inCreasing pile. He
! soon had crowd around him, which
| added to his embarrassment, and he
| appealed to me to help him get broke.
as he wanted to get out, and did not
want to take any of the banks money
with him. Well, this was the funniest
snap l have ever experienced in my
! life of over seventy years. There sat
the senator and myself playing for all
we were worth to reduce his winnaegs,
and play any way we chose the pile
| of chips increased. I, who had been
so unlucky, caught the lever of the
senator's good luck, and won in a
| streak.
THE senator's face was as white as
| his shirt, and he was as scared a
man as ever 1 saw in my life. But
Z ln al, h.,
fact that at that time there was no
limit al Pringle's, the bets were so
high, that the modern twenty-five
cent CHIP player would get the grip
if I should mention the size of the
bets.
Finally, Mr.. Pringle called me to
one side, and told me that his part
ners objected to the game without
"A limit. He was willing himself to
rlay the bank without it, but he was
compelled to defer 10 the wishes of
his partners, and would place the
limit at $3.50 a bet.
He said it was all right to have me
play on, as he liked me and all that,
but l was the first man who ever
! forced him to put limit on the game.
When l returned to the table l quietly
distressed, as he saw no chance, from
his point of view, in getting rid of his
| winnings at $3.50 limit. We played
until midnight and the Senator at last
yielded to fatigue, and ordered me to
cash in. When he counted the roll in
his room, our joint winnings were just
$31, 300, of which sum he staked me, as
my share, to $4,000. Said he, when he
gave me the money:
Martin, I never played a card in
my life before this afternoon and |
will never play another one as long as
l live. This money l will do something
with which shall not Immediately bene-
fit myself or my family
Il visited St. Paul twenty years after
this occurrence and met the Senator.
True to his word, he had never touched
"A card, and l learned from others who
got wind of the play in Washington
that the Senator's winnings We're ex-
pended in helping struggling young
fellows to get start in life, accom-
panied in every case by the condition
that they should never play in gam
ing house.
II venture to say. that this is the
most remarkable case on record of a
mans unexpected and undeSired large
winnings turning him against gambling
and card playing and soaring him al
most to death. l was then so reckless
with money that it made no sort of
difference to me whether l won or lost
$20,000 so you can imagine how | re-
garded the Senator's squeamishness.
But you see he was right after all, and
took the proper view Of the matter, for
| money which comes eaSY in "A winning
at faro, goes easy the same way; in a
week l had lost the $4,000 and thought
no more of it than l do now Of losing
Il $40 bill"
THE SCARE CROW OF "IMPE-