Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-21
Pat Sheedy's Views of Gamblers
Abroad.
PROFESSIONALS WITH FADS
Difficulty of Getting Money From
the Frenchmen.
A FAMOUS PERSIAN RUG

Special Correspondence Of The Evening star
PARIS. July 10. 1900.
Its the one thing in the world that
makes a poor Irishman feel like rich
Jew The round. good-natured face of
Pat Sheedy smiled benevolently on his bub-
bling glass Of champagne as he said it,
Shcedy. seated in his Paris salon, immacu-
late in evening clothes. as he received me
for an hour last night before he set off for
the club. spoke with the boyish modesty
and snappy Irish humor that have had a
great deal to do with making him the most
popular sporting man in the United States.
II have drunk it when dead broke and
sick at heart he said, land 1t has never
failed to make me feel as If l owned $780,
600. You ask me what l think of France
and the exhibition? | think that cham
payne is the best thing that comes from
France. and that the man who can get
bottle of it away from a Frenchman with
out paying for it is good one.
why. l have heard there were all kinds
of smart Americans over here now" l re-
marked.
Yes. and they are spending the money
they brought with Them answered Sheedy.
"They can go to England and sell their
mines and stock companies. but l have to
see the first one get anything out of the
French. 1 will say more than that-I never
knew a man to get dollar here from
anybody. People come to Paris to see
things. not to gamble" said the best
known gambler of America. land while
see hundreds of men here with schemes
for getting o. P. (other people's) money,
you can take it from me that they do not
find it. They are hunting farmers sons
that are not here"
Then are there no real sporting men
who have come over for the exhibition
summer
Few Real Sporting Men.
Real sporting man? Now, that's DIFF
ferent proposition" answered Sheedy.
"You don't mean lot of touts, would-be
tookmakers ard sports who spend more
money than their circumstances will per-
init? OF the real thing l have met two
Just two. They have seen the fair. They
were with at the inauguration Now
they are travelling through Europe for their
pleasure. You will more likely find them
in small. old world. romantic towns than in
the giddy whirl of Paris, London or Vienna
And how do you think they take their
pleasure, although they are sporting men?
Both of them were down in Egypt with
me last winter One spent $4,000 picking
up Persian and Turkish rugs and curios.
of which he is good judge-almost an ex-
pert. The other is crank on old books and
rare bindings. When in London recently
he laid out small fortune on this hobby
That Is what such men are doing. while
the would-be sports are sitting round the
promenoirs telling the girls the history Of
their lives. All the tribe will go home
broke-and 1t is a long water jump from
Havre to New York;!
L
st seems to make things safer
THE sponges and the leeches hanging
around Henrys bar may sell the tourist
hat or a suit or a little 1ewelry and take
their commission they have been always
doing. but even those poor, hungry graft
ers are men who have been years in the
colony, not newcomers.
Two Men and n Camera
Still" objected. I'VE heard the story Of
those two American con- men with the
camera, only the other day. I can answer
for it they don't belong to the colony
A Frenchman named Vasseur, who had
made little fortune In America, came
back home to Paris for the show. While
going around the moving sidewalk he met
and fraternized with two Americans who
were taking Photographic snap shots. 1t
was the camera that drew the three to-
gether. Stand still instant" one Of
them cried to him, you in a splendid
pose''-and took him.
This is how they took him They said he
could have proof the next day. They met
the next day. and the picture was a grand
success
Won't you take something's" asked the
grateful Vasseur. Lets drink to America,
your native land. and my land by adoption.
Ten years ago landed in New York with
out cent. Now ! have come hack with
5000 francs sewed in my pants leg. where
no bunco men can get them" The two
Americans glanced at each other rapidly.
the story goes We are art Students
they said. and as such owe a deep debt
of gratitude to France. We have a studio.
with lots of costumes In II. and are engaged
in taking types TO be worked up into
paintings later. You would look great pho
tcgraDhed as Henry W. Vasseur accepted
with enthusiasm. At the studio" they
dressed him up Henry ". Now stand
still in that pose" they said One of them
went to get the plates. The other busted
himself making the room tidy. till the bell
rang. Don't lose that pose" he said. as
he went out TO see who rang. Vasseur stood
then looked around and saw his trousers