The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-08-18
Ll(ERICk'S BIGGEST GAMBLER.
J1-S CANFJELD. SAYS SBEEDY.
AND HE TELLS why.


6AhATooA, Aug. H.-Pat sheedy was
q ono Of those rare moods last night when
h vas willing to talk shop. He was moved
q u by o~verhearing the conversation OF
-four young men who were airing their
knowledge Of gambling. Finally n Of
tn quartet remarked:
you often hear about the big gambling
done In the United States. but. say. they
do not know what big gambling is In this
oeuntry. n you want to zee the real thing
n the way Of high play. you must 20 to
yrance. Why. In tho gambling houses
% raris. they think no more Of risking
oe.00p on the turn Of n card than we do OF
-. Tia French are the greatest gamblers
u the world.'
Upon this tent Mr.. sheedy made the
tDnowing remarks:
Il don't think anything about II; ! know
H. The Americans. when Il comes To high
play. are the greatest gamblers anybody
ever know anything about. was In Paris
during the last exposition. Well. one
sight I went into one Of the gambling clubs
there with some friends. Looking around
saw that baccarat was In full swing
Looking AT the players l noticed that all but
three OF them were Americans. Tbs play
was an high as any ] ever saw a, that game
one OF the Afnfflcanh WON UflofF TIC
night was over something like to0!Opo.
After I had been watching the proceedings
for some time one of the embers OF the
company which ran the house came up to
me and rubbing his palms together en-
s.Ah, Monsieur sbeedy, you have no
gambling like this In your country. You
can only see such play In France and among
Frenchmen. u II not superbF
1T u. indeed.' replied. i never as
you say. saw such play In my country but
they dom play baccarat there. ] notice,
however, that all the high gambling going
on here IL being done by Americans. I've
watched your three countryulen over there
and haven't seen any OF them bet more
than q In play vet. You certainly DO have
great gambling in France when my country
men are the gamblers -,
BY this time the four young men were AL
0n. Ope Of Mr.. Sheedy's friends asked
Pat. who's the biggest gambler In this
countryi-
.He's right here In Saratoga was the
prompt reply and his name II Dick Can
held. Hes not only the biggest gambler
IN this country. bat he's the biggest gambler
n the world. He's In a class 10Y himself
and every gambler In thi- country knows
you except. Of course. those who run
Monte Carlo remarked the friend
Il except nobody answered sheedy.
straightening up and indicating that he
was becoming. interested IN his own Aux
sThere's nobody Ia his class. As ! aid be-
fore. Every gambling house In Europe
n run by a corporation. individuals are
not willing TO take the gamblers risk.
There are a scOre. maybe a hundred, stock.
holders In the Casino NJ Monte Carlo. and
COMPANIES run the houses at Ostend and
budapest and Homburg. while IN Paris
the so-called clubs take no risk whatever.
They provide the paraphernalia and take
the kitty for their profits and their ex-
pence. The Frenchman u mighty care
ful OF his skin.
Now. how Ia IL with Canheld' He Is
the one man back Of the Saratoga Club.
enc Of the biggest gambling houses In
the world. He takes all the profits. To he
hIm 70 stand the losses And he alone
Knows what tho-e Losses include. No one
but he and his confidential man knows OF
the bad checks that are handed out To him
during a season. When a gambler gets
y seldom any recovery for him and about
ths most he can do " To charge the amount
10 profit and loes. In this particular. tho
American gambling house differs from
any In Europe. There Is no credit there
and no payment ~ accepted except a pay
ment in cash. b King Of the Belgians
couldn't gamble on credit at Ostend.
of courae there are the ordinary gam
bling losses besides the losses from bad
paper. hut Notwithstanding them all, he
OUtIr inc uiknttl nfuNs Ill tthhk- NDt-ib-
cred OF any gambler on tho face Of the
globe. Compare II you please, roulette at
the Saratoga Club with roulette at Monte
Carlo. The percentage against the player
u q little higher here than at Monte Carlo,
hut that u made up to Canfeld's players
IN other ways. The percentage against
the player at his place " s S-ls. A Monte
Carlo II " 2 1881, because on the wheels at
Monte Carlo there " no double zero. The
limit at Monte Carlo on the even money
-h---- 49,, L.. tha. color. odd ar ax.n
and the numbers from l to IL and from 10
10 90 h 81. 2so. Tho limit at the Saratoga
Club h ss7s.
-Remember. however. that the limit
OF Ss7s h that Get by one man, while the
limit Of 81 30 " that set by a big corpora
ton. The limit al Monte Carlo u station
ary. No inducement that could be offered
could get IL raised. Go down to Canfield's
come night with a fat bank account and
play in hard luck and see hapPens
II YOU AJAX that tho limit be lifted. II II
seldom, OF coun~e, hat q player who is win
ming will want the limit raised He's sat
ixied to let we'll enough alone. let a loser
known 20 Garfield to he able and willing
20 nav his loeeee ask for q raising OF the
limit and the barrier at Monte Carlo will
look like the stakes In a Thompson street
crap game. Garfield will poke up the
limit 20 any altitude to suit his patron or
an occasion like that. He would set II at
three or four or siI times si.2to II The re-
"A gambler who will do that Il the daddy
Of them all. Why. boy. all the gamblers
On thia foot@tcol are p~icayunes pikers
compared to Garfield, and the ducks here
who are fighting him are like dogs barking
at the he~L Of an elephant
The Hon. Patrick Francis looked relieved
after he bad thus eased his mind 81 its
opinions, and the four young men who had
been listening wake away 10 ruminate.
There are other remarkable things about
Canheld h~sidee tho>e that awakened
oppedy's admiration. There In not a gam
M % any pretensions whose face is not
Utter known TO the public than Canheld's.
He IN particularly exclusive about tho
friends he makes and for this reason h more
cordially di-liked by the majority OF the
men la his calling than any other gambler
IN the United States.
The son Of a Quaker mother-she was
Mis~ Rowland, a aame historic among
Rhode Island Quake.s and born hear Prov-
denc. In 1857 Garfield vas reared a Quaker.
His father Was the editor OF q country
paper and a man 81 much learning. II
has been often stated that Garfield was
graduated from Harvard. He Was pre-
pared for the university at tho Boston
High School but never m~atrtculated
When he was old enough TO go into bu.i-
nee he became n hotel clerk. Then he
became the managed Of a sumrner hotel at
one Of N. New Jersey resorts. This work