The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-21
A GAMBLERS NERVE.
From the Washington Star.


"Pittsburg Pills retirement from
the turf is not in the nature of any
positively last and final Patti fare
well, but the real thing" said a Wash
ingtonian who is intimately acquainted
with George E. Smith, the famous turf
plunger, who, under the sobriouet
Pittsburg Phil, has been a distinctive
figure on the American turf for about a
decade and a half. 80 far as heavy
speculation goes, Smith is through
with the game. He is a man of admir-
able common sense, and, although he
has a temperament Of ice and nerves
of steel, he told me in the course of
quiet chat in his New York apart
ments last winter that he felt that the
game had begun to make inroads upon
his nervous system and that many
years ago he had determined to give
up horse speculation when he felt this
sort Of thing happening to him.
George Smith is easily worth ST.
100000, all but $500 of which he made
out of the horses. The $4O0 was money
that he earned as wages while work
ing as a. cork cutters apprentice in
Pittsburg. He saved the $500 up with
the deliberate idea of risking it on the
horse races. He won from the begin
ming, and has never known losing
season. HE came by his Pittsburg
Phil nickname in a peculiar way
After winning a couple of thousands
Pittsburg he gave up his cork-cutting
job and went to Chicago, where, dur
ing the winter season, he risked his
winnings in pool room. That was in
the days of auction pools, and, in
making his wagers, he fell into the
habit of passing in his name as Phil
Thnrn hannapaH IN ho
who patronized that particular Chi
cago pool room, and, to differentiate
between the two, the pool room clerk
put Smith down on their sheets as
Pittsburg Phil, and the nickname has
stuck to him ever since.
Smith is only 3S years old now,
and he has always taken care of him
self. He scarcely drinks at ALL smokes
only once in a while and has made the
care of his health his first object ever
since he became prominent in the rae
ing business. He has never lost his
head at any time throughout his ex-
traordinary betting career. He has
employed business methods In his bet
ting transactions, and the business
methods have won out for him. The
extent of his caution is shown by the
fact that, when he had made his first
$150000, he invested every dollar of IL
III the puICHdSe u an annuity InaC
gives him a handsome income
"He doesn't hesitate to express the
opinion that, for most men, the horse
game is a bad and often ruinous bus
mess
I had nothing to lose when I went
into it. he has often said to me- Z
had no advantages of any sort, and
saw nothing ahead of me but a life
spent in earning a cork-cutter's wages.
I didn't mind the work. but l wanted
something better out of life-an educa-
ton, for example. The best thing
that I've got out of my success on the
turf is the chance to pick up as I've
gone along, a fair average education.
With nothing to lose and something to
gain, then, the horse game stood no
chance to damage me. But it does
damage-worse than that. it absolute
ly destroys-every year thousands of
fellows of a different sort-men of ed
ucation and ability, with their chances
in life all open ahead of them. They
get the horse virus into their systems
and I'm telling you that that's a pow
erful hard poison to eradicate, once it
takes a good hold. No man who has
a good chance in life, who is able to
chart out his way. and see something
worth while at the end, has any right
to gamble on the horses-to gamble at
all. in fact. I've had lot of luck, and
have contrived TO keep my head above
water and my health sound-but If I
had a family of sons l think I'd come
dangerously close to preachifying In