The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1904-08-20
AMERICANS MERE PIKERs.
PlungerS in This Country Are Small
Compared with England's
Big Betters.

sion Of the sizes of wagers made by tn
heavy plungers on the turf, when com
pared with the nerve displayed BY thl
speculatively inclined in my own coun
! try. The report that has been goin;
the round OF the newspapers lately that
certain young nobIeman lost S55 900 il
a single nights card play is but an in
stance that the days of high play II
England are not yet over.
But such plungers as Lord Barry,
more, Sir Richard Gargrave, and Col
Mellish, who iourished and gamblec
some generations ago, would have made
light Of losing even $4,000 in few
hours play. There is. we believe, still
preserved at Blythe, near Doncaster, the
card table at which Mellish is said tsl
have lost 100000 at one sitting to the
prince regent; the earl Of Barrymore
sQuandered million and a half In four
mad years. chiefly at cards, and Sir Rich
ard Gargrave dissipated one OF the
finest estates in the north of England
in the same way.
Surely no one ever threw his money
away quite so recklessly as Col. Mellish.
who is said to have lost $500,000 at q
sitting, and to have staked and lost $780,
900 on a single throw OF the dice. He
had, however, no mean rival In Mr..
George Payne, who started life on an
income Of $50. 900 year, and dissipated
It all and two later fortunes on cards
and the turf. For more than half q
century he spent several hours a day
at the card table. and one of many tra-
ditions Of his gambling is thst he and
Lord Albert Denison sat up be- whole
OF one night at Limmer's hotel and did
not separate until the morning, when
Lord Albert was due at st. Georges
church, Hanover square, to wed his first
wife. Lord Albert rose from the table
$l5OOO0 poorer than when he sat down.
"On another occasion, when Payne
was travelling in post chaise from Lon
don to the New Forest, he spent every
moment of the long journey in playing
ecarte, with $500 staked on each game.
Probably Lord Granville, who was
one of our ambassadors at Paris, and
who died close on so years ago, could
not have told how many scores of thou
sands Of dollars he had lost at the card
table When he was in Paris he would
make frequent excursions to London,
spend a few days and nights gambling
at Crockford's or Whites, and return to 4
his duties with light heart and a light
pocket He was one of the four peers
the others were Lords Chesterfield,
Seton and Foley-who logt half mil
lion dollars between sunset and dawn.
George w., when prince of Wales, is
said to have lost $4,0O0,00O, principally
at cards, before he was 21; and he was
compelled to marry the unhappy Caro-
line as a condition of having his gam
bling debts paid William III. was a
terrible gambler, and lost enormous
sums at the basset table. At one sitting
he paid over 10000, which so disturbed
his mental balance that on the follow
ing morning. when gentleman rode in
front of him on the background, he
slashed at him with his whip-the only
blow, a satirist said, that he had
struck for supremacy in his kingdom.
Henry VIII. was such an infatuated |
gamester that he 'gambled away the fa-
nous Jesus Campanile bell at St. Paul's,
with the great folkmote bell that sum- |
moned the assemblies Of the citizens.
with throw of the dice at hazard, to Sir
Miles Partridge, who pulled it down.
Henry ~ Of France was an inveterate
and unlucky card player, as the follow
ing extract from his letters to Sully in
dicate: / have lost at play " 900 pistoIes
(22O,0OO liyresl | beg you to pay them
directly to Faidean, that he may dis
tribute them to the persons to whom
owe them. And again: Pay M. Ed
ouard, Portuguese. 81 900 livres on ac-
count Of what | owe him at play /
Volumes might be written of royal I
gamblers, their winnings and losings,
but these, after all, are eclipsed bythose
of much less important personages. Mr
Iohn Bland squandered an enormous for
.une at hazard losing 100000 IN Q few
hours at London gaming house
Charles James Fox ruined himself at Al
mack's club before he was 80; for years
Lord Thanet's losses at cards averaged
100000 every 12 months; while John
Mytton, after throwing $500. 900 away
II the card table. died debtor in Kings I
Bench prison before he had reached his
ortieth year
Lord Hastings, whose career was 50
neteoric and tragic. aud who. It will
De remembered, dropped s500OO0 over
J single race, used to amuse himself iD
he hours he could spare from the turf !
~ cutting cards for $1,000 a cut and j
hrowing dice foI $50 a time In later ]
lays a man who mace himself notorious
~ getting through a large fortune in a.
Incredibly short time lost $50 600 ir
ingle nights play at Goodwood: and ir
en- minutes he once paid over $50. 200 !
{ chemin-de-fer.
But, after all. the palm Of inyet
rate gambling must be shared betwee.
dazarin, who played on his death
,ed, when he was SO weak that the cards
a - ho loir f.- Lf~, ,vf a.. ...r...... /