The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-25

NEW YORK, July 24-"Pittsburg
Phil" is dying. Slowly but surely the
nerve" which made him the peer of that
vast army whose fortunes rise and fall
with the turn of the card or the running
of a horse is ebbing away and in a few
days, or weeks at the most, all that will
remain of the the king of them al1''-
will be memory. Hidden away in re-
treat in the Adirondacks, far from the
tumult of the race track, which he loved
so we'll, the noted gamblers life is going
out, but the cold blue eyes and thin firm
lips that faced many trial without a
finch are facing grim death with the
same stony expression that made his
nickname household word throughout
the United States.
George E. Smith is the common name
OF this uncommon man, but those who
know him by it are few beside the
legions who will recognize his alliterative
sobriquet and mourn the passing of the
most unique figure in the sporting world
He is yet young man. but into his few
brief years have been crowded more ex-
perience than comes to the lot of the ordi-
nary mortal though he outlive the biblical
limits of mans existence.
Was Always Calm
His cold expressionless face. serene
when he was winning thousands and ca I'm
when he was losing tens of thousands
has been seen on every race track in the
country and his winnings have become
proverbial. A gambler, pure and simple,
willing to pit his luck and Judgment
against all corners for any amount and
to take or pay without word of COM
ment In faro game he always played
the limit and on the track, when backed
by his keen judgment he poured money
into the betting ring until the bookies
called halt
Time after time "Pittsburg Phil'' made
killing that would drive the most phleg-
matte into ectascy, but with him it was
the occasion for no more excitement that
paying his car fare. He has been and is
now worth 81 600, 000 but luck was not
always with him. and s.Phil'' saw times
when he was 'all in but even in these
trying moments his magnificent nerve
never faltered for a moment, his heart
beat no faster when some thoroughbred
was carrying every cent he had In the
world and he looked with disdain on
those who made tumult
Now he is dying, and the doctor main
tains that systematic repression of all
emotion Is the cause. The physicians who
have examined him can find no other
cause for his breakdown. and their
that has waged within for years has final
ly won out, and while the will is as
strong as ever the body has succumbed
Disease Is Awful
There have been many men of nerve
in the sporting world, men who feared
nothing on earth, and some whose BRAY
cry apparently knew no terrestrial limita-
ton. but they met their end other than
'Pittsburg Phil" Dissipation, consume
ton and the revolver in the gambling hall
have claimed those that whisky passed
by, but Pittsburg Phil is the first to die
as the result of his own nerve
Lying on a lounge, lazily smoking
cigar the doomed invalid betrays no care
or concern of his approaching end othar
than to inquire when This finish is @SlTa
in the same tone as he inquiries IL tbere
IS any mail. Rarely he talks OF hyeone
days. but he lies for hours At a fi,ne
staring into the past and # IS easv to
imagine of what his dreams are mada
He sees the thronged betting ring, i the
grand stand packed with a panorama of
color. he hears the Shouts from thousanfss
OF throats. The horses parade past the
stand. the bettors< struggle and scranhie
to get on but 'Pittsburg Phii'' is net
mere; IheTe is one figure missing and
rne aylng GIANT knows that it win be
lnlissing Ior all time to come, and per-
maps IN MS softly beating heart there ia
a pang that his pals" of the good old
GAYS areSstiH fighting it out thoughtless
a. .he 9iie going under" in the Adiron-
dack Woods