The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-08-18

Tive Cases where Those who Got
Then Lost Heavily.


One Of the most remarkable In.
stances in which a large sum Of money
was lost through putting too much
faith In a dream occurred TO a Colonel
Booker, who related the facts himself
10 the present writer. In 1880 Colonel
Booker was In Mexico City, and while
there played roulette regularly in the
casino. One night, after winning a
fair amount, he retired to rest and
had a curious dream. He thought he
was coming out Of the theater with a
lady OH his arm, when cabman came
up TO him and asked him II he wanted
q cab. The colonel turned 10 the lady
and inquired IL she would ride, but
she declined, whereupon the cabman
took q piece Of chalk from his pocket
and marked the colonel's sleeve with
the number IL Then Colonel Booker
awoke, and was so much impressed by
his dream that he believed he had re-
ceived bona fide tip" to put his
money on that number.
That evening he followed the noe
turnal advice and lost, but so great
n hold had the dream taken upon him
that he continued to play the same
number, and, though he lost nineteen
times out Of twenty, he persevered for
several days, at the end Of which time
he found his losses amounted to $1,000.
Then, like wise man recovered from
his foolshness, the colonel decided to
quit" and since then he has put very
little faith In dreams as an aid to sue
cessful gambling.
But Colonel BoOker's experience with
nocturnal tips" was by 10 means as
disastrous as that Of certain rich
young man at Monte Carlo some few
years ago. This young fellow, whom
we will call Swith, was a member Of
a we'll known and highly respectable
Devonshire family. He had gone the
pace" and had lost considerable
amount In horse racing and gambling,
when one night he had dream which
greatly impressed itself upon him and
which was the direct means Of his los
ing the remainder Of his fortune.
He thought he was standing in the
Avenue de rOpera, Paris, when a po-
lice officer came along with a squad
Of gendarmes and halted within hun
dred feet Of him. He watched them
idly and soon experienced an uncon-
trollable desire to find out how many
there were but just as he began to
count the officer issued peremptory
commands, which were so promptly
obeyed that the dreamer had no chance
Of satisfying his curiosity. Finally,
however, the men stood in single file
facing their officer, and Mr.. Smith was
Just able to make out that there were
twenty-seven In all when he awoke.
Being superstitious, like all gam
blers, he at once saw In his dream the
finger of fate silently pointing to twen-
ty-seven as the lucky number, and the
following day he was early at the
tables and staked large sum on It.
Curiously enough, twenty-seven won
twice in succession, and then the luck
changed and he began to lose steadily.
Most Of that day he played his favorite
number without success, and when the
casino closed that night he had lost a
considerable amount Of money.
The next day he continued to play
the same number, with the same re-
suit, and, to cut long story short,
that fatal twentyseven ran away with
every penny he possessed, and he was
only prevented from shooting himself
by an interested spectator who fol-
lowed him out Of the casino and by
tact and the loan Of small sum in
duced him to face his misfortune like
man. Those to whom Mr.. Smith
afterward related the circumstances Of
the dream declared that he had made a
mistake in not counting the officer as
well as the gendarmes.-Lon Tit
Bits.