The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-05-07


y Well, this country loses a thorough
bred. He knew his distance, and
he Travelled it. You can gamble that
when he saw himself drawing nigh the
finish there wasn't a whimper in him.
Thus spoke d member OF the ColO-
RADIO delegation in congress when he
was told of the death of the former
senator in Monte Carlo.
He struck the note which Is sounded
by all the former collea CUES. cronies
and associates of Senator WOlcOtt- I'm
official WaShingtOnians remember him
Is cUTiOusly attractive composite of
the grand seigneUT and the dead
game" An orator of almost match
less and convincing eloquence, who
never stopped to demagOgism or gush;
a great lawyer. a keen student, master
Of many languages and literatures; of
remarkable executive ability and capac-
ity for affairs, and exhibiting frequent
bursts of enormous industry; polished
man of the world. of singular personal
magnetism and possessed TO an emin-
ent degree of what is called the grand
manner. dilettaute with a dozen arts
tic hobbies: an iuveterate gambler with
an Unsuitable passion for the highest
play. all these qualities and character
istics. united and fused in the person
ality of WolcOtt, cause him to be re
marked and lamented here as one OF the
most notable and striking men ever
seen in Washington
To the country in general, Wolcott,
during his senatorial career, was SIMPLY
a highly placed gambler, and not much
else The stories of his faro bucklngs.
his participatiOns in noted poker t1estas
in Washington. and or his lnlrequehI
but tremendous plunges on the race
yz-a4,o sent broadcast over the
country so that, except in his home
State of Colorado and here in washing
ton. his distinction as a statesman and
his ability in ali other activities were
virtually SmOthered by his fame as q
gambler. But the old men of the SEN
ate-men of the grade Of Allison, CUT
IOm. Hale. Frye, Daniel, Morgan, FL
kins-knew how to rate WOlcOtt as a
statesman. They placed him IN the
very front rank, and. as an orator,
many of them still hold him to have
had no equal in either branch Of con-
gress since Daniel Webster It IS not
without a certain tone of sadness that
these old men Of the senate are now
abiding in their private conversation,
to the utter carelessness, tinged with
hauteur. with which WOICOtt viewed the
hamperiug reputation which he was
gaining throughout the land at the very
time when he was eliciting the admir-
alton of his ColIeag CUES for his signal
abilities as a statesman and SEN
atOT.
'.WoIcott was. in a way. the Charles
James Fox of this country and era,
remarked one Of the veterans of the
senate when he heard of WOlcOtt
death. But he was better intellect
than Fox His passion for high play
ruined him, and it eventually ruined
Fox I do not mean that ii ruined MN
liz rr-TrT n orc
the immense national prestige ne was
so capable of achieving. He could do
anything. could have been anything. All
of US tried to warn WOlcOtt about his
gambling We endeavOTed to impress
it upon him that the people OF this
country are in the main SUCH a con-
sentative people that they will not toll
crate public gambling by highly
placed public man. But II was no use
He would give US a most polite ear,
and a little while later we would near
of some prodigious betting transaction
in which he had figured The truth Is,
he could never quite figure that his
gambling was any OF the pubic DUST
ness Maybe it wasn't. But the Ameri-
can people have a way of making the
frivOlities of the public men their busl-
ness.
WoIcott's gambling never injured his
prestige i'm the least in his own state OF
Colorado. 1t was the supreme lndtner-
enCP with which he viewed the opinion
of his own following which finally cost
him his quite UnTegretted seat IN the
senate The people of Colorado looked
upon WaIcott's gambling propensities
in much the same way as the voters OF
certain Kentucky congress district
! looked upon the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
penchaut of a prominent member OF the
Kentucky delegation in the present
house Of representatives While UP for
reelection. this Kentucky member OF
/ the lower house was trapped in pool
room raid planned and carried out by
/ his political enemies The opposition
made a great TODD over the matter
/ Circulars were sent all through the dis
! triCt deuouncing the candidate for re-
I election as a common gambler and an
/ habitue of pOOlrOOms. The candidate
/ for reelection stood pat. admitted that
/ he had been uabbed in the pOOlrOOU
raid, stated for publication that he'd
! been playing the horses ever since
! Hickory Jim was a 2-yeaT-Old. and add
/ ed that he always intended to play the
/ horses as long as he had a bank rol
! To- bet with and the energy to get a bet
! down. He was returned to congress by
/ an Increased majority of 5000. While
[ it by no means embraced the heaviest
/ gambling in various forms in which
I WoIcott was known To have engaged be
/ fore and after the story. more or les:
1 mutilated and hashed, Of his plunge a
/ Long Branch in the summer of 1885
gained the widest currency Throughout
: the country
( The real story Of that little recreativC
/ stunt of the Colorado senator, as re
/ lated by man who was WoIcotts com
/ paniOn at the time il occurred. only re
/ Gently came out.
/ WOlcott, visiting the Sheepshead Ba!
/ race track one day while on yaca'
4 ton SOjOurn in New York. made wha'
/ tUrfmen call a bunch" bet on the horse
: Lamplighter. On that day the tract
/ was fast LamplighteT had already
! shown his ability as a marvellous muC
/ runner. but the bOokmakeTs doubted i
/ he could beat the crack field he wa!
! entered with on the fast track, so tina
| LampIighter's price was to I. Vol
/ colt entertained the view which is helC
/ real good horse can run on any kind Of
1 a track and he wagered $1,000 OF
/ Lamplighter at the prevailing odds
/ Lamplighter won his race in a gallop
| WolcOtt cleaning UP $4,000 Afte
| beating" that race, WOlCOtt left TIT
track with his companion and went t
| Long Branch. He felt lucky" as thu
/ saying goes. and he knew that he coulC
| get action" without any limit at hi
favOTite game, faro, at the Long Brancl
gambling clubs.
/ In the course of three hours play a
[ the Pennsylvania club at Long Branch
WolcOtt won $4,000 bucking the tiger