Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-04-04
A FAMOUS CANISTER.
Amazing Skill CT Captain John
Scott et Whist.
HIS RAPID ROAD TO WEALTH.
The Winnings of the Gentleman Gam
bier" at Whites, In London, In the
Eighteenth Century Exceeded S5,ooo,-
o00-Fox's Reckless Play.

eighteenth century Exceeded @o,SOUy-
o00-Fox's Reckless Play.
OF all the gentlemen gamblers at the
close of the eighteenth century in Eng
land a single one is noted for the i'm
mensity and the regularity of his win
nings This was John Scott, who, be-
ginning as i penniless captain, wound
up his career as Il millionaire general.
On the subject of the campaigns he
conducted history is silent, but con-
temporary London was full of talk of
his marvellous luck with dice and cards,
and the marital misfortunes of his later
life gave more material for the gossips.
Writing to Richard Bentley from Ar
llngton street on Feb %, 1866, Horace
Walpole says:
1.-The great event is the catastrophe
Of Sir John Bland, who has firted
away his whole fortune at hazard. He
t'other night lost in reckless play an
immense sum to Captain Scott, who
at present has nothing but few debts
and his commission"
Sir John Bland. to conclude here the
history of that luckless dicer, shot
hi&self dead, after losing the last OF
his fortune, in Kippax park.
captain John Scott was of that
biench of the numerous Scott family
of which Sir Walter was a member,
ana hi; ancestor in the thirteenth cen
tury was that famous chemist, Michael
Scott. who won the name Of wizard. A
later Scott distinguished himself in the
time OF Charles III. by marrying, when
he was himself only fourteen years
old, lady who was three years his
junior. The bride was Mary, countess
OF Buccleuch. in her own right the
richest heireSs in Scotland. The mar
riage was secret one, and none Of the
friends and few OF her family were in
formed of 1t until the da.- after. The |
youthful bridegroom did not profit !
greatly by this match, for his bride died |
at thirteen. Her sister Anne, who sue /
ceeded to her titles and estates, made |
a marriage with the pet son Of Charles
H., Monmouth, and had a numerous |
family.
1t was sixty years later. or about 1850. |
that young Scott, son OF the laird Of |
Scott's Tarvet, entered King Georges |
army. Two years later he was in Lon |
don and In the midst Of the most reck |
less set of spendthrifts, rakes and i
gamesters that English society has ever |
known. Sir John Bland was only one
OF Il thousand rich young Englishmen |
who threw away fortunes over the ,
gaming table at Whites. The one his |
toric loser of that era was Charles |
James Fox, Pitts rival. Fox gambled |
away, all told no less than $4,000
Scott was the very antipodes Of Fox.
When he died. at ripe old age, he left
fortune as great as that with which !
Fox had begun, and every penny of it I
had been won at the gaming table.
Fox was q ripe scholar. Scott was al
most illiterate. Fox said that losing
was the next greatest pleasure to win
ming. Scott never lost or so rarely that
Il did not affect the serenity of his ca
reer as winner. Fox would go home
in the morning after a night In which
he had gambled away 10000 or 800
900 and Immediately lose himself In
study OF Sophocles or Eschylus. Scott,
like the sensible fellow he was, would
button his coat over the portemonnaie
In which he carried away winnings Of
an equal or even greater amount and
Immediately go to bed SO as to be fresh /,
for play in the evening.
When Scott found himself in London
and amid the wild young men Of his
era. he determined that gaming was
his only chance of getting money.
When he engaged himself to throw a
series Of mains with Sir John Bland.
he had, as Horace Walpole puts II,
nothing "but few debts and his com.
mission His shrewdness taught him
that there was nothing in dicing, at
which stupid man has as good q
chance as bright one, and so he
speedily gave up hazard and applied
himself to whist. at which game for
tune fights on the side Of the skIllful
player. Never in the history of play
did men gamble for such high stakes
as Scott and his victims did at Whites
between 1853 and 1850. Scott's system
was an exceedingly simple one. He
gave himself the best Of II In every
possible way. He never went to the
gaming table unless his head and his
stomach were In the very best order.
He never lost his composure or his
good nature for an instant He played
perfectly fair and honorable game
and at first he made 1t a rule never to |
play for more than fixed sum, which |
he could afford to lose. He won so
steadily that 1t wasn't long before he
was prepared to risk any sum which !
even the wealthiest or the most reck-
less Of his adversaries would venture
to propose.
A story which illustrates capitally
Scotts patience in the face of hard
luck has been preserved One night
while he was at the card table news
was brought to him that his wife, the
first Mrs. Scott, had given birth to a !
girl
"Ah,- he said, II shall have to do
BILE my stakes to make fortune 70
this young lady"
But In few hours he was $4,000 to !
the bad. Retaining bis invariable se-
renity, he said he was sure of his luck |
returning. and at a. III. ne went home
the winner of E15,00O. That's the sort
of play that went on at Whites night /
after night during the years that John
Scott was winning the largest fortune
ever accumulated by gentleman gam
bier
She Didn't Sleep Well.
A woman who lives in an inland
town, while going to convention in ! {
distant city, spent one night Of the
journey on hoard a steamboat 1t was | 4
the first tine she had ever Travelled by
water She reached her journeys end
extremely fat'gued. To a friend who
remarked ii sac replied:
Yes, I'm tired to death | don't
know tlat | care to travel by water
again. read the card in my state.