The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1908-12-02
THE GAMING PASSION
Incidents In Actual Life That
Cutstrip Fiction.
A COLD FLOODED MONARCH,
Louis XIV. and the Dead Man at the
Gard TabIe-A Woman Who Gam
bled on Her Deathbed-Lord Deni.
sons Play While His Bride Waited
at the Altar.

oIed on Her Oeathbed-lord Oeni.
sons Play While His Bride Waited
at the Altar.
II the full story Of the card table
could be written it would surely be
the most startling revelation of human
cupidity ever published, and almost
every page of it would be marked by
some incident which would outstrip
fiction.
When Louis Nv. was at the card
table the fascination of the game made
him absolutely dead to all e%xternals
and even to decency and humanity.
On n occasion when he was playing
for heavy stakes II Of his opponents,
overcome by excitement, collapsed in
his chair in a fit Of apoplexy. His
majesty affected to ignore the incident
until some one exclaimed, IN. de Chau-
velin is ILL.," Zip" retorted the king,
casting a careless glance at the strick-
en- man: che is dead. Take him away.
Spades are trumps, gentlemen!"
Equally weird is a story Goldsmith
tells. When the clergyman arrived to
prepare a lady parishioner who had a
passion for gambling for her approach
ing death the lady after listening for a
short time to his e%xhortation exclaim-
ed: "That'S enough! Now let us have
a game of cards" To humor her the
parson consented to play. The dying
woman won all his money and had
just suggested playing for her funeral
fee when she fell back and expired.
In the early years Of last century a
whist club composed largely Of clergy
men used to meet in the back room of
a BARRIERS shop in a Somersetshire
town. On one occasion, so the story
runs, when four Of the club members
We're acting as pallbearers at the fu-
neral of a reverend brother, some delay
occurred. and the coffin was set down
In the chancel. One Of them produced
a pack Of cards and suggested a rub
Der. The coffin served the purpose of
a table. and the players were deeply
immersed in the game when the sex
ton arrived to announce that every
thing was at last ready.
MaZarin's passion for gambling was
~ Sll'l- WIN III "a lllot liz IldyCl
cards to the very end, when he was so
weak that they had to be held for
him, and the ''merry monarch" spent
his last Sunday on earth playing at
basset round a large table with his
great courtiers and other dissolute
persons and with a bank Of at least
$4,000 before him.
The curious fascination cards possess
for their devotecs is illustrated by the
following story of Lord Granville, at
the time ambassador to France. One
afternoon when he was about to re-
turn to Paris he repaired to Graham'S
to have a farewell game of whist. or
dering his carriage to be at the door at
4. When 1t arrived he was much too
deep in the game to be disturbed. At
10 o'clock he sent out to say that he
was not ready and that the horses had
better be changed. Six hours later the
same message was sen out. and twice
more the waiting horses We're changed
before he consented to leave the table
after losing 100000.
An equally remarkable story is told
Of George Payne, the great turf plum
ger of seventy years ago. On one occa-
sion he sat down at Limmer's hotel to
play cards with Lord Albert Denison,
later the first Lord Londesborough.
Hour after hour passed. The game
proceeded all through the night and
long after day dawned, and 1t was not
until an urgent message came to tell
Lord Albert that his bride was waiting
for him at the altar of st. Georges,
Hanover square, that the cards were
at last flung down. 1t was Lord Al
bert's wedding day, and he met his
bride 100000 poorer than when he left
her on the previous day.
One Of the most romantic Of gam
bling stories is told by Mr.. Thiselton-
Dyer Of a plainly dressed stranger who
once took his seat at a faro table and
after an extraordinary run Of luck
succeeded in breaking the bank.
Heavens" exclaimed an old, intirm
Austrian officer who had sat next to
the stranger, "the twentieth part Of
your gains would make me the happ!-
est man in the world!' "You shall
have it, then" answered the stranger
as he left the room.
A servant speedily returned and pre-
sented the officer with the twentieth
part of the bank, adding, "My master,
sir, requires no answer" The success
full stranger vas % discovered to be
the king Of Prussia in disguise.
The most costly game Of cards on
record was probably that in which the
late George McCulloch, chairman Of
the Broken Hill Proprietary company,
once took part. A syndicate Of seven
had been formed to finance the IA
nous Broken Hill silver mine, and Mr..
McCulloch was one Of the seven. One
day, while sitting in a shanty at the
foot Of the hill, McCulloch offered a
fourteenth share in the mine to a
young man named Cox for 1900.
Cox would only offer G12O. and after
much haggling 1t was decided to set
tie the dispute by a game Of euchre.