Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-13
Noted as Gambler and Art
Collector.
VICTIM OF HEART DISEASE
Relinquished His Sporting Interests
Three Years Ago.
BECAME OWNER OF ART STORE
Possessor of Many Famous Paint
ings. Purchased Abroad-In-
terment in Hartford.

NEW YORK. December l3.-Patrlck
Francis Sheedy. who for the last two
years has owned an art store at isl
West Saith street. but who for years be-
fore was prominent I'm sporting circles OF
all kinds under the simple name OF Pat
Sheedy. died last night in his rooms over
his art galleries. He succumbed to heart
disease.
Mrs. Sheedy and few close friends OF
the former sporting man were present
when he died. He had been i'll for
months and had been confined TO his bed
for the last few weeks. His death was
not unexpected. He was fifty-nfne years
old
The body will be taken TO Hartford.
Conn. for burial. and funeral services
will be held there. Mr.. Sheedy regarded
Hartford as his home. for II was there
that he was taken when he was brought
to this country from his birthplace IN
Ireland at the age OF seven years. lie
was brought up in the Connecticut city
and was educated at st. Patrick's School
there. He leaves. besides his wife two
sisters-Mrs. Richard Stapleton OF Pitts
field, Mass. and Mrs. James Ahern OF
Hartford
An Art Connoisseur.
Mr. Sheedy's career as an art connoIs-
seur began when he quit all his sporting
interests three years ago and Went
abroad. He purchased many pictures.
among them samples of the Barbizon
school and of Reynolds. Wen and Seal
bert. which he brought TO this country
and installed in his Bath street galleries.
Sheedy had also been a manager Of
prizefighters and professional athletes
and go-between among thieves and de-
tectives. He was one of the most pictur-
esque figures the underworld has ever
produced.
II became a skilled gambler while
still in school, he has been quoted az
saying. AT l. I could bunco any boy
used to play for the headmarks we got
in school. My parents died and / had
to get out and stir for myself. / natu-
rally turned to gambling, though il was
In small way at first. l was encour-
aged by success, and the first thing L
knew I was a professional. I started
first in Boston. where i won several
thousand dollars. and then struck out
for New York.
There / opened a faro bank in 1870
I reaped a golden harvest in two years
and travelled extensively, crossing tho
Pacific ocean and taking in China and
Japan. All the while I gambled there.
and many were the times I got low in
purse.
Ran Wide-Open House.
II settled in Chicago in the late sos
and ran a wide-open house in that city
for a long time. Next L became man.
ager for John L. Sullivan. After my
capital overlapped the million mark
Joined in the games and frequently
wound up disheartened and heartless.
Once 1 held 100000 in the palm OF my
hand; an hour afterward couldn't lay
claim to cent. I sat three days and
four nights in a poker game.
when the so-called gambling nells
were suppressed in Chicago my purse
contained something in the neighbor-
hood of 100000. j went to play ut
Monte Carlo. playing carefully at first.
But one night / went into the place
Monte Carlo that night without the
price OF supper.
II went to Russia. Germany and Asia
Minor and learned their languages In L
few months stay. Going then to Boul-
bay, India, / introduced American gam
bling methods there. In the autumn OF
1892 left Bombay with a fortune anc
In a palace. 1t had cost $6.000000 20
build I got a twenty-five-year lease on
it and SO altered il that every traveller
who passed through Cairo for years
afterward patronized il.
There were balls and receptions
every afternoon and gambling in the
evening. We played roulette and bac-
carat. Two hundred people came every
night. no one with less than $3.50 In hi
pocket. The individual losses some
times reached $4,000. my income from
the place being about $4,000 a month.