The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1909-02-04
THE GAMING PASSION
incidents In Actual Life That
0utstrlp Fiction.
A COLD BLooDED MONARCH,

bled on Her psashbsd--Lord DsNl.
sSN's Play While hls Bride Waited
al the Altar.
II the full story Of tho card table
could bo written Il would surely be
the most startling revelation of human
eupldlty ever published, and almost
every page Of Il would be marked by
some Incident which would outstrlp
fiction,
when Louis XIV was at the card
table the fascination OF the game made
him absolutely dead 10 all extcrnals
and even to dccency, and humanity
On one occasion when he was playing
for heavy stakes one Of his opponents,
overcome by excitement. collapsed III
his chair IN at ot apoplexy, His
majesty affected to ignore the incident
until some one exclaimed. M dc Chau'
veiln IA lllr' "rlt" retorted the king.
casting careless glance at the strick'
en- man; The Ia dead. Take him away.
Spades are trumps, gentlomen!"
Equally weird Is story Goldsmith
tells. When tho Clergyman arrived 10
prepare lady parlshioner who had q
passion for gambling for her approach
Ing death the lady after listening for a
short time 10 his exhortation exclaim'
ca. 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
whist club composed largely of clergy
mon used 10 meet IN the back room OF
BARRIERS shop IN Somcrsetshire
town. on one occasion. SO the story
runs, when four Of the club members
were acting as pallbearers at the fu.
neral Of reverend brother, some delay
occurred, and the coffin was set down
In the chnnccl. one ot them produced
q pack Of cards and suggested rub
Der. The coffin served tho purpose Of
table, and the players were deeply
immersed In the game when the sex
ton arrived 70 announce that every.
thing was at last ready.
Maxarin's passion for gambling was
90 strong even in death that he played
cards to the very end, when be was 50
weak that they had 70 bo held for
I him, and the merry monarch" spent
hls last Sunday on earth playing at
baSset round a large table with his
great courtiers aud other dissolute
persons and with bank OF az least
f2,00O before him.
The curious fascination cards possess
for their devotees Is illustrated by the
following story OF Lord Granville, at
the time Ambassador 70 France. One
afternoon when he was about to re-
turn to Paris he repaired 10 Graham's
to have a farewell game Of whist, or
dering his carriage to be at the door at
A. when II arrived he was much too
\ deep In the game to be disturbed At
10 o'clock he sent out 20 say that he
was not ready and that the horses had
better be changed. SIX hours later the
same message was sent out, and twice
more the waiting horses were changed
before he consented to leave the table
after losing 10000.
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 It 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. II was Lord Al
berps wedding day, and he met his
bride $4,000 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 faro table and
after an extraordinary run OF luck
succeeded in breaking the bank
Heavens" exclaimed an old, infrn
/ Austrian officer who had sat next Z
the stranger, "the twentieth part Of
your gains would make me the happi
est man in the worldp "You shal
have It, then" answered the stranger
as he left the room.
A servant speedily returned and pre-
r sented the officer with the twentieth
part Of the bank adding, my master
SIR, requires no answer" The success
full stranger was soon discovered to b.
the king Of Prussia IN disguise.
The most costly game Of cards OF
record was probably that in which tn
c late George McCulloch, chairman o
s the Broken Hill Proprietary company
once took part. A syndicate OF sever
:, had been formed to finance the 70
nous Broken Hill silver mine, and MI
McCulloch was one Of the seven. On
: day. while sitting In shanty at tn
foot Of the hill, McOulloch offered
fourteenth share in the mine to
y young man named Cox for f2O0.
II Cox would only offer f120, and afte
much haggllng 1t was decided to sci
tie the dispute by game OF euchrt