The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1909-05-15
THE GAMING PAcclQ,l
Incidents In kctual Life Th5,t
0utst!'ip F,ctk...
A COLD BLoooED MONARCH.


bied on Her psathbed-Lord Deni-
sons Play While His Bride Waited
at the Altar.
II the full story of the card tabc
could be written 1t would surc'' he
the most startlin. revelation OF human
cupidity ever published and almost
every page Of 1t would be married. by
some incident which would outstri-,
fiction.
When Louis XIV. was at the card
table the fascination of the came made
him absolutely dead to all c''ter''rls
and even to decency and hurNanit,'
On one occasion when he wa; -'l-'in"
for heavy stakes one Of his opponents.
overcome by excitement. collapsed In
his chair in fit OF apopleSy. His
majesty affected to ignore the Incident
until some one exclaimed. M. dc Chau-
velin is mr. "Ill?" retorted the king.
casting careless glance at the strick-
en- man; she is dend. Take him away
Spades are trumps, gentlemen"
Equally weird is story Goldsmith
tells When the clergyman arrived to
prepare lady parishioner who hnd
passion for gambling for her approx h
ing death the lady after listening for
short time to his exhortation exclnin-
ed: That's enough. Now let us have
game of cards" To humor her the
parson consented to play. The dyin"
woman won all his money and Ind
lust suggested playing for her funeral
fee when she fell bark and expired.
In the early years Of last century
whist club composed largely of clergy
men used to meet In the back room OF
BARRIERS shop in n Somersetshirn
town. On one occasion. so the story
runs. when four of the club members
were acting as pallbearers Mt tho flu
rnral of reverend brother. some delay
, occurred. and the coffin was set down
In the chancel. One of them produced
pack of cards and suggested II rub
her The coffin served the purpose OF
n ''''le. 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
20 strong even in death that he played
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 ut
basset round a large table with his
great courtiers and other dissclute
persons and with bank Of mt least
e. 600 before him.
The curious fascination cards possess
for their devotees is illustrated by the
following story of Lord Granville. at
tho time ambassador to France. One
afternoon when he was about to re-
turn to Paris he repaired to Grahnm's
to have farewell game of whist. or
dering his carriage to be at the door at
f. 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 sent out. and twice
more the waiting horses were 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 ut 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 dnwned. and 1t was not
until an urgent message came to tell
Lord Albert that his bride was waiting
for him Mt the altar of st. Georges,
Hanover square that the cards were
Mt 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
Fling stories is told by Mr.. Thiselton-
Dyer Of plainly dressed stranger who
cnce took his seat Mt faro table and
= tier an extraordinary run Of luck
succeeded In breaking the bank.
..IIeavens," exclaimed an old, infirm
Austrian officer who had sat next to
the stranger. "the twentieth part OF
vorr gains would make me the happ!-
o., man in the worIdw "You shnll
have 1t. then" answered the stranger
rs he left the room.
a servant speedily returned and pre-
scented the officer with the twentieth
part of the bank. adding "My master.
sir. requires no answer" The success
full stranger was soon 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. 4 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 shanty Mt the
foot of the hill. McCulloch offered
fourteenth share in the mine to n
young man named Cox for 200.
Cox would only offer f120. and after