Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-22

thirty years-and a few other gentlemen
of that caliber, the limit being variously
placed at from $4,000 to $1.O0O.00O. The
constantly rehashed story goes on to say
that bumptous buttinski of Wal
dorf hanger on gained entrance to my
rooms, where the game was in progress.
and that he pulled out hundred-dollar
bill and asked for stack OF chips. The
climax, as infallibly printed. is that when
he showed his hundred and demanded
bunch of sit-in chips l reached over and
flicked one white chip off my pile, the
bland inference. of course, being that the
white chips cost 800 apiece and that the
intrusive person was thus caused tC SUI
fer moment of keen chagrln
Nothing of the sort ever happened. 1t
was and is dream, pure and simple. l
wish they'd quit it. Any little thlnS tnat
you might be able to do toward gettlhg
them to quit it would be slncereiy dp-
preciated, believe me-
WHICH reminds me that a few months
w ago l heard Charles NJ. SchwaD.
the Pittsburg and Bethlehem steel mil
lionaire, speaking plaintively about a
fantasy of similar sort that had been
woven about his personality for good
many years.
Nearly dozen years ago. Mr..
a midwinter visit to the Riviera. When
l reached Monaco / joined the cayalcade.
so to speak and entered the Monte Carlo
casino. There l wagered few louis at
roulette. l happened to win. l should
say that the entire amount / Wagered
could not have been more than five LOUIS.
II came away, and never once since
that time have l. ever put foot over the
threshold of the Monte Carlo casino.
..All the same. three days after my
visit to the casino the New YORK papers
all contained long, detailed ana hlshiy
hectic account of the eclat and the elan
with which l had broken the bank at
Monte Carlo The amounts given varl-
ously as my winnings were as oaZZilhs
as they were comical. One statement had
IL that | had tapped the prince OF the
nrincipalitv who is the hacker o. the
Monte Carlo enterprise. to the tune OF
one and half million dollars None OF
the cabled yarns made it less than S2oo,-
COO cor,,
story is revamped on me now every time
90 abroad 1t has become an annual
bappening ] hate to go to Europe III
the winter because / know tnat II ever
get within so easy distance or Monte
Carlo as London or Budapest the sIols
inevitably will be flashed about the slope
that zee taken my annual crack at the
Monte Carlo bank and broken IT,
II know Just about enough about rou-
lefte to keep from making myself fidiIu-
Ions when by chance l happen TO come
unon a roulette wheel in Europe or FLOR
ida, and as for gambling In general
am about as competent at that sort OF
thing as would be an infant in arms. Yet
my name is inseparably. not to say I'M
perishably, coiled up with gambling ac-
tivities, and all on account of that inno-
cent and somewhat tedious little play or
a few louis at the Monte Carlo casino
away back yonder in the distant years.
The lovely part of it is that each ana
every time this Monte Carlo yarn is re-
furnished and sprung ! get heaps OF let
tiers from good, virtuous and thoroughly
well-meaning people, men and women
living all over the United States, asking
me. in essence, why do / go for to do so,
and adiuring me. by all that is clean
and wholesome, to abandon my evil gam
bling ways and be good The letters tell
me that a man in the public eye really
ought to make at least an attempt to set
a better example, and many of them con-
tain tracts.
Il have no great amount of respect for
maxims, but the one that speaks of Civ
ing dog bad name and then hanging
him has a good deal more truth than
poetry in H..
AM not going to vouch for this little
story that is on the rounds about F.