The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-01-19

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fourth street to take a last look at the
dead man and say a word Of comiot.
to his widow.
There were gray haired students
r of chance who like Pat had turned a
} card in every civilized and some un-
civilized countries of Il glope.
There were sad looking wrecks from
the underworld who at n time or
another had felt Pat Sheedy's gener-
osity. There were substantial busl-
ness men who had learned to value
his word and to enjoy his sunny
philosophy; there were curious folks
who, having missed the opportunity
of knowing Sheedy living, were bound
to see him dead, and there were Sis
tiers of Mercy. All had a kind word
for the gambler.
His good deeds far outnumbered
his bad" was the comment Of n 81
the sisters.
mo better man ever lived. Pat
was honest to the CORE" was the re-
ply that came from the widow as the
visitors tried to say something con-
soling. "The world called him Il
gambler, but Pat and l didn't care
what the world said" she added.
Sheedy wasn't afraid to die. One
of the last things he said was:
I'll take my chance with the 9TH
ers. 1 guess St. Peter won't be hard
on me-"
Sheedy had been expecting death
almost daily for, six months, but
friends who visited him say that he
kept to the end the same cheerful
. outlook that he always had on tap
= in days Of health. whether facing the
wheel fat broke under the shadow OF
the pyramids in Egypt or laying his
last dollar in less romantic haunts in
this city.
I'm not afraid. I know I'm going
to get a square deal. I'll have a bet
ter chance there than I had here,
and I don't think I've done SO worse.
The Maker plays 40 favorites," was
the way Pat commented on his ap-
preaching end.
The gambler didn't know whether
the fact that he had confessed and
had received absolution would help
him much on his way or not.
IF it does, so much the better;
if it does not, then there will be no
harm done,"' was his way of locking
at it.
Sheedy used to argue that ne was
a very much better man than some
respectable New Workers who weren't
classed as outlaws. lie had been
through the college Of experience and
had learned never to turn a deaf ear
to a man whose luck was down. That,
as Sheedy saw the world, was what
most people had not learned, and Ill
having mastered this lesson he fig
ured he was just so much better
than they were.
circumstances make a man what
he is" Pat has said. I'VE are not
all PAGERS or trotters. We have our
own gait, and we. go that gait, and
that gait is fate. Why, even fat is
fate. I've never eaten more than a
bird, and why am I dying of fat?
It's my fate" .'
Sheedy often told his friends that
in all his ups and downs Of life he
, derived his greatest happiness from
; making others happy. That was
what prompted Sheedy when he was
flush to give a helping hand to such
notorious criminals as Adam Worth
and Ed Guerin.
Sheedy had no patience with the
conventionalities, that made one form
of gambling a criminal offerse and
tolerated another as respectable.
"What is the great Spectator in
wheat but a gambler like MYSELF"
he used to say. HE has owned
millions and millions of bushels, but
he never possessed one in his life.
Only the law protects him and ostra-
cizes me. I've got my life insured for
the benefit of my wife; the company
I'm insured in bets ] won't die this
year. That's the toughest game
ever struck, too, for I have to die to
beat it, but for my wife's sake I've
gone against it. If I we're to call
the president of the company a gam
bier they would tar and feather me;
yet l can't get it through my head
that he isn't just as much of a gam
bier as l am when l step up in front
Of the Wheel"
Sheedy before he became an art
connoisseur" made no bones about
describing his business.
u call myself a business man be-
cause gambling is my business" he
said. Il regard myself as a good
business man because l am a good
gambler. Rev business men have
devoted themselves more untiringly
to their work than have to mine.
But the best of US fails at times, and
the faro banks have broken"me as
many times or more times than l have
broken them. Everybody who knows
me knows that when I sit down at the
game and the fever comes over me
l won't quit until I've got all the
banks money or it has got mine. ]
have gone into a gambling house a
fairly rich man and come out PENN
less. I have gone in poor and come
out with a mighty big wad. I've gone
for weeks without money enough tc
buy me a square meal. I've had men