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

man Is, DuL ! HSSeI QuCh dhJ IhAh6 l
have said. Therefore I repeat that
l do not believe this informer ever
set foot inside Of Canfield's, and I
say again that Richard Garfield is the
greatest gambler in the world, bar
none, and that his game is as straight
as a Quaker meeting is solemn" .
1t wasn't many weeks after Sheedy
had said this that Mr.. Jerome dis
covered that Jacobs was taking and
that he never had been inside thy
Garfield house.
Pat Sheedy was discreet. He de-
clined a challenge to get into an argu-
ment with Mr.. Jerome on the subject
Of gambling.
Its a great thing, my boy, to
know when you're we'll off," he said.
The chap who's always in hot water
may think. he's happy, but he
wouldn't know happiness by sight.
So long as l can make a living and
sive a ton of coal now and then of a
hard winter to my mother-in-law and
con nay wife into believing that
she might have gone further n
Jared worse I'm satisfied to rest easy
and not go around hunting for a con-
~troversy. Any fool can get into an
argument, but it's a wise man that
steers clear of it"
Sheedy's friends said that he prob
ably did not leave more than a few
thousand dollars, enough to keep his
widow for the rest Of her days. He
did not make this money by gambling,
but from his little art store in West
Thirty-fourth street. In fact, Sheedy,
it was said, quit the game a few years
ago as poor as when he entered 1t,
although in the course Of his career
he had won several small fortunes.
He said that the public always had
a mistaken notion about the money
that gamblers make.
Put this down." ne said, that the
gambler has a harder time Of it than
any other business man. Once IN a
while he gets what slow going, plod-
ding folks might call a great deal OF
money, but it never lasts long. More
often he is obliged to borrow his liv-
ing expenses from his friends, and
Pat/Sheedy is no exception"
Sheedy had a high regard for the
English as gamblers.
"Englishmer will pay their gam
bling debts before they will their
.tailors," he told his friends. "The
Germans, particularly German army
officers, are about is good. I wish
could say as much for my own
courtrymen as / car for the English,
but when Americans gamble abroad
| they sometimes forget that there is
none of their money left in the bank
at home and they are addicted to the
habit or arguing that money lost in
gambling can't be collected"
Sheedy had no use for the French
as gamblers.
Don't speak Of them he used to
say. Anything you a get out OF a
Frerchman you ought to take home
and have framed. And the Italians
| are worse than the French"
Many stories were told by Sheedy's
old cronies Of the hard times he had
in finding q place to lay his money
| after he got his reputation as q bank
breaker" ...
AT Hot Springs, Ark" said one.
they barred Pat because he had lost.
He bought $500 worth of chips and
dropped the entire lot. The next day
he returned to the clubhouse, asked
for $500 more and the proprietor
said: Mr.. Sheedy, I'm an old man
and / have to sleep nights; I'd rather
you wouldn't play in my house He
tried it in two other gambling houses
at the Springs, and in each place after
he had lost his first pile they barred
him. Then he left Arkansas in dis
gust"
Another of Pats friends told Of
an experience he had had in Charles
ton, S. C. He had bought a good
| stack of faro chips and was about
$500 to the good, when the proprietor
of the place heard somebody call him
Sheedy. y
Amt your name Pat Sheedy?"
the dealer asked. \
1T is and I'm proud of it," said
the winner.
well I'm sorry; but We can't let
you play any MORE" sid the dealer.
I'VE haven't any bank rolls handy to
meet your high rolling"
Some rof Sheedy's friends used to
circulate reports when Pat hit a
strange city that he wanted to wreck
a gambling house just for the sport