The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-04-22
A GAMBLER s LEGACY.
GA Life Story Well Worth Reading.

When man dies uneXpecteQIy III
affairs crystalize into rigid pattern
traced by old letters, keys in his pock
cts: of clothing left hanging over
|. chair; by half emptied bottles OF
the dresser; by telephone numbers
jotted down on the back OF sollee
envelope; by pictures and trlnKet'
in the till of trunk.
So il was with the gambler in the
accompanying story. When he wen,
to bed that nisht-with Thousand
poker plGyig-the next morning 1t
ran through his tired brain - ne
probably expected to sleep ten OF
twelve hours and in the morning re.
new his active life. But he dled oi
heart disease brought on by 80 con-
tinuous hours of poker playing. The
next morning it was too late to sor'
ont tn. letters and papers, destroy
traces of little indiscretions. 1t was
too late to gather up the loose enos
He left-a gamblers legacy.
On the afternoon OF MONDAY, NO,
yember "a, last year, professlona,
gambler of Kansas City sat down al
/, q poker table and broke the seal OF 9
I new deck of cards. He played all
that afternoon and night and all the
next day. ,pausing only to take sand
wiohes, coffee. and whiskey from a
Japanese servants tray.
At s O'Clock Tuesday night aftei
80 hours continuous play. he count
ed his money, pushed back his CHAIR
hade the other men around the table
good night and went cut. He walked
across the street to a hotel, where ne
lived. got his key at the desk wen'
To his room on the third floor, un-
dressed and went to bed. Three hours
later he was dead Of heart disease
What does q professional gambler
leave behind him when he dies!
Floyd Jacobs, county administra'
tor. who took charge of the gambler
property the morning after he DIED
found the gambler had $1,S00 IN
cash and $1,000 in liberty bonds in
safety deposity box in his hotel. Bank
books showed he had $4,000 on De
posit at a down town bank. There
was a 1 1-2 caret diamond ring, worth
about $1,000 on the dead mans lin
ger.
= A man who had known the gam
bier in Omaha told the administrator
the gambler had a large amount OF
money estimated at $4,000 - in
currency in a safe deposit oox I'D
an Omaha bank several months ago.
Investigation revealed the gambler
had made a trip to Omaha early in the
fall, returning with the currency 10
Kansas City. Like all big gamblers ne
liked to handle money, and he pre-
ferred to keep his bank roll" where
he could have ready access to 1t, in
stead of investing it or depositing II
in a bank. So he rented safe de-
post box.
When the public administrator
opened that box at bank that day
after the gambler died there was no
currency or papers of value. The ad'
ministrator learned Etiat,a man SAID
20 be the gamblers partner had Wis
tied the boz early insthef day, but the
mariner insisted he took, out only, 9
few papers, concerning the partner
ship that belonged tpo himse 5 q
Where is the $4,000 which the
gambler brought from Omaha? The
mystery of its disappearance Is one
of the interesting things he left be-
hind him.
There are three claimants to the
estate; the relatives Of the mans
dead wife, who live in Denver; a
Kansas City woman who says she was
his common law wife, and the part
ner. who seeks a half-share on the
basis Of business partnership. If the
gambler. had made q will 1t is proba-
Bile he would have left his property 70
none of them. but to fourth person
"a manicure girl in downtown no.
tel. AS yet she has brought no claim
against the estate and 1t Is probable
she never will bring one. The gam
bier had said they would be married
in December. That was one OF the
tragedies he left behind.
What else did he leave?
When the coroner had finished his
work in the gamblers bedroom the
morning after he died, the admins
traitor began his examination OF per-
sonal effects Of the dead man. In
bureau drawer he found more than
fifty envelopes containing weekly
bills for room rent from large hotel
Receipt stamps on \them showed thai
almost all of them had been paid on
the date rendered. He was punctual
methodical.
There were letters, correspondence
with business associates in Denver
and Omaha, postcards from a woman
who was spending vacation on
farm. One letter was from lieuten'
ant in the army stationed at Camp
Taylor, near Louisville, KY, telling
of big stud poker game in which
two young millionaires from the cas-
were "easy picking
The lieutenant told how easy i
would be to trim the millionaires will
marked cards, and asked the gam
bier to be ready to take the train fol
Louisville when things were ripe.