The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1886-10-09 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF A GARBLING PRINCE.  The Paris correspondent of the Times, writing on Tuesday, says: Prince Melissano, a member of one of the best Neapolitan families, committed suicide this afternoon on returning from his club, where he had seen his name posted up as a defaulter. The Paris clubs, whose chief revenue is derived from their tax on gambling and gamblers. have adopted a rule which strikes at the honour of gamblers, inasmuch as the tribunals do not recognise gambling debts. When a player does not meet his obligations in the time allowed him by his creditor his name is written on a piece of white paper pasted on a mirror. The defaulter is thus debarred from taking his seat at any gaming table until the disqualification ceases. In some clubs rehabilitation is surrounded with insuperable difficulties and formalities, while in others the mere payment of the debt is sufficient for the recovery of all privileges, the chief object being to keep up the credit and resources of the club. Octave Fouillet, in his Chamillac, has made this placarding the basis of his plot; but he has exaggerated the consequences, for it is quite admissible to solicit and obtain time for payment. Prince Melissano lost some time ago £6O, for the payment of which small sum he had asked and obtained time. It must be stated that Prince Melissano had lost at the same club more than £20,0000 within two or three years, that he had often applied for time, and made payment at the date promised. His creditor on this as on previous occasions had placed the debt en carte as it is called, that is to say, he deposited in the hands of the proper official a card, stating that the Prince was to pay yesterday £6O. The time having expired without the amount being paid, the official published the fact. Prince Melissano himself, it appears, was not thinking about it, for this morning he was quite free from care and in good spirits, as I am informed by two of his friends who breakfasted with him. At two o'clock he left them and went to the club. He entered in a natural and lively way, when he noticed his name stuck up against the mirror. He went close to the glass, looked at it, and then, without saying a word, took up his hat and went home. There he placed a loaded revolver against his right temple, discharged it, and fell dead. Whatever the misfortunes which gambling in clubs has caused here, whatever can be said against those who gamble habitually, and those who encourage them, in this case gambling and the placarding were not the sole causes of this lamentable suicide. No doubt the posting up of the name was the last drop which made the cup run over; but it had long been filled to the brim. For a considerable time those who watched with some attention the movements of the Prince asked each other, when they happened to see him, "How is this going to end?' For my own part, I have only met him once or twice, and on these occasions I found him lively, good natured, and well-bred. I supposed him to lead the life of one of those Grands Seigneurs whose luxgriousness is so well supported as to be almost monotonous. But those of my friends who knew him better undeceived me, and gave me a glimpse of the gulf on wh;ch this deceptive exi.tence floated. More than six years ago the Prince had spent his last farthing, yet since then had lived in this distrustful, yet credulous Paris, like a man worth £15,000 or £20,000 a year, without doing anything rendering him amenable to the tribunals. He had made the business of getting into debt a science, and most of his creditors alio% ed their claims to increase, in ordernot to have to confess that the money was sunk, and that so charming a nobleman was hopelessly insolvent. To such a length did he carry the art, that he created fresh resources, partially paying off a fraction of the army of old creditors at the expense of new ones. This was especially the case with gambling debts; and by the irony of fortune it is a gambling debt which has hastened the inevitable wind up of this artificial existence. With half the talent employed in keeping up his position for six years, the Prince might have become a benefactor to mankind, by devoting himself to some social or scientific problem. But his tastes did not lie in that direction, and for years those who knew or guessed his position were in daily expectation of a crash. To-morrow they will cease to speculate on his situation, and will learn that this difficult but barren struggle, so ardent, yet so futile, has ended in the inevitable fall. The Prince was only a little over 40 years old.