"LUCKY" ROY MACKAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 25, 29 January 1921, Page 15

"LUCKY" ROY MACKAY.

GAMBLER'S AMAZING CAREER. I I FIRST CAPITAL, 6D. The "Weekly Dispatch" gives detail? or the extraordinary career of a jrambier. Hoy Mackay, who fcajj Just died in penury In ! Brixton at the age of ,7J. after a life in i which he spent thousands and thousands of j ponnds. j Roy Mackays was one (■'. the ra-ift i meteoric careers of chance in the • ■entury. ! Of good education, tpi life in ! euphemistic term for chauffeur thnt ho save at his bankruptcy. Slaokjy «a S within aj few years liviug at the rate of t'W.OXi a j he acquired by a combination of jharp wits. ; dice, horses aad cards. ' Uis fall to poverty w&s as sudden ns hi* rlse to wealth, and It was touched with ■ pathos by the desertion nf a!! the "frienils" | who had made so tiiurh of hitn during his ' days of success. Engineering made but n weak appeal M aim. His vicarious temperament demanded ' a mere exciting mode of life. His 3rst yen ture prove successful and remunerative wa -< in the motor trad-. He bought up a nii.ber of secondhand cur*, renovated them, aud then disposed or them at the..- orl.-iuai prk-e. In this way he made se-eral thousands. He had already tri-ed hi* luck a: jrainbllng In a small way. To some of his moat Intimate rriends he used to tell jocularly of his flrst venture, at the ai.v of it. Into the game uf •■pitch and toss' with 11 r.et ! :ni of slipen-e. given to him liy :i rila'.ho. ' His first bit- lack -nine when he h.».d c.m- \ jpleted the motor .ir ilea'.. He ca'uliled \ tie money.be hn:l mud.- ~n the tal>! -s at • Ostend. and at the end ..r the season re ' .turned to London with more than tlO.<V«i. After this, in spite of fluctuation luck, he Btiil managed to live in luxury, races, visiting all the fashionable res".'s that are noted for gamblia; ■•□ a .jrj.; scale. j He wa= only J4. however, when be appeared !n a West i:nd of London poll. , " court, char-ed with ■■•■ndurtlag, wira another man. a saining house in the West End. In the flat, which had a lame stall of male and female servants, he re.vivj all his well-to-do friend?, ooe of whom, a , wotnan of position, was said to have lost as much as £2voui. The raid was one of ■■little tconey.- He thought only in thou- ' sands At Oetrnd. where ror a time he ran' another gambling den. he had more than oce narrow escape death at the hands of cosmopolitan gamblers who.r. his ph*- j noinenal luck had ruined. There was always ! somebody ready to do him an injury, but i his keen wits never cave them their chance —until his luct failed. On one occasion, after a certain -otori- ' ous French cambler had lost about t"12.0U0 to him witliin a few days, an attempt was ' made on Mackay s :!fe. He n< glrolliog ' along among the sand dunes, beyond th?: Plage, when two shots were fired at him from a distance of about a hundred yards, i Intrepid as he always was. Mackay ! "scouted" among the sand dnnes In the direction of the so-jnd. but the concealment afforded by the dunes enabled his assailant to escape. On another occasion his flat was entered between four and flve in the morning, but I apparently only robbery was the motive. I for the intruders fled when Mackay was ! roused. He recognised one of them, how- ! ever, and, meeting him In the Kursaal the ! next afternoon, invited him to drink with ' him. and discussed the adventure of the ; early hours as though he were unconscious ! of the man's culpability Yet again, after he had won thousands ! at his own tables, he round a gambler con- I cealed in the flat after all the others hart left— for wh»t purpose other than tha; or roDßery was never disclosed. In sueti cir- ; cumstances Mackay was qnite imperturb- ' a-ble and treated the other In a friendly manner, as one "gentleman of fortune" to It was after he returned from his Army service that Mackay's luok deserted him.; He plunged, but lost steadily. He got into! debt to the extent of something He £Si)OO. ' and had to sell his motor car. Eventually. I about a year ago, he found himself without ! either money or a roof. In his last bid for fortune, after his fail from lock, some valuable Jewellery belong-' Ing to a one time friend was involved. With his usual sharp wits Mackay •borrowed" acquaintance for the time being—for safety —bet when, later on. he called for the valuables, the acquaintance refused to (five. them up. Thus waa Mackay cheated out of the proceeds or his last "stroke of luck." A few weeks before he died Mackay was seen limping about, his face covered with | sticking-plaster, and bis arm in a sliu-. He had been to see some of his one-rime friends.