A GAMBLER'S PLEA
In 18G7 there was called up in the dock of the Philadelphia Police Court a large man, whose high forehead and bright eyes attracted the attention of every one in the court. As he stood up in answer to his name, the crowd gazed on him with silent amazement, and seemed to feel that a great soul lived within the prisoner — too great to be accused of crime. It was " Willard, the gambler." He was one of the finest classical scholars of the time, and Latin, Greek, and Hebrew were just as familiar to him as to the most learned professors, and he could converse with Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians, with wonderful fluency. He was a firstclass literary, critic, and a far-seeing politician, whose interest in passing events was so great that there was scarcely a periodical in the United States to which he was not a subscriber. Yet he was the greatest gambler in Philadelphia.
"When the little judge, who seemed to be smaller in the presence of this majestic form, asked the gambler what he had to say for himself, his reply was " Nothing."
" But," said the judge, " have you nothing to say when a man of your talent and education is brought up as a common gambler ? %>
" May it please your honor," exclaimed the gambler, excitedly, " J said that I had nothing to say, because my actions are all the justification I have to plead. Blackstone, Chitty, and Choate have declared, as your honor well knows, that law is for the protection of society against its enemies. My actions show that I am no enemy to society. It is well known that I play with none but wealthy men, while the sums I win are given to the poor or used in educating such young men as have genius but no money. If you condemn me to confinement, fifty boys must be taken from school, and a hundred mouths in this city will go unfed. lam not a gambler from choice, but from necessity, and my games are not antagonistic to society. Its present structure is such that I must game that others may live honest and noble, while to be arrested and fined and imprisoned is a sacrifice I gladly make to sustain the dignity of the law, which I shall be obliged, however, to break as soon as I am released.
A GAMBLER'S PLEA
Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3197, 12 May 1871, Page 3
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