WHY HE SWORE OFF.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 41, 29 July 1892, Page 23

WHY HE SWORE OFF.

"No, said the old drummer, fiercely, " I play no games of chance any more, not even the simplest kind, for money." " Won't you pitch pennies? " persisted bis companion. - ' "That least of all," be said, visibly affected. "Why rot? "' asked the other. •'Do you see this dollar ? " he said, taking a car'-wbeel from his pocket. "Well, thereby hangs a tale. Listen. Ten years ago I wac, and had been for five years, travelling for a big diamond importing bou*e in New York and as usual I carried with me a large number of gemß, often having as much as 50,000do!s worth. One d*y four of us, a'l in the same line, met in Denver, and that evening we were drinking and matching dollars in my room. It was a hobby of mine, as it was of one of the other men, Frank H , who was as inveterate a matcher as ever the lale John T. Raymond was Well we drank and matched and kept at it until we began to tnBB up at sdolß a toss, and the other two Boon backed out and watched us. I guess we were both pretty drunk, for before I knew it we had made a pot of lOOdols and were tossing beat two in three for it. I lost,

and lost again, and then, having no more money, I put up a diamond against his pile. I lost that, too, aud then put up two against his money and what had been my diamond, and that time I won. I think we were both half crazy now for Frank pulled out one of tbe pocket-books from tbe inside of his vest and laid it npon the table and asked me angrily if I dared to match it. Of course I dared and I dared more. I put down beside it all mine, valued at wholesale rates at 50,00 0d015, and he emptied his other vest pocket to an equal amount. Our two friends tried to stop us, but we were wild and would listen to nothing. Frank threw first and called ' tails.' It came ' heads.' It made me shiver. Then I threw 4 heads ' and he called ' tails.' and we were even. I don't know how I felt at he picked up the dollar and I looked at those glittering gems, for I don't know anything cleirly, though I had a vague idea that somebody would be ruined for ever on the nest throw. Frank tossed the dollar to the ceiling and I called * heads.' It Btrnck the floor and rolled over towards the register. All four of us made a rash for it, and Frank fell headlong. The dollar had dropped through the grating and was lying on the closed shutters of the register, just below." " Get a match ? " I almost shrieked. " I steppe J back and my foot struck Frank. He did not move; I bent down and shock him. He was still. I tried to cry out but could not. The other men caught hold of him then and turned him over. His face was blue and blood was gushing from his mouth; He had died in an instant. The three were sober now in a second and at onco alarmed the landlord and sent for a physician, bnt he might as well not have come. He told ns death had been instantaneous. I put my diamonds back into my pockets and took care of Frank's, and the balance of tbe stakes I divided, taking what I had put up and setting his aside and the next morning wa started] home with poor Frank's body." " How about the dollar in the register ? " asked the listener. II Who won ? " " Oh," said the old drummer with a start, " I almost forgot that part of it. I never thought of that dollar till just before we left, and going back I fished it out and put it in my pocket and this ia it. It was • heads.' " " No wonder you don't gamble any more," exclaimed the listener with a Bigh of relief. " Lst's go and take a drink as a forgetter." " And I don't drink any more either," said the old drummer quietly. — Detroit Free Press.