Show THEIR ors FAULT There are human spiders in every big city which make their more or less precarious living by inveigling into their parlors the wiseinhisowncon ceit human fly Even Salt Lake city harbors some of the species and now I and again a case is recorded by the press of some over confident visitor who is relieved of his cash and valuables valu-ables when expecting to double his capital Only when the victim squeals are the police and the public made aware of the occurrence There are no doubt many cases in which silence is the expression ex-pression of pride and discretion overcomes over-comes complaint But from the disclosures dis-closures made it is clear that the confidence con-fidence man the bunco stetrer and the sure thing gambler are among the bloodsuckers that Infest this comparatively compara-tively well regulated city When one of those fellows who prey upon the credulity and the folly of selfsufficient human nature Is caught in his crime a sort of sympathy for the swindled greeny is felt by the public pub-lic while only anathemas and a cry for punishment are heard against the swindler i Now we have nothing to say in de fence of the blackleg who fleeces the trusting human lamb He ought to receive re-ceive the penalties of the law But we do not join in the tender feelings toward the plucked robin or sheared sheep whichever he may be termed In almost every case the plain truth bluntly told would proclaim him little if any better than the professional gambler with whom he staked his ready funds It would show that he risked what he had with the expectations ex-pectations of making his pile In doing so he broke the law in company with the man that got away with the plunder plun-der If one was guilty of gambling so was the other Both ought to be punished pun-ished as the law provides Gambling is wrong in itself It is a vice that ought to be suppressed When risks are only on the side of the adventurous fly of course the voracious spider is much the worse offender But when the game is conducted on the square although the greater advantages advan-tages are always on the side of the professional the culpability of the parties par-ties is about equal and if Qne is punished pun-ished the other ought not to es ape If men were not open to the enticements en-ticements of games of chance and so eager to get something for nothing there would be but few such cases as those to which we now refer Serves them right is their proper verdict The Herald warns all visitors to this or any other city to beware of the stranger who performs the amiable for the purpose of leading them on to any kind of a game of chance He is one of the human spiders who will suck them dry of cash if he gets a chance and if they are caught in his web they will have the consolation only of knowing know-ing that they are caged flies by their own fault |