OCR Text |
Show 1 m Ruin That Is Sure to Corns. George Smith died a few days ago. He was better bet-ter known as ''Pittsburg Phil,' and he was a plunger at the race tracks. "A plunger is a man who bets heavily. He died a comparatively young man and his estate is said to amount to a million and a half of dollars. Doubtless the figures are exaggerated, exag-gerated, but he was quite wealthy. Smith did no good to society when he was alive, i and his baleful influence will be felt after his death. Hundreds of fools, their imagination fired by the reports re-ports of the wealth Smith accumulated, will try to tqual his achievements. They will suffer poverty and ruin. They cannot succeed. Smith was unique. He was about the only plunger who ever died ahead of the game, as the gamblers say. Many others have been successful for a time, but their money always went us quickly as it came. Often Smith was reduced to a small capital, cap-ital, but he was lucky. The fools, however, will sli ive to pile up riches by betting upoj. he most uncertain un-certain of all games of chance. They will think only of Smith and his winnings, forgetting the losses of the thousands whose Hvcb hare been wrecked by the same game. It does no good to argue with such persons, anl it is idle to point out to them the risks they run. Gambling on the races, speculation in Wall street or in bucket shops, get-rich-quick schemes of all kinds, will always find victims in plenty. The idea oj' getting something for nothing is as old as the hills, but it never fails to poison the minds of fools. |