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Show A FORTUNE AT CAEDS. IT WAS WON BY JOHN SCOTT, THE "GENTLEMAN GAMBLER." His Winnings at White's, In London, In the Last Century Exceeded 65,000,000. Though Illiterate, He Was a Han of the Most Precise Methods. Of all the gentlemen gamblers of the close of the eighteenth century in England Eng-land a single one is noted for the immensity im-mensity and the regularity of his winnings. win-nings. This was John Scott, who, beginning be-ginning as a penniless captain, wound np his career as a millionaire general On the subject of the campaigns he con-fiucted con-fiucted history is silent, but contemporary contempo-rary London was full of talk of his marvelous mar-velous luck with dice and cards, and the marital misfortunes of his later lifa gave more material for the gossips. Writing to Eichard Bentley, from Arlington street, on Feb. 25, 1755, Horace Walpole says: "The great event i9 the catastrophe of Sir John Bland, who has flirted away his whole fortune at hazard. He t'other night exceeded what was lost by the late Duke of Bedford, having at one period pe-riod of the night (though he recovered the greatest part of :) lost 32,000. The citizens put on their double channeled chan-neled pumps and trudge to St. James street in expectation of seeirg judgment on White's angels, with flaming swords, and devils flying away with diceboxes, liko the prints in Sadler'a hermits. Sir John lost this immense sum to a Captain Scott, who at present has nothing but a few debts and his commission." Sir John Bland, to conclude here the history of inat luckless dicer, shot him-sel him-sel dead after losing the last of his fortune for-tune in Kippax park. Captain John Scott was of that branch of the numerous Scott family of which Sir Walter was a member, and his ancestor an-cestor in the thirteenth century was that famous chemist, Michael Scott, who won the name of Wizard. A later Scott distinguished himself in the time of Charles II by marrying, when he was himself only 14 years old, a lady who was three years his junior. The bride was Mary, countess of Buccleuch. it her own right the richest heiress in Scotland. Scot-land. The marriage was a secret one, and none of the friends and few of her family were informed of it until the day after. The youthful bridegroom did oot profit greatly by this match, for his bride died at 13. Her sister Anne, who succeeded to her titles and estates, made a marriage ith the pet son of Charles IL Monmouth, and had a numerous family. It was 60 years later, or about 1750, that young John Scott, son of the Laird of Scot's Tarvet, entered King George'f army. Two years later he was in Lon don and in the midst of the most reck less set of spendthrifts, rakes and gamesters game-sters that English society has ever known. Sir John Bland was only one of a thousand rich young Englishmen who threw away his fortune over the gaming table at White's. The one historic his-toric loser of that era was Charles James Fox, Pitt's rival. Fox gambled away, all told, no less than $5,000,00 Scott was the very antipodes of Fox. When he died, at a ripe old age, he left a fortune for-tune as great as that with whioh Fox had begun, and every penny of it had been won at the gaming table. Fox was a ripe scholar. Scott was almost illiterate. illit-erate. Fox said that losing was the next greatest pleasure to winning. Scott never lost, or so rarely that it did not aifect the serenity of his career as a winner. Fox would go home in the morning after a night in which he had gambled away 10,000 or 20,000 and Immediately loso himselt m a study of Sophocles or schylus. Scott, like the sensible fellow he was, would button his coat over the portemonnaie in whici, he carried away winnings of an equal cr even greater amount and immediately immediate-ly go to bed so as to be fresh for play in the evening. When Scott found himself in London, and amid the wild young men of hia era, he determined that gaming was his only chance of getting money. When L"e engaged himself to throw a series of mains with Sir John Bland, he had, as Horace Walpoie puts it, nothing "but a few debts and his commission." His shrewdness taught him that there was nothing in dicing, at which a stupid man has as good a chance as a bright one, and so he speedily gave up hazard and applied himself to whist, at which game heaven fights on the side of the skillful player. Never in the history of play did men gamble for such high stakes as Scott and his victims did at White's between 753 and 17S0. Scott's system was an exceedingly simple one. He gave himself the best of it in every ev-ery possible way. He never went to the gaming table unless his head and his stomach were in the very best order. He never lost his composure or his good nature for an instant He played a perfectly per-fectly fair and honorable game, -fcd at first he made it a rule never to play for more than a fixed sum, which he could afford to lose. He won so steadily that it wasn't long before he was prepared to risk any sum which even the wealthiest wealth-iest or the most reckless of his adversaries adver-saries would venture to propose. A story which illustrates capitally Scott's patience in the face of hard luck has been preserved. One night, while he was at the card table, news was brought to him that his wife, the first Mrs. Scott, had given birth to a girl. "Ah," he said, "I shall have to double dou-ble my stakes to make a fortune for thia young lady. " But in a few hours he was 8,000 to the bad. Retaining his invariable serenity, seren-ity, he said he was sure of his luck returning, re-turning, and at 7 a. in. he went home the winne? of 15,000. That's the sort of play that went on at White's night after night during the yec-a that John Scott was winning the largest fortune ever accumulated by a gentleman gam-b gam-b er. Exchan ge. now to iiet KicK An exchange gives the following sensible sen-sible advice, which our readers might try. It is certainly a quick way to become be-come rich : "Money makes money. No one is so poor that he cannot rake up a penny to start on Now upon the first day of the month deposit a cent in a bank, and on each of the succeeding S"U days of the month double your deposit. Follow this programme faithfully, and at the end of the month you will be surprised to find that your account will show the sum of $5,308,709.12 to your credit. With that little sum all you have to do is to retire and let the oth er fellows hustle. "Pomona Progress, |