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[Illustration: _John Philip Quinn_]

                            FOOLS OF FORTUNE

                                   OR
                         GAMBLING AND GAMBLERS,

                             COMPREHENDING

     A HISTORY OF THE VICE IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES, AND IN BOTH
       HEMISPHERES; AN EXPOSITION OF ITS ALARMING PREVALENCE AND
         DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS; WITH AN UNRESERVED AND EXHAUSTIVE
             DISCLOSURE OF SUCH FRAUDS, TRICKS AND DEVICES
                   AS ARE PRACTICED BY “PROFESSIONAL”
                       GAMBLERS, “CONFIDENCE MEN”
                         AND “BUNKO STEERERS.”

                                   BY

                           JOHN PHILIP QUINN,

      WHO MODESTLY, YET WITH SINCERITY, TENDERS TO THE WORLD WHAT
         HE HOPES MAY EXTENUATE HIS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF GAMING
              AND SYSTEMATIC DECEPTION OF HIS FELLOW-MEN.

                         ---------------------

 WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY HON. CHARLES P. JOHNSON, EX-GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI,
   AND REV. JOHN SNYDER, D. D., OF ST. LOUIS, AND CHAPTERS CONTRIBUTED
                    BY REVS. PROFESSOR DAVID SWING AND
                       ROBERT MCINTYRE, OF CHICAGO.

                                 CHICAGO:
                             G. L. HOWE & CO.
                                  1890.








                           COPYRIGHTED, 1890,
                           BY JOHN P. QUINN,
                          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.








          W. B. CONKEY,                        ELECTROTYPED BY
          BOOK MANUFACTURER,                   G. M. D. LIBBY,
            CHICAGO.                               CHICAGO.




                                   TO
                        HON. CHARLES P. JOHNSON,

        EX-GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI, AND AUTHOR OF THE ANTI-GAMBLING
                          LAWS OF THAT STATE;

                              THE CITIZEN,

     WHO RECOGNIZES, AS A BOUNDEN DUTY, LOYALTY TO THE INTERESTS OF
                         SOCIETY AND THE STATE;

                             THE STATESMAN,

         WHOSE EXPOSITION OF THE EVILS OF GAMBLING RESULTED IN
              A LAW WHICH BRANDS THAT VICE AS A FELONY AND
                     ITS “PROFESSOR” AS A CRIMINAL.

                              THE LAWYER,

             WHOSE FAME IS GROUNDED EQUALLY IN ABILITY AND
                INTEGRITY, ARE THESE PAGES RESPECTFULLY
                              INSCRIBED BY

                                                         THE AUTHOR.

[Illustration: WHICH WAY?]




                                PREFACE.


Of all the vices which have enslaved mankind, none can reckon among its
victims so many as gambling. Not even the baneful habit of drink has
blighted so many lives or desolated so many homes. Its fascination is
insidious and terrible, and its power is all the more to be dreaded in
that it appeals to a latent instinct in nearly every human breast. In
view of these considerations it appears strange that English literature
contains no authentic work specially devoted to this subject; while
there exists literally no exposition of its allurements and its dangers
written from the standpoint of one on the inside.

It is to fill this vacant place in literature that the author offers
this volume to the public. For a quarter of a century he has witnessed
and practiced every variety of gambling known to the professional. From
the shores of the Atlantic to the canons of Colorado, from the frozen
lake of the North, drained by the mighty Mississippi, to the sunken
bayous that skirt its delta, he has journeyed to and fro, plying his
nefarious calling. At times realizing the success of his schemes, at
times a penniless wanderer, he has tasted all the joys of a gambler’s
career and drained to the dregs the wormwood which lurks at the bottom
of the cup of illusive, hollow happiness. No art of the fair gamester is
unknown to him, nor is there any device of the sharper with which he is
unacquainted. With shame and remorse he confesses his fault, and it is
in the hope of measurably atoning for his wrong doing, that the present
volume has been prepared.

On the general question of the evil of gaming, there is no difference of
opinion among reflecting men. The problem is, how to check the alarming
increase of the vice? The pulpit fulminates denunciations of its
sinfulness; the press points out its folly; and the legislators affix
penalties to its practice. Yet gambling houses multiply and flourish,
and the yawning jaws of the “tiger” are daily closing upon fresh
victims. The clergy are powerless to restrain young men from tasting for
themselves the fascination of the green cloth; the public prints serve
but to whet and stimulate curiosity; and the professional gamblers
openly set at defiance laws which have long since become dead letters
upon the statute books.

Where, then, is the remedy? In the opinion of the author, it is ready at
hand. Gaming-hells cannot prosper without new victims; show men that
success is impossible in an unequal contest between inexperience on the
one hand and skill and chicanery on the other, and the ranks of the
victims will soon be thinned through the lack of new recruits.

Curiosity has ever been peculiarly a characteristic of youth since the
day when the arch tempter wrought the downfall of the race through an
appeal to the desire for “knowledge of good and evil.” Young men are
anxious to investigate, to discover, to “find out for themselves.” Give
them a certain knowledge that loss is the inevitable consequence of
entering upon any designated path, and they will hesitate long before
entering upon that path. Satisfy their curiosity as to what is concealed
behind a closed door, and the chief temptation to open that door will be
removed.

Herein consists what the author cannot but believe will make these pages
a powerful agency for good. In them are faithfully portrayed the
vicissitudes of a gambler’s wretched life, while at the same time they
present a full and true disclosure of all the dishonest artifices
employed by professionals to delude and victimize their dupes. It is not
only a thirst for excitement that leads men to gamble, another powerful
incentive is the hope of winning. Convince any man, young or old, that
instead of having a chance of winning he is confronted with a certainty
of loss, and he will place no wager. This is the conviction which must
be brought home to the intelligence and reason of every thoughtful man
who carefully reads the exposition of dishonesty which this book
contains.

No graver responsibility can be conceived than that which rests upon the
shoulders of the parent to whom is intrusted the training of a young
man. Upon the manner in which is fulfilled this sacred trust, depends
not only the economic and moral value of the future citizen, but also
the welfare, for time and eternity, of a priceless human soul. The
gaming resort opens wide its doors, the entrance to which means ruin, of
both body and soul. Of what vital importance is it, therefore; that
around the youth of the Republic every safeguard should be thrown, and
that they should be shielded from temptation by exposing its fatuous
character. “Forewarned is forearmed.”

The volume is not only a recital of personal experience and an
embodiment of the lessons to be derived therefrom. It also presents a
history of gambling from remote antiquity, and a description of the vice
as practiced in every clime. The latter portion of the work is the
result of careful and painstaking research among the best sources of
information available, and is believed to be at once authentic and
complete. It has also been the aim of the author to add to the interest
of Part II by imparting to it, as far as practicable, a local coloring
through incorporating a succinct view of the vice of gaming, as
conducted at the chief American centres of civilization and commerce.

Rev. Professor David Swing, of Chicago, the eminent thinker, has
contributed an interesting chapter on the nature and effects of gaming,
and Rev. Robert McIntyre, of the same city, who has held spell-bound so
many audiences throughout the land, has added one in which he eloquently
and forcibly portrays the moral aspects of this soul-destroying vice.

The author desires to return heartfelt thanks to those who have aided
him in his self-imposed task. He acknowledges his indebtedness for the
words of encouragement which he has received from the many eminent
clergymen and educators who have endorsed his work.

                                                 _John Philip Quinn_

CHICAGO, 1890.




                           TABLE OF CONTENTS.

 DEDICATION.                                                           5
 PREFACE.                                                            7-9
 INDEX.                                                            19-25
 INTRODUCTION:—BY CHARLES P. JOHNSON.                              26-28
       ”       BY REV. JOHN SNYDER, D. D.                          29-30
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF