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aLouisville has met with a notable loss in the death of a well-known citizen, who is described as “the best known sporting man in the South. ”A recent issue of the Louisville Commercial devotes a column and a half to a glowing eulogy of the deceased. He died a wealthy man, and the bulk of his fortune was acquired in gambling, yet the Commercial informs us that “words of praise for actions in his life were uttered by many.” Mr. Waddill, for that was his name, must have been a man of rare goodness of heart, for a fellow-gambler is quoted as saying of him, “He was a very conscientious man, and his character in this respect I can best express when I say that he would rather give up $500 or $1,000 than keep it with the least suspicion that he was not entitled to it.” Again, the Commercial says, Although a gambler, he never forgotthat he was a gentleman at heart,” and “he gave away thousands of dollars to people who went broke at his games, not because there was any reason that he should do so, but because he was begged for the money.” He also was “great in unostentatious, real charity, relieving many a poor person who was a total stranger to him.” In one respect this account of the dead gambler’s life is deficient. It fails to mention whether, like Mark Twain’s Buck Fanshaw, “he never shook his mother.” But probably lack of space compelled the editor to leave a hiatus in the career of this noted Kentuckian. In closing, the Commercial says, with an air of regret that does it honor: “The deceased was a member of no church or order.” We are sorry that suchshould have been the fact. His failure to join a church or an order was the one mistake of his life. Had he been a church member, for instance, nothing would have been wanting inthe example that he set. But the best of men have their shortcomings, and it was perhaps too much to expect that even “the best known sporting man in the South should have rounded out his useful and praiseworthy career by making a professior of religion.
Newspaper Details
Defiance Republican Express
Defiance, Ohio, US
Thu, Sep 07, 1893
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Tara K.
NA, 13 May 2020
Other Publications Near Defiance, Ohio
Defiance Evening News
Defiance Daily Crescent
Defiance Express
Defiance Daily Crescent News
The Crescent-News
