An extract from an issue of the Times read as follows:
"A black felt hat and several articles of clothing were discovered on Sunday afternoon on the bank of the Thames near Isleworth, together with the following letter, written in a good bold hand: "Good-bye to friends and enemies. I have come to the end of my journey at last, and life has no further charms for me. Before I go, let me give one word of warning, especially to young men.
"Avoid betting and the race course as you would poison.
"Four years ago I was a rich man, possessed of something like $100,000 from one source alone. My fortune reverted to me suddenly, and I lost my head over so much money, and immediately launched into a fast life.
"The company of bad women (how horribly bad some of them are!) and low and illiterate men was my delight almost as soon as I set foot in the city, coming straight from the peaceful village of Dorsetshire, where I had lived for years amid good surroundings.
"My gay companions quickly introduced me to the gambling table and the turf. Intoxicated with pleasure, I did not consider for one moment whither they were leading me. Every race meeting I attended, and seldom won, as the results of my friends(?) advice. There are thousands frequenting the race course who live upon the stupidity of men like myself.... They live to cheat, utterly regardless of the hereafter. Betting is this country's curse and will ruin her in the end.
"I am about to do as scores of others in their desperation have done before me. Poverty and starvation have taken the place of affluence and comfort. My friends have forsaken me, and life is no longer worth living.
"Please communicate with ... . Perhaps he and his pals will subscribe towards giving me a decent burial. Farewell." (Signed)
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Baron Severin Brunicki, a Polish millionaire, possessed half a million acres of land, comprising twenty estates, seven castles in Austria, Russia and Germany, as well as palatial residences in Vienna, Paris, St. Petersburg and Warsaw, yet wanted more! He had set his heart upon a few hundred acres of land adjoining one of his estates, and because the owner refused to sell, the Baron shot himself!
"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare... which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim 6:9.