A DEBT OF HONOUR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3555, 28 October 1926, Page 4

A DEBT OF HONOUR.

GAMING AT MONTE CARLO,

STRANGE STORY OF A CHEQUE

Business circles in New York have been chuckling over a story which has come to light, showing how a wealthy New York importer, well known but unpopular, has been forced by the Casino authorities at Monte Carlo to honour a cheque which he gave them last spring in settlement of a gambling debt incurred at the roulette tables. When visiting Europe with his wife the importer went to Monte Carlo, determined to break the bank by means of an “infallible” system lie had worked out on a steamer when crossing the Atlantic. .V result which often happens in such circumstances followed, and lie had to give the authorities a cheque for £12,000. Upon his arrival in Paris, however, he promptly stopped the cheque and refused all the claims of the Casino’s lawyers that it was a debt, of honour which he had to discharge. On the following day the American went back to New York, but a little later he had to return to Europe, blissfully ignorant, however, that from the moment lie set foot in England where he landed lie was being shadowed by the Casino s secret police. As long as lie remained in England lie was safe, as no aqtion is permissible under the English laws; but, unfortunately for himself, lie and his wife took a day trip to Ostend, where, the moment he arrived, the Casino’s lawyers, acting from Brussels, had him promptly locked up on the cliaige of “fraudulent action” in stopping the cheque, a penal offence under the Belgian code. After languishing 48 hours in the unpleasant confinement of an Ostend prison, the importer decided that the “game was up,” and cabling to New York obtained the amount due, which the Casino insisted should be paid in cash.