User:Connorbassett/sandbox

Ed Wells was born in the early 1900s and raised by a single mother in Blank County, North Carolina. Throughout his early life, Wells’ mother provided him with ample spending money that he used to skip school and play hookey. Following his mother’s death when he was twenty, Wells turned to pool and crooked gambling to survive. After accumulating an impressive amount of winnings, Wells invested his money into starting a stud operation in his apartment. The economic prosperity of the 1920s encouraged many Americans to gamble profusely, allowing Wells’ business to prosper. At its peak, Wells was able to employ two people and make over $1,000 per week during the tobacco season. Despite earning an impressive income, Wells operated during a time in which the United States government outlawed gambling operations. As a result, industry regulations were practically non-existent, and corruption ran rampant. To avoid arrest, Wells paid a month protection fee to a local lawyer. As the Great Depression hit, people began to spend their money more conservatively. Consequently, the popularity of gambling parlors and decreased immensely, making it difficult for Wells to maintain a profitable operation. As operation costs increased, Wells began to skim off a higher share of his customers’ winnings. Eventually, people caught on to Wells’ crooked gambling practices, and his income dwindled. Soon after falling into economic trouble, Wells developed gambling and alcohol addictions, leaving him in insurmountable debt and facing eviction.