The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-10-12 00:00:00

THE LAST SEASON AT HOMBURG.

The Special correspondent of the sQy N eta, at Hom-
burg, seals the following interesting account of the menes
which are taking place at that well-known gambling place
The last season at Homburg is thoroughly Renee-
tionaL Never have the players been more numerous,
or more eager to stake their money. From eleven
o'clock in the morning, when the gaming tables are
opened, till eleven o'clock at night, when they are
closed, acrowd surrounds the four tables, and frantically
struggles to place a coin upon a number or a colour.
Regulations hitherto rigidly enforced have been tacitly
suspended. Badly•dreseed persons—men and women
who have lost alike their characters and their money—
are no longer excluded from the rooms, or hindered
from getting what they consider an honest living by
coolly appropriating the money of others. Hardly an
hour pa-sea without a general scrimmage varying the
scene. T , The epithets of 'liar" and " thief " are bandied
about as if they were commonplaces. Most adroit and
brazen-faced are the female gamesters, and among
them certain Englishwomen are, by general consent,
admitted to be pre•eminent. More than once they
have been taxed with stealing by the authorities
who superintend the play, and have had to rectors
the pieces they claimed as their own. Undaunted
by failures they persist in their determination to
obtain money at all hazards, and failing to do so
honestly, to do it otherwise. One of these female
harpies was punished lad week. Seated next to
a gentleman, before whom there was a large pile
of gold pieces, she abetracted one or two every time
he leaned forward to stake his money or to remove his
winnings. An onlooker, who witnessed the proceed-
ing..., got a message conveyed to him on a scrap of
paper, and he set himself to watch his fair and very
frail neighbour. Keeping a note of the number of
pieces she abstracted from his store, he summoned the
police when he thought that the pilfering was becom-
ing serious. She was taken elf to the police bureau
and. searched. As no gold coins were found in her
possession, it was inferred that she had transferred
her plunder to a confederate. That she did not
steal owing to actual destitution was proved by tile
fact of French bank notes being in her purse. The
police had one of these notes changed, and with the pro-
ceeds paid the Englishman the sum he declared he had
lost. As he declined to take further proceedings, the
female thief was discharged with a caution. Another
episode afforded some amusement to the onlookers a
few nights ago. An Englishman and an American who
were staking their money at roulette got into a
discussion as to the ownership of their respec-
tive winnings. Language, which if I,ecl else-
where, would be accounted strong, was warmly
interchanged. In former days, when two persons
called each other liars, and endeavoured to clutch each
other by the throats, the police would speedily teach
them a lesson which would punish their conduct if it
did not reform their manners. This year, however, the
roughs of all nationalities who have congregated at
Homburg are allowed to carry matters with a high
hand. The result in this case was that, after a few
minutes had been passed in altercation, the American
magnanimously resigned his claim to the mass of gold
in dispute, and the pair settled their differences
amicable by shaking hand...croes the table.
What mire especially distinguishes the present
gaming season is the presence at the gaming tables of
the inhabitants of Homburg. Till now they have been
prohibited from entering the gaming rooms durinn one
half of the year, and from playing at the tables at any
time or under any circumstances. The paternal autho-
rities who first made this regulation wisely argued
that, if the inhabitants played and lost their money,
the outcry against the maintenance of gaming
would be too loud and persistent to be long resisted.
Permission has now been granted them, on the ground,
perhaps, that their losses will have the effect of
making them look with less regret upon the final
closing of the gaming-rooms. If such be the design, it
is in a fair way of being successful. The yells of the
unhappy tradesmen when their hardly-earned florins
are swept off by the rake of the pitiless croupier some-
times ring through the room. In vain do the superin-
tendents exclaim in stentorian tones that shouting is
forbidden at the tables. The loser refuse to be comforted
and roundly swear that they are being cheated or
robbed. . . . One table is set apart this season at
which nothing but French gold or notes of the Bank
of France can be staked. At this table the large
and serious players congregate. Here may be seen
these Poles and Russians who have always more
money than they know how to use in a laudable
manner, and whose object in life appears to be to
beggar themselves at the gaming table. Rich
Americans do their best to emulate the Russians
they profess to admire so ardently and love with
an unequalled affection. One or two Englishmen
endeavour to rival the millionaire. of New York
or St. Petersburg, while several Englishwomen sit
at this " gold " table for hours together in the fond
but delusive hope that they can break the bank by play-
ing cautiously. Such is the general appearance of the
gold table. Now and then it is surrounded by an ex-
cited crowd desiring not to play but to watch. If the
cause of the excitement be sought for, the answer ii
furnished in a word which has acquired an exceptional
notoriety at Homburg. You will be told that the
centre of attraction is the Maltese."
The Maltese who at present is the theme of talk and
the object of interest first visited Homburg a few years
ago. He had been a contractor for military stores, and
as is common in the case of such contractors, had de-
veloped into a successful capitalist. When he arrived
at Homburg it was greatly in want of a hero. Garcia,
tee Spaniard, after having broken the bank, winning
something under a hundred thousand pounds had come
back with his winnings, had played again, and had lost
everything. Olinski, commonly calledthe Pole, who had
won his thousands, and had continued to play, till from
staking five hundred pounds at every coup, he was re-
duced to play florMs, was regarded in American phrase
as entirely played out. When Mr. Bugeja appeared
on the scene, the gaming public was longing for a new
sensation, and the proprietors of the bank were quite
prepared for an assault in due form. The result of a
few days' play was more gratifying to Mr. Bugeja
than to the shareholders in the Homburg gaming
tables. The Maltese took away with him twenty
thousand pounds sterling. M. Blanc was not disheart-
ened, for he argued, as is his wont, that where there is
life there is hope of the gamester returning to the
theatre of his triumphs, and losing, not only his
winnings, but much more besides. This season the
appearance of the Maltese was regarded as the begin-
ning of the end, or rather as the fitting termination to
a prosperous season. However, to the consternation of
the shareholders, fortune continued to favour the
player, who was in possession of the three c's, which
have been defined as a gamester's requisites—coolness,
courage, and capital. Night after night the Maltese
with retired to his bed the pleasing thought that his
well-spent day had yielded him two thousand pounds.
This sum represented his average winnings. Some
days he made more and some less, the result being
that he soon found that the sum of forty thousand
pounds had been transferred from the coffers of
the bank to his pockets. As he bore his tundles of
thousand franc notes away from the tables he was fol-
lowed by an admiring and envious crowd. His foot-
steps were dogged by ladies whose designs, let me
hope, were honourable, but whose demeanour was
haidly as retiring as becomes the modest sex. Iu
fact, the Maltese became the hero of the hour.
When his success was most marked, he received an
epistle from the official representative of the Govern-
ment ordering him to reduce the amount of his stakes.
Strong in the belief that the tide would turn, and that
the money which had passed into the bands of the
Malta'e would flow back into the beak, M. Blanc had

allowed the Maltese to play • double maximum, that
is, one thousand pounds at a limp instead of five
hundred. If the chances had provided unfavourable
to the player, this permission would have led to his
more speedy ruin. As it was, it had the effect of the in-
creasing his gains. The countenances of the share-
holders are most rueful. They complain, in the
accents of injured innocents, that their dividends have
been absorbed by the Maltese. As they have
received 20 per cent, as a minimum dividend for
the last thirty years, they are not greatly to be
pitied