The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-17 00:00:00

GAMBLING IN LONDON.

TO THI ZDITOtt OF THZ !MMUS.
Sln,—There are some evils which appear to defy
sots of parliament; some illegal acts which are carried on
under the nose of justice; and justice must indeed be
stone blind not to seise hold of, and crush them. It ap-
pears to me that of aU illegal acts which are committed
daily, and winch defy punishment, that act known to the
initiated as " shaking the elbow," and to the uninitiated as
gambling, is the most notorious, as well as the most harm-
-lul. I allude not to club cord-playine—not to billiard tables
—because herein all parties who play have their chance of
success ; but to gambling as earned on its syste-
matic, appointed gambling-houses, or as they are
most appropriately and must familiarly called, bells.
Herein, it is said, games of chance are played.
But this I deny at once, for there is no chance
in the matter—the man who shakes ►is elbow is sure to
lose. When he begins, he knows this—yet the devil in
him tempts him on. Now and then to stimulate the men
in the room, one man is allowed to win a little, but this is
wiessa permitted, and soon the marker receives his warning
W "asap the luck." Therefore, as I have written, these
plasm are not gambling houses—they are robbery dent—
Wows where men lose broad acres to Jew money-lenders—
where families are ruined, where hapless men are disho-
sowed. The system may have its comic aspect to gay
fellows green upon town ; but they who know it to the
bottom, and kaow it at the terrible price of such know-
ledge, can speak of its villainy, its utter shamelessness.
At the present moment, Sir, when so many gangs of gen-
tlemen have been taken before the magistrate from these
places only to be discharged, I think I may pertinently
communicate to your readers all the knowledge I have
been able to gather on this subject. In the first place,
Sir, I find that these places ate generally kept by
men who have been originally servants,—that one
man has been " boots" at an inn, another a waiter
at an hotel. These fellows are, of course, low men, bent
upon winning wealth at any cost. They live in great state,
enjoy their horses and carriages ; may be seen in the parks,
and are associated with, and despised by, unhappy gentle-
men, who are their dupes. For the places in which they
carry on their business they pay enormous rents—the land-
lords knowing well the purposes for which they are letting
their premises. I have heard that one of these keepers pays
as much as 600/. per annum for two rooms over a boot shop
—a shop, too, of great reputation. These places are fitted
up most luxuriously. They ■re places in which the most
fastidious will find noththg offensive. These establishments
appear to be divided into two distinct classes—the inferior
being called "Silver Hells," because herein gamblers are
permitted to lose silver. At the first-class establish-
ments, of course, only gold is seen. To these
places young men are tempted by friends who are
under the fascination of gambling—who, losing hun-
dreds every night, live in the feverish hope of breaking
the bank before they have finished. They have lost so
much, they arc determined to have one more trial. And
SO they go, night after night, till all is gone, and they are
moneyless men, who have been robbed of their fortune.
And so hundreds of young men come to town, and one after
the other feed the purses of these waiters, and " boots,"
and Jews. But, it must be understood, any man may not
enter these places ; all men who may go are not allowed to
shake their elbows. This privilege is very cautiously pee-
-1 served for thou fortunate visitors who arc known to possess
means ; who have either money in the funds or acres upon
which money may be easily raised. These places are, it
should be known, late places. Few men go there before
they are half intoxicated. Not even the most desperate
gambler—not the man who is hoping daily to retrieve his
losses—would probably ring the bell of certain houses
of St. James's-street in cold blood. No; from
the club, where "a certain quantity" has been
taken, men wend their way hitherwards. They
are generally known, and easily find admittance.
Once in the ball of the hell, they have yet come ceremonies
to go through before they reach the scene of their exploits.
The porter goes to an inner door of iron, and rings a bell.
He is answered ; the door falls back, and the limiters ascend
the stairs, at the top of which they find a second heavy iron
door, strongly secured. They become known, and pass this
and a third door, I believe, and then they enter the hell.
To them it shell yield its abundant torments assuredly.
Here wife and children lose their hold upon the best man's
heart, and their fortune and their fame are recklessly lost.
Possibly the new group of visitors have not mach money in
their pockets, and this they don't :are about losing. They
saunter to the table, watch the game a little, and then
wander into the supper room. Hate a luxurious supper is
provided for them. Here is everything they can wish—and
all gratuitously. Aye, so great is the liberality of
g ;toad= boots, that he scorns to count the
value of his patrols' eating ; it is a mere trifle ; and he
gives it them—gives it from the abundant generosity of
his nature—gives it for the very love of giving. The
new comers—languid from the fatigues of the day—sit
to eat.

"I say, old boy," said an informant of mine a short time
bank, at one of these establishments, to a feverish young
I Mow, who had four plovers' eggs before him ; " I say, spare
we one of those eggs."
"Can't, my boy," was the reply of the unhappy young
/Wow; "they've just cost me a hundred pounds each."
Our new group begin to talk of their losses: they get
*lel over their wine, and return to the gaming-room.
Kern the play is going on. The temptation is not to be
Misted: they play. Perhaps they have only about 101.
each in their pockets. This amount is soon lost. Then
follows a dialogue with the proprietor of the establishment.
He knows to a shilling the paying capacity of each of them.
He has the value of their estates at his fingers' ends.
''Come!—" one will say, "I want some money." And now
the process of having the money may be fairly described-
It is ingenious and particularly safe. Excellent device
altogether of our friend the " boots." How prudent the
man is—avoiding ruin, with a caution worthy of the
highest commendation. Of course he is very sorry that the
gentleman he is about to accommodate has lost. It is a
great pity, but the luck will run so sometimes. However,
he may improve.
And now the process of money advances in a " hell"
proceeds. The proprietor—confiding fellow that be is—
wanfs only a signature. The gentleman will take fifty
pounds—he is determined to risk no more. Only fifty, and
if he lose that, he will give the abominable play up alto-
gether. The proprietor produces a book of printed bill
forms—at a short date, I believe. The whole thing—the
entire machinery is ready. It is the simplest matter
in the world, end does not detain the gentleman—
one minute. Actively enough the gentleman accepts the
bill for 501. The inducement is so strong—the chances of
winning an immense sum, and nothing to pay down at ones.
This charming credit is very seductive to the habitual
gambler. I doubt whether Mr. would have half the
number of customers he has—if he required them all to play
with ready money. Credit gives seops to the imagination—
allows the player to turn round. Before the bill becomes
due a thousand things may happen. His aunt may die and
leave him her five thousand a year ; he may have some
great stroke of luck some night : he may win two or three
thousands on the turf. All these possibilities rise up to lure
him on. Charming indeed it is to have nothing to pay
down. And very charming is it to see the fun—to feel the
intense excitement. For, say all men of experience to
whom I have spoken on the subject, there is an excitement
in the game which is not explicable, but which is intense
and almost irresistible.
But there is yet another point in the system of money
advances at a hell to which I should wish to draw your at-
tention. I think it is an important item in the business;
it is another illustration of the acuteness of our friend —.
Strange enough is this self-educated 1121111—this gentleman
who is indebted to his own genius and the folly of some of
his fellow•creatures for his fortune. Yet hew marvellously
has he hedged himself about. You may as soon bump
against a porcupine as endeavour to touch him. For in-
stance, he bas just get the bill for fifty pounds from a gen-
tleman. He has cashed it. Yes, he has given the full
value of it, deducting nothing for discount. But in what
coin ? Certainly not in that current amongst her Ma-
jesty's honest subjects. Nu, it is " hell" coinage, in the chaps
of counters representing certain same, according to their
shape and make. It is coin current only at —'s. Therefore
the gentle reader will perceive it is to be spent at —'a,
rather to be lost at --'s. If that gentlemah who gave
his name to the 50/. bill just now had never asked for the
counters, he would have saved himself considerable trouble.
lie would not have been at the pains to play them out ex-
ci•edly by degrees—he would not have taken that extra
bottle of wine—he would not have gone h.:me in that ter-
rible state, with curses on his lips.
I have describe,' ore or two points of elbow-shaking ; bat
the subject would afford materials (ar" herlip.."7s.
Yours, Ste. , J.

THE PIEDILONTESE BAEDVC efts killed,
in an encounter with the Royitooloihtimi, light Chitin,
in the night of the 10th inst. - •

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IRELAND.

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Duitux, Nov. 16.
i•-,tatcs of another Isiah peer—the Right Hon.
the F.,11 Nlornington, nephew of the lute Mike of
Wellington—parsed under the auetionver's ham-
mer in the Incumiered &totes Court vesteilkY,
the petitioner for the sale being Lord Wellesley.
The sale excited much interest, and the court was
crowded to excess on the occasion. The estates, which
are held in fee simple, are situated in the Queen's
County, and the counties of Ilublis, Meath, West-
meath, Cavan, and King's County. They were sub-
divided for the purpose of the sale into 64 lots ; of
which the Mountmelick portion sold on an average
at the rate of 20 years' purchase, the Maryborough
division at 23 years' purchase, the BallYnn division
at 19 years' purchase, the county of Dublin estates
at 21 years' purchase, the Meath estates at 19 years'
purchase, the Cavan estate at 241
_years' purchase,
the Westmeath estates at 23 years' purchase, and
the King's County estates at 22 years' purchase.
The produce of the entire of the estates was 204,836/.,
equal to 221 years purchase on the total net rental
of 9,601.
The deputation from the Tenant League are ac-
tively eugaged.in Clonmel, and have been permit-
ted to state their case at a meeting of tke local com-
mittee of 31, appointed for the selection of a popular
candidate. 'this proceeding places Mr. John
O'Connell's interest in some jeopardy ; and it
appears from the account of the meeting of the
committee yesterday, given by the correspondent of
the i'motion, that Dr. Gray, the proprietor of that
paper, is likely to be a candidate for the vacant
seat.

Tho Northern /17oiy thus refers to the" strike"
which has now extended to Belfast, and in which
the compositors in that town hare joined :
A predisposition to rash into the error which the igno-
rant but impressible operatives in the manufacturing dis-
tricts in England have fallen into, having manilksted NNW
is Belfast, among 'attain of the trades, • dmigh Yr keen
applied, which we expect to see in a brief attended
with tin usual results following on tin applimeion of prompt
remedies to diseases generated by costae with things in-
Anted and intrinsically evil. De leas eisens
only in ability than the notorins C p.us deg,
or the infatuated and deranged Fergus trOmmer, have bees
at work is Belfast; and as the men herd will always be
led—albeit, to the prejudice of their own best interests—by
slap-trap, the preaokiogs of Moss OCIIOOOI bare not boon un-
productive of the fruit to be expected from such seed.
apposition to their employers, and disaffection have, in
mine instances, largely evinced themselves. In the oases of
the linen yarn spinners, a proposition to go on short time
la one of the mills was met on the part of the men by a ces-
sation of work altogether ; and this was responded to on
die part of the employers, in a body, by a general resolution
**work Ann time in all the mills--a course which, per-
haps, it was severs to the non-refractory to adopt, but which
shows, is a striking light, indeed, the evil effects following
upon en attempt to coerce capital to incur risks which coin-
Lorca.' experience teaches should be avoided.