Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1855-06-28
: California Gambling Scenes.

a writer whose fortune leu DIN U
!, San Francisco in 1852, presents
fearful picture of the scenes enacted
! at that period in the gambling hall
Of the golden capitol. He says tina
the most corrupt of the gamblers
, and the only ones, in fact, who could
4 compete with the Spauiards, generally
so crafty and cold -biooded in hazard
playing, were the American boys
that from the splendidly decorated
saloon at San Francisco, with its pic
turesque 6router9e and hundreds ol
tables groaning beneath the burden
of gold, to the seanty tent in the
furtherest mountains, where the serape
] thrown over ricketty box,served as
cloth by night, and as a bed and
blanket on approach of dawn, they
were everywhere to be found, ready
at any moment, to plunder the poor
miner of bis hard earned sayings;
aud the Spanish cloak served to cover
the money they had won, as we'll as
the ix-barrelled revolver, and sharp
bowie knife, as weapons Of attack or
defence, according as the moment or
the prospect of gain might demand.
After a graphic description of one
of the emost splendid and largestof the
Shells" overwhose entrance cleaned
in golden letters the name Of 'Eldo.
rado," the writer says:
The visitors are suddenly crowding
around table where high play Is
apparently going on. Letus 60, too,
and see it. A young fellow is stand
ing at the table, between the keeper
of the table and his confederate; the
first Of whom is slowly shuffling a
pack of cards, for the sake Of en-
ployment, till the play commences,
while the other watches,with his little
piercing eyes, the cards as they are
turned, up. The game itself is strange
to US, although the Spaniards on the
other side of the table, who follow its
vicissitudes and the hands of the
dealer with a scarcely perceptible
smile, and without takiug,for the pres
ent, seem to understand it better than
We do. 1t is monte, a Spanish game,
and played with Spanish cards, and
the strange figures on them, and cross
swords and golden balls, the horse
men instead Of queens, etc, attract
the strangers eye above all, and i'm
part much higher and more mysterl--
ous charm to the bags of silver and
gold boldly stacked upon them. a
The young fellow, in whom we felt
an interest, from the outset, cannot
be more than sixteen years of age.
He is tall and thin, and his features
would have something effeninate a.
bout them, we're it not for the gleam-
ing eye and firmly compressed lips.
His right hand is supported on the
green cloth Of the table, upon the
centre of which piles of dollars form
a barrier around heap of gold, as
we'll as sacks of gold dust, and three
or four largish nuggets and ingots,
more for ornament than for use. His
left hand is in his pocket, and from
beneath bis hat two or three locks OF
auburn hair peep out. His stake,
amounting perhaps to twenty or
fve-and.twenty eagles, is on the
horsemen,and bis eyes are fixed ner"
vously on the hands Of the dealer.
The latter,an Americau,sits calmly
behind the table, with the card
| in his hand ready to turn up, and
casting at intervals, rapid glance at
the stake to see that all is in order.
The ace and queen are the uppermost
cards; the young man has won, and a
triumphant smile plays on his lips.
"l'll pay you back now, for the
other night, Robertson" he laughed
hoarsely between his scarce opened
lips.
Il hope so,' replied the banker,
calmly, with an equivocal smile
You re IN luck, Lowell, and ought to
take advantage of it,
81 leave it on the queen and put
this lot on three" Here and there a
few stakes are altered or withdrawn,
and the cards are turned upagaln.-
Both lose!
The young man growls a fearful
but hardly audible oath, but his hand
brings inyoluntarily fresh booty
to light, in the shape OF a bag Of goia
dust, which the banker does not
even glance at. The bag might con-
tain about two pounds,and the Span
lard standing opposite, throws q