Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-18
III
THE GAMBLING HOUSE An BADEN
BADEN.

hAOENF
Forney, in his letter from Baden Baden,
draws the following sketch of the most IA
nous gambling house in the world
The Conversation House is a model of
architecture, sculpture and Spainting.
The great assembly room, where the chief
roulette table is to be found from eleven in
the morning until twelve at night Sunday
not excepted) is nearly the size Of Musical
Fund Hall, in Philadelphia, and its pol
ished waxed floor, gorgeous drapery, ele-
giant pier-glasses, and luxurious sofas are
in the best styles Of European art. Here
the balls and parties Of the elite are also
given upon which occasions the roulette
table is removed TO the adiourning rooms,
equally splendid and ornate. In these are
always 70 be found, between the hours
named, roulette tables and the great game
Of cards, called in French "1Fente-et- Quar-
ante" and in English Thirty Forty"
An invention something like the Ameri-
can faro. The other large saloons are called
the French and Italian rooms. These are
connected with still others equally gor-
geous The whole is set off by the
most costly paintings, statues, fountains,
orange, lemon, and flower trees, arranged
in exquisite order. The splendid portico
is adorned by eight Corinthian pillars On
the south side is restaurant capable of ac-
commcdating two hundred persons at a
time. On the north is a reading room and
bookstore for French, English, Italian, Ger
man, and Spanish visitors and every even
ing an orchestra, composed of experienced
musicians, paid by the gamblers, discourses
delicious music from pagoda directly in
front of the Conversation House, which at
tracts thousands who occupy seats in the
grounds and overflow into the brilliant sa-
looms, where the gamblers ply their never
ceasing and never-losing trade.
You have only TO visit the Conversation
House to understand what streams Of
wealth pour into the Golfers of the propri-
etor, and why he delights in such princely
and polite generosity. The publicity Of
the practice, and the splendid temptations
by which IL is surrounded, at once blind
the people TO its wickedness and TO the GER
tainty of their losses, and 80 inhame and
fire them with the gamblers passion.
Imagine three immense halls, in each
Of which is a table about the size of a mod
ern billiard board, surrounded by crowd
of men and women busy watching the
movements of the gamblers who deal the
cards at one Of these tables and turn the
roulette at the other two. There are four
regular gamblers at each table two on
each side, whose duties are 10 deal the
cards orturn the roulette, watch the play
crs, receive the money they lose, and pay
out the money they win. 1t was revolving
TO watch the players. Althoug the MAJ
jOrity were men, some Of them hard, inn
passive and practiced adopts, others young
and impulsiye tyros, yet every table had a
number of females among the heaviest bet
tiers against the bank. Several of them
we're young and very beautiful; hut il was
easy to see in their fixed stare at the
cards or the wheel, in the anger with
which they lost and the JOY with which
they won, that modesty and refinement
we're no longer among their accomplish
ments. noted one in particular, dressed
in brown silk, with brown gloves, brown
bonnet, veil, and feather, who handed her
gold coins to the croupier, and in long Sc
ries of wagers never won Napoleon.
When her purse was empty she rose from
her chair took her parasol from the por-
teress at the door, and walked away pale
as ghost But even sadder than such a
sight were the old women gamblers, with
their rheumy eyes, trembling hands, false
hair, and parslytic excitement. Some Of
them belonged to the nobility, and fire.
quent playing had made gambling a sort
OF necessary excitement 10 their declining
years-s fearful preparation for the future,
and terrible lesson 10 their children, il
they had any. One Of these crones had
gained a great pile Of gold, aud as she
dropped the coins into her soiled porte
monnaie, she looked the very picture Of a
fend--all the angel, even all the woman,
lost forever. But the bank wins steadily.
It's rapacious NAV, always open, hungry
insatiate, Is constantly fed by its absorbed
and maddened votaries.