St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-04-03
The Gambling Houses ,Of NeW
York.

New York is full of these dens, ther,
being hardly street that has not som,
kind of gambling crib in it, The To-
cality, however, generally regulates tn,
game. For instance the Bowery anc
Chatham street present on large scale
the games of sweat and chuck-a-luck
The former is played by betting on card.
called 4 spread, the winner being the
party who'throws the dice to match the
cards. The other is purely a game OF
dice, the winner being the person who
throws the highest number in three
throws. They are both what are called
by gamblers, dead beat games," rs load
ed dice are often used for the pur pose.
Howard, and some of the side streets,
are where the game of Try your luck
is played, This consists of Il large leath-
er cloth filled with numbers which are
marked to pay from = to $500 to the
man who throws the number with dice
that he bets upon. The more unlikely
he is to hit the number the higher rate it
pays, and the chances have been so well
calculated by the owners of these tables
that they offer with impunity as an in
ducement for men TO TRY their luck, 3"
( the most eXOrbItant rates. These houses
are generally very poorly furnished, and
the refreshments to be found in them
abominable. The patrons of them also
the lowest and poorest grades Of gamb-
lers, as any stake is received, from Il
penny upward.
Broadway, Fifteenth, Twenty-fourth
and Twenty-seventh streets contain the
fashionable hells Of the city, and the
places where fraudulent clerks ''most do
congregate" to spend the money that is
not theirs. Most of these places are
gorgeously fitted up, and the suppers,
which are served at eleven o'clock =. NJ,
are not to be surpassed by our best ho-
tells. The games played in these places
are generally faro and roulette, though
III some OF them the games of rouge-ct-
nulr and yingt-ct-une are PLAYED. and
when business is dull in this line ''short
cards, Is they are termed. such as pok-
er, sevcn-up. and cribbagc are resorted to
/
most of these ''tirst-cla>s' places, it re-
quircS one 10 be well known before he Is
allowed the cRtree of the saloon, and ii Is
Il miserable fact that more than one
youny man who Is in the habit OF visiting
these places, considers himself highly ia
vCred, il lac be on a familiar footing with
the proprietor. In most of the first class
saloons. all that can dcli.ht the eve and
tire the Imagination. l. to bc found. The
game CT faro is not only injurious to
purse and reputation. but also to mind.
The writer of this article remembers TO
have once heard veteran faro PLAYER
say, that after an hours hard play. he
WAS SO exhausted in mind and body. that
it required several hours of rest TO fully
recuperate him.
/ Men who make living by this busi-
ness rarely ever play over thirty minutes
at one sitting, though they may play
several times during the night. The
large games on Broadway have their
checks ranging from ) 10 $50. with a
limit for betting of from 500 To 5000,
though, with few exceptions, the limit is
rarely ever bet. Gambling differs in
this country from the European houses
in this rcSpect-that there the limit suits
the player and not the proprietor; nor
are ladies allowed in American saloons
The largest winning at a single sitting
we have heard of in New y ork was Slo,-
600, won by Il prominent politician OF
this city, but he continued TO try his luck
and ut the end of the week he was $40,
600 ahead of the bank There Is also
an instance of prominent merchant in
this city, who, in the course of a year,
was declared winner OF one bank TO the
extent of 100000. These cases are
exceptions. however, and the nightly
average OF the largcst players will not
exceed, in winning or losing, $500.
Gambling saloons since the war have i'll
creased in New York to an alarming ex-
tent, and though descents by police are
often made, especially ON the small ones,
the evil does not seem in the least to
abate. IdrtrtScr.