The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-21
THE AUG UST MAGAZINES.
Pninnnl,S


for August is unusually good. The opening
article. on "The Homburg Gambling House,"
Ia by Major Joseph Kirkland. Among the
pictures presented is the following of a noted
female gambler
famous player and constant loser Is the
Countess Kisselef. She has been otten descrlOe1'
Every one has heard OF her being wheeled in her
chair to the Kursaal, and sitting st her pIaSe az
tue table from the opening 10 tue ClosinS Vi Cne
play, almost unnterruptedly, seven Gays ea;o
TwsaL durng the9whole season. Fabulous tales
are told regarding her age, Out rom her looks,
she cannot be over ~. besl1es ner pecuiiaT re-
Iations with the late Emperor Nicholas Of Rus
ala DIX the date of her birth as being almost GER
tainly since the beginning of the present CEN
tury. Very large, very bent, very indrm, very
brghteyed and very atiable-such are the chat-
actcristics which now mark the appearance OF
this once wordsmous beauty. Nicholas left her
one hundred thousand forms year. The pre-
sent Emperor has cut down this pension one
half, and on the remainder, say 100000 lin addl-
ton 10 her private fOrtune), the countess
manages, with stIict economy, to live. Ot
course she cannot play very heavily. She ls
said to set aside forty thousand francs year to
lose at play, saying that in her youth aud
beauty she spent more than that sum on dress
and gaiety; and now, that youth and beauty are
gone she must spend her time aud money on
the pleasures which are left her. Gaming, with
her, is not u speculation; 1t Is an occupauon-a
slight excitement, almost uuConnected with
hope and fear In her favor it may be said that
in Russia she is much respected. When she IL
in st. Petersburg the street where she lives Is
blocked with the carriages Of Caers-the best
society, they say.
The manner in which the gambling saloon
is lighted, and the reason for it, is thus set
forth
"Notice now the lighting Of the Kurhaus.
Every room is supplied with great and brilliant
chandeliers, and the whole place is one glitter
of GLASS and gas-enlrauCe halls readlug-rooms,
blhard-rooms, eating aud drinking rooms and
.rOOmC-hut
Over each of these hang two bright lighted and
deeply overs haded oIl-lamps. And thereby
hangs, also tale; as there does by most OF the
characters tics Of this bright.lighted and deep.
shaded, tTagi-tarcial institution. For, once upon
time, when gas alone was used, some enter
prisirg individuals made combination more
elfectual If not more Innocent, than the com
bnatons' of players who have d SYSTEM and
try to break the bank by means Of calculations
priCked on little cards for recording the course
ot the game, SCme OF the consplrdtors, having
obtained access to the metre or stOpcOCk, turned
of the gas. Instantly all vas darkness, upr)ar,
and confusion about the tables. Tue various
games OF hazard we're resolved into one general
game Of grab, aud the company LOST many thou
sands OF horlns.N
The manner of playing is thus described:-
Nothing could be more evident than the
per eCt fairness of the play on the part OF the
bank. 1t retains, coniessediy, certain chances
in ITS favor For Instance, at the roulette there
are thirty seven squares. II you stake money
on either square, and the bail rolls i1to that
thirty seven times your stake, but thirty-siX-
the difference being the percentage of the
bank, say one in thirty seven, or about two and
two.thirdS per cPut. Crbe most seductive reasO-
ing by which one can justify to himself the
stalking OF small sums is the consideration
that phlOsop hicaliy speaking, one can as well
afford to risk dollar as to give away
or throw away three cents.) 1t is physically
imposs bic that there should be any deception.
Tne ball rolls IN one direction round the interior
of a kind of no 81. its centrtula action sustain
iUrI 4 fDV q tly Tp n
table OF thirty-seven cells which forms the
bottom of the bowl. In the meantime this
thlrty-seven celled table is set revolving in the
opposite direction; and, finally, YOU can make
your bet after the ball and table have been set
i'll motion. In Ike manner at the trente-at-
quaraDte table, the cards, SIX packs together,
are shuttled by the crOupers, but they are cut by
Cne of the public; then are dealt into two lines,
enough to count some number between thirty
one and forty (the face cards counting ten each,
and the spots according to their number) by
the "tailleur,o whose eyes are bent on his cards
as be deals them, and not on the stakes which
have been made. But even ii he saw all the
bets, he could not control the series in which
the cards are total from his hands, nor has he
any interest in doing so. And finally, If he sa
the bets, if he had ample opportuuity to ''stock
the cards. before every hand, and 1t he were u
receive all the winnings it would take NOR
than the adroitness OF Mephistopheles him elf
10 arrange the play SO as 70 be against the public
aud in favor of the bank to any greater extent
than is expressed in the well-knoWn and un
disguised percentage"
neat trick of one of the bankers, and the
manner in which it was detected, runs as
follows
Another croupier was a very fat man. He
seemed to suffer good deal with heat, and had
a habit OF mopplng his glowing face, and slip
ping his fingers inside his collar to loosen ii from
his throat. Ali these phenomena were quite ma
tuTal, and would have excited no remark except
for peculiar circumstance. Why should the
contact or impact of his linen with his skin
produce chinkng sound? We have all heard
OF ''sweaing gOld,n but it is supposed
TO be quite different process from any which
could be going on under the cravat of that
Croupier, al lhough the sound was similar. To
settle this interesting question in physics or
acoustics III. Croupler was invited to step into
private room and dIsiobe when he turned out
a shower of gold. He had slipped gold piece
inside his neckcloth each time he had raised
his hand thereto, and had his zeal not outrun
his discretion, he might have carried on his
very profitable 'cornering' operation to this day.
The crouplers now are required to keep their
hands before them on the table. If one so much
as drops his into his lap, he is at once
admonlshed OF the irregularity bC q tap on the
shoulder from one OF the ever-watchful officials
IN plain clothes always standing about. What
Ola the administration in each of these cases,
90 10 their un noro6taSe servant? They took
from MIN all he had sequestrated that day aud
1hen-dlscharged hIml No prosecution, no
NOISE, no disturbance; that is one of the COM
pany's wise principles of action. More espeel-
ally IN the management of The salons de jelt is il
their motto TO allow anything, rather than an
eSC'GHdTe In fact the loss resulting from a'fe v
minutes interruption OF play, at any table in
full operation would be greater than that to be
sustained from the payment OF any demand,
however unreasonable"