Richland beacon., 1873-09-27
BUNKO.
THE BOLD ROBBERS OF ST. CHARLES STREET


1t is standing reproach to our city that We
permit visitors and strangers to be plundered
and robbed by an organized band of thieves
who plyther vile avocatons, not under the
cover of night, not secretly and with caution,
but in the open day. in the very teeth of the
police, and to their Shame be it said, with
their connivance.
his Is Startling statement, but il is entirely
true. 1t is notorious that the thieves who fire.
qusnt ST: Charles street, mostly, are the most
daring and successful robbers in the world.
Their impudenc is brazen, and they do not
hesitate to enter our hotels and toll out gen.
iiemen, under plausible pretexts, TO their ruin.
1t is quite impossible to guess how many
thousands of dollars were stolen from our
guests last year, but the amount was enormous,
and we may well believe that every man
who was robbed will never again trust him
self in New Orleans. The means employed
by the brigands are Of so insinuating char
acter, so plausible, that even ci,y-bred men
have been imposed upon and flseced. Such
instances, however, are rare, and perhaps
man born and reared in the city, who per-
mits himself to be swindled by these specious
rogues, deserves but little sympathy but the
gentlemen from the rural districts, who come
here trusting in the honesty of our people, and
who expect to be protected by the police from
robbers. are easily deceived, and in some in.
stances have been mulcted of their last cent
by the sharpers who run their Bunko games
within stones throw ofour principal hotels.
We assert, without fear of contradiction,
that these things could not be without the
sanction or connivance Of the Police Board,
and We ask the people of New Orleans to-day
whether they are willing to see their visitors
and customers driven away by the inaction
ofthe police in sLppressing class of gamblers
who are detested even by the more decent
members of their own profession.
New Orleans, through the practices Of these
"bnnko robbers" has gained an evil name
abroad, and numbers Of people in Texas and
other adjoining States have declared that they
will not come to a city where there is abso-
lutely no protection against thieves of the
character mentioned.
These bunko men are we'll known, they
faunt their diamonds and fine clothes in the
very face Of honest men, and openly defy the
policemen. Their dens are well known, not
only to the police but to the public, and it is
well known also that one has just opened on
mon, ready for the winters harvest
We demand in the name of decency that
these vile haunts be broken up and the men
who run them be sent out of the city or to the
workhouse. 1t is idle for the Police
Boord TO pretend ignorance of facts that are
palpable and we warn them now that if they
do not protect our own visitors from these
shameless and bold operators, that we shall
hold them up as being particeps crinlinis.
We pay, Heaven knows, money enoegh to
support the Metropolitan army, and we insist
that they shall perform some service for the
money.
The patrolmen, of course, dare. not move
without orders from headquarters it would
be more than their stars were worth; and we
do not expect them TO move until the present
tacit understanding, if not positive orders, be
done away with.
1.-THE Police Board will not move in this
matter we shall seriously advise Vigilance
Committee to rid the community of class of
robbers more bold and defiant than Murrelrs
gang, or Italian brigands-TN. o. Herald.