Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1873-01-03
getecteh Miseeuasul;glJ,.' sl;lJ, :
The Good Old Days.

The Good Old Days. '
Gambling I'm Washington Thirty Years
Ago-the Weakness and FOibles
of Great Men. -.., .sr ..:t
The "Old Stager" gives us, in Har-
per's for December, some very agreea-
BILE gossip about the great men who
figured in Washington when he was a
boy:
''Washington for many years had
been a hot-bed for gamblers of high
and low degree. There were a dozen
faro-banks on the avenue, within a
stones throw of Gadsby's on the cor
ner of Sixth street. Many of these
establishments had club-rooms attach
led, where members Of Congress and
others amused themselves with brag,
vingt-et-un and whist. Draw-poker
came into vogue at later day. Gambl-
ing, and for large sums, was common,
PARTICULAR y among Southern and West
ern members. Scores of them from O.
hio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and
the Gulf States squandered their mod
est per diem-then eight dollars only
at the gaming table, and some i'm
paired their private fortunes by the
same indulgence. S. S. aPrentiss was
reported to have lost thirty thousand
dollars the first winter he was in Con-
gress. - ; g:i3,ss'
"The most notorious and, -dashing
gambler of the day was Edward PEN
dleton. He came from Virginia, where
he was well connected, his family be-
ing of the best blood in the State, and
he married most respectable and ac-
complished lady, whose father held a
responsible office under the Govern
ment. Pendleton gave sumptuous en-
tertainments at his clubhouse, which
were we'll attended by some of the most
eminent public men in the District.
Mr.. Mangum, then President of the
Senate, John j. Crittenden, John NE.
Bolts, John B. Thomson, Of Kentucky,
and Lynn Boyd, afterward Speaker of
the House; and others of lesser note,
were frequently his guests. Congress
had enacted stringent penal laws to
prevent gambling, but they werea dead
letter, unless some poor devil made a
complaint of foul play, or some feeced
blackleg sought vengeance through
the aid of the Grand Jury, and then
the matter was usually compounded
by the payments of the money. 7a-r
"Whist was favorite game with the
| foreign ministers and the elder STATES
men. Mr.. Clay, General Scott, Mr..
Bodisco and Mr.. Fox-nephew Of
Charles James Fox-who represented
William the Fourth and Queen Victo-
ria often played together, a hundred
dollars being the usual stake They
generally played we'll, as Hoyle taught
the game; but many of the members
Of the fashionable clubs of New York
play with more skill than was dreamed
of forty years ago. Governor Marcy
was great lover of whist, but he would
never bet money on the game. There
were always inyeterate minister's in the
Senate. A story was current at one
time ola protracted sitting at the card
table, at which Governor Stokes of
North Carolina, and Mountoy Bailey,
Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, were
two Of the players. 1t ran in this
wise: The Senate adjourned from
Thursday over to Monday. The party
sat down to cards after dinner Thurs
day evening. They played all night
and all the next day, only stopping oc-
casionally for refreshments. The game
was continued Friday night, Saturday,
through Saturday night and all day
Sunday and Sunday night, the players
resting for snatch of sleep as nature
became exhausted. Monday morning
the game was in full blast, but at 10
o'clock Bailey moved an adjournment,
alleging that his official duties requir-
ed his presence in the Senate chamber.
Stokes demonstrated, but the Sergeant
alarms persisted, and rose from the
table. The Governor grumbled and
scolded, but finally gave it up, swear
ing that if he had suspected Bailey
would break up the game thus prema-
turely he would have seen him-any-
where before he would have invited
him to join the party. ..rara ell :.
"Mr. Webster played whist, but in
different only. The Virginians-wer
addicted to that stupid game known
as shoemaker loo. President Tyler
was fond of loo, and on a rainy day,
when there was no great pressure of
public business, he has been konwn to
make up a game at the White House,
and play all day, having dinner in his
chamber. His companions usually
were William Selden, Treasurer of the
United States; Carey Selden,t his
brother, storekeeper at the Navy Yard,
and sometimes Governor Gilmor, of
Virginia, with now and then another
favorite. The amount played for was
always small, but Mr.. Tyler. was as
much delighted at taking pool as if he
had won hundreds. '-'.''' =
"Public opinion was not so averse to
gaming in Washington as in most of
the Northern cities. Probably the
tone Of public morals is no more ele-
lvated now than it was then, but there