Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-08-15
The Wickedest Town In America.

/ have seen wicked cities in my
time. Ibaye been spreeing at the
Esler in St. Petersburg, seen fellows
''make a night fit" in the Orpheum
IL Berlin, seen the wickedness at Niji-
nj Noverod during the September fair,
seen the Mobile packed with deprav-
ity when the empire was at its meridi.
an, but never expected to see hell.
| sauntered out on the streets of Chey~
enne at midnight. Fifty saloons and
a dozen licensed gambling houses line
the principal street, all thronged and
and gaily illuminated till the morning
sun puts out the lights. n
What makes Cheyenne the wicked
est city in the world?
/. Cheyenne is the metropolis
where the rich owners and the buck
skin clad drivers of FIVE million dollars
worth Of cattle collect for a weekly
spree.
2 1t IS the nearest point where the
Black Killers can sell their gold dust
andnuggets and then gamble and spree
away the proceeds $50 as to go back
to the mines.
8. 1t is the point to which all the
Indian fighting army officers come as
the place where they can spree away a
hundred dollars in night and make
up lost time OH the Big Horn.
4. 1t is the stopping place for all
swell demimonde from San Francisco,
St, Louis aud Chicago. In word,
is the American paradise for drinking
fighting. gambling.
Walk With me into one licensed
house on the principal street in Chey-
enre at o'clock in the morning. The
house is medley 1t is a Partisan
Varieties on Sixteenth street, John
Morr;ssey's Saratoga gambling house,
the Argyle rooms on Sixth avenue
and the Alhambra, with the waiter
girlsia London, all crowded ioto one.
The building is perhaps 50 by $50 feet
and two stories high.
On the ground floor is a theater
stage room for three hundred COW
boys, soldiers, ranchmen and waiter
girls, and just out of it are the gam.
bling tables and bars. Al the tables
every known game is played. Among
the dealers are several French women
dressed in silk and diamonds. Utterly
devoid Of delicacy they shuttle and
deal the cards and handle the chips
for the swearing drinking crowd which
throng around the tables.
On the stage there is a constant va
iety of shows going on. Skilful variety
actors are employed, and there tight
rope walkers, the song and dance wo-
men in tights, the low-necked ballad
singer, the clog dancer, the negro min
strel. the model artist, and the female
bathers, come cut in a continuous
stream from ten at night till morn
ing.
On the first ioor every drink is .
nts,and about thirty English, Fren'h
and American waiter girls keep the
crowd constantly drinking. Above
this motley crowd Of cow boys, ranch
men, Black Hills freigbters, miners,
and soldiers, is row of private boxes
filled with rich ranchmen, officers, tour
lists, and fellows who have come down
with gold dust from the Black Hills.
These boxes all communicate with the
stage. Twenty or thirty waiter girls
supply the boxes with champagne,
the price Of which is S. for pint bot
ties. All drinks in the boxes are SO
cents. 1t is a common thing for
man after selling thousand cattles to
come here and spend a thousand
dollars on a spree. A Colonel in the
army who had been fighting up in the
Big Horn country came in the other
evening and spent $1,000 and finally
left his watch on the red, and lost that
toe. The proprietor of this gambling
and variety saloon is a very generous
man. Every likes him, and he
is considered good citizen in Chey-
eune. Clergymeu shake him by the
hand. and bankers chum with him like
an old schoolnate. The profits in the
one building are $1,000 per day |
suppose there are dozen houses on
one block where gambling goes on
day and night with open doors.
Some times the marshall and police
take hand. The Judge goes out
aud ''bucks the tiger while the jury
are agreeing on a verdict. You will
see Colonies in the army standing by
private soildiers,and COW boys in bucks
skin dividing chips with a Cheyenne
Indion-ail 10 the most enterprising
border towu in Americas and tn, wlck~
eldest city in the world.
To>morrow Ton off for the Black
Hills. Ell PERKINS.
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