Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-08-06

with the numbered sections is NOV
ing. The marble spins rapidly,
with asharp occasional click against
the hard wood fer several seconds
before it stops. Meanwhile gam
blers are placing their money, or
ivory chips representing money, on
the numbers. The ball finally loses
its impetus, drops down the side of
the basin to the openings of the
little portions, and after an omi-
nous rat-tat or two, betting ceases,
the ball and wheel stop, and the
keeper cries out in a monotone,
"Thirty-six, red, or "Thirty-fve,
black" or whatever the number
may be.
Play is becoming a little dull
when a ruddy-cheeked horseman,
whose stable costs him about $780,
900 per annum, takes a seat at the
table and tosses 500 to the game.
keeper with the remark =" White
chips" A hundred ivory chips
about the size of silver dollars are
pushed over the smooth table to-
ward him, and he begins by placing
fifty on the red, the black color
having won in the previous whirl.
The ball flies around, the ominous
clicks are heard, and the game
keeper calls twenty-four red"
The horsemsn continues to bet
freely, winning on an average two
out Of three bets, until his pile has
grown TO $4,000. Then cashing in
his checks, he walks over to the
lair of the tiger, and after hot
fight Of an hour leaves the $4,000
in the tigers rapacious NAV, the
judicial dealer taking it as coolly as
though it were a legal fee.
The horseman's seat at the rou-
lette table was taken by a quiet,
keen, black-whiskered man who
resembled Jay Gould. He rapidly
piled up large quantity of chips,
but his luck soon turned. The
olive complexioued young man
swept his stakes from the board,
and Jay Gould's counterpart left
the table looking as though he were
Erie-trievably ruined.
The next victim to take the seat
was a heavily built man from Can
ada. He took a sic note from
among a few in his pocketbook, and
pushed the book back in his pocket
with yigor, as if be intended it to
remain there. The $40 note melted
away in few minutes, another fol-
lowed it, until finally, all that re-
mained to him was a dollar bill.
This he crumpled up and placed on
the double 0; the ball whirled, soon
stopped with a click, and the game
keeper called "thirty-one, black"
The Canadian turned on his heel,
and if the velvet carpet had been
old and rotten he would have
ground a hole in it.
And so the games went on, nine
out of ten losing. There was one
case of astonishing luck. A Young
fellow, SAID to be a bookkeeper from
New York, bought So worth OF
chips at the dice table. Placing
one on number eighteen, three sizes
were thrown. He had won $3.50 on
his first bet. He kept on playing,
placing the dice himself in the large
wooden cup, shaped like an hour
glass. Instead of the sands of time
dropping down, the sinewS of life
ran out Of it until the young man
had only a few dollars remaining.
He left the dice table, and going
over to the roulette game placed a
dollar on the thirty-fve black. As
in the dice game, it was the first bet
of the kind he had ever made, and
he won again, receiving $50 for one.
He kept on playing until he had
piled up about 800, when he de-
parted, probably only to return the
next night, like moth to the can
die,
Play Is very dull here compared
with the former times. 1t is only
after q big race day that the rooms
are at all lively,
An old sport said yesterday he
had been around to all the water
ing. places. They we're all dull,
and the only place whore he saw
any money being spent for wine
even was at Coney Island. w.
HOW THE WlLLARDS STARTED.
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