Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-08-03

be remembered that the proportion
who have made money is about one
In ten-there is another class that
have taken up with a gambling
excitement that is quite as exciting
and, on the whole about as profita.
BILE as that of the stock market.
These are the lottery and policy
players. They are more numerous
than is generally supposed. The
main lottery is the Havana, and to
this thousands Of women flock at
almost every drawing. A Wall
street ticket seller who has been
selling tickets for many years says
that women are among his best
customers. Gas a general thing"
he says, "they are guided by
dreams or by superstitions. Some
times, however, q woman comes in
to buy a ticket and takes the top Of
the heap. Generally, however, the
question will be: Have you got
such or such a number?' II l say
mo, the woman walks out to find
her number at another agency, but
generally l manage to show her
something else to interest her.
Women have the most absurd
dreams and superstitions. You
have heard, | suppose, that Queen
Isabella and certain grandees oI
her court take Nos. l, 2, 3, 4 and
of the Havana lottery, and have
been doing so for many years.
Well, | guess / have twenty appli-
cations from women for those very
numbers. They are not big prize
drawers, as you know, and yet wo.
men dream OF them and want tc
buy them. Women of high society
come down here often, leaving
their carriagein Broadway, and buy
tickets. No amount Of loss will
wean them from their fancy. They
want quick fortune and are will
ing to risk any money to secure it
When they dream of numbers w
have to look through our whole
stock to accommodate them. AL
! gethor, however, they are good Gus
toners. They are more trouble
however, than men, for the latte
generally take the top ticket anC
trust to luck. We once paid wo
man $4,000 on a fortieth of a tick
ct, which cost her 81. She was
laundress In Troy. Since then sh
has been a constant patron of tn
lottery, but it is not recorded tina
she won a second prize. We hav
had several prizes drawn by wome
since, but none SO large as tina
drawn by the laundress."
But the majority of women VIII
have the gambling instinct pla
policy. This is the simplest au
easiest of all games, and it is tn
same whether they bet one way 0
the other. Generally they hav
J dreams that regulate their play, bu
there are large numbers who pla
Independently Of dreams or omeni
! and reduce the drawings to wha
they deem a science. They arc lk
the infatuated gamblers who used {
have what they called "martingales
on the rouge ct noir game. The
! think they can "call a turn" nov
and then, and depend upon the odd
offered them to mako good a
losses. They play from two cent
up TO one dollar at a play, but it
= seldom indeed that a woman rur
into extravaganza in policy. No
. and then a woman with NOR
money than brains makes a play
} four or five dollars, but this haI
) pens very seldom. "Sealed plays,
| that involve sometimes $i0O {
1900, are invariably made by mel
In faro and keno women hay
seldom made an appearance, a
| though in 1870 there was a far
game on Houston street, and al
, other on Twenty-third street 9TH
latter for the upper ten) devoted
their service. A woman's game
keno started in 1871 perisho
| speedily, The women players wei
] not philosophical enough to tax
| their losses quietly, and so thel
D was constant uproar in the house