Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-06-26
DESPERATE GAMBLING.


" ~ Paris Cor. Spirit Of the Times.
d Anyone wishing to realize what hol
4 gambling has taken upon the French
should look in at the Cercle de ID Pross
towards six o'clock in the evening, q
: hour before dinner, when the carriage
y are returning from the B0is, and ca
:. : absinthe-sippers at the Boulevard cafe
; are moving away. The baccarat-foon
of the fashionable club is crowded, ant
: the table Is covered with counters, o
values ranging between q louis and .
thousand francs, which every minut,
change hants. It Is curious to obsery,
the dexterity Of the crompser, who, armed
with long lath, sits opposite the bank
er, to sweep in or pay out according Il
the coap, with one stroke Of his " Hap,
per-" as young American friend oi
mine rather aptly denominated the I'M
strument the other day, be carelessly
passes the high-priced checks about,
never making the slightest mistake,
however, and always right in his light.
ming calculations. The cvospiers are the
men who, apart of course from the pro.
prietors Of the gambling clubs, realize
the largest profits by the game. They
have many ways of making money. In
the first placo, any one having q lucky
bank or two, will generally toss them
over bonus of q few louis Then,
again, the unfoftunates who get "dead
broke" during the game, and, like ell
card-players. devoured by the hideous
fever of gambling, would sell their souls
for more money to lose, are always glad
to negotiate loans at most lucrative
rate of interest. s 84gjgi sa
A little episode which I witnessed Q
few days ago at one of the boulevard
clubs will give an idea of the facility
with which the cvoapiess annass coin. One
of the heavies. players of the house had
brought a large sum, twenty sOr thirty
thousand francs, with him, and had lest
it in . few banks He borrowed five
Thousand more from /" Theodore who il
always similarly ebliging.to persons be
can trust, and tried hs luck again. IT.
ia superstition with some gamblers that
lent money brings luck, and in this case
the adage turned out to be true. The
fve Thousand francs were soon multi
piled tenfold. The negotiator Of the
loan was 20 delighted with this unex-
pected turn of fortune that in restitut-
ing Theodore his funds he presented
him with \ present of ten louis. Two
hundred francs interest for the use of
Eve thousand during an hour is q lucra- 4
tive operation if frequently undertaken,
and as nearly every day in the week the !
croupiers in the principal clubs do such |
little strokes of business, it will easily !
be seen that at the end of the year their /
profits amount to very high figure.
The frequenters Of clubs are always
amused to see the croapiers turn out at |
the races on Sundays in dazzling array,
and bet their 'tponies" and "fifties''
with the best. Tie life OF these worthios
is q very fatiguing one, for they rarely
are able to knock. off before the small
hours of morning, and very often are
still monotonously drawling, Faites |
votre .jeu, nsessieurs, reins ne "a plus," |" and
manipulating their "fiapper" with the
usual dexterity, at 8 or 10 O'Clock the
next day; 80 they rarely work very hard
for their gains.
The Paris clubs are 4 world In them
selves, and . very curious one, too,
though any one who has gone the round
of these establishments, short of being IN |
inveterate gambler himself, cannot help |
regretting they should be allowed TO-
flourish and afford facilities for ruin to
thousands Of people who would other
wise have kept clear Of gambling. Bac-
carat is such q terribly fascinating game
that once one has fallen under its charm
the odds are that he will remain q slave
to it thereafter. There are thousands Of
men in Paris, men of moderate incomes
and medium standing in society (not to
mention the members of the upper ten
thousand who have = fatal passion for
the gane), who waste their means and
their lives ct the board OF green cloth.
They all see and know how strongly the
chances are against their winning, 1
and yet they are constantly led aleng -
the hope Of striking some great oetp.
Dozens Of stories circulate among the
habitues Of the clubs of gFeat gains
made under peculiar circumstances All
the baccarat players in Paris are talking
of case in point which lately occurred.
Some six months ago, one of the most
destitute Of the many poverty STRICKEN
players, who, after having lost all they
could get at baecarat, still carry every
louis they can raise to the tsb5s, hap-
pened to have : run of sxtzaordinafy
tuck one night winning with Afty francs
more than 1900. The following day, Of
course, heresumed pity una larger scale
than before, and instead ofloaihg back his
gains, a. in the case nine timss out Of tens
fortune remained with him, and he won
large sum. He then launched out into
heavy play, and for months was con
stantly luck, playing an immense game,
and never meeting with any reverse.