Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-04-01
MONACO.
A Gambling Hell in an Earthly Par
adlse.

A Gambling Hell in an Earthly Par
adlse.
Cor. Boston Herald
MONACO, February ~. - This
naturally barren rock is peculiar in
several respects-peculiar in being
the smallest principality in the Old
World; peculiar in forming a sepa-
rate government, and peculiar in
being at present the only public
gambling place in Europe.
A VARIETY OF GAMBLERS.
In the saloons, fitted up after the
Moorish fashion, an imitation of the
Alhambra, are six or seven tables
devoted to roulette and rouge-et-
noir, or trente-et.un. About these
sit or stand-the nearest sit, and
the outer rows stand-men and
women of divers nationalities, ages
and conditions, all intent upon the
game, whether playing or merely
looking on, though the players, as
may be inferred, are the more ab-
sorbed. If you are inexperienced
you will be struck at first by the
preponderance of old people, having
imagined, probably, that only the
hot blood and mercurial temper of
youth lead to risks on the tapis
vert, as the French call it. There
are young folks here, many of them
demi.mundanes from Paris, bucks
from Plccadilly, Fifth avenue
swells, Beacon street heirs of big
fortunes, Berling students, Aus
trian officers, Italian noblemen, aud
the like; but gray hairs and
wrinkled faces are largely in the
majority.
These, as a rule, are the large
betters, though, now and then, a
venerable hand will lay down a
heavy stake, and watch it eagerly
through glasses astride an eagle
nose. Except occasionally, the bets
are small, ranging usually from five
to twenty francs, many of the gam
blerS playing mainly for amuse-
ment. know some of them, old
folks, who spend hours at the table
the game goes on without inter-
ruption from la.m. to II p.m.-and
yet never hazard more than four
francs at time, generally content
ing themselves with two or three.
They neither lose nor win anything
to speak of. One night they are
behind two or three napoleons, and
the nexC night they are as many
napoleons ahead.
An elderly and wealthy retired
Hamburg merchant told me this
morning that he had been playing
steadily since the lst instant, and
had lost to date only forty-three
francs. He says he plays only to
kill time; that it is mild though
pleasurable excitement, and that he
enjoys il. A French officer Of sew
enty, wounded IN the Crimea, and
on the retired list, informed me last
week laughingly that he had been
here every winter since 1870, and
that he had won, by perseverance
and industry, about two hundred
francs.
An untraveled croutryman of
mine whispered to me, a little while
ago, that it shocked him to see
women gambling. told him that,
when he had been abroad half-a-
dozen times and seen something of
foreign HE, he would cease to think
Innythink of it. Many Americans
seem not to know that theirs is the
only country in which people play
games of chance OF skill merely for
amusement. Even in England
women ncgor think of playing
whist except for money They bet
at least a sixpence a point, and
could not be persuaded to change
their habit. II they shonld have
no stake they would believe the
game devoid of interest. Soft is in
France and Germany, particularly
in Russia, Italy and Spain. Euro
pean women always play foF money,
SO that their gambling at q public
table does not impress an European
as it impreases i eitigep OF the
United States.