The Worthington advance., 1881-09-01
JOHN MORRISSEY'S SUCCESSOR.

SVuN MVh6ASSEI>S SUCCESSVh.
Description Of tho Greatest Gambling He'll
Ia Amorica-A Picture OF = Night In the
Club House.
From tho st. Louis Republican.
The successor of John Iolrissey at
Saratoga is Charles Reed. q brawny six.
footer, with full beard, heavy overtopping
fore-locks and broad shoulders. .Although
now the gayest of sports, he was once under
the sentence Of death in New Orleans for
having shot Union soldier. Ben Butler
was in favor of hanging him, bot Gen.
Banks pardoned him. The club house op-
posite the Cong1ess park is the most un-
blushing gambling hell in America, made
into . gilded palace of sin. The house is
Of brick. with an ornamental front and an
l. extension, where pools were formally
sold, and where bar Is now kept. The
flower garden at the corner has fountain
casting spray over beds of ferns, palms
and foliage plants. There il a lawn on the
opposite side of the house, in the centre of
which is cistern containing live trout.
Upon the cross street there are several cot
tages for the use of the male friends of the
proprietor. Reed has small army of men
in his employ, and he keeps them all be-
meath the roof of his club house, SO that
vhen he wants them he knows where to
find them. He makes himself factor in
the politics of Saratoga, 10 that he is not
disturbed. Gov. CorAeWs proclamation
against gambling houses has had no pre-.
ceptible effect here.
"How is it." asked of an old resident.
that in New York gambling must be con-
Quoted SO secretly, while here, where the
same law is in force, it is almost paraded?"
Just because, he said, public opinion
tolerates it here. Reeds club aouse is one
of Saratoga's institutions. It brings many
people here who otherwise would not come,
and it brings money TO the town."
If one does not know the side entrance
which leads into the club house, he can en-
te: by ringing the front door-bell. A ne
gro opens the door, does not say word,
and if the visitor will put on look for a
moment conveying the idea that he knows
where he is going to, he is admitted into 4
grand hall, richly carpeted. There is a
restaurant there, where the best cooking in
Saratoga may be had. To the left is a
reading-loom with high ceiling, massive
glass chandeliers, big tables and easy fur
niture. The interior woodwork is all of
polished walnut, but 4e walls are rs yet
bare and are staring white. The great
gambling room is on the right. It is bril-
liantly lighted and richly furnished, ard
the air is filed with excitement which ut
once has seductive effect upon the innate
spirit of gambling in every man. Rich ta-
bles around the room have each "lay out"
for a different game. The tables are splen-
did pieces of mechanism. They are cover
ed with billiard cloth and are richly inlaid
At each table sits q dealer employed by
the house. One old man attracted
my attention. His hair and long, full beard
we're as white as snow. He eeemed to be
all of his long life in the nefarious business,
and he had cold and Hinty look and man
ner. He was alone behind q table, 1attling
dice in box and exclaiming to himself over
the good luck of his throws. No one seemed
to care to play his game, but as the loungers
passed he ratified the dice, threw them and
chuckled. The bait, however, did not catch.
The reason was because all attention was
rivited upon two games. One Was faro. A
middle aged man with that chastity CON-
plcxion men who work their brains at night
get, sat as dealer. A silver plated box, the
size Of pack of cards with strong spring
in the bottom, was before him. The ~lay
out was of cards of ivory, set into the bill
lard cloth. A half dozen men sat around
the table. Some had charts keeping tally
of the game to get at the ''habit' of the
cards, and also to keep a run of tie cards
at each deal. Each player had pile of
ivory buttons. called chips, before" him,
and he placed these upon different cards
about the table. As the dealer slipped ont
a card, the one that appeared determined
the fate of players. II the house won the
dealer would rake in the chips, and if the
player won he would place a chip on the
one that was upon the winning card.
There was not word uttered at the game.
No one expressed surprise, satisfaction OF
regret. A young man at the end of the
table, scarce twenty one, who seemed to
have fallen heir to an estate, was playing
recklessly and twitched nervouslyas he sup
piled the chips that were raked of. A seedy-
looking man about thirty who seemed to
have ''bucked the tiger for the worse, los
It was taken by an old man with severe
and took q pile of chips. He waited for a
on the board. He raked in five dollars. Hc
played cautiously and in about ten minutes
he handed in $35 worth of chips for whic
he got cash. Then he stepped away. The
dealer paid for the chips from bank book
filled with bank notes and impassively
handed out the money, made pencil mem-
of the amount and went on with
the deal. The seedy-looking man had
raised IS somewhere and he handed it in
for more chips. In about five minutes
these were all 1aked off and heavinga deep
sigh he arose, and wiping bis brow with
his hand, went out in the cool nightair.
do gamblers consider this fair
game?" I asked a player at my elbow.
1.-The deal is fair" he said; but the
house makes its money on the split cards.
That is, if you bet on the ace and two aces
come together in the pack the house gets
half of your money. If you watch the
dealer yon will see that he takes up the
cards once in while and shuffles them.
He understands how to bring the cards to-
gether SO that they split or will come out
two alike"
The game that attracted most attention,
however, was rogue ct NOR, more com
monty called roulette. About 800 men
were packed like, sardenes around a long
table, in the center of which there was
revolving wheel, at the bottom of hole
shaped like a dish-pan. This wheel is
filled with alternate slots, colored red and
black, and numbered as high as 36. Squares
of black and red of corresponding numbers
are laid out upon the table to the right and
left of the wheel. The dealer throws a
marble in an opposite direction. to which
the wheel is revolving, and the players
place their chips abont upon the black or
the red, whichever they play to win. The
ball runs around the surface of the sloping
side of the wheel for about a minute aud a
half and then drops INTO one of the slots.
If black, black wins, aud the player who
has his chips upon-say No. 80
black-gets so times the amount
he has played. The dealer
sweeps in all the remaining chips upon
the cloth. While much money is won by
the winner the chances in his favor are
small. The game is now all the rage. Ev-
erybody discusses. it, and nearly everyone
who goes to the club house plays it. There
were: beardless boys, certainly not out of
their teens, who were playing alongside of
old men. saw familiar face It one end
of the table. It was that of speculator
who is not known to fame, but who is in
fact, one of the shrewdest operators in Wall
street, having made over million dollars
by coreful speculation there. He was play
ing with the same care Mt Roulette, and
seemed to be winner. Tom Ochiltree-
who is it that hasn't heard of him and
his stories-said that there was Jew out