Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-07-15
GAMBLING BY THE SEA.
Tigers Magnificent Lair At Long
Branch and His COmbaIauts.

Cincinnati Enquirer: Before l went 10
bad l dropped into the Pennsylvania Club
House, within a few rods of the West
Eod Hotel, which is the newest and COM
pletest gambling establishment in this coun-
try. 1t was originally Chamberlsin's cot
tsge, but the present proprietor, Phil Daily,
of Philadelphia, made q large addition TO il
during the past spring, and there is now a
gambling saloon 100 feet long communi-
eating with the main buildin which is a
restaurant and semi-hotel. You enter through
a gate under beautiful lamps, and, seeing
nobody, walk rights up The steps of this large
frame cottage, and find facing you q cigar
stand; cigars are twenty-five cents, bat oil
very best quality. Then you pass 10 the
the right through a sort of drinking room,
and you see on your left the cut
glass and snowy napkins OF the res
tsurant, and parting a curtain you com
right into the sale de joie. 1t is really 3
beautiful room, hardly TO be matched ou'-
side of a palace. There are two octsgonal
saloons under domes connected by a long
corridor, the whole pa nted and Vanished in
the same general style.
Magnificent chandeliers, all excessive with
light, give the splendor of day TO this Don
The carpet seems TO be m ide in waves Of
dark red and is of the finest quality. n
the corridor are most sumptuous ch airs and
divans of silk, and in the niches and a'cove'
are large birds and aquatic and marsh EN-
blems. The gambling is going On as quietly
SIS if some problem in geometry was beipe
solved by four or Eve different ~classeP, escf
around its table. There are two games o
roulette going on at opposite aides OF thu
room; faro is being deslt at one place, ane
some other game not much attended TO is il
a fourth corner. Around the tables ar
plentiful chairs, and at each table are two Of
three professionals working the game.
The chief interest is concentrated arount
Mr.. Woertshoffer, the celebr ated broker ant
Wall street operator, who has held the hrs
rank for several years in this country as
sagacious and strong man. He came her
from Germany, and has a countenance some
what aristocratic, yet shrewd. Before hin
are stacked up piles of ivory chips. the whit
ones representing 81, and the gray ones -
$40, $40, or more, each. He seems 10 play II
a cert ain Systematic way on one of the line
| of the roulette figures rather than upou III
| spot or group. He is here slmost ever.
/ night, / am told, and wins or loses abou
| $1,000. Strange as the remark may seem I,
you, 1 have no doubt this occupation is a re
lief to his mind after his days labor in tn
city, just as children get out OF &C DOL an
take 10 toys. To a man of that kind a 500
gaming in the evening is about the same a
a penny-ante poker game in private families
At roulette one man turns the ball and
man al each side of him pays the players Q
racks up the chips for the bank. l suppos
that one the night OF the Sd of July ther
were thirty 10 fifty persons at one time play
ing in this saloon.
Dsily is a large man, showing the signs c
time. He is about forty-eight or fifty year
1 ola Hia partpar Charles Walsh of Ne,
York, is in the neighborhood Of seventy; hs
white hair snd keen hsz.l eyes, and is one q
the best posted men in New York on ever
thing. l asked Mr.. Walsh about the pei
centages, etc. He said that there would b
no more advantage in a well-kpown gam
playhouse of that kline cheating than in
well-known jewelry store selling false dis
monds.
Said he: aWe have a frst-rate percsntag
here; it amounts to about five and q hsl
per cent. in roulette, and perhaps four pc
cent. in faro, although the latter has neve
been exactly computed. Roulette suits 10
Americans better now than faro, because In
decisions are 60 quickly come to. The bal
is but a minute spinning, and If you hav
quick, prompt assistants, hey will pay tn
checks and settle the board in half a minut
and start the battle sgain. Consequently "
are getting our percentage all the time, or .
long as they will play. Some of the oil
stsgers etick 10 faro; but it is a duller gam
for the modern generation"
Said L: "How much did this addition I
your clubhouse cost?"
"Daily says it cost $4,000. He dssigne
to spend about S12, 200, but the artist he ha
here produced such foe effects thst b
thought it as well 10 go on and do it vel
You see" said he, "L3ng Branch 10
bachelor or stranger, at night, il a very du
place unless there is s~omething of this kline
These sea beaches at night grow dark an
forbiddiug. The roads are not lighted an
the hotels sit on the spirits. We felt that
place of this kind was needed, and that
would pay US. 1t is purely a commercit
Transaction. A man can come here and B
accommodated with any play ne want, or b
can have a game supper at bis owr expens
or he can sit down with his friends aud pla
cards upstairs. While We keep Ihis hous
open we forbid miners, improper character
or professionals from coming in"
Said L: Are these instruments made i
the United States?"
"Yee; there are two manufacturer of rot
lette tables, lay-outs, etc in New York, bot
frsl-class."