Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1884-04-21
Gambling i'm New York.

The Window with a system that Seemed
to Work Well-Queer Bets.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer
Men who have travelled extensively assert
that no city in the world has SO many ardent
gamblers as New York. know of board
ing house in Thirty-seventh street in which
the inmates are given mp almost entirely to
gambling, It is a big estsblishment-two
houses joined in one-and the boarders are
well-to-do and highly ra. Sectable people.
The landlady charges her ga. Its exorbitsnt-
iy anc thd house is run on oeral and pre-
tentious plan. About two years ago lady
took front room on the second floor and
moved in with lot of steamer trunks and
luggage. She was an American, but she had
been travelling in Europe for two years and
had imbibed the passion for gambling. She
had played roulette and baccarat in Paris. and
had come off very comfortable winner. On
the after deck in the moonlight, she con-
ceived a ssystem" for playing roulette The
lady cogitated over her scheme all the way
over. When she was thoroughly settled in
her room in the boarding house she figured
out her system, and became convinced that it
was accurate.
One night a queer looking box came to the
house and was taken to her room. It was a
roulette wheel. She kept the matter quiet
for some time but $15>a~week clerk in the
hall bedroom next her lay awake nights and
heard the buzz, and wondered what in the
thunder it was for week, and then suddenly
realized that it was a roulette wheel, jumped
out of bed, put his ear to the key-hole, and
heard the buzzing up to O'Clock in the
morning The pretty little widow was sxper-
imentinR ON her system. He cultivated her
acquaintance, and the week after that be was
in her room every night until the small hours
of the morning swinging the wheel and eager
ly watching the result. He was just as en-
thusiastic a gambler as she, and he played
constantly on his system. At the end of two
weeks the clerk was several hundred dollars
ths winner. Then he introduced one of the
other boarders, and in six months the whole
house was taking crack at the wheel. Of
course there was an effort to keep it more or
less quiet, and the game was not alluded to
at the table; but new boarders where soon
initiated iato the game to take the places of
those who dropped cut. The widow has not
gone back to Monte Carlo yet Why should
she when she is heavy winner at home?
One of the most amusing cases of gambling
that ever saw was inBroad street. 1t was about
O'Clock one summer afternoon, and there
we're several hundred brokers wandering
about in front OF the Stock Exchange and
talking about the day. 1t had been a particu-
lar stormy day, and the men were idly chat
ting in tho shade, when an old cab-horse
started from New street up Broad to the cor
ner of Wall street. This block of Broad
was sitting On ire-plug on the upper corner,
whistled to his horse, which was standing in
the shade block below. The horse wan
dered up ten or fifteen feet and stopped. The
cabbY whistled again. The horse struggled
up fifteen or twenty feet more. By easy
stages he finally arrived at the top of the hill.
The performance amused the brokers, who
yelled to the horse to stop and go oa. The
animal would obey them spasmodically, but
in the end he needed his masters whistle AID
went on.
One of the most popular young brokers
caught an idea. and rushing along he ex-
planned it to the boys. Then he took his
hat, collected So from each of them, ex-
planned the matter to the driver and led the
old cab horse back to the lower corner,
turned him around and placed him in a posi-
ton to travel up the hill along the Gu b
again. The brokers then ranged themselves
along the curbstone at any distance apart
that suited their fancy, and the leader of the
scheme got piece of chalk from one of the
bucket shops and marked out lines along the
curbstone at distance of about two feet
apart Each of the brokers chose one of these
lines and stood by it. The pool, which amount
ed to nearly 5000, was to go to the man near
whose chalk mark the hub of the rear wheel
of the cab stopped, the hub to remain oppo-
site the chalk mark for thirty sece as by the
watch of an official time-kesper. The cab
man was to receive $40 for whistling to the
best of his ability, and if the horse got to the
top of the block without stopping anywhere
he was to renew the trial until too weary to
go the length of the block if it kept him
awake all night.
Here was the spectacle of nearly one hun
dred men, fully three quarters of them of
dignifed appearance and well dressed and
prosperous looking, and many of them appar-
emily sedate, ranged along the eurbstone
shouting wildly at each other and gesticulating
violently toward the horse. The timekeeper
sat on the roof of his cab, with his hat on the
back of his head. cigar in his mouth and a
watch in his hands. The brokers were per-
mitted to yell at the beast, hut under no cir
cumstances TO touch him. The CABIN an
whistled The brokers yelled .'Whoa!' with
a force that brought the people from the
neighboring street to learn the nature of the
row. The horse stood stock still. The cabby
whistled. Another terrific yell from the
brokers. Then. with jump, the horse start
ed on dead gallop up the hill, spilled the
timekeeper from the top of the cab, and went
around the corner of Wall street with howl
ing mob of 200 men and boys after him It
was a roasting hot day, and the dust was
choking. Still the brokers kept at it. The
beast was brought back and started again
After two more trials he ambled nimbly up
the hill, and then suddenly and stubhornly
stopped and couldn't be made to move by
tho widest shouts by the men above
him. He stayed more than one half a minute |
in this place, and dispute arose between two |
brokers as to who won the 5000. because |
The hub had stopped between their two chalk |
marks They tipped quarter, and the win |
ner took crowd of men into Delmonico's. |
opened q case or two of wine, and gave the |
sab driver 80 to take him home.