Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-03
SEVERAL HUNDRED PERSONS DERIVE
THEIR SOLE INCOME

THEIR SOLE INCOME
| from blocks of Broadway property, and
! live a life of luxurious idleness upon 1t.
| Sixty-five years ago a thrifty French con-
| fectioner named COnt0it bought half an
acre on Broadway, near what is now the
! Metropolitan Hotel, and established an
| ice cream garden. He paid $12, 900 for the
property, then surrounded by fields and
| detached houses. An old gentleman who
recently died at the age of So frequently
! told me that when he was young man it
! was a favorite drive up to COntoits
| garden. The old Frenchman prOspered,
| and when he died in 1912 his half acre was
| already considered too valuable for a
! summer garden. Stores were built on it
by his son, and ten years ago these old
stores were torn down by his grandson,
| the present owner, and big iron buildings
| erected. The property is now worth not
| less than two millions. Mr.. and Mrs.
| COntOit are prominent opera gOers, the
! beauty of Mrs. COntoits Paris dresses and
the brilliancy of the diamonds making her
an object OF envy and mark. They have
their yacht, their horses and their apart
ments in Paris and New York,
all because old Francois Contoit,
the pastry cooks apprentice of 1900, in
vested his earnings in half an acre on
! Broadway. The COntOit family is only
| one of a score of Broadway owners who
| are enabled to live like lord is COM
monty supposed to live upon the income
| from few feet frontage on that valuable
thOrOughfare. All these people having
| found their income decreasing, have look
ed about for the cause, and the want of a
street railway has become apparent. AS
! to the much-tal1ed-Of underground road,
we hear less about it, and the only piece
of tunnel ever built-that dug along
Broadway opposite the City Hall, in 1870
is now used as a shooting gallery.
FOR SOME YEARS PAST SPORTING MEN
have been in the habit of saying that the
large downtown gambling houses of
TINS city were suffering from an eX-
| cess OF zeal on the part of the au-
thorities, and that if this were re-
Taxed the ''game" would flourish as be-
| fore. But under the present regime at
the District Attorneys office, there is ap-
parently nothing to make the gamblers
afraid, and yet there is great and general
complaint that the glory of the old-time
battle with CHARGE has departed, and that
there is nothing to be made by maintain
ing temple OF fortune. One of the oldest
houses on Barclay street, near Broad
way, has for thirty years been the resort
of men eminent in politics and the pro-
LESSONS, where Cabinet Ministers, Con-
gressmen, Judges, and leaders of business
lines were accustomed to drop their hun
dreds 'tjust for the excitement of the
thing" All the old political habitues of
the Astor House had dropped in there
from time to time, and it is even said that
one Presidential nominee found occasional
relief from the excitement of his canvass
by taking a friendly hand there and trying
his luck-which, by the way. was bad at
cards and in the campaign. Fifteen years
ago the income of the establishment-that
is the net profit-was 100000, and
five years ago it was 100000. Now if
the house clears $40, 900 for this year it is
considered that it does handsomely. Five
men own the game, and they are all in the
dumps. There are no more free lunches
of the Delmonico pattern to be had at
these places. In the old days men went
there to play, and stayed all day, eating
and drinking in the house the best of
viands and wines furnished gratis by the
proprietors. One had only to mention a
delicacy in order to secure it, and the
friends of gamblers often strOlled in to eat
when they did not play, although they
were well aware that they could not
''work the racket" too often to satisfy the
prOprietOrs. Under the new system even
the prOprietOrs take their meals outside.
l asked a white-headed veteran amOngfhe
prOprietOrs what was the reason of the
change in this respect, and he said it was
simply because Wall street offered better
gambling facilities than any "game''
could offer, except on very small scale.
Men, he said, naturally fear raid upon
an establishment when they visit it, and
as long as they can have their excite
ment in a species of speculation which
public opinion tolerates they will always
give it the preference. This is especially
true of the younger generation.
Some of the Old-timers still hang
on to the green cloth, and not
long ago severely moral daily newspa-
per paid pair of reporters to haunt GER
tain gambling houses for a fortnight or
more in hopes Of catching certain promi-
nent Judge there and making an expos
ure. The scheme did not work for some
reason, and luckily for himself the Judge
escaped. just now the proprietors Of
these resorts are extending their lines to
Coney Island and Long Branch, where
they also find their pickings exceedingly
precarious. 1t looks as if the race of old
time gamblers, who played s'for the fun
of the thing" was about extinct, and
those who play for money prefer Wall
street.
IT WILL PERHAPS BE INTERESTING
to know where prominent New Workers
SPEND their summers. have taken great
pains this week to make some inquiries
on the subject with the following result: