Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-11

I l can "bloods' and swells whose abundance of l worldly goods is supposed to make up for | their paucity of brains. In one corner I saw ! three refned-looking ladies trembling upon l the arms of their husbands, and overheard the tiInid inquiry of one, "Is-is it really safe, George?" For even courageous ladies are sometimes among the curious visitors to ! these famous gambling dens. And not only ladies, but ministers and other persons of ! eminent responsibility. In fact these gilded l Idens-particularly the double parlor concern in question-are the elephant of the city, ! which everybody plust see; and the city po- | lice are approached so often with inquiries ! as to the locality of these places that they often presume in advance what you want to see and point you to the proper way before you have had time to make formal inquiry. And there is usually ''cop'' inside, also, to preserve order and lend countenance to the concern (and take a hand himself now and | then on the sly.
 The players at the numerous keno tables were quiet, watching their cardboards care fully, and listening to the numbers as they were sung off by the at the revolving wheel and registered on the great bulletin at the side of the room. Every ten minutes or so some one would bring his fist down upon the table to signify "a keno" or perhaps call out the word ''keno," and then one of the conductors of the game would come to the | lucky man with ''chips' equal to the com bined investments of the many players, less ! & percentage which accrues to the house. 1 Thus the winner scoops in thirty, forty, fifty dollars or more. But it is not easy thing ! to win in so large company. One man said to me: ''Ive played off and on here for eight years and never won a single keno. But it's fascinating sport and I can't help coming back every time"
 Haven't you ever seen more than one keno declared by the same person during single evening"" "Yes, but it was at house where felt that trickery was used. I saw a man who was dressed almost like tramp win three successive kenos one night. I haven't doubt but that the management paid the man twenty or thirty dollars to act as their tool, and then practiced some irregu larity in order to assure him of the success sive kenos.'
 After each 'sdec1are' the boards would be cleared and new registration of numbers would begin, while those whose money had given out would get up and walk away from the tables to loll about in the Hobbies and watch the general sport. As the numbers were sung out man manipulated machine in front which recorded the number on the great registry board behind him, for, as one of the placards in the room announced, "no bets are paid unless the cards are registered Then soon the gamblers were all regis tered the man at the wheel would resume his monotonous drawling of the numbers and the gamblers would become absorbed in their cards. Each chip represented ten cents or quarter of dollar, according to the game. Around the edges of the room were the tables for other favorite species of gambling,
 such as roulette, faro, grand hazard, twenty one, rouge-et-n noir, chuck-a- luck and draw
 poker. The draw-poker tables were in an
 ante-room surrounded by railings and sup
 piled with placards, which read, ''Only play
 CTS admitted within this railing" and ''This
 game runs all night" Back of the rouge-et
 noir tables was the sign, ''The Jack takes
 colo and cid T1on I mi
 door bearing the inscription, Strictly pri-
 vate. Positively admission;' but could
 not learn the explanation of this suspicious
 legend.
 Walters kept coming around with iced
 lemonade and cigars, which were bestowed
 promiscuously among those present at the
 expense of the management. Even we of
 the tourist profession were invited to share this gratuitous entertainment. Nobody
 paid any notice to us as we drifted about
 from table to table, barring these polite at
 tentions. The dealers, of whom there are
 fresh relays for day service, were well dressed
 and gentlemanly in appearance at least.
 There no disorder, solicitation to
 '<take hand" and only courtesy extended
 toward all present.
 But in order to estimate the work of these
 gambling parlors as it will show up at the
 Judgment day, you should witness with me
 q little picture of tle tragic order which
 took place day or two ago. It was on one
 of the side streets in the so-called French
 quarter. A policeman dragging poor
 plainly clad woman down the street, followed
 by representative of one of these gambling
 hells, who had replevined the household fur
 niture to make good the debts of a worthless
 husband. Husbands cannot nominally make
 stakes of their wives here they can in
 Siam, but they can gamble away the happi
 ness of wife and wreck the institution she
 once fondly called 'Fhome." No wonder this
 woman hysterical and used violent Ian
 guage. Was it not bad enough for them to
 come and tear her very household goods
 from her, without also arresting her on the
 charge of insanity because in the extremity
 of her desperation she had sought to resist
 the execution of the law? 1T swear I will
 shoot any man who comes to rob of the
 last possessions I have in the world!' she
 wildly acclaimed; and then she added with
 a despairing sob, 'EOr else shoot me-be mer-
 ciful and take my life with the rest' Needs
 such pathetic and actual incident any com
 ment to give it emphasis?
 The streets of the city at night suggest Paris in the boldness with which vice and crime are Haunted in the strangers face, though not altogether in methods employed and certainly not in richness of display. The free theatres established in the chief saloons are 8 great feature. large hall opening directly upon the street is supplied with nu- merous tables surrounded by chairs. The bar will be at one side, while the farther end is fitted up with @ stage. Sometimes there will also be gallery extending clear around, which is fitted up with curtained 'loges" or stalls near the stage, in which the visitor may sit and chat with one of the singers upon payment of a stated sum. Usually you will find some gorge6usly costumed and high ly painted songstress dancing on the stage to the accompaniment of cheap and inferior orchestra. The hall is generally filled with tobacco smoke, and the noise of conversation and the entry and departing Of stray visitors precludes the possibility of hearing distinct iy the words that sung. The idea is to inveigle strangers and others into the room, and then profit by the orders for drinks l which they will naturally make; for when stylishly dressed barmaid comes to occupy chair at the table with man the instinct of gallantry is relied upon to induce him to be sociable and order something in the line of refreshments. In one of these places a po- liceman is stationed near the door, and noti- ! fes strangers who drop in that they must take seats if they want to stay. Most of the halls are lighted with the Brush electric | light and some of them really elegant in their appointments. I also went into one large saloon that was equipped with a full female orchestra robed in white. The music in this exceptional instance was thoroughly first-class.
 In the same letter in which I depict the dark side of La Nouvelle Orleans I desire to devote paragraph or two, by way of anti thesis, to the brighter side. Here, as in most of the southern cities, I find that the brightest phases of educational development are to be witnessed in the wide-awake schools for the colored people planted by northern philanthropy. There four colleges for the negro here, Straight university GA: M. Al, Leland (Baptist), New Orleans (Metho- dist), and lastly the Southern university, which is a State institution, receiving an an nual appropriation of ten thousand dollars As usual also. the A. M. A. school is the l largest and best equipped. Straight unlver- sity has its local habitation in three large buildings on the main thoroughfare-Canal
 street-only one mile from the levee. The yearly attendance is from five to six hundred, a large majority of the students being day pupils. There is legal department which is self-supporting. Some of the leading law yers and jurists in the city constitute it's fac
 ulty, and accept as compensation for their services the fees that are paid in by students Owing, I infer, to the inexpensiveness of this branch, there are not few white young men of the city who avail themselves of it instead of attending the more aristocratic Tulane university, the leading white college of New Orleans. This is 8 curious common tary upon the gradual but perceptible change in public sentiment that has taken place here since the war.
 IL 11,-r4r NGA lnn