Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-06-25
GAMBLING IN NEW ORLEANS,

GAMBLING IN NEW ORLEANS.
The Licensed Gambling establishments Of
the Crescent City.
On Royal street there is an entire
block given up to gambling houses,
and. as they are licensed. of course no
concealment is attempted. Any one Of
them-No 18. for instances sample
of them all. A big arched entrance,
without doors and about twelve feet
wide. opens on fight of steps Of an
equal width, which lead to the frst
floor. Brass steps are nailed over the
wooden ones, and the glare of several
electric lights falls on the restless
throng of men that perpetually move
up and down the stairs. Swinging
doors at the top admit the visitor to a
scene of extraordinary activity. In big
hall, also illuminated by electric lights,
| are 200 or 800 men gambling for all
| they are worth. Most of them are
seated at the long rows of tables play
ing keno. Each has his card, which
only costs ten cents, in front of him,
and is playing in thorough absorption.
as big-mouthed young man on the
platform bawls out the numbers as
soon as they turn up. Three huge
number boards, placed on three sides
tricity. show the last number
and keep a record for the players.
ANY one who wants to play buys card
for ten cents. and, taking the first va
cant seat, goes to work. Every few
minutes RAPID and nervous knocking
on the table announces that somebody
has caught keno, and all the noise
ceases. the game is stopped and the
cards resold at ten cents apiece by men
who walk up and down the aisles.
Hundreds of envious eyes follow the
lucky man as he draws his winnings
which amount to $50 and $35 on an in
vestment of ten cents when there is
good crowd playing-a gong is changed
and it all begins over again.
Men of all sizes, ages and conditions
sit at the tables, and MANY of them
play till long after daylight as the
game is never closed Negroes, Gre
oles, sailors in fantastic garb from
every corner of the globe, dudes from
the Northern cities trying lust for the
record. you know" fat old market
men, German shoemakers, cheap clerks,
ragged sots, boys not more than fifteen
years old smoking cigarettes and star
ing at their cards with a sort of fasci-
nation, lank Southerners, COWBOYS and
broken-down sports, all at it night and
day. A man there pointed out boy
who was hired by bartender to play
for him tor thirty nights just as spec
ulation.
Ranged around in alcoves and ad-
iosc To ho HI h n ,v.o
of players around roulette hazard. red
and black, twenty-one and other tables.
The playing goes on with q swiftness
that shows how expert most of the Wis
itors have become. In one room bit
larger than the rest an ornamental
brass railing restraints the mob from
getting too close to the poker tables.
1t strikes visitors who are acquainted
with the '.little social game of draw"
in the North as rather a rapid way of
playing.
There is professional dealer and he
only exacts the triHing sum of ten per
cent of each pot for his labors. He sits
on very high char with sem-circu-
lar table in front of him. at which are
seated seven players. He deals in a
way that is startling. He holds the
pack in his left hand and throws off
Single card with rapid jerk OF the
hand toward each of the players. He
doesn't touch the cards with his right
hand usually. and am told that he
never makes mistake. He deals the
thrty-five cards to the seven players
with one hand in about the time it
would take the ordinary amateur to
deal five. There is no limit to the bet
ting, but there is seldom any higher
bet made than $5 on hand. The
players are very cautious, never go in
without pair of jacks or better. and
seldom attempt to bluff. Several of
these tables are ranged about with
heavy-eyed and mechanical dealer at
each of them.
There are many curious figures
among the employees of the place. At
one of the hazard tables is Portu-
guese, who is in appearance the per-
soniticat;on of a crafty and wicked
gambler. He is crippled, and his eyes
are turned so that it is impossible to
tell which way he is looking. He rolls
them about constantly, and, as he
takes care of the game, his left hand,
which is furnished with the longest and
thinnest fingers have ever seen, plays
with pile of chips nervously. All the
dealers here are experts at little trick
that they practice constantly. Ihey
take two piles of chips. cover them
with the left hand, and. by peculiar
movement of the forefnger, run them
into one pile by single upward move
ment of the hand. The Portuguese does
it like lightning, and all the time while
his eyes are roaming wildly and his
right is busy with the game his left is
alternately dividing the reserve chips
into two piles and then running them
up together again. The PLAYERS say
that he is the luckiest bank in the
room.
BY passing through more swinging
doors the visitor drifts into another
hall nearly as big as the first, in which
games go on just as briskly, and there
is the same multitude willing and
anxious as ever to blow in the needfnl
with tremulous haste. There are many
more pretentious places here, Of
course, but they are conventional and
after the style of similar resorts in the
North. Play goes on everywhere, and
the natives of New Orleans run to cards
naturally.-Cor. Philadelphia Press.