The Indianapolis journal., 1886-02-07
PHARAOH rs STILL KING.
Among Gamblers and GambIing-Houses
of New York Faro Is the Game.
Where the Tiger Has It's Lair in Upper and
Lower BrOadway-Faro Inevitably Leads
to Crime and Bankruptcy.

| Written for the Journal by Kenward Philip.
| have been asked to tell what I know about
gambling. After twenty years of newspaper
life in New York it was perhaps natural on the
part of the publisher to suppose that know
something about this particular feature of met
ropolitan life but to tell 1t all would be not only
to violate the confidence which professional gam
blers nvariable repose in newspaper men, but
| (not an important consideration by the wayl to
find myself one of these particularly fine even
| ings reposing under the shadow of an ambu.
lance, the victim Of certain bruises which at the
inquest the surgeon in attendance would describe
with great professional JUNCTION in Latin polysyl
| lables
| No; what know about gambling it has cost
ne great deal of money to learn; but dare
| not get even" in that way l have been in
ducec on divers occasions to attempt to 'thump
em just once, old fel, in the words of an es
| teemed contemporary. celebrated for his
humor and his admirable comedies for
the STAGE but the encounter generally
ended in my discontinue. You may
| chance to 'thump em" now and again, but 1t is
| CHASTITY fact that as a rule, they 'thump" you
And this in perfectly square game. There have
been times. however when the long green table
with its checkrack and box has seemed to
me veritable Tom Tiddler's Ground, when
every bet would seem necessarily to win, and
when have gone over the ferry to the suburb in
which. as Mr.. Pecksnif might say, I take the
liberty to live, in Ave coaches, stuffed in every
pocket with too much money to count On these
rare occasions the wife of my bosom would COM
| placpntlv fha hali Of hot + bay
| written some exceedingly brilliant articles dur
| ing the current week. But more often has that
estimable lady had reason to marvel that her
| spouse should write so much and lin her own
terse language) ''have nothing to show for it."
How many ingenious pleas have not husbands
ceen obliged to fabricate, wonder, after an at
| tempt to "thump EN- just once?" The cashier
was i'll, my DEAR they have changed the pay day,
confound theml there was terrible fire on the
block; the senior proprietor of the firm dropped
| dead, and what not.
| In speaking of 'gamblingnI mean faro Of
course, there are many other forms of gambling
| roulette, rouge ct noir, German Sweat"
poker. poker dice, keno, alias lotto, spinning the
top. short" cards of all description; all these
are rife in New York city, but faro is king and
when gambler speaks of touching cardn it
| Is that alluring recreation that he means.
Every body" said Ira Janre, popularity known
as Oid January who by the way, is writing
history of his life that will astonish the natives
for this redoubtable gambler has done many
more wonderful things during his checkered ca
| reer than to win $40 900 from a lozenge, which
Is factl Everybody plays farrer." (For 20
ne pronounces it. And so it used to seem to me
| -(for be pleased to observe that nothing set
down here about gamblers "goes" in the
present tense; we will concede that all
the men and places l may mention are
long since dead and gomez have seen generals
n aIHf1fr ll.1,o ~s.~s1
| ters OF the gospel, physicians in hourishng cir
cumstanees. bankers, brokers, stad merchants,
| deacons, celebrated actors and orators-aye
everybody" except women, at the faro-table.
Capt. Mayne Reid. in his ludcrously incorrect
| description of the game in 1.-THE Quadroon.D
| speaks OF having seen a woman excitedly stalking
| her diamonds at the game, but neither at Long
Branch nor Saratoga. the most likely places for
such phenomenon to occur have l seen a
an at the table Bank-keepers rarely take s'cols
| lateral" The dealer, imperturbable as the
Sphynx with his straw hat drawn over his eyes,
a human machine apparently without tinge of
human emotion, turns for checks" In most
cases. indeed. it is the rule not to allow even the
money itself to be placed a card-far less dia-
monds or watches.
The downtown games were all sday games
| and all situated within radius of $50 wards
| from ST. Pauls Church, at the top of Fulton
| street. on Broadway. Before the new Evening
Post building was erected on its site stood an old
wooden rookery, devoted in all its tortuous alleys
building was celebrated then as '206n Nobody
who knew anything of New York life dreamed
| of saying ''206 Broadway 1t was simply ..2O6p
--as it is '818," or '616p or "No In Here at
| ''2O6 Room A, the biggest day game down town,
with the exception of that at the aristoeratic
| No. Barclay street, carried on from morn
| till dewy eve In partnership with "Old JAM
at ''2O6" were Eddy Klein, the coolest gambler
with one exception, in New York city-a tall
| thin consumptivs-apparently careless whether
| hath no
himself lived or died; Sam Klein his
| brother, who still lives to make turn
| for the boys, but whose occasional rheumatic
| twnge may be distinctly traced to the birds and
Burgundy of days of yore; and Garry Moody. a
| handsome fellow who knows more funny stories
| than any other man have met. At o'clock in
| Room A, or the adjoining parors, dinner was
served free to ALL and "206' became celebrated
for the excellence Of its cookery. might whisper
| in confidence than nowhere else have I tasted
| such coPned beef as here placed on the table
| in the shape of noble round, or, as Fielding
called it. chine. fanked by all the vegetables
| dinner was equally good, but Old Jan was pune
| tilious on one point. On Friday he served fish
| only. Hard by this old ricketv building turning
| sharply to the right on coming out one might
| lin those days, OF course. say nothing Of the
| present), have come upon regular nest of faro
| banks The block on Fulton street. between
| Nassau and Broadway, was honeycombed with
| them on both sides Of the way. Invariably the
games were situated on the second floor, the
character of its inmates being disguised by show
card advertisements. stencil plate cards and Jew
elry cases Here the lowest checks were twenty
| FIVE cents, the highest dollar each One short
block from here, or straight through Mouquin's
restaurant, is the historical home of down. town
games, Ann street Commencing with No. l, on
the corner this iniquitous little thoroughfare at
one time-again say nothing of the present
| was simply filed with gambling-houses. No.
was in it's palmy days kept by Mr. Stewart,
who was so startling an image Of Oakley Hall,
then mayor. that even the police attendants at
Dorlon's oyster-house. which both men visited,
could not distinguish one from the other Over
the way at No. IL, the biggest game in the street
was carried on, and at No. Is, the single excep-
tion to Eddy Klein's coolness, used to run his
game This, the coolest gambler in New York,
| is also the handsomeSt His name ia Peter De