Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-07
THE SLUMS or NEW YORK.
corynenr 1856


4 nave Uttu urktu W NtfI N1VL L knOn
about gambling. After twenty years Of
life In Nav York II was per
haps natural on tie part Of the publisher
TO suppose that !...bow something about
this particular feature OF metropolitan
lifci but to teH It all would be not only
70 violate vle confidence which profess
sional ga,DoleTs invariably impose In
newspaper men, hut mot an important
conside ration by che way to ilDd myself
one OF these particularly line evenings re-
posi- ~ 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
unction In Latin polysyllables.
No; what know about gambling It has
cost me great deal Of money to learni
but dare not "get even" in that way.
have beeE induced on divers occasions 70
attempt TO "thump 'em just once, Old
FELL IN the words OF an esteemed con-
temporary celebrated for his humor and
his admirable comedies for the stage nut
the encounter generally ended in my dis
comhture, You may chance TO "thump
'em" now and sgaln, but IL Ia n CHASTITY
fact that as rule they "thump" you.
And this Is In perfectly square game.
l. HhNt UttH tllntNt uUMtfIlF hhNH
the long green table with its check rack
and cue box has seemed to me a veritable
Tom Tiddler's ground when every bet
would seem necessarily TO win, and wien
have gone over the ferry 10 the suburb IN
which as Mr.. pecksniH might say, ! take
I the liberty to live, IN i've coaches, stuffed
in every pocket with too much money to
count. On these occasions the wife of
my bosom would complacently indulge
| the belief that must have written some
exceedingly brilliant articles during the
current week. But more often has that
estimable lady had reason to marvel that
! her spouse should write 40 much and lin
her own terse language) "have nothing to
show for It," How many ingenious pleas
have not husbands been obliged to iabrl-
cate, wonder, after an attempt to
"thump 'om Just once?" The cashier
was Ill my dear; they have changed the
payday, confound them there was a
terrible fire on the block; the senior pro-
prletor OF the firm dropped dead; and
what not.
| In speaking of "gambling," / mean
| faro. OF course there are many other
forms Of ambling-roulette, rouge ct
noir, German "sweat,n 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 a gambler speaks OF
"touching card'' 1t Is always that allur-
ing recreation that he means,
"Everybody," said Ira Janre, popularity
known as Old 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 career than
| TO win $4,000 from lozenge, which is
u fact), Everybody plays farrer." (For
so he pronounces it, And so 1t used TO
seem to dor be pleased to observe
that nothing set down here about gam
| blers "goesn in the present tense; we
will concede that all the men
and places may mention are
long since dead and gomez, have seen
generals in the army, sons OF mighty
I millionaires, ministers of She gospel,
physicians in fiourishing circumstances,
bankers, brokers, staid merchants,
deacons, celebrated actors and orators
aye, everybody except women, at the
faro table. Capt Wayne Reid, In his
| ludicrously incorrect description OF the
game in the Quadroon, speaks OF having
seen woman excitedly stalking her
diamonds at the game, but neither al
Long Branch nor Saratoga, the most
| likely places for such phenomenon tc
occur, have l seen woman at the table
Bank-keepers rarely take collateral. "
The dealer, imp erturbable as the Sphynx,
with his straw hat drawn over his eyes, a
human machine apparently without q
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 on card-far less diamonds
or watches.
The downtown games were ali "day
games,n and all situated within radius
OF 300 yards from st. Paul's 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 tortu-
Gus alleys on every floor TO "show cards.
aud faro. This building was celebrated
then as 5000" Nobody who knew any
thing of New York life dreamed of saying
1905 Broadway" II was simply "206r
las 1t is 1915" or "6l6,n or 'No. -
Here at "206," room A, the biggest day
game down town, with the exception OF
that at the aristocratic No, Barclay
street, was carried on from morn till
dewy eve, In partnership with sold
JAM at '206N were Eddy Klein, the cool
est gambler with one exception in New
York cityi a TALL thin consumptiye, APP
parently careless whether the bank won or
lost, or whether he himself lived or died
| Sam Klein, his brother, VINO still lives TO
make a turn for the boys, but whose oc-
casional rheumatic twinges may be dis
tinctly 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 l O'Clock In Room A, or the adioiuing
parlors, dinner was served free to all,
and 5000" became celebrated Tor the ex-
cellence OF its cookery. | might whis-
| per in confidence that nowhere else have
tasted snch corn beef as here was
! placed on the table In the shape Of noble
round, or, as Fielding called il, a
"chine," tianked by all the vegetables in
| season, every Saturday. On other days
the dinner was equally good, but old Jan
was punctilious on one point. On Friday
| Ae served fish only. Hard by this old
rickety building, turning sharply TO The
right on coming out, one might Gin those
days, OF course, say nothing Of the pres.
ent) have come upon q regular nest oi
! tarn hanks The hlnrk m Lnitnn straat