Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-04
The PARADISE OF FOOLS.


\ few days ago the telegraph informed
us that woman, gambling Mt the public
tables Of Monte Carlo lost $4,000, and as
fitting finale to her folly committed sui
eide. She WAS the seventy-sixth self
murderer at Monte Carlo the present sea-
son. The tables of that infamous resort
have turned out, therefore, an exceedingly
large product Of despair, crime and ruined
hopes. There ought to be 10 surprise at
this, nor much sympathy wasted upon the
victims; but any amount Of Indignation
should be expressed for the Government
that Licenses this he'll hole. Monaco is the
Oldest and the smallest kingdom in the
world. Monte Carlo is the chief part of
Monaco. 1t is said that one can shoot an
arrow across the principally at any part
of it. 1t IS ruled by Prince who is
direct descendant of the Grimaldi of the
tenth century, who elected the Saracens
from his territory. The most Of his do
main this Prince lets to a company ol
Frenchmen who have there a magnificent
hotel and all the lures of a fashionable
hell 1t is popular resort, and the guide
books dwell upon the fine hotels and their
responsibility, the baths, the salubriouS at
mospherc, rare views over the Mediter-
ranean, and the equable climate, the same
summer and winter. They no more than
name the fact that there are "play rooms"
ball rooms, etc, in the Casino. This de-
lectable place has its Patron Saint, whose
fete is celebrated on the 9th of January.
AS TO how much tribute the gamblers pay
at the shrine Of their holy patron we have
no information, but it is Of course round
sum. Monte Carlo is but nine miles from
Nice, and while its resident population is
but 1000, its contiguity TO great cities, its
ease of access ard the attraction Of its
gnmbling-tables keep up the number Of
people in the place at all times to twice
that figure The people Of Monaco in one
respect are favored, they pay no taxes, all
revenue being the wages of sin With
wise discrimination and patriarchal care
the Prince permits none Of his sub
.jects to play at the gambling-tables.
The principality being small and the
number of violent deaths being great, the
Government permits the removal of dead
bodies without the usual lapse Of some
months, required by most European coun-
tries 1t is perhaps the part of wisdom,
FOR il all the suicides were disposed of
upon the rocky soil of Monaco, there
might not be room presently for the living
gamblers. Possibly gaming in Monaco is
no worse than any where else where it is
licensed, but lis results appear TO be rather
more tragic than any where else. Whether
this is due TO the fact that the habitues
of the place are Of Il desperate class, or
because they are Influenced by peculiar
local surroundings, has not becl deter
mined As rule, the people who gamble
at Monte Carlo are Of fashionable sets
and The nobility. When these lose they
can face the world with their ruin with
les nouchalance than the ordinary gam
bier who loses his little all and skirmishes
about the world for new capital. But the
seyeniy-six suicides at Monte Carlo for the
season to date, beginning about June 30th,
aad thus furnishing more than one corpse
dav, preach sermons that need no
pulpits. nor any repetition in print. The
fools will never all be dead not even sui
eide aud Monte Carlo will work their cx-
termination. Yet il would seem even
The fools ought to know that
the fact that the French syndi-
cate backs the green cloth banks at
Monte Carlo with a capital of SS,000,000,
pays the entire expense of the govern
ment of Monaco, and declares twelve and
fifteen per cent dividends semi-annually,
makes their chances of gain against
such odds exceedingly small, and thus
be warned by the caution of ordinary
selfishness. \ strange thing about gaming
vt Monte Carlo is the fact that people will
60 there and play who are Mortified at
home with the idea of association with or
recognition of a gambler They somehow
seem to excuse folly that has Prince and
patron saint and stock company and
the fashionable world behind ii. Yet
gambling and gamestcrs are, the same the
world Overland so are the victims.
Gaming levels distinctions ruthlessly.
The woman who lost and died by her own
hand in Monaco was but a type OF men
and women who gamble anywhere else.
Those who blow ont their brains in the
Casino. or drown themselves in the blue
Mediterranean after a night in Monte
Carlo. are known to have been led to the
&C. of insanity by the gaming tables.
There are men and women who take their
own lives because of gaming in other
lands, and our own; but their act is less
seldom known to have direct relation
with the true cause than in Monaco.
Gaming brings manya man to face the
pistol held by his own hand in other parts
of the world as well as there, but in
Monte Carlo the excuse of business
troubles, infelicity in the family, etc,
counts f~ nothing. The grim truth con-