The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-03
MONTE CARLO. q
SCENES AT THE NOTORIOUS
GAMBLING RESORT. >
The Magnificent Casino in the
Little Principality of Monaco II
"A Motley Crowd Of Off
cials and Players.

The glory and the shame of Monte
Carlo date from the year 1850, when the
late NJ. Blanc, foreseeing the fall of HON.
burg, took possession of it. There had
been Casino there for some years before,
styled Elysee Alberto, till the reigning
Prince of Monaco, Charles III, resolved
to immortalize himself by naming it
Monte Carlo. Blanc bought out the old
gambling company for million and 50
half of francs, and from that time till his
death was lavish in his expenditures on
the extension and maintenance of the
fairy-land he had created in the loveliest !
spot of the globe. The great Casino was
formally opened in 1868 by a.banquet, at
which all Monaco and great deal of Paris !;
was present. The whole establishment
is indirectly under the control Of a com
missioner Of the Prince of Monaco, but
the chief function Of this officer is !
to draw his own salary and remit to his
sovereign his share of the plunder. All
that money can do to make the outside
and inside of the gambling house attrac-
tive has been done. The gardens are
marvels of beauty and floral wealth;
palms, olives, aloes, carob-trees, all the
semi-tropical vegetation. flourish lux
uriantly. The building is provided with
concert-hall, a reading-room.G and par,
lors, all luxuriously fttedup. The great
hall devoted to roulette is in the Moorish
style, with lofty ceiling, and windows
which look on one side to the square, on
the other to the sea and the rocky height
of Monaco. Crossing two. spacious
arcades, the stranger enters q great gall
lery, in which are placed three tables,
one for roulette, the others for trente-et-s
quarante. Here the throng Of players
assemble; some merely to pass the time;
many, however, seriously and anxiously
studying every turn of the wheel or every
spot on the cards. They are as solemn
as the alchemists of old in their search
for the philosophers stone, with the
same firm belief that an infalhbie method
will one day be discovered. Play re-
quires GOODNESS. patience, and persever-
ance as we'll as courage. AtMonte Carlo
everything is perfectly fair; what the
player has to struggle with is the advan-
tage which the rules of the game give TO-
the table. 1..' sss{{ s%s
The officials Of the Casino are numerous
two inspectors who superintend the
whole, inspectors Of the tables, and an
army of croupiers (men who watch the
cards and collect the money. The latter
functionarles number seventy or eighty
in summer and, 100 in winter, and are
dressed irreproachably in black, with
white ties. The croupiers, through some
mysterious cause, are mostly bald, and
have a wearied, melancholy look;
the other officials are at the same;
time cringing to those in authority or to,
the rich habitues of the place and over
bearing to those unfortunates who, are
down on their luck. Some of the losers
90 out and kill themselves in the gar:
dens, which unpleasant affairs are, II
possible, hushed up or attributed to some
other cause; few have the sense to run
away home; some come back regularly.
Nor is the passion for play restricted to
the ruder sex. The tables have q potent
fascination for ladies of all ranks and
classes. Not year passes without the
report of some woman of wealth and
position being a victim to her infatuation
for play. The crowd is a motley one.
As among the men we sec the weak and
wicked, the pigeon and the rook, the
swindling adventurer and and the man Of
honor, SO among the women are ladies OF
rank, mothers of families, innocent
daughters, ballet dancers, actresses and
the worst of female adventurers. A
calculating mother, an old hand at the
tables, often thinks that in this shifting
crowd her daughter will find greater
chance for her career than anywhere else.'
| Some of the ladies, too, are kind enough
to volunteer advice to. players who seem
in doubt. 'Put your monoy on seven
teen, monsieur" she will whisper, "and
we will divide if you win" If she is
pretty and the player is fool, her ad-
vice may be taken. But the steady player
will make no such bargain like all gam
glers, he is s,lperstitious, and will ask 9
child or stranger to make stake for
him, but he will not share his winnings.
He consults the card on which he has
pricked down the winning and losing num-
bcrs. It seems as if it would be safe to
pick out numbers that had not turned up
often, in the hope that they would soon
appear; vet years of observation and
study have never discovered safe mar
tingale. In fact, as each turn of the
wheel or deal of the cards is independent
of all that have gone before it, the
chances of picking out the winning num-
l. .,,ef fho of tho hrS-
dredth time as the first time. One reads
and hears very often that with thousand
or two thousand francs one can be sure
of winning fifty thousand francs a year.
Such statements are. of course, false, and
are the inventions of knaves or fools. AS
there is always a certain percentage in
favor of the bank, the longer you play
the more certain you are to lose, just as
YOU would lose if you bought all the
tickets in lottery. The managers OF the
Casino know this we'll, and know that
they have a still greater advantage over
many players.-they have natiencc, and
good sum in the bank. What the profits
of Monte Carlo have been it is impossible
to say. They are sufficient to keep the
Prince of Monaco in luxury, to adorn the
Casino, to run an opera-house and theatre
in the season, to lay out gardens, to ar
range horse races, yacht races and every
kind of amusement, and to enable the
daughters of NJ. Blanc to ally themselves
with the Radziwills and the Bcnapartes.
Many hungry eye follows the blue
liverled servants who carry off the bank
and it's treasure when the game closes.