Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-21
MONTE CARLO,
A Swiss Guides Description of the Suicides
Among the Gamblers.

Among the Gamblers.
"My impressions of Monte Carloe!''
said Prof. Joseph Bauer yesterday. 81
have but one-it is a dream. On enter
ing, one is delighted, surprised,
amazed, astounded and stunned seria-
tim. Flowers and music, coin and
notes, despair and success, beauty, fash
ion, wealth-all combine to impress the
behofder, and it is some time before he
can begin to study Systematically his
surroundings. 1t is only when he
energies again into the cool air that one
can appreciate his own identity.
"Do not credit the recent denails Of
suicides at Monte Carlo" continued the
professor. "They are inspired. Ihave
visited the gambling hall there fifteen
times professionally, in addition to a
number of trips made for my own
pleasure. l was born in French Swift
%zerland, two hundred miles from Monte
Carlo, and am familiar with it's CHASTITY
history during the past. twelve years.
You may take my word for it that the
number Of suicides caused directly by
the Monte Carlo gaming tables aver
ages at least one for every day in the
year. The real total probably exceeds
this estimate.
Prot. Bauer is one of the Youngest,
handsomost and most popular guides in
central Europe. He speaks English,
German, French, Spanish and Italian,
and every hotel-kecper and hack-driver
on the route is his sworn enemy. AS so
much has been written and so little ac-
curately told concerning Monte Carlo,
he was requested to describe the worlds
most famous gambling hall.
II can close my eyes and mentally see
everything in and about Monte Carlo"
he continued, 'but it is not so EASY TO
reproduce such a picture in words at
short notice."
Prof. Bauer talked interestingly of
what he IA seen of the tragedies of the
gaming tables. He said: II have
spent many months there altogether.
and it was a rare day when no ruined
and despairing man killed himself. On
some days we had as high as three or
four such casualties. If a stranger kills
himself, his body is dragged away, the
blood cleansed from the floor, and the
game goes on. | have heard PLAYERS
mutter curses at a corpse for<having in
terrupted their SERIES or confused
their system If the victim be \
stranger, nobody knows what becomes
of the body, except the special police,
whose duty it is to conduct such
funerals i'll their w mysterious
way. II the ruined PLAYER goes
out into the grounds before
fore shooting or stabJing himself. or
browns himself in one of the beautiful
fountains, even the players who sat be-
side him a moment before never learn
of his death. These things are known
to the habitues of the tables, but thcv
never speak of them outside. The
newspapers of Monaco and Nice are
heavily subsidized, and those of Paris
Lyons and Marseilles pay no attention
TO such trit1es. Letters to the editors ON
this forbidden subject are quickly thrown
Into the great international waste
basket. With q large and w~ell-traincd
police force constantly at hand, with an
Indifferent set of patrons, and a will
fully blind press, these little episodes are
much 0 easily screened than YOU
would imagine. If the suicide be =,
powerful noble or a celebrity in any
way, the affair is mentioned briefly IN
The French and English newspapers and
the announcement cabled to this conn.
try. Everybody knows why the man