St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-03
Evils Of the Hades of the Med
iterranean Vividly
Told.
Painted, Flashy Players Next
to the Fairest of
Ladies.
Mysteries of the Game and of
the Women Who In
dulge.
st Louis Post-Dispatch.


of the Casino at about IL o'clock in the
morning and watch the crowd. You
Will know the regular players from the
tourists by the expression of their
faces" said friend of mine, who had
been often to MOnte-Carlo and knew the
ms and outs of the place perfectly. And
as l did wish to see the people, and had
come many miles to see them, / took my
seat in the vestibule, and, quite oblivi-
GUS OF the curious scrutiny of the Off
Gals who guard that gilded Hades, 1
waited Tor the crowd, which soon began
to gather: slowly at first, in ones and
twos, then in threes and tours, and
then, as the time drew near for the
opening of the doors, in groups of ten
and twelve: old men and women, with
faces scanned and lined like an alliga-
tors skin, each line and seam repre-
sentlng loss at play rather than gain,
and all looking as if they might have
been present in 1860, when the corner
stone OF the Casino was laid, and had
played there ever since; young men,
with signs of late hours, fierce excite
ment and bitter disappointment
stamped on every feature, and, alas.
scores of young women, some painted
and enamelled and belladonnaed, and
hair dyed. until it was difficult to tell
how old they were-if a grandmother,
they might easily pass for twenty-five
class to which she belonged-such are
some of the types that studied as l sat
in the Casino veStibule.
Othere there were, very fair to look
upon, and sweet and fresh as the Eng
lish roses of their own gardens at home,
for many of them were English; it is
the English tongue which one hears
most in
THE GAMBLING Halls
of Monte Carlo. Others there were who
came hurrying in; but these did not
have the assured and at-home express
sion of the habitues of the place; they
were the visitors, the tourists, like our
selves, who were there to see rather
than to play, unless the temptation to
try their luck in what seemed SO easy
way to make money proved too much
for their principles and good resolu-
tons. And this was the class which,
as the time crept on towards noon, kept
crowding into the little Office where
tickets of admission must be procured,
and which at times reminds one good
deal of the taking OF the census at home.
No resident of Monte Carlo or Nice,
and no young man under twenty-one
from any quarter of the globe is allowed
to enter the play rooms. This is the
conscience of the concern and is sup
posed to atone for many shortcomings.
On the particular day of which am
writing the ticket agents must have had
it badly, and greatly to our annoyance
they singled out as an example of their
morality and strict discipline one of our
party, who, although really twenty-five,
has the misfortune, as he thinks, to look
a great deal younger. 1t was in vain
that he protested that he was of age.
His smooth face was against him, while
our word went for nothing with those
highly respectable and conscientious
dignitaries before whom every one must
pass in review who would have the ell
tree to the rooms beyond. "Your
proof" was their only reply to all our
assertions of the correctness of the
young mans statement, and equally
which is usually the open sesame to
everything.
BOTH GOOD AND BAD.
Then we tried Massachusetts, the
young mans home and the head center
of goodness and truth. They had never
heard of the one and did not care for
the other. Proof was what they wanted,
and, fortunately, proof was forthcoming
in a passport, over which they knocked
their piouS heads together, inspecting
it as closely as if they expected to
find it forgery. When at last the age
of the young man was settled, his name
and occupation and place of residence
were required, and then his relationship
to myself. But by this time, fearing
lest |, too, might be required to produce
certificate of birth, had disappeared
from view. and, mixing with the crowd,
passed through the door unchallenged
as to name or age or nation.
There are three rooms for play in the
Casino and eight tables, two of which
are devoted to Trente-et-Quarante, and
at which the smallest sum admitted is
20 francs and the largest $4,000 francs.
The other tables are for roulette, where
the play depends upon the dropping of
a ball, which is watched almost as anX-
iously as are sometimes the heart-beats
of the dying, and where the lowest play
is francs and the highest 600.
As it was at the roulette tables where
more women played than men, and as it
see, [ took my station by the one near
est me, wondering little at the eager
ness with which certain seats and posi-
lions were contended for, as if the luck
depended upon the chair in which one
sat or the person by whom one sat, or
the moment when one sat down. And
this, l was told, is really one of the
many superstitions which take pos
session of the inyeterate gam
blers at Monte Carlo. To hang
ones hat on a certain peg, to sit in
certain chair or by particular croupier,
to be wished good luck or otherwise, and
more than all to be an object of curios-
ity to strangers-all this is believed to
H. tic ha6
But the more absurd and amazing SUI
perstition of all is that piece of rope
with which person has been hanged
will, if worn around the neck, insure
more gain than loss. Ridiculous as
this may sound, it is nevertheless true
that more than one elegantly-dressed
woman with
rs DIAMONDS FLASHING
on her hands and in her ears. has attached
to slender cord around her neck a bit
of the hangman's rope, in which she
has so much confidence that she throws
down her gold more freely than women
are apt to do; for as rule they are more
cautious than men, and when they have
won twenty francs are very apt to put
half of it by and risk only the other
half. This. however, [ think, applies
mostly to the novices, who always play
low and timidly, and not to the old
heads, who pretend to have ''sys-
tem," and know which are the lucky
numbers. They play recklessly, either
because they are accustomed to defeat,
or because they have SO much money
that the loss of few thousand francs
or dollars or pounds does not matter
much.
These women never show the slight
est emotion. no matter how great their
loss; and not muscle of their faces
moves when, having covered the table
with gold, they see it all swept into the
bank by the remorseless croupier.
Shall we glance at a few of them as
they sit or stand around the table, four