Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1889-04-18
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WOMAN GAMBLERS.
Types Of Players Who Crowd Aro1nd The
Tables at Monte Carlo.

woman at the trente-et-Quarante table,
with piles of gold and bank notes scat
tered around her in such confusion
that you wonder how she knows which
are hers and which her neighborse
She wears the biggest diamonds in
the room and plays the most reckless
ly. undannted by evil eyes or any
other eyes. She is u Duchess, who
last year lost 1900 francs in one
night. This year she will lose as
much or moro. and next year come
again, and keep on coming as long as
she has any money left or can borrow
any Of her friends.
That lady at the table near the cen.
ter of the room. ut whom the croupiers
look disapprovingly, as if afraid she
will "break the bank" must now have
piece Of the hangman's rope around
her neck, although it is said that last
year she lost E8, 900; but she is rich,
and it does not matter as much to her
as to the girl beyond, who risks her
all and loses, and then with look sad
to see upon SO young a face searches
vainly in her purse for another five
franc piece with which to try again.
Will she learn wisdom from her de-
feat of to.dayP Not at all. She ha=
tasted the poison which is working
like madness in her brain, and if she
can not borrow she will perhaps pawn
some of her jewelry or dress and come
again tomorrow, hoping to do better
than to-day. We're she a man she
might at last, when irreLrievably
ruined, possibly kill herself. But she
is woman, and as such holds her life
more sacred. Down at the end of the
table is a woman SO old or blind or
both that she does not know when she
has lost or won, and has to be
prompted by her friend, who tells her
where to put her money and when to
take it up. Pitiable spectacle OF
womanhood, with bleared eyes and
shaking hands, which scarce can hold
the gold she is squandering SO wan
tonly.
But to me she is not so pitiable as
that fair young English girl whom I
watched for week and by whom I
stood when she made her first venture
with a five-franc piece and lost! But
there were more in her purse and with
the exclamation. Il must win" she
put them down one after another until
she struck a fortunate number and got
back all she had lost, while l could not
help thinking that it would have been
far better for her if every drop of the
ball had been against her. She wes
so pretty and sweet to look at. and ap--
parently so fresh and innocent. that I
felt irresistibly drawn toward her,
and watched day after day as she be-
came more and more accustomed to
the place, and, alas, more accustomed
to the unhealthy moral atmosphere
she was breathing. 1t seemed to take
the freshness from her face, which
became flushed and red with excite
ment, while her eyes lost their shy,
modest look and met the eyes of those
around her unhesitatingly. How /
pitied her, for knew that no girl could
sit ut gambling table, side by side
and shoulder to shoulder with some
of the worst men and women in tho
world, and leave the place as pure ~
she entered.
Beside her was her mother, with q
face more like Madonna than
gambler at Monte Carlo. And there
they were day after day, and night
after night, losing and winning. win
ming and losing, and when Sunday
came there was not in church q moro
devout worshiper than that young girl
whom for days twelve o'clock in the
morning and eleven o'clock at night
had found at the gaming table, and,
saddest OF all, heard she was there
again on Sunday afternoon. almost be-
fore the prayer she had said in the
morning had died upon her lips.
AT Monte Carlo there is no Sunday as
far as the Casino is concerned. The
concerts, which are free, and the play
go on as usual. The trains come
loaded from Nice and Mentone, and
the tables are just as crowded with
anxious, 'feverish, excited people as IL