Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-14
WICKED MONTECARLO
A Glance at Some of the Terrible
Scenes Witnessed There.
WHERE VICIOUS PEOPLE LINGER.
How Childhood is Exposed to the Atmos-
phere of the Gaming He'll.
A DEAD TOWN FOR ALL BUT GAMBLERS

A DEAD TOWN FOR ALL BUT GAMBLERS
There is not in all the world so melancholy
place as Monte Carlo, a "quarter" so dull
and deserted as the Condamine. Perhaps in
the morning you meet the cuisinieres and
the coiffeurs the former going to market
the latter to wait on the ladies forming their
clientele; but after o'clock everybody is at
the Casino. Even Pompeii, with its few
visitors, is certainly liVelier than Monte
Carlo. The only vehicles you see are those
going from the railway station to the Casino,
or ''the employees omnibus" which takes
backward and forward the croupiers and
the musicians, all of whom live in old Mon
AGO. Monte Carlo is, in fact, dead town.
People live there only for the tripot. The
administration is SO motherly in its care for
you that it keeps all temptations out of your
way. You do not see, as at Baden, shops
full of jewelry and diamonds near the Casino
-magasins where you could spend the
money which you have gained at the tables.
Besides the art-pottery and the preserved
fruits, 1 defy you to find anything to buy
you have in your pocket, as well as that
which goes out of the Casino, must be kept
at Monte Carlo.
Charming for a weeks or a fortnight's
visit. Monte Carlo is insupportable beyond
that time. II you are tired of the concerts
and one cannot be listening to music every
evening-if you do not grumble, if you
know by heart the SALES de jeu and the peo-
pie who throng them, if you have read the
newspapers in the reading-room-whatc can
you do with yourself for the rest of the
evening? Your only resource is to smoke
cigar in the atrium, which is somewhat
akin to behind the scenes" of a theater.
You see in the atrium something. of every
thing, and types which you had not noticed
In the gambling rooms. Here are the women
not respectable enough, in the opinion of
the administration, to be favored with
carte d'entree. You ask yourself what these
unfortunate outsiders can possibly have
done, when you see the people who are ad-
mitted to the rooms, and who promenade
them like queensl Besides these, you see
in the atrium the persons who are waiting
for the gamblers OF both sexes who have
promised to bring them their winnings, in
order not to risk losing them.
A MOTLEY CONTINGENT.
The people who are owed money, and who
are waiting to be paid, also form q numer-
Gus contingent. This gentleman walking
so fast, without hat, has come to smoke a
cigar, to see if that will ''change the luck"
The money lenders of both sexes swarm in
the atrium tonight, for they have learned
that young Marquis, concerning whose
means they are perfectly well informed, has
lost. in less than half an hour, 45, 600 francs,
and all before dinner, too! Poor Marquisl
he is obliged to ask one of the crew-a hor-
rible rufian-to dine with him at the Hotel
de Paris and at the public table! The af-
fair will be talked about during dessert.
Not over proud, the MarquisI Upon this
divan, near the door leading out of the sale
de jeu, sits the mamma who is looking out
for an establishment for her daughter 1t
is good position, this. No one can go out
without being seen. Sometimes also you
are a witness of terrible scenes. You hear
fragments of angry dialogue between hus-
band and wife: "You have completely
ruined me, miserabler' 'I will ask them
not to let you enter the rooms againr'
You have taken my earrings, you
thiefP' This handsome young man, with
foreign decoration in his coat, threatens an
elderly woman because she will not give
him her bracelet to pawn and thus be able
to have another turn at the tablesl -.
Another revolving sight is the number of
children whom their parents leave in the
atrium. where the most vicious people in
the world congregate while they go to gam
BILE. One shudders at the thought of what
these poor children are exposed to-at the
idea of what they may see and hear. Two
divans seem to be reserved for them; and
every now and then their parents come to
see what they are doing. The little boys are
dressed in English fashion, and the little
girls in the Kate Greenaway style, with
large bonnets such as were worn under the
directoire. They make friends of one another,
and talk about their parents. Mamma lost
5000 francs" says one. "My papa lost TO-
000!" says another. 1--WE haven't enough
money to take us back to Paris-or to Lon
donI' adds third. Papa has telegraphed
to grandpapa to send us some money!
UNHAPPY CHILDREN.
But they have something to do besides
gossip. Sometimes you see them, book in
hand, learning their lessons. At other
times-toward 10 o'clock at night-over-
come by fatigue, you will find them
stretched on the divans, fast asleep. L
asked an English boy of II, who was spin
little sister did not go to bed. They were
living at an hotel, had no servants, and
(said the child) their parents did not like
to leave them alone! So every night these
poor children waited in the atrium until
the gambling was over, or their parents
Cleaned out" "Well. u said, 'you must be
glad to get to bed thenl' "Oh, but we
don't go to bed directly. Papa and mamma
take us with them to the cafe, because they
are so thirsty!' There are children who oc-
casionally have to do servants work. 1
have seen some little Russians going to buy
something for breakfast. Their parents did
not dare TO go to the charcutier's themselves,
and were ashamed to let their servants go.
The atrium is also the refuge of the local
officials and others who are not permitted TO
enter the gambling rooms. But one would
like to know the motives for their exclusion,
as the administration and the subsidized
newspapers repeat, urbi ct orbi, that there
is nothing in the world more honest and
neral than the gambling as prac-
tised at Monte Carlol How does
the administration explain that what
is eminently moral for all other
Europeans, for Asiatics, and for Americans,
is sink OF iniquity for the subjects of the
Prince of Monaco? A curious parsonage
maintained in his principality, after the
Treaties of Vienna, by Talleyrand, who
was, it is said, relation of the Princess of
Monaco monarch of to-day subsidized by
tripot! NJ. Blanc did marvellous stroke
of business. The Prince of Monaco has only
250 900 francs per annum, and 18, 000, 900
passed over the tapis vert in 1888 The re-
ceipts for 1881 and 1882 did not, however,
rise beyond u, 900, 600.
sNUBBED BY VICTORIA.
The Prince of Monaco reigns over his
5000 subjects from the height of throne,