The Anaconda standard., 1890-07-13

this notice was addressed. II they saw II
at all, laughed, shrugged their shoulders,
and played for what stakes best suited
them.
One form Of gambling on the large
steamers Is betting on the number OF
miles made by the ship every "A hours.
The excitement attending Is beyond de-
scription. Now that the competition be-
tween the Teutonic Of the White Star line
and the City of Paris and the City OF New
York of the Inman line is SO great it is
well known that many OF the passengers
who have large sums at stake find IL
wholly impossible to sleep at night owing
to the intense strain upon their nervous
system.
Passengers crossing on board my ship
have resorted to every device Tor obtain
ing information regarding the number OF
miles run. In the most persuasive and
insinuating manner bribes have been
offered To the officers and men, and every
inducement has been hcld out to them for
giving "A "tip." Whether or not this has
ever been obtained l am unable 10 say.
So averse have l been To this dctestable
trickery that have never permitted any
gentleman who made a practice of betting
on the runs TO enter my chart room.
An incident occurred on one of my voy-
ages which served to strengthen this re-
solution on my part and i never devil
ated from It. An Englishman, who'had
come ON board bearing a letter of intro
duction To me from one of the managers
of the White Star line, was in the habit
of coming To me every morning after
breakfast, as | stood smoking my pipe by
the whecl-house door, and having a few
moments chat on various subjects; the
speed of the vessel not being one Of them.
That he was betting heavily on the runs
was n fact of which was in total ignor-
ance. by "A strange coincidence, for three
ha ~ A. al
pool. A syndicate had been formed, and
had bought up what IL was believed would
be the winning numbers. The disap-
pointed holders became furious I'm their
Indignation and anger. Discussing the
affair in the smoking room. one of the
party insinuated that the fortunate indi-
vidnal had received the Zip" from the
captain and threatened ITO make IL hot
for me.
For several days / remained entirely
unconscious of the excitement existing
among the betting men. A gentleman
who had crossed with me number of
times then kindly informed me what had
taken place, and said that he feared there
would be trouble. Wishing To have a pub
lie interview with the persons who were
going Ito make il hot" for me, kept the
runs back for two days, and the passen-
gers in complete Ignorance of the distance
made 10y the ship. The result fully
equalled my anticipations. After lunch
con the second day "A number of the
gentlemen came to me, wishing TO know
the cause of such AN extraordinary
movement on my part. i replied
that I would meet all interested in
the affair AT 3 o'clock in the smoking
room. i was punctual 10 the moment. aud
found, as ! expected, the room filed
with passengers. | demanded that "a
thorough investigation should at once be
made, and the result was that, when the
matter was sifted To its foundation, il
turned out that the men who had made
the accusation and caused the disturbance
were a party of professional gamblers
from Chicago.
Why is the gambling permitted? The
question is one that with a moments con-
sideration can be easily answered. All
Atlantic passenger steamers are furnished
with a large supply of wines and liquors,
which are not included i'm the price of
passage. Men who gamble drink largely,
too. The profit derived from the sale of
these wines and liquors during
the traveling-or, | may say, the
gambling-season are great
that il is not To the interest Of the steam.
ship companies to abolish gambling or Ia
interfere in any way with the comfort and
enjoyment of class of passengers who
SO materially add TO their income.