The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-04-29
GAMBLING IN PARIS.
Some Of the Places Recently
Made Notorious.
GAMES MOST FASHIONABLE.
Bsecarst Confinues TO BE in High Favor
Large sans Change Hands Over
Qnsnse-0reen Table Tragedies.


| London Saturday Review.
| Nothing in connection with private
/ gambling can possibly have been more
| lamenfable than the scandals that hare
| occurred Of late years in Paris. The scan
! dal OF the CercIe de la Rue Royale must be
fresh in the memory Of most readers. The
| Rue Roysle, rs it was briefly called. was
one Of the most exclusive clubs in Paris.
Its members were all rich men. and OF high
social standing The Cercle in question
stood second OF importance only to the
Jockey Club. The gambling at the Rue
Royale was very high about ten years ago.
and consisted. for the most part. Of the
game of .Quinze." at which large
sums OF money changed hands. One
of the players. who, although a rich man
had nearly been ruined at this game, be-
gan to suspect that something was wrong,
and upon closely examining the cards he
discovered that some of the most impor-
tant ones had been undoubtedly tempered
with The game was at once stopped. and
the servant who supplied the cards was
summoned. The answers this servant
gave were considered to be 50 unsatisfac-
tory that descent was made on his house,
where quantities of cards, all marked the
same way, ready TO be delivered at the
club, were found hidden about in
different parts of his room. OF
course, the servant was only q tool
in the hands of some rich man, who
must have bribei him largely TO work for
him. The fellow absolutely refused to
divulge the name of his employer, and his
wife, who was also implicated, was equally
SILENT The upshot of the affair was that
the servant was sentenced to three months
imprisonment, and the club was disbanded
poor consolation for those who had lost
fortunes through some cheating member.
The Rue Royale was reformed, and every
member had to be reelected and it is need
less to say that those who were black-balled
at the reelection have experienced consid-
cradle difficulty in their attempts to enter
other clubs.
Gambling has always been high in Paris
higher, perhaps. than in any other capt.
al in Europe. In the days of the second
empire it was at its highest; but most of
the members of that generation have either
paesed away or been ruined. or are now too
old to play. The Cercle Imperial, at the
corner of the Palace de la Concorde and
the Champs Elysees. has now been united
to the "Mirlitons," and is known as the
"Epatants," and here gambling is still car
ried on to a large extent, especially since
the fusion OF the two clubs. Baccarat and
poker are chiefly in vogue. Play begins in
the afternoon, and goes on again after din
ner, until the small hours of the morning.
Among gambling tragedies, Prince MeIis-
sanos death stands out as q warning to
those who make too free with ia Dame de
Pique.o Here was man popular in all
classes of society. we'll born and possessing
a considerable fortune. but the day came
when "Quinze" and baccarat left him high
and dry, and he was unable to pay his
debts of honor. Then his name was posted
in the looking.glass of the salon of the Rue
Royale. When the prince caught sight of
it he smashed the looking-glass to atoms
with one blow from his cane, and then
there was q scandal Prince Melissano,
who occupied room at the club, sent few
days later for his coiffeur, and, having been
carefully shaved and-in American par
lance--dxed, he dressed himself in evening
clothes, and then put bullet through his
heart Thus was another life--and the life
OF deservediy popular man-sacrificed to
the demands of Dame Fortune.
Todescend to lower scale of club in Paris
than those slready mentioned, we may
refer to certain magnificent establishments
far easier of access than the Rue Royale
and the Jockey Club, where gambling
especially baccarat--is played for very high
stakes. OF these the principal ones are the
Presse. the Washington and the Amercain
the last generally called the Colonel"
from the sufficiently weli-known fact that
all Americans are colonies. The Presse is
frequented by the better class of journalists
men who make large sums of money
by their pens, and who spend
the greater part of these sums
in gambling. Then there are rich stock
holders, financial dabblers, lie tout boule-
vard--that unknown quantity which GER
tainly exists, but which ii is so difficult to
define. All these men are prepared 10 risk
q thousand louis In the bank, and at the
Washington" and the Colonel" the play
is even higher. Here Americans-and,
indeed, all strangers-are admitted with
less formality than in other clubs. and it
was at the Colonel that Mr.. Benzon, in
the sporting pariance. skinned the lamb
To the extent of some 1000 pounds during
his stay in Paris two years ago. These
clubs are openly spoken of as tripots or
'hells" by those who frequent them.
Their very existence depends upon the
members gambling. and indeed they are
founded for no other purpose.
Baccarat is one of those games which in
the long run mean certain ruin. The
banker pays per cent for the advantage
that he has in dealing namely, that when
his adversaries ask for cards, the cards he
gives them are turned up. and he can there
fore gather very clearly what points they
have, and can make very shrewd calcuia-
ton as 10 whether or not he ought to take
card himself. This per cent goes 10 the
benefit of the club. which thus makes enor-
nous profits during the evening whether
the members win or not II given num-
ter OF players were 10 SIT down and play
baecarat. each with stated sum OF money,
il would only be question OF time for the
united amount to have passed into the
cagnotte or pool. and for no one 10 be any
richer save the psoprietors of the club.