The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-15
THE GAMBLING EVIL.
What Other Cities of the South Are
Doing TO Suppress Il.


Doing TO Suppress Il.
The action Of Acting Solicitor General
w. W. Osborne in suppressing one Of the
keno rooms does not seem to have put a
stop to gambling in the city by any means
A member of the police department says
that there is a game in progress on Dray-
ton street, and there Is not even a show of
secrecy about IT, When asked why no steps
had been taken by the police authorities 70
break up gambling at that place, he re-
piled that the police had no orders or au-
thority to interfere in any manner with the
game.
There is a war against gambling in many
Of the principal cities of the south, and
especially In Nashville and Chattanooga,
where there Is determination manifested
TO efectuany close and keep closed all
gaming rooms. In Chattanooga the presi-
dent of the board of police commissions has
given instructions TO the chief Of polce to
have every gambling room in that city
broken up, and the chief, in receiving
the orders, said that he was glad that power
had been delegated to him and that he
would carry it out in manner which would
show that he meant business, apd that DO
time would be lost in breaking them up.
This was on Thursday Of last week, and at
the Thursday night roll call the chief Of
that they must raid all the gambling places
and arrest all the persons found there, carry
off all the paraphernalia found and repeat
the raids every hour in the day, if they
have any reason to believe that the gamb-
ling continues The Chattanooga Times
tells how promptly the police force acted on
the orders of their Chief. 1t says:
Hardly an hour had passed after Chief
Kilgore's address to the police force when
Officer Fred Hill received information that
game OF craps was In progress In the Crow
house, at the corner of Ninth and Broad
streets. Calling to his assistance Officers
Smith and Hackett and armed with a
twenty-pound sledge hammer, they de-
manded admittRnce at a heavy four-inch
barricaded door on the second floor. Being
refused, Officer Hackett began battering
down the door. His efforts were Intellectual,
and then Officer Smith began the job.
After several minutes steady pound
ing the door gave way and the officers en-
tered the room, but of the fifty or sixty men
engaged in playing craps at the time the
officers succeded in capturing only sixteen.
AT least thirty or forty escaped. They
were nearly all young men. of every class
and occupation, and many the publication
Of whose names would create a sensation as
we'll as CONSERVATION in the community.
Not few of them hold important and re-
sponsible positions with leading firms and
corporations. Entering hacks with their
prisoners, the officers were driven to police
headquarters, where their names were en-
tered in the scratch book"
A gentleman from Chattanooga, who was
discussing the matter at one Of the hotels
last night, says that supplementing the 40
hvlty of the police of Chattanooga, the
grand jury has taken the matter up In earn
est, and the indications are that the war
fare upon the gambling houses will be an
effective one.
In Nashville a relentless war is being
prosecuted against gambling. Heretofore
it is said that gamblers who found them
selves in the clutches Of the law quietly ap-
peared before the clerk of the court,
and paying the costs were dismissed
without yer having to come TO trial This
practice is now about to be broken up, and
hereafter the gambling fraternity will be
forced 90 trial, and upon conviction will be
fined and imprisoned, as was the case with
one OF them last Friday, So Jealous are the
Nashville authorities in their efforts to sup
press gambling that a raid was made upon
the ''chess club" and several parties cap
tured at their stud-poker games a few
nights ago, and their indictments have
since followed. The Nashville papers say
that some of the indictments are against
what Is known as good citizens"
Since the action Of Acting Solicitor Gem
eral Osborne the gambling evil in this city
has been the topic of conversation, and law
abiding citizens do not hesitate to say that
the gambling dens should be broken up at
all hazards. Said one gentleman in re-
ferring TO the manner in which some of the
public thoroughfares of the city have been
blockaded in front of the buildings where
gambling is conducted: ut is not safe for
our wives and daughters"to walk along the
streets even on Sunday without being
jostled from the sidewalk. while the language
of the groups which block the way is often
such as TO shock refined ears. These gamb-
ling places are always in close proximity to
a saloon, and men in various stages of in-
toxication continue their quarrels and bick-
erings on the sidewalk, which began over
the gaming table. If there is no ordinance
that will break up these dens the mayor
should lose no time in calling the council
together and suggesting such legislation as
will prompt the police authorities of this
city to do what is being done in other cities
break up the gambling dens."