The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-12
make four to the end of time, and the
reSult of sshIckinn tho timer ;, Mt rnl1lafta ir

two make four to the end of time, and the
result of "bucking the tiger" at roulette is
just that kind of a mathematical certainty.
This is the reason Monte Carlo has a pri-
vate graveyard and the cemeteries of Nice
and other neighooring towns are full of the
nameless graves of suicides-young English
men with ugly round holes in their temples
and Russian princesses with features wrung
with the paroxysm of strychnine. such
cases happen every day, but nobody minds
them. The police sand over the bloody
spot by the roadside and hurry the corpse
to the dead house. It is secretly buried at
midnight and there is no scandal"
In reality such cases are less sad than
those others where ruined mon and demon
allied women leave the tables penniless to
face the world without resource. ''The
bank" always gives them a railway ticket
and a couple of Napoleons to get away from
the place. What becomes of them? Tho
women become Russian police spies and
demi-mondaines; the mon often blacklegs
or p%rivates in the French army. There are
a couple of hundre decaves in the foreign
legion at all times. You might hear of a
good many, too, on western ranches OF
about the gold and silver mines, or IN Aus
tral1an sheep farms or the African diamond
fields.
These disasters are causes of the change
which is to take place next year. Monte
Carlo has become a scandal to Europe. 1t
has been especially uinous to the youth of
England, France and Russia. They had
the most to lose. Russia has long been
FESTIVE, and there is u powerful church So
ciety in England, with branches all over
the continent, which constantly aeitates
for the abolition of the games. The power
lies with France, The prince of Monaco,
though independent in the main. is a feudal
tributary of France, and if France insisted
at nnv moment, that moment the casino
should go.
But France is not squeamish. There is a
party, too, which favors ont Carlo.
People will play, they argue. and it is better
they should do it whore it 10 fair and square
and open than where it is crooked and all
the more demoralizing because conducted
in constant dread of the police.
Besides, it is argued, that for one who is
materially injured, a Thousand find inno-
cent pleasure in the place. You would be
astonished at the strength this view of the
case commands. You see almost every man
of note in Europe has thus amused himself
at one time or another. The prince of
Wales has varied the monotony of baccarat
with m occasional flyer on the black or
red. Queen Natalie's recent spouse is u
frequent patron, and the widow of poor
Rudolph Of Austria. who is shocking
the Riviera by her demimondaine
1ecklessness, plays pd far too much:
old habitue; James Gordon Bennett, wh.n
in the soutl of France, is a daily visitor.
The late Lawrence Jerome, of New York,
was n friend of Blanc, and 50 was his
brother Leonard, whose son-in-law, Lord
Randolph Churchill, by tao way, has
played many Il coup. Churchil's brother,
Marlborough, dropped n good deal of the
ancestral wealth at the tables. Wal
ton, the American ''plunget's" feats
are still spoken of, and poor Jubilee
Juggins' losses are fresh in every momoN
In short every votary of amusement in Ed
rope has had his fun at Monte Carlo. and
: protect it, and SO it has gone along for
years.
1t is said, however, that even France is
tired of the scandal, ard if Prince Albert
we're willing to renew tho concession, the
government of M. Carnot would forbid him
doing so. And Andorre was seie cted as the
location for a new Monte Carlo. Perhaps
nothing will serve better than this very
matter of travel and transportation to il
~lustrats the present condition of this little
state which IL about to undergo Il revolu-
ton such as the inhabitants annot even
conceive, 80 great is their Ignorance OF the
world. Ihe place is apr reached by a road
from Folk, where the railway ends, as
miserable villages In tho world, and
the last point on the French frontier.
Thence all travel is on foot or on the lnuie
back. There is no road, nothing that a
wheeled vehicle could move on, inst a mere
mountain path, passing over lodges, sinking
into valleys, and winding around slopes
and precipices, never ailording space for
two travellers 10 ride abreast. The journey
cannot ba performed in less than two days
without hardship. Hospitalet Is II miser-
able place to break it. There is practically