The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-03-09

crowd, the bets, and especially to watch
each other. A thief who could make an
arrangement with croupier to pay him
whether he lost or won would have q
very nice time.
On entering the big door of the
Casino, the would.be gambler turns to
the left, and in very business like little
Office faces an aged and wise triumvirate,
seated behind desks. These men, though
old, have powerful memories, and at
Judging human nature they are very fine.
Their business is to decide who shall and
who ehall not be admitted to the gam
bling rooms. They must keep out those
who are minors, those who are intoxi.
Gated or otherwise Objectionable, those
who at any time have acted in an OBJ.
jectionable fashion at the tables, and
those who live at Monaco or anywhere
near there, at Nice, Mentone, etc.
They are supposed to exclude
cashiers, treasurers and such people
holding positions of trust, no matter
where they come from. They do not do
much of that, however. If they did it
would cost the institution which en-
ploys them much useful mouey.
The three wise men who admit appli-
cants to the shearing-machine inside in
quire their names, addresses, occupa-
tions, real and temporary residences, and
if satisfactory, issue cards admitting the
! holder to the rooms for that day. On
succeeding days new card is issued on
simple presentation of the last card re-
ceived. Dignitaries, such as the Prince
of Wales, Lord Harrington and others,
who regularly patronize the place, can
escape the bother of facing the trium-
virate by announcing their desire to en-
ter. But as that involves calling official
attention to the fact that they want to
gamble, they usually prefer to 60 in the
same rs ordinary gamblers.
The exit from the little Office leads
into big lobby, fine, large hall where
those walk about who have lost all they
have and wonder what they are to do
next, and where the superstitious gam
blers, about nine-tenths of the whole lot,
may make up their minds as to the ia
vorable nature of the day. In another
room men in uniform take wraps, etc. :;
then the visitor walks through folding
doors and is in the Monte Carlo gam
bling rooms. He sees lot of tables, q
big crowd around them, and then ser
want, gorgeously dressed, requests him
with polite sign to take off his hat.
The whole thing looks so businesslike
that the idea of taking off his hat does
not occur to the green American any
more than it would in street-car.
The arrangement of the interior of the
Casino is very simple. There is room
running parallel with the front of the
Casino, which is the first room, and
which contains two tables for roulette
playing. Beyond that is another room
which runs i'll the contrary direction,
and holds six tables, and beyond that a
third and last room corresponding with
the first. That is called the gold room,
because of the high play that goes on at
the trente ct quarante tables, where the
smallest bet allowed is twenty franc
gold piece, -four dollarS and where sill
yer may not be put on the table. In
that room there are also two roulette
tables, one of these recent addition
made necessary by the increase in busi-
uess.
All these tables arc we'll patr onized