Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-10-18
COLUMN,
EDITED BY JoNEsBoRo W. G. T. U.
OUR AMERICAN MONTE CARLOS.
BY LA sALLIE A. MAYNARD.

contamination of all that is evil and
reprehensible in the gambling business.
For years it has gone under the familiar
and appropriate title of "the gambling
hell of Europe" At frequent intervals
we are treated to tables of CHASTITY sta
tistics detailing the number OF suicides,
murders and other crimes for which
the place is responsible.
But vile as Monaco is, and no words
are strong enough to paint all its vile
ness, l assert it is as solemn and a fear
full fact, that we have in this country
today a gambling institution before
whose baleful power and damning in
1uence the dens at Monte Carlo sink
into comparative insignifcance. l
refer to the horse racing interest, or to
what is known as the turf. Here we
have a large number of Monte Carlos,
an aggregation of them stationed at
various points throughout the country,
all linked together for a common pur-
pose and with common ends. But
every n of these race tracks is a CEN
ter of demoralizing influence for all the
country around. For every suicide or
other crime attributable to the gambling
tables at Monte Carlo a hundred may
be ascribed to the influence Of turf
gambling. Next to the banded liquor
interest stands the turf as an agency
of evil, as a corrupter of politics and
public morals, as a breeder of vice and
crime. Like the liquor interest the
turf commands the allegiance of legis-
latures, juries, courts and municipal
governments. 1t counts its wealth by
tens of millions, and nothing that
money can buy is permitted to stand
in the way of its The secular
journals of the country, with rare ex-
ceptions, are its most obedient and
willing servants. Every day the ''cards"
at Gutenberg, Gloucester, and other
similar resorts are flashed over the
country for the 8 of newspapers and
pool oom keepers in catering to the
gambling propensities of the people.
1t is for this reason, among others, that
turf gambling is a far more powerful
agency of evil than. Monte Carlo. The
influence of the latter is confined al
most wholly to the territory where the
gambling tables are located, whereas
through the agency of the press and
the telegraph the turf gamblers throw
out their lines into all the towns, ham.
lets, and bywavs of the land
The brothels, the dives, the saloons,
and all other evil resorts of the towns
and cities empty themselves into these
enclosures. The thief, the swindler,
the harlot, the roue-all creatures who
prey upon the community here find the
largest liberty and the most congenial
atmosphere. Here such things are
taught and openly practiced, ofttimes
under the color of law, and always
with a certain amount of respectable
encouragement and support. The race
track business from beginning to end
is a tissue of fraud and treachery. 1t
is only by the merest chance that an
honest race is ever run On any track.
A regular conspiracy exists between
the owners of horses, and jockeys, and
the "bookmakers," by which the de-
luded wretches who frequent the tracks
the hope of winning something by
placing" money on horses are fleeced
and robbed. If persons are allowed to
win now and then it is only that the
blind i%nfatuation may be kept up and
new victims brought in.
Let me quote on this point the testi-
mony of Thomas j. Byrnes, superin-
tendent of police, New York. Mr..
Byrnes has never posed as q teacher
of morals, but he has a large and init
mate knowledge of crime and crime
breeders, and he ought to be a good
witness. In an interview published in
the New York Times some months ago,
Mr.. Byrnes said: "What respectable
man who knows the a C tracks for
what they are, will today take his wife
or his daughter to a race track to see
the races for the pleasure of seeing
them3 He must sit among O lot of over
dressed women who yell and shout like
men, and who act as decent men would
be ashamed to act. To seat a good
woman or a young girl among the horde
OF hardened, gambling crazed females
who are found in tho grand stands on
every racing day, is an insult to the
entire sex. Horse racing here is in the
hands of a gang Of criminals, including
swindlers, thieves, blackmailers, and
murderers. They prey upon each
other and everybody else." Such Ian
guage as this would hardly have been
used had not the facts warranted it.
One of the leading turfman of the day
and the owner of the largest and most
fully equipped race course in the conn.
try is John A. Morris. But this John
A. Morris was one of the chief owners
and managers of the Louisiana lottery.
and has probably done more than any
other man of this century to debauch
and ruin his fellow men. Since his
viperous institution at New Orleans
was crushed under the heel of the Fed.
eral government, he has devoted the
most Of his attention to the develop
ment of his other gambling concern at
Morris Park. Other and lesser lights
Al Akn .cAA k.xl -.--r