River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-07-11
STORIES OF MONTE CARLO.
Gathered by . Man who Spent Twenty
Seas0us There.

oAthcfSu " wan VINO cpent fWcuty
Seasons There.
But who should this be slipping some
iced vermooth at the marble table but
an old friend whom / will call Mr..
Spectator. He lives at Monte Carlo; he
has passed a score of seasons there; he
has plenty of money; ne goes to the
Casino every day and every evening,
and he never pays a cent. 1t is his oc-
cupation in life TO be an observer of
things and to mark the ways of man
and womankind. In the summer he
will mark them at Aix-les- Bains, AL
Lausanne, or at Trouville. He knows
everything about what is going on To-
now at Monty" what Russian pr A.
cess pawned her diamonds last y eek.
and what Cuban sugar piantcr did
not die of apoplexy al the Hotel
Carm bole, but poisoned himself with
prusslc acid "He was fool, sir"
quoth Mr.. Spectator. why didn't he
go to the administration? They knew
well enough that he had lost 200, 900
francs in the course Of ten days. They
would have paid his travelling and ho-
tel expenses back to Paris, or back to
Brazil for the matter OF that. He was
fool, sir
Mr.. Spectator went on to explain
that when a cleaned-out player made a
candid admission of his impecuniosity
the administration gave him sum of
money sufficient to defrsy his journey
by railway to the place whence he
came and his incidental expenses en-
route. He mentioned one case in which
whole family of five persons were al
lowed fifteen louis apiece TO take them
from Monte Carlo TO London, the solo
condition attached to the largesse be-
ing that the recipient should not re-
enter the Casino unless he or she re-
couped the administration Ter their
outlay. In the case which he cited.
one of the party, q lady, who had noh
gone further than Nice, received some
weeks afterward a handsome remit
lance from England. She went back
blithely TO Monty" repaid the fifteen
louis, re-entered the Casino, and back
ing the douze dernier, not forgetting
zero, won fifteen hundred dollars.
You are not to believe" added Mr.
Spectator, "a 1.-THE of the SENSATIONAL
stories printed about ruined gamesterS
hanging themselves 10 trees in the gar
dens. or blowing out their brains in
the reading rooms" The majority Of
these canarde are set on foot by OBJ
scure French newspapers, which have
not been subventioned or bribed by
the administration to puff Monte
Carlo.
One of the pleasantes' Characters
tics of my friend Mr.. Sp tor is that
arar,- s;v,,a x-o,, rraat hin, ba has n frash
story to tell you about an iufallible
system for winning at roulette, and
this time he RECALLED me with n sue
cinct narrative of what / may call the
Wellington boot system" Capt.
Backum has played for many years .
large number of systems, and by the
time he was forty-fve had played
away a handsome fortune. A happy
thought occurred to him. He always
wore Wellington boots. His capital
was FIVE louis. This he changed into
hve-franc pieces, and he never staked
more than one piece at time. and it
1 he won he Withdrew his stake after
/ the third coup His winnings he care
fully placed in a side pocket, and
whenever he had won four pieces he
| changed them into louis ard slipped
/ the coin into one of his boots. He
| played for seven consecutive hours
before his stock capital was exhausted.
| Then he returned to Nice, somewhat
heavy of footstep, and drawing off
his boots, found that he had won
one hundred louis This was two
years ago." continued Mr.. Specta-
/ tor, land only last week l found
Backum at third-class hotel at Nice.
lie was in dressinggown AMI clip
pers, and looking by no means chee.-
| full How about the v e. lington boot
SYSTEM" | asked. "U er collapse"
he replied "Confoundei run of bad
luck" And the boot? / went on
The boots?" he replied ~ pawned
them yesterday afternoon
So this is Monty" in fu.l swi- Il
Monty" with it's tip and downs, its
ceaseless whirl of gayety and dissipa-
ton. There is no rest in Monte Carlo.
When you are tired of play there are
dramatic performances; there are con-
certs; there is pigeon shooting; and in
| the spring and summe. there is plenty
of yachting. The Grand Trunk line of
| Monte Carlo leads to the Temple of
Mammon. 1t is crowded night and day
by people lusting for money which
they have not earned; and it is the
road TO ruin.-London Telegraph.