The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1895-12-05
GAMBLING IN MEXICO.


| of the Capital City.
Enter a Ile-iican milling saloon
when things arc q little slack, and
you will see tho habitues of the
monte table discussing the topics of
the day while they roll their ciga-
rettes and loll back in their chairs as
If they had met for no other pur-
/ pose. Seated on chair little re-
moved from the table is a man who
has probably inhabited the gambling
saloon for days past. He is now
overcome with sleep, and as he sits
with his legs crossed and his head
rocking from side to side one Won
ders how he can keep his seat or
how it is that his greasy tall hat
does not topple off.
Then you will see an unshaven,
unkempt fellow nursing his knee
and modify gazing at the roulette
table for hours, while the little ball
spins round and the croupier rakes
in the coin and hands out the win
nings with machinelike dizziness and
accuracy. No one ever suspects the
croupier. Nine out of ten of those
/ who bet and win have no idea of
what is coming to them. But they
take what the croupier gives them
as a matter of course. He has no in
ducement to cheat, for the bank is
not his, and anyway the bank must
win in the long run, como what may.
A Chinaman may saunter in to
| give some animation to the table.
| He asks for no chips, but wagers
hard, cold silver. Where the Next
can lays 81 he will lay IS, and often
or than not he wins. With the alb
sence of undignified hurry and ca
gerness peculiar to the oriental he
does not take in his winnings at
once, but produces a cigarette, rolls
and lights it and then lays holds of
his dollars. You will be sure to see
at any table q mild lunatic with pa
per and pencil before him noting
each point and slowly laying foun-
dations of new and infallible sys-
tenn" AS if there were any way of
obviating law of nature
Now and then young gambler
will enter, bringing with him into
the heavy laden atmosphere a gust
of fresh air from the street. He
will bet and have run of luck that
will draw to him the attention of all
the lack luster eyes that surround
the table. One or more will gradu-
ally side up to him and with parch-
ed, trembling lips ask him where he
is going to place his money and ask
leave to follow his lead.
Where but round the gambling
table do you see so many and such
striking examples of statuesque i'm
mobility? You count not by min
utes, but by hours, tho time that
gray haired votary of chance has sat
with his eyes fixed on vacancy. And
how much longer will he stay in
that posture? Perhaps until the
lamps are turned off in the gray
morning or until he summons ND
energy enough to stagger off to the
pawnshop to raise a pittance And
that man who has, sat so long with
his head buried in his hands-what
is he thinking of? Perhaps of the
homo as it was once and as it might
have been still.
A sprinkling of Anglo-Saxons is
generally there to give heightened
piquancy to the scene. A sporty"
railroad conductor just in from his
run perhaps goes there to try his
luck, and you may sec the tattered,
demoralized specimen of his race
who in sheer pity has been given a
trial and turned off by all the Amer
lean enterprises in Mexico. How
does he get "a living now?-Mexican
Herald.