The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-15

elect members, and the names of candi-
dates We're firts formally posted on board
with those of the proposer and seconder.
Then madame endeaVored to find out all
that she could about their owners She
brought forward the names quite inform
ally at the next committee meeting and
asked the ladies of the committee what
they knew and thought about each candf-
date. If any candidate was known to be
parsimonious, or strait-laced, or to possess
a strict and suspicious husband, this was
sure to come out At the end madame
would say: Does any lady object to the
elecuon?' or Perhaps, ladies, you would
not care TO elect her2' according to her
own views, and as a general rule the ma
Jority acquiesced in her wishes. The cleo
lions were decided by a majority and IL
VIII be evident that these arrangements
were all favorable to the chances of cleo
tion. The fact was that madame wanted
as many members as possible. The sub
scription was only a guinea, and the en-
trance fee another guinea. An expensive
club house and staff could not be main
tanned on this source of revenue alone.
What the proprietary relied on was the
payments for drinks and games, the profits
on the cuisine and wine cellar, and the
proceeds of the banks at baccarat and rou-
'lette.
The club was, in fact, a polite gambling
hell for fashionable ladies only, which dis
gulsed itself as club Rooms We're set
aside for various games. There was a
whist room. There was fine billiard room
with two tables, which, however, were
seldom used. There was a room for nonde-
was another where baccarat went on.
There was a large chamber where, at GER
tain hours-that is, between 4 and 7, and
again after dinner until almost any hour
there were roulette table and a bank
at which Madame and another woman
who was understood to be her sister, in
turns acted as croupierS. AS the bank
would not play unless a considerable num-
Der of players were present, and the max
imum amount possible to be staked was
by no means high in comparison with
the minimum, everything was in favor or
the bank, which, as a rule, won largely
1t was a rule that all gambling debts
must be- settled before the debtor left fine
club, and at the same time Madame was
usually ready to lend cash to those who
had been fieeced, in order to enable them
to settle up; In exchange for these loans
she received stamped paper adorned with
aristocrattc signatures. Sometimes there
We're difficulties in getting these docu-
ments redeemed Some ladies brought
jewels instead, and left them in pawn un-
til they could pay. Others made scenes
wept, shrieked, implored and went down
on ntheir knees to Madame in the little
back room. Madames rule was strict and
unVarying.
Ladies whose credit was really good(that
Is, who possessed rich, proud and high
spirited relations), were given as much
time as they wanted, provided they bor-
rowed more, and agreed TO pay so per
cent discount. When the debt reached a
large amount they We're pressed remOrse-
lessly; and If even then they could not
pay their relations We're applied to. In
one of these cases, when the final threat
had been used to her an unfortunate wo-
man went straight home and took an
overdose of choral rather than face the
exposure and disgrace.
Ladies who possessed sharp worldly re-
lations who might repudiate such debts
ana raise an outcry against the club, were
only given credit on leaving security i'm
the shape of jewels or other yaluables
Ladies who were known to have limited in
comes and no squeezable relations were
told on the first default of payment thar
they would not be admitted to the club
again until they had paid all The club
didn't want poor members, Madame said
and the sooner they were got rid of the
better
There was one mode of relief which
Madame was always open to grant. If
,he embarrassed lady could introduce a
number of new members who would be
profitable to the club, she was given time
readily. One lady, who was deep in debt
to the club, introduced no fewer than
twenty-three young girls, who, in conse-
quence, took TO drinking and gambling
LOST money heavily. became deeply in debt
to the club. and had to go through vari-
Gus degrees of disgrace before they could
Drinking and smoking went on to a great
extent. once a lady drank the greater
part of n bottle of green chartreuse at a
sitting, and remained for some hours in
the club in a state of total stupefaction
Most of the ladies drank and smoked ali
the time they played, and the more they
drank the more reckless they became
once at a game of policy" two ladies
rose. seized each others hair and fought
till they We're separated by force Dread
full scenes of all kind occurred. The profit
on the drink sold was enormous. Some
idea of the rate of il may be gathered from
the fact that some Of the prices were as
follows: Eighteen pence for a brandy and
soda, shilling or Is pence for small
liquor glass of liquor. a guinea a hOttle
for ordinary sweet champagne. twelve ana
six for half bottle, threepence for a cir-
arctic, and a shilling for a small cigar.
which may have cost the club at whole
sale price about a halfpenny
Eventually the scandals connected with
the club became so public that the neigh
bors combined TO indict it as a nuisance
Madame heard of this in time. and at
once closed the club. II has been started
again in fresh locality.