The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-07-28
HOG BOXES" AT WORK
ssPRIvATE Snap GAMBLING JOINTS
REAP RICH HARVESTs.
TRICKS OF THE SHARPERS.
Reform Has Closed the Big Gambling
Resorts at Saratoga and Long
Branch to the Detriment of Sport
anE Visitors.

SARATOGA, N. 2, July 24.-The brace
gambler IS reaping a harvest this summer,
and the good reformers Of this resort who
decided to close the great gambling palaces
are innocently applauding themselves for
having abolished the awful evil. They i'm
agine that they have protected the summer
visitor against the destinations of faro,
roulette rouge ct nOir and kindred games
OF chance, but the reformers are all wrong.
In theory they we're quite right, but like
a great many other reform efforts, success
stopped between theory and practice.
When the large gambling palaces were
open the player was protected. That is. he
was given fair and honest treatment He
had only to contend with the legitimate
gamblers These are comparatively small,
ranging from three and a half to fifteen
per cent Where tens of thousands of dol
1arH are WageTea each night these percent
ages mean formidable profits to the owner
Of the house, but the player has always q
chance Of quitting winner if his luck is
a shade better than that of the bank.
Now, however, all is different The great
gambling houses are closed, and the hun
dre1s Of men here who have hankering
for a nights sport over the green cloth,
listening to the seductive rattle OF the
chips. are forced to go into the by-ways to
satisfy their gambling hunger. This means
that they 20 against private snaps" oper-
ated DY gamblers Of the cold blooded, re
morseless type, who are not satisfied with
the legitimate percentages in their favor,
lar from their patrons.
Some of these private snaps are located
in the private rooms of the gamblers IN
the large hotels. Others are to be found in
houses in obscure streets. A man in search
of a place to gamble will have no difficulty
in finding half a dozen, and in each one
the chances are a hundred to one that he
will quit a loser.
1t would make old John Morrissey, who
established the famous Club House here,
sick at heart we're he alive to see the pres
ent condition Of things, and honest Charley
Reed, or modest Samuel Spencer, his sue
cessor, who took as much pride in the
honesty of he house as bank president
does in the integrity of his bank, would
blush with shame at the dOings OF their
nefarious imitators.
THE SAME AT LONG BRANCH.
And, according to the talk among this
seasons crop of gamblers, what is true of
Saratoga is also true of Long Branch,
where the angel of reform has also closed
up the long established gambling houses.
but is Dowerless to shut off the mush-
room growth of scores of private snaps.
A novice may ask, how can a gambler
swindle a player who knows the game
thoroughly, and who keeps his eyes wide
open and his wits about him all the time
And only a novice will ask such a ques-
cion. The slickest professional gambler
living can be cleaned out if he plays an
honesI game against a dishonest game put
up by a man of inferior ability. All gam
truth was given in New York less than
year ago, when Riley Grammar, the greatest
plunger on the turf. went up against
private snap game and quit $4,000 loser
after four hours play.
The crook gambler has delicatsly con-
structed mechanical appliances at his COM
mand for every recognized game Of chance.
Some Of these things may not be larger