Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-08-07

all exposure, us when III BOSTON the pu-
lice swoopcd upon il gaming establish
ment and found in it the representatives
of all classes of citizens, from the first
merchants on State street to the low
Ann street gambler; as when Bullock,
tho cashier CT the Central Railroad of
Georgia, was found to have stolen
SOB, 0O0 for the purpose of carrying Oh
gaming practices; IL when young man
in one of the savings banks of Brooklyn
many years ago was found to have sto-
len $40, eco to carry on gaming prac-
tees; as when IL man connected with a
Wall street insurance company WAS
found to have stolen sos, 600 to carry
on his gaming practices But that is
exceptional.
The Last Dollar.
Generally the money leaks silently
from the merchants till into the game
stcr's wallet. l believe that one of the
main pipes leading to this sewer of III
iuuity is the excitement Of business
life. Is it not significant fact that
the majority of the day gambling houses
in New York arc in proximity to Wall
street? Men go into tie excitement of
stock gambling, and from that they
plunge into the gambling houses, as,
when men are intoxicated, they go into
a liquor saloon to get more drink. The
agitation that is witnessed in the stock
market when the chair announced the
word Northwestern, or Fort
Wayne" or Rock Island. f" or New
York Central, f" and the rat, tat, tat, of
tho auctioneer's hammer, and the ex-
element of making CORNERS, " and
getting up pools - and carrying
stock" and "break" from so to 70,
and the excitement of rushing around
in curbstone brokerage, and the sud-
den cries of Buyer three!'' Buyer
tent" Take 'cm!' Gow many?" and
the making or losing of $40, 900 by one
operation, uniits man to go home, and
so he goes up the flight OF stairs, amid
business offices, to the darkly curtained,
wooden shattered room, gayly fur
nished inside, and takes his place at the
roulette or the faro table. But cannot
tell all the process by which men get
into tbs evil \ man went to New
York. He was western merchant. He
went into IL gaming house on Park
place. Before morning he had lost all
his money save 81, and he moved
around about with that dollar in his
hand, and after awhile, caught still
more powerfully under the internal III
f;ltuation, he came up and put down
the dollar ard cried out until they
heard him through the saloon, lone
thousand miles from home, and my last
dollar oil the gaming table. "
Lost Property and Souls.
Many years ago for sermonic pur-
poses and i'll company with the chief
CT police Of New York l visited Que of
the most brilliant gambling houses i'll
that city. 1t was night, and as we came
I'D in front all seemed dark The blinds
were down, the door was guarded, but
after IL whispering of the officer with
Tie guard at the door we were admitted
into the hall, and thence into the par
lors, around one table finding eight or
ten mel in midlife, we'll dressed-all
the work going OH in silence, save the
noise of the rafting "chips' Oh the
gaming table i'll one parlor and the re-
yolving ball of Tie roulette table in the
other parlor Some Of these men, we
were told, had served terms i'll prison,
some were sLipwrecked bankers and
brokers and money dealers, and somo
were going their first rounds OF vice
but all intent upon the table, as large
or small fortunes moved up and down
before them. Oh. there was something
awfully solemn III the silence-the in
tense gaze, the suppressed emotions of
the players. Nc one looked up. They
all had money i'll the rapids, and have
no doubt some saw, as they sat there,
horses and carriages, and houses and
lands, and home and family rushing
down into the vortex. a mans life
would not have been worth farthlng
in that presence had he not been ac-
companied by the police, if he had been
supposed to be Oh Christian errand OF
observation. Some of these men went
by private key, some went in by care
full introduction. some were taken i'll by
the patrons of the establishment. The
officer of the law told me, None gets
in here except by police mandate or by
some letter Of a patron. While we
were there young man came in, put
his money down Oh the roulette table
and lost; put more money down on the
roulette table and lost; put more money
down on the roulette table and lost;
then feeling in his pockets for more
money, finding none, i'll severe silence
he turned his back upon the scene and
passed out. While we stood there men
lost their property and lost their souls.
Oh, merciless place! Not once in all the
history of that gaming house has there
been one word Of sympathy uttered for