Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-11
HAS BECOME A MANIA
Gambling Among the Lower Glasses in
the North of England.
Every Village Has It's Little Monte
Carlo, Where Money Changes
Hands in Many Ways.

From the New York commercial Advertiser.
Among the lower classes of the north of
| England gambling has ceased to be pas
time; it has become mania. No matter
| what race is to be run, even if it be but
hen race. the Golfers must have their bit
| en- and no game can be played without
the miners backing their fancy. A very
&c mmon method of gambling in many viii
lagos is to place some bits of paper or wood
IN running stream and bet as to which
gets to a given point first. This is very
| similar to horse racing, even to the fact
that the favorite does not always win.
Cock fighting is by no means obsolete, and
even rat-worrying contests are not unknown.
These and other sports afford unlimited
means of gambling. and one has only to
read the police reports of the northern
counties of England in order to realize the
great hold gambling has obtained upon the
dregS of the lower classes.
The favorite haunt of the gambler how
ever. is the ground where sparroW-sweeps,
pigeon shooting. rabbit Coursing and other
similar sports are held. There is nothing
unlawful about the sporting, and matters
are generally so well arranged that al
though the police ere aware of the exist
ence Of the gambling, yet they are power
less to prevent ii. The presence of a
stranger usually puts a check to proceed
ihgS. AS d description of one Of these
pocket editions of Monte Carlo. which are
- numerous III thS PopuiouS portions OF
the north, might prove interesting, the
writer visited one of the best known.
The grounds are situated on the outskirts
OF one of the large manufacturing towns
Of Lancashire, and are much frequented
by the inhabitants of the surrounding viii
lagos. The way is rather desolate, but in
the lanes several men We're lOunging about.
These men are called the scouts and
their duty is to that suspicious per-
Son. police or otherwise. enters surrepti-
ttously. Further on. not far from the en-
trance to the grounds, a uniformed police
man was coming down the lane. The
grounds consist of several large fields
which are well screened from observation
! Admission is gained by a very narrow
winding passage, which opens out upon
the pay-box and pavilion. When the writer
entered the place looked quite respectable
At the bottom was a large number of
spectators, watching a rabbit coursins
match. A man ran some distance down the
field with two rabbits in his hands and
when he released them two dogs We're sent
after them. The dogs rapidly gained on the
rabbits, and soon caught them: but two
men in racing costume, who had run after
them, caused the dogs to drop their trem-
bling prey. The dogs We're splendid look
ing animals
1t was quite evident that the visitor had
Crea ted a diversion, for the men crowded
round the stranger" eyeing him suspi-
Ciou,Iy. 1t took him some little time to con-
vince them that he was not agent of the
police; when this was done the crowd
effected in the scene. Some of the men
We're now playing qIOits. others cards. and
various other games, but the majority had
formed themselves into groups rings"
These rings" are called gold rings, silver
rings, or copper rings, according to the
coins gambled for.
There were three large rings and several
smaller ones. The writer looked at one of
the large silver rings. It consisted of
about forty persons, and its center was
the man who did the tossing by throwing
up two hah-penniss. II they came down
with tails up the men who had backed tails
won; il heads, then heads won. Two men
armed with sticks kept the rings from de-
creasins in size by striking out right and
lGft and hitting the legs of the gamblers
they pressed in. The persons forming
the rings were Of all ages and sizes, some
we'll dressed, some in rags and tatters,
some laughing, some swearing, but all with
the same greedy, covetOus look upon their
faces. They all, young and old, pressed
eagerly forward until the blows of the men
inside drove them back.
No one seemed to be angry at the blows
received. The place became a pandemoni-
um. the noise grew deafening. The dogs
btrked howled and yelped, while the men
shouted themselves hoarse. The gambling
itself was very simple. One of the men
would throw down on the gravel at his
feet a iive-shilling piece and call out
Heads Il crown! heads a crown! heads
crown Another man would drop another
coin at his feet and say Tails a crown"
The man in the middle, who was neutral,
put TWO half-pennies upon the palm of his
hand and threw them up. Now all was
nearly silent. and the gamblers eyes fol-
lowed the spinning coins they went into
the air. then fell tinklng on the gravel
All eyes were strained to see the faces of
the ha!f-pennies. Again the noise grew as
the cry Tails was shouted. The back
ers of tails stopped down and picked up
the coins they had Won. The losers either
pulled more money out of their pockets,
or, If they were nearly banked" went to
FIaFfF ing
Now the cries of Heads a CROWN and
Tails CROWN arose. and the same pro-
cedurc was gone through, and it was
tunShng to see the amount of money won
and lost at this simple game. Some one
came up to the writer and said: III tina
wants to see brass tmoney) change hands
go and look at yOn ring"
The ring pointed out was a large one
and the people composing it were on the
whole perhaps better dressed than the
others. The mode of procedure was
the same as in the silver ring, but the
amounts staked We're much larger, FIVE
pounds being a moderate stake. In a few
minutes the writer saw hundreds of dollars
lost and Won. Some of the men who threw
their gold on the floor were most miserable
looking beings, and appeared as if they had
not had a dinner for a week Apparently
a sovereign would more than cover the cost
Of all their possessions, and yet they fire.
quently drew a handful of gold out of their
pockets.
Suddenly transformation came over the
scene. The word strangers was passed
along, The money was hurriedly picked up
and the rings broken. Most of the men
crowded round where the coursing was TAX
ting place, and appeared as if they were in
tereste1 in the proceedings. In about five
minutes two well-dressed men entered
they were the strangers" Whether they
were detectives not the gambling was
not resumed and the grounds gradually
thtnned Of people.
Such gambling places are distributed all
over the industrial north, and are likely to
continue To exist. for 1t IL almost tmpossi-
bic to collect evidence to lead to a convic-
ton in a law court, so cunning are the
managers of them
should Coal Give Out
From Gunton's Magazine