The Washington times., 1901-11-24
Paradise Of Gamblers Soon
to Be Wiped Out.
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD BUYS site
Ground Covered by the Town Pur-
chased for an Approach to the
New Long Bridge-History OF
the Once Notorious Resort.

buildings at the SOutn emu Ol the LSHs
Bridge, dignified by the name of Jack
son City, is TO be swept away by the on
ward march of progress. What mora
sentiment and reform movements have
for years struggled spasmodcally, bui
always in vain, to accomplish, Is to be
brought about by material development
Jackson City. with its pool rooms, It's
faro banks. its roulette tables, its wheels
of fortune, its keno boards, crap tables
its poker outfits, its gaming devices, oi
every sort and kind known to the pro-
fessional gambler, its policy drawings
its saloon dives and scenes of vice and
lawlessness for years is to be no more.
Its structures, if such its dingy little
huts may be called, are to perish.
The Southern Railway, in its prelim-
mary work of constructing a new bridge
across the historic Potomac in place of
the i'll ll-famed Long Bridge, has purchased
Jaciss on City. True, the purchase is
neither great nor extravagant, but the re-
suit of this transaction in Alexandria
County real estate will be hailed with
delight by the law-respecting and crime
detesting citizens of both Washington
and Alexandria.
To Seek Other Haunts.
Soon the habitues of the gambling
Joints" will be compelled to seek other
resorts to carry on their Refarious busi-
ness. Thus will pass into oblivion the
city which Gen. Andrew Jackson sought
to found when President of the United
States, and which has for decades dis
graced his honored name. Although his
tory will no doubt omit TO state that a
city once stood at the south approach to
the Long Bridge, the place will neverthe-
less remain a memory for long time,
especially to those who there parted
company with their money, and to others
who made livelihood by obtaining II.
jackson City was not Monte Carlo.
Its appointments, its surroundings and
environments were anything but superb,
and its gambling transactions were run
without license it should be said to the
credit of the Commonwealth OF Virginia.
Still it has been the place where the
game of chance has lured many vic
tim, many man-it was never resort
patronized by women-who sought to get
money without the difficulty, the incon-
venlonce oil WOrklnB Tor IL
Few Came Away Winners.
Although. of course, some came away
winners, for where some men lose others
must win-except that which goes to the
'kitty"-the great majority went there
with money and came away only with ex-
perience and not infrequently remorse.
1t was not an unusual sight for beiated
pedestrians in the vicinity of the bridge
to see in the early hours OF the morning
well-dressed young men wearily vending
their way homeward because they had
staked and lost their all at the gaming
table and had neglected to save enough
TO pay for cab hire, and could find no one
to lend them the price of the fare.
How many men Jackson City. with its
gambling dens. has driven to theft, en-
bezzlement, false pretences, and other
forms of dishonesty, and even to suicide,
it would be impossible to say. No one
knows: no one can know. The fact re-
mains that Jackson City has been the
noxious catapasm which has drawn the
long green" from the pockets of those
who toiled for it. These losers thus re-
lieyed have not infrequently been COM
pelled to resort to unworthy means to
recoup themselves. This has caused their
fall.
Department clerks have long been the
liberal patrons of these Jackson City
dens and the dealers have grown fat
upop the earnings of Uncle Sans clerical
army. Nights following the first and the
middle of each month-pay day in the de-
partments of the Government-have long
been the most prosperous periods with
the professional gamblers of Jackson
City, and the crisp new Treasury notes
which lined the pockets of the Govern
ment employees when they crossed the
Long Bridge going south have filled the
Golfers of the gamesters with ill-gotten
gains.
Railroad to Supplcnt Roulette.
Now the roulette wheels are to be
stopped, the bones will cease to rattle,
and no more will the eager players lis
ten to the cry of "Keno." at Jackson City.
The games must be played elsewhere. The
which has always been a mes
senger of progress, is to run over the
place where the gaming table is now set.
Since Alexandria County was retroceded
to Virginia in 1916, Jackson City has been
practically disowned, all but disinherited
by the Old Dominion. Even at this day
there is still now and then a question
raised as to whether Alexander Island,
upon which this famous, or rather infa-
nous, gambling resort is located, really
belongs to Virginia or to the District of
Columbia.
1t is an old story, and knLwn by every
in the land, that the ConStitu-
tion provided that tract of land not ex-
ceeding ten miles square, ceded by GER
tain States TO the Federal Government
should constitute the seat of the National
Virginia n
Maryland gave part, and thus the Capt.
tai was located on the banks of the Poto-
mac.
But the city was butt on the portion
ceded by Maryland, the Capitol and the
public buildings erected there, and the
Virginia side was much neglected. All
the advantage and improvement was
gained by the section of the District on
the north side Of the river.
Ceded Back 10 Virginia.
Finally, an agreement was reached by
act of Congress and of the Virginia Leg
islature whereby the Virginia concession
was retroceded to the Old Dominion 1t
constituted about one third of the total
area Of the District. The question was
submitted only to the people of AIexan-
1ria County, and but AIS people were suf-
lciently Interested in the matter to vote
upon the question. They voted to return
10 Virginia.
The legality of that action, in view of
the fact that the District was provided
for by the Constitution, has not infre-
1uen ly been doubted. The late Judge
jeremiah NJ. Wilson seriously ques-
toned it.
1t is said that the question has never
been settled by the Supreme Court of the
United States. During Governor Shep-
herds administration it was his purpose