The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-22
OLD TIME GAMBLERS WERE REAL SPORTS Veteran LamentS Passing of
 Genuine Article HE CHANTS AN ELEGY Good Old Sporting Days and the Mas ters of Chance Are Recalled.
 Many Gathered at staid
 Old Baltimore.
From the Baltimore Sun.

| opOi tSllidH WuOSe il1tllOTy TullS DdCk u the days when Boston and Fosham were lights of the turf.
 Times have indeed changed In that re- spect," continued the veteran ''The gam
 bier of the old regime was 8 picturesque | figure. His clients and associates were | from the leading men of all walks of life and he took his tone from them. Often | moment in the community. His opera tions were large and in all of them he knew the meaning of the word honor. No such stigma attached to gambling
 in those days as now. Lotteries were le- galized and good citizens took flyer at roulette or faro as openly as they bet on stocks or cotton or coffee nowadays. Fashions in gambling, like everything else, change
 Just before and just after the Civil war were the halcyon days of gambling in Baltimore, and the Monumental City sports had a high reputation all over the country. Players from New York, Philadelphia, the west and south came to Baltimore, where they could get as high a play as they pleased Talking of high plays, Baltimore can boast of being the scene of one of the biggest bets on single turn at faro that I ever heard of. It was away back in the forties, when William Townley and his partners were dealing a strong game in Barnums hotel
 The race meeting at Kendall's track at Canton, was then going on, and among the visitors at the track was Dick Ten Broeck, the famous horseman. One night Ten Broeck and two of his friends sat down at Townley's game and started t1 play the limit. Ten Broeck was a reck- less player, and his friends were just as bad.
 After a long siege they counted up their assets, which amounted to 5000 and Ten Broeck proposed that, they make one turn for that.
 The dealers were staggered, and, sus- pending the game for a while, went into the next room to consult Townley. "Townley was game. He ordered the play to go on and the turn for $33, ,O0O was made. Ten Broeck won and Townley was practically broken.
 "Of the many we'll known men that con- ducted gambling establishments in Balti- more three stand out. They were William Byrne, Carville D. Cockey and Robert J. C'Doc') Slater. These were remarkable men and impressed themselves strongly upon their times
 Perhaps the biggest man of them all was Byrne. His house was on Fayette street, near Barnum's hotel, and was a resort for the wealthy planters of the southern counties and the eastern shore. All the prominent politicians, too, could be found at Byrnes.
 "Byrne himself was a leader in po,i- tics, and man of much influence. He was a delegate to the national conven- tion in 1856 that nominated Buchanan for President. This convention was held al Cincinnati and Wash Mclean virtually carried the convention for Buchanan. His slogan was Give us Buchanan now and we will give you Douglas in 1S60' Tn 1860 the national convention was held at Charleston and again Byrne was elected 0 delegate. This time hls col league was Robert J. Brent, a prominent lawyer. As you know, the convention was adjourned to Baltimore and held in Front Street theatre.
 "The Douglas and Breckinridge men
 split and the latter went to the Maryland
 institute, where the Kentucky statesman for the Kentucky statesman "Byrne was a Breckinridge man. He
 got up an organization called the Ma
 tional Volunteers for Breckinridge.' and was instrumental in carrying Maryland for the Kentucky statesman. "Byrne was accused of being mixed up III lne plOI to dSSdSSllldtc liuCOlu WItcn
 he passed through Baltimore on his way to be inaugurated
 When the war broke out Byrne cast sn his fortunes with the south, and May s, 1861, with Jim Gamble. left Baltimore for Richmond. They drove to Frederick, then to Hampers Ferry and then by the way of Winchester and Strasburg to Rich- mond.
 Dxrxr ad a Ina 11n to the Spottswood hotel This was a
 great resort for the Maryland soldiers during the war and Byrne's purse was always open to them. Any old Maryland veteran will have warm place in his heart for William Byrne. "Byrne made many friends in Rich- mond. Senator Lewis T. Wigfall was one of his intimates and so was the Commis- sioner for exchange of prisoners, Robert Ould. Ould was a great faro player. Aft CT protracted session one night he said: 'Byrne, this faro is f1uctuating game. have lost 17 straight bets "Byrne was arrested while in Rich mond, but was bailed out by Senator Wigfall and Robert Hough of Baltimore, an old political friend who was then in Richmond.
 At the close of the war Byrne left Richmond for Baltimore, but in crossing
 the Potomac he was seized by soldiers and
 all his money and jewelry taken away
 from him. He landed in Baltimore prac-
 tically penniless.
 After the war Byrne opened faro
 bank on Pennsylvania avenue, in Wash
 ;ngton In 1888 he dealt faro for John
 Morrissey in New York. Byrne died in
 the seventies.
 "Carville w. Cockey was one of the
 noted figures In the gambling fraternity
 just prior to and after the war. He
 was a superior man in every way and his house was famous resort. "Cockey came from Frederick county
 and was gentleman bred. He was d fine, large, handsome man, well educated
 and well read, and could talk on any sub. ject. He was of jovial disposition and a great entertainer. He made a runaway match with a lady of fine family
 "Cockey was fond of horses, and in his palmy days he owned some of the best roadsters in Baltimore, among them the famous Lady Waltermeyer, and the fast colt Jim Gamble. He bought the stable of William McDonald on Calvert street. near Pleasant, and had one of the best-fltted establishments in the city. ''Cockey's gambling house was just soilth of T2arnunl's hotel. at the corner