New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-04
PO0LR00M ARABS
CAMP, THEN FIT
POLICE PURSUE
CITY Racetrack Joints Now
Conducted on Endless
Chain" Principle.
LONGACRE SQUARE
Is FAVORITE ORBIT
Each Proprietor Has His Glen
tele, Which Follows as
He Commands.

Consider the restless Arab Of the
gambling fraternity, known ? the float
ing poolroom owner. This gentleman
rakes in his wealth by employing the
principle which guides the owner of
chain Of vaudeville houses, although in
a less legitimate fashion. The floating
pooroom owner is proprietor Of a
chain of gambling rooms, so placed
geographically, that when the police
become unduly attentive to him at one
Of his places Of business, he can fold
up his tent and silently steal away to
another precinct, where the alleged
guardians Of the law are more toler-
ant or less conscientious.
The floating poolroom owner oper-
ates three, four or five different rooms.
These are usually situated in widely
separated parts Of town. the only ex-
cepton to this rule being in the neigh
borhood of Fortv-second Street and
Broadway, where Tribune Investigators
discovered one of these gamblers NOV
ing i'm an orbit which never took him
out of sight of Longacre Square. From
one of these rooms to another the pro-
prietor. when forced by circumstances,
leaps, feaike Like that insect, he is
extremely hard to catch.
Each Of these One-night stand
gamblers must have his own special
clientele The Weather proprietors of
games Of chance can afford to take up
permanent residence and make 1t worth
the while of the police to come to a
permanent truce. Once this is de-
clarcd the transient guest in their dens
become a source of profit. The float
ing poolroom owner adopts a different
policy. The only thing he pays the
police is Difference, and the amount of
this is indicated by the number of
times he changes his place Of business.
He has his following. which Is perma-
ncnt He suspects the man who drops
in for an occasional game, and rarely
harbors him.
Usually he takes up his abode behind
some cigar store or saloon, so that the
number Of men entering and leaving
his place may not be noticed Each Of
his rooms is equipped with telephone
and 70 desk, where bets are recorded
When the owner brings in his racing
charts from his last port of call the
room promptly blossoms into gam
bling joint. After each session the
next place Of meeting Is announced.
and although the pOolroom5 may be
I'M Brooklyn or i'm the upper part OF
New York. the same faces are present
in the betting ring each day.
Although rather recent develop
mcnt iu the ramiIcd gambling system
o. the city, the floating .pooiroom has
become am institution. fhcy are to be
found u an parts of the city. Tribune
investigators have discovered them IN
Harlem. i'm Brooklyn, on the lower East
Side an in the Broadway Lougacre
Square district. the happy hunting
Croun, for gamblers and worse. Two
out Of the SIX men whose Illegal bust
ness was investigated by The Tribune
have their strings Of rooms within hail
ing distance Of Broadway, neither ven
turing above Sixty-sevcnth Street nor
below Herald Square.
This Is the result Of The Tribune
Investigations:
First gambler Rooms at Broadway,
near Bcrrv street. BROOKLYN; Delaney,
near Essex Street. Manhattan;
Broomc. near Clinton street, Manhat-
tan; South Fourth street, near Bed
ford Avenue. Rrooklyn.
second gambler Rooms at Forty
third street, near Broadway; Forty
fourth Street, ucar Sixth Avenue;
Sixth Avenue. near Forty-sixth Street.
Third gambler tone Of Tim Sull-
vans ieuteuantsJ Rooms in Broome
Street, near Bowery; Lafayette, near
Grand Street; Norfolk. near Broome
Street.
Fourth gambler Rooms on Sixth
Avenue, near Broadway; Amsterdam
Avenue, near Sixty-sevcnth Street; Co
lumbus Avenue near. Sxty-sixth
Street.
Fifth gambler Rooms on Third Ave
nue.. near roth Street; on Third Ave
nue., near i25.h street.
Sixth gambler Eighth Avenue, near
125th Street Eighth Avenue, near
10th Street.