The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-08-27
Gambling Houses at Pier Wide
Open but you "HaVe to Be
Known"

kIlOWll.
HARTFORD, Ct, Aug 2G.-'Ihe per-
son who allows himself to believe that
the reform" wave which swept over
Narragansett Pier in the summer of
1908 was tidal IN its effect upon the
practice of gambling at that famous
shore resort is either badly misln-
formed, or If he has taken the trouble
to investigate the matter he surely
must have lost his notebook and for
gotten its contents. II this Is not the
case, there is only one other way 10
account for his attitude, and that is
that he has himself followed up the
games in earnest and so enhanced
his worldly possessions that he IS
biased in his views like "3obo. the
Chinese Judge.
Gambling al Narragansctt Pier has
not been stopped 1t is regarded ms
one Of the inesmable rights not to
be interfered with by town or state
laws. The raid Of 1908 is altogether a
thing Of the past and nobody looks
for repetition Of it, How quickly
everything was hushed up after the
arrests were made
No One Prosecuted.
Not single man was prosecuted
This lends mystery to the whole al.
fair, and if one sits down quietly and
tries to reason out some satisfactory
EXPLANATION as to why the law did not
take It's proper course he may be mo-
Tested by the continual jingle Of mon
ey in his ears. as this the cyplana-
tion% he almost invariably asks him
self ibid the imItators Of Sherlock
Holmes, who openly declared to the
press of this country that they would
hound every gambling joint out OF
Rhode Island and restore to that little
state the old WORKOUT puritanic ira
aitions Of right and wrong, pause sud
denly in their sleuth-liko careers and
close their eyes to conditions and their
ears to stories? Maybe so and maybe
not.
Was the Raid BCt'
Whatever may have been the mo-
tives.leading up to this reform there
is no denying the fact that it served
effectively as a means of calling the
attention OF Narragansett Pier to the
gamblers all over the country, They
have answered the call and the result
Is that this Rhode Island shore re-
sort has came to be in every sense OF
The word the Monte Carlo OF the At
lanic coast.
Indeed, so completely are the old
blue laws disregarded and the tenets
Of the moral code in regard to games
Of chance flung aside that one OF the
man who helped instigate and carry
put the famous raid is known to have
played golf on Sunday for substantial
stakes since the year 1908, and 10
have made 1t no secret that an old
fashioned game Of checkers or GRO
uuet is mighty tame pastlme for
him unless a little side bet be Of
Tered as a suitable reward for his
swill. Some have even gone SO far
rs to intimate that the raid itself was
made on a bet. However, this article
will confine itself to the results OF
l90S-results as they are to be seen
IN the summer Of 1916.
The gambling houses at the Pier are
wide open, but as the saying goes
you have got to be known in order
to get in. The requirements for the
privilege Of paTOnizing these places
give one the idea that they have their
origin in some occult science Of the
Orient, they are so conducted along the
lines Of secrecy and silence. The men
who pass upon your membership are
long-fngered gentlemen from New
York, Boston and Providence, and
those "home-bred" Rhode Islanders
who will ever be proud that Dick
Garfield had a iavorite haunt in their
native state. You are questioned only
on two things. Whether your business
is prosperous and how long you con-
template staying at the Pier If the
answer to the first question is mega
tive, you will not be asked about the
other.
Everything else they seem to learn
by intuition. Not a word is said about
your religion, for they realize that
Roger Williams founded Rhode Island
as a place for religious liberation and
other matters pertaining TO personal
freedom. Unlike all other institutions
for handling money your credit IS
80, J;r,,,crrJ ,.,t -.,1fhow thpy give