Evening star., 1921-04-03


say. cost $4,000 francs to decorate.
And $4,000 people that night attended
the masked ball in and outside and
around the Nice Opera House--as
Pierrets in white satin, or as rajahs,
mons and Marguerites.
Gambling at the two.caeinos of Nice
IS seeing the heaviest steady play OF
history. Particularly at the Munich
pal Casino; the cool daring OF an n
crowd of fascinated spectators night :
ly-themselves high players, men of
money: Last summer. they say. he
went to Deauville with 1900 francs
Half this sum he invested in such
manner that he can never touch the
capital, assuring himself sure in
come for life. The other half he
brought to Nice to gamble with and
up to six i miliien francs. franc ~ " -
He beats the famous Greek you all
have heard about. Owing to the fact
that he does not appear to care the
least bit whether or not he loses his
velvet. he naturally is amazingly au-
dacious. Three nights ago was wit
nessed a notable sight. This little
Frenchman was playing against the
Greek himself. supposed to be the
coolest, luckiest player of the world.
i is chsmin-defer. where you can call
so can be duel. Both staked in
''packets' of ten 1000 franc bills.
folded in four and held together by a
rubber band. And that terrific night
the little Frenchman beat the Greek
out of million-and then some
packets
The notorious Bob" Sievier of Lon
don. having raked in more than a
million francs at Monte Carlo roulette.
rested few days, started fresh and
/ l.. nyr ii 1,~l.
ment. For ten days he .piked along.
Now. at the baccarat of Nice, he is
prince again. Many Of these big
players win or lose anything up to
500,000 francs at a sitting.
Which brings US to the jewels
again.
THE woman gamblers are terrific.
L English women predominate. There
is fair sprinkling of French. Ital-
ian and Spanish women. few Rus
SLAMS. no American women at all,
but essentially it 10 gambling sea-
son Of English women. Many have
never played before. No matter.
When their faces get that look they
bet their limit. Those who win at
tho start are bitten with the. gam
bling poison and cannot bear to miss
sitting. Their lives are centered
on the hectic pleasures of the tables.
You can tell them at glance. Their
eyes are bright, cheeks flushed; and
as the days go on. strained look
comes to their faces and little hard
lines at the corners of the mouth.
You can tell the woman gamblers-at
Don't let Jewels or money lie
around where a girl sports such
corners. There are nightmare fig
ures here. yet young and of good fam
', lily. One. in particular. haunts me:
| She is haunt blonde of, say, IS
years, of beautiful English features,
and yet colorless in her excitement
| differing from table to table, stalk
ing strong. too nervous to sit down
| She mutters to herself and her itch
| ing fingers are never still.
Woman thieves. quite unsupported.
| sneak many q gem whose loss is at
tributed to the professionals. Such
is supposed to have been the fate OF
Lady Mango's necklace. worth fa6.ooo.
It was during the carnival. when
! the lights were turned down (they
did not go out) we were all standing
together" the story runs. Lady
Mango was surrounded by her own
party; and I noticed the pearl neck
| lace was still on her neck after the
| lights went up again. 1 believe she
was still wearing 1t when she said
we will go and put our cloaks on.
Did some one of gang overhear her:
| There was some crowding in the
cloakroom. but Lady Mango felt nothing.
nothing.
"She had not missed the necklace
when she left, the hotel. She was in
her car and had almost reached the
villa when her brother-in-law said:
| why, where are your pearls?' She
put her hands to her throat and re-
alized that they were gone. The
chauffeur rushed them back to the
hotel. The dancing had not yet stop.
| ped. But no trace could be found Of
! the pearls"
! A Greek diplomats wife who sat
next to Lady Mango at the gala din
ner noticed that she had the neck
| lace still at nearly 10 pm. They re-
NAMED at the hotel until nearly
people were pelting each other
with flowers Some one in the throng.
taking advantage of the horseplay to
cloak his or her movements, may
have stolen the necklace"
| A red-haired princess who some
time claimed to be the wife of a
| grand duke has swindled the trades
people of Nice wonderfully and moved
about where jewels were common as
| apples. They describe her as royal
looking. with copper-colored hair
| who could suspect such hair?
She came originally from Berlin or
Vienna or Leipzig or -Qanzig. She