Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-04
"B00KlES" ARE FOUND
TO FLOURISH IN MANY
SECTIONS OF CITY
Continued from First Page)

books are in the evening location, which
OF course. is closed TO the public until
1880 or 8.
Most of them, however, do it all in
the same place, and the club stays open
all afternoon and all evening. They
have nothing to worry about. Evidence
is hard to get and raids accomplish
little. The case hangs fire for sis
months or year and finally two OF
three men pay fines. Meanwhile the
club has been going on as usual and
has made 500 for every 81 of the fine.
Occasionally somebody goes to jail, but
very seldom, and it is not often the big
fellows who suffer.
They are the same clubs generally
as those that run the craps games al
night. They are all over town, in every
section and in the heart of the business
district. In addition there are scores O.
little places that don't do much at night,
but make plenty of money in bookmak-
ing.
You enter, them the same way There
is the innocent looking outside door and
the inner door that guards the estab-
lishment until you are passed. Up the
stairs things are humming.
More Crowded Than at Night.
found these places much more
crowded than they were at night. The
first one I visited was branch OF q
night establishment A sign. on the
wall advertised the other branch. The
same men guarded the door, ran the
black lack game and attended to the
compIicated business OF making the
room look like q race track.
There were about 100 people IN the
room. Most of them were sitting IN
chairs or standing where they could see
the board. The rest were playing black
lack. The board contained complete
list of entries for every track In the
country. with last-minute scratches,
probable odds, pairings, track eondi,
lions. lockers, dope of all sorts, ana. OF
course. the results. The results came u
and were posted as soon Is they were
received.
AZ the end of the room was Q space
partitioned on. and behind wickets ~
the partition half dozen employees &C
cepted bets, paid on and took other
pets over the telephone. The phones.
i've or six Of them, were going all the
time.
Wan't Pay Track Odds.
They won't pay you track odds. That's
where they pick up little extra proflt
Twenty to one Is the limit. On thI
place and show bets the limit varies, but
it Is usually to to place and TO 10
show, That means, OF course, that
YOU bet 81 straight on 9 morse that
pays $50 to 50 you win collect only the
SO limit. Below that the ODDS are the
same as at the track.
Time hangs heavy between the races.
= Ia
and made g couple Of passes at ball
with a cue Somebody tapped me on
asay." said he, swl1at do you think
it Is? A Sunday SCHOOL,"
whats the trouble?" said.
"Cut out the racket"
That was the first hint had that
there was any trouble about the noise.
n seems that pool balls make O Tar
more dangerous sound than silver doll
lars ciinking together.
/ moved to the black jack table. The
dealer had d deck Of cards about three
inches thick. Every now and then II
got si1ufied The medium OF exchange
was cart wheels" bright, new silver
dollars that eliminated the necessity OF
having a banker to exchange chips. Inc
dealer was the only ofiicial OF the game.
.
men seated at the table and another
10 played over their shoulders. Twenty
cards dropped on the table, so fast that
YOU could hardly see them. and one IN
front Of the dealer. The procedure was
repeated. Then everybody had his
chance 70 make 81. The dealer glanced
at his own cards.
ssTwenty-one. he said, and his long
fingers raked in all the bright silver
dollars.
Chance for Quick Dealer.
There is a good chance for quick
fingered dealer 10 clean up In the black
iack games. / haven't the slightest
idea whether this one was crooked OF
not. II hardly seems necessary To
bother about putting anything over;
human curiosity. the lust to see another
card, is usually enough. The house
usually wins.
Another race waE coming In. MY
horse lost, Of course.
| kent coming around and saying, "ShSf
| rot SO loud. gents" The crowd would
| calm down and then get noisy again
until be came around and repeated 1t
| There was q furry OF activity to get
1 bet down On the next race and the
black Jack game thinned out. Their
1 things got back 10 normal and the
game picked UP.
All IN these places are alike IN ths
| Afternoons. Some are little londel
1 than others, depending on their loca'
/ tior and their comparative fear Of betni
| raided. II seems that there Is more
| fear OF q raid in the afternoon thar
! at night Probably because there arr
| usually I'VE times as many people insid'
and 10 times as much money involved
some are harder than others, ana al
more bsagineas-iiise than the same place
| al night. II takes four times AZ nafls
men To attend TO the handbook busi
ueSs as II does to keep craps gam
| going, But all are alike In most re-
sDects. the chief differences being TN
size. In the smaller places sometimes
only three or four people are watching
the returns. In the bigger places Their
are often several hundred,
Crowds Lead Way.
To get some idea of how many peopl
s,atruFIsze these establishments watcl
| the crowds hanging around corners q
noon and then watch them disappea
4 little later You can nearly Away
spot them, with scratch sheets In tnft
pockets and tips In their heads. Follow
the mup Fourteenth street or Ninth o
Seventh or In n street, or any Of
dozen other streets and watch wileT'
they go.
But IL isn't necessary 70 go 10 ~
establishment 10 do all the betting y0
want. / dropped into . BARRIER $40
and got shave.