The Gamblers’ Hells of San Francisco.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 311, 27 October 1875, Page 3

The Gamblers’ Hells of San Francisco.

These robber-dens are fitted up like “palaces of truth,” and are responsible for far greater evils than flow from the homes of the Cyprian or the procuress. Here is the initial training that changes the generous fire of youth into the lurid covetousness that destroys—that transforms tho brave man into the bully, that kills out every holy sentiment, and makes of man a beast of prey—cold as ice, cruel as hell, and selfish as a miser. Of all tho grades of life, of all the varied species of humanity, the gambler takes pre-eminence in all that is vicious. I speak of the practised gambler, who, like the confirmed drunkard, has become diseased by tho practice of his life, and sinks out of manhood into the kingdom of the devil and the nature of a beast. San Francisco is full of gamblers. Some of her leading financial men have been knights of tho green cloth, and their shooting at the faro table has not been forgotten. With the exception of ordinary trade, every enterprise is a game. But only those who know it ever win. All our stock-jobbing is a big gamble. Our railway and steamboat enterprises are just so many cards in tho hands of professional gamblers. The same principle is at work in our legislative halls, and no great scheme is ever propounded save with tho view of making a game and pocketing tho winnings. Of course we have hundreds of gambling hells, where Art and Science have quarrelled in the effort to outlive each other, and Beauty stands weeping over tho conflict. Those traps for tho unwary are well known to tho police force, but tho latter are mere “ brigands in grey” who play into the hands of tho gamblers. Tho Chief of Police in this city is a wine and spirit merchant. Ho spent his four years’ pay in securing his election. Why? Tho reason is obvious. “ Cockrill’s Sour Mash” is now found In every saloon, and in tho hives and dens of the gambler. It is loudly asserted by the Press here that tho Chief of the Police and his entire staff are paid tools of the professional gambler. Bo that as it may, tho city is full of faro tables, where the “ hogging” game is in full blast. Tho untutored innocent who enters one of these rendezvous of the devil leaves it invariably “cleaned out.” The arrangement of these gaming-houses indicates a certain amount of refinement, for there is nothing glaring or gaudy about them—nothing to make a youth feel that ho is not at home. There is not much drinking, and into very few of the dens are women permitted to enter. But tho art of cheating has been reduced to a science—or, as tho street phrase goes, “ a dead open and shut,” —and tho usual excitement of European gaming haunts is absent. Come with me into one of these chance banks, and you will bo intensely disgusted by the total absence of all that has made so much capital for the novelist and the dramatist. The wild glare in tho eye, tho hard-set mouth, the rigid features of the player, are simply indications of a high-strung intellect, and of a will set upon a purpose. But I have seen the same facial expression in countless places of business. ’Tis also true that at the close of a night’s gaming men go away utterly penniless. I have seen such men, and there was not any heart-despair evidenced on their pale faces. There was no dishevelled hair floating on the morning breeze ; no wild anguish in the fiery eyes; no unsteadiness in tho gait; no rushing, or running, or upsetting ordinary conduct. These men had lost. Tho winners—well, if there was any sadness about tho affair, they wore it. Can you not see that this spirit of gambling has so permeated the whole community that its excitement is a thing of the past ? There is no longer any fun in it, tho soul-absorbing amusement. It is business, pure and unmixed. Very frequently, however, an undisciplined gamester gets into one of these houses, forgets the “good form” of tho gambler, loses his temper, and is quietly put down with a bullet in his skull or a knife at his heart. Every gambler is armed, and ready at any moment to kill or bo killed. Ceremony is scant, and like true gamblers they never talk. With them silence is indeed golden.—San Francisco correspondent of N.Z. Herald.

We have to acknowledge the receipt from Mr Sessions of the Votes and Proceedings of the Provincial Council of the Province of Ota'm or the session of 1875.

A most interesting case will, if not previously settled, come on at the next civil session of the Supreme Court. A gentleman at the Taieri who has more than once wooed the swett voices of that Arcadian constituency, has thought it meet that he should woo something better, and at a somewhat advanced period of his life, enter the bonds of holy matrimony. That is what rumor says, and though it often speaks false, we ( Daily Times) have on this oecasion the very best information for believing it to be true. But there is bitterness in the sweetest cup, and yesterday, just as the happy moment is approaching, the bridegroom has keen served with a writ, on behalf of a lady, to whom, it is alleged, he has been false and faithless, or in legal phraseology, has committted breach of contract. The damages are laid at ,£3OOO. The best professional talent in Dunedin has already been engaged on behalf of the lady, and the case, if it ever comes to he reported, will, it is whispered, be most readable.