THE GOOLDS AND MONTE CARLO.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 65, 10 December 1907, Page 5

THE GOOLDS AND MONTE CARLO.

AN APPROPRIATE SUGGESTION. BY TELEGEiru—rRESS ASSOCIATION—COriEIGUT, Monte Carlo, December 8. Mrs. Goold told her lawyer that she would prefer death to imprisonment, and hopes to be executed in front of- tho Monto Carlo Casino. Nevertheless, the Goolds have appealed against the sentence. Those wlio hone to see Monte Carlo swept away on the back-wash of this and similar tragedies may see a good deal of force in the condemned woman's suggestion. It is fairly certain that the Casino authorities will not view tho matter in th« same light. "Before this hideous Monti! Carlo tragedy ceases to bo n nine-day's wonder," writes "Indicus," in "Tho Times" (London), "I would suggest that it is timq attention should be' drawn to the fons ot origo mali, the gambling-rooms of that too notorious place. I speak as ono who knows, having resided for some years at Monte Carlo near the villa in which tho Goolds rented a small flat. How long aro tho forces of civilisation going to permit tho continuance of this plague-spot in their midst? That is tho question that should bo agitated in tho Press and Chancellories of every European capital, whoso gilded youth are ruined annually in scores, for they flock thither in ever-in-creasing numbers solely because of the gambling facilities, made more seductive by the beauty of tho i lace, its gardens, and tho unrivalled Casino band. The profits, I may state, accruing from tho tables, which average 30,000,000f., aro divided between the shareholders, the municipality, and tho Prince of Monaco. On (ho same day the Goolds aro supposed to have committed tho crimo with which they aro charged there occurred at Cnstellamare the snicido of «i young English and American couple on their honuvmoon who had been ruined at Monto Carlo. Tho Gocjds, I may obsorvo, for 1 knew them, though they woro not friends of mine, were tho last people one would have thought capable of such a heinous crime—the man, ensy-going and amiable his wife, clever, proud but obviously bourgeoise; but they wore rendered desperate bv their losses, for the woman I used to see play daily with her niece; and the people who run, or profit by, tho tables are morally responsiblo for these crimes, and tho Governments of Europe should stamp out this blot on our civilisation. President Roosevelt might well assume the initiative in this righteous crusade, for the American plutocrats aro as prominent at the tables as tho aristocracy of Fiuropo."