FOOLS OF MONTE CARLO

Evening Star, Issue 19795, 20 February 1928, Page 12

FOOLS OF MONTE CARLO

VAIN HOPES OF EMBEZZLERS The foolishness of many gamblers who visit Monaco, and all of wno fail to understand that the bank is the only certain winner, is emphasised by Mr Chas. Kingston in the December ‘ National Review.’ Writing on ‘Monte Carlos Mysterious Gamblers,’ he tells cmefly of some of the “ world’s fools.’’ Even in a case where there was seeming success tho end was tragedy. Every season, says Mr Kingston, produces its own special gamblers. Most of them are “cleared out” in one season. A Frenchman who had unusual luck arrived with 30,000 francs and left with 300.000 more at a time when the franc was worth a good deal; yet forty-eight hours ofter his return to Paris the winner shot himself In his luggage there was found the whole of his money. At first it seemed that the winning of a fortune had been too much for the brain of a man whose salary was only 700 francs a month; but it was found that he was a defaulting cashier who had stolen nearly three times tho •mount of his winnings. For years he had been gambling in stocks and shares, and among members of the Bourse he was known under another name as a millionaire, because his losses, however large, were always paid promptly. The visit to Monte Carlo had been a last desperate effort to replace the money he had stolen from his employers. A young clerk employed by a builder at Cannes had been falsifying the books and stealing large sums to spend in dissipation. Visiting him at his lodging on a Sunday morning, before the youth was out or bed, his employer saw a large number of notes in the room. He counted them, and said: “There are 2,300 francs here. That is a great deal to have saved out of a salary of twenty francs a week.” “ I—l won it at Monte Carlo,” stammered the youth. Developing his lie, he said that a friend had provided him with an infallible System. The builder believed him, and arranged thta they should go to Monte Carlo to play the system. The clerk, who had never been there before, recommended numbers at random, and escaped across the Italian frontier not long before his employer came to the last of his notes. The builder’s loss was 160.000 francs, in addition to 15,000 stolen by the clerk. A grocer in Normandy left for a brief visit to Paris, giving his wife charge of tho shop and 10,000 francs in cash. He was one of the many people of Europe who distrust banks. The young wife, with ideas of winning enough to escape from drudgery, went to Monte Carlo and soon lost the whole amount. Afraid to return, she became a servant in an hotel at Nice. Two years later

her husband, who thought she had robbed him to go away with a lover, had obtained a divorce and married another woman. For the honeymoon they arrived at the hotel at which his first wife was working. The grocer and his former wife met suddenly, and there was a bitter exchange of words. That night the manager mentioned to the grocer that one of his best maids had gone without a moment’s notice, and even witout demanding the wages owing to her. Women were such creatures of impulse. By April of 1928, says Mr Kingston, the bank at Monte Carlo will have won about £1,500,000 for its financial year. Since the end of the war it has won not less thn £10,000,000 from foolishly hopeful gamblers.