PRIVATE GAMBLING IN PARIS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1043, 8 April 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRIVATE GAMBLING IN PARIS.

When ! ati end wbb ; put-to: private-gaiiibJing: : in Paris, the rcpi'alea'oE iclubs as-', v Biiiiied ;i [considerably greater importances t private hells became too - numerous. tt> •-be,- ' bounted,' and £ho. profits' Iwliich, » went to 1 the State were trausferred'ito the,-! keepers of 1 claudes tiri&- 1 ■ 'ttipots; Vv ■thetolerated clubs are managed-by a military-.. looking -person, whom the players ironically stylfi the oOfnmandant,i or 'tlie'coldnelJii. Priv ( vate' hells'are>ikept, by- -women past .their.,, ;primo;'also ironically adorned• with'the title , of baronhe, or mar<|uißO,''l The-club colonolaj,; 'who-start- theigame,'; 'get. for their ..night's.; ( Shave of the establishment's revenue some. , '4ooo'or 5000 frdnos'dffhe marquise, of tripotsj-; calling ithomselves.'tables d'hOte, .content? i herself \vith candlestick perquisites. .Alter; dinner the diningroom is speedily metamor-' , 'plibsed into a'cardroom, Between .ljijand ■ 12 o'clock,'as soori as the guests mho-do not play : ar4igouo, the .curtains-are closed, the white tablecloth removed, diaoovoring the regulation ' green; cloth; which 'is .then .surrounded by-professional Greeks, minora, ; and dilapidated s'pdndthriftsiabout town, who ar.e 1 soon engaged in tin jeu d'enfer, An experienced barorine, or marquise, .who knows wb<it she is about, will. realißOi from ..under : the candlesticks • 400 or .500. franca,;an, evening, From ljiidnight to.M, in the inorning is the, time usually selected by the police to enter, surprise the Gi'eeld-at;M swing,, and leizo the stikos,!.' lu sueli jeompany, .even' for, practised hands, thechance of-winning is ■ extremely small; it .is still ljsss for-novices.. A sample of the proceedings is instanced by a certain. Greok who was caught one night in a private called herself, a German baroness, but who really ljad been cook to an aged baron from whom phe'got a legacy sufficient to set her, up in life. She then received her old master's titled.friends, entertaining them aftep dinner .. >vith gqmes of cards;. .But one,of her friendshaviugicomplained of a'swindle, she was sent to thej Saint-Lazfirti House of Detention to. i meditate for a while on the unpleasantnessi to which her new profession was liable, The trick By whioh. she.helped the Greeks, her, frion'drf, to pluck.hor wealthy visitors was s this: No games were allowed'in her.bouse 'except! those played by two persous only, i After having well plied the intended victim ; with ejxcellcut wine during a capital dinner, , the baroness conducted him to hor own

boudoir, 'As soon as lie was comfortably settled in an easy chair, the baroness pressed a small knob, which" wns ; concealed behind the chair. The Greek; seated opposite,''dealt, the cards; the other player, by stooping forward to take them, exposed a small mirror fixed ip the back of the chair, and previously hidden by the velvet lining, which informed the Gijeek wliot cards were in liis adversary's hand;, | To win was thus an easy matter, But one evening a guest, more sober than his predecessors in the seat of honor, discovered this pretty little pieco of machinery, which, by the| interference of the police, enforced on the exicook and her confederate a temporary retirement from this wicked world,—Times,