TRAGEDIES OF MONTE CARLO.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1917, 17 February 1885, Page 2

TRAGEDIES OF MONTE CARLO.

A correspondent of the Pall Jlall Gazette, who happened to bo thero in the winter of 1873-4 sends the following experience of Monte Carlo and its .tragedies:— "Iliadstrolled," he saySj •"•into the Casino in the afternoon) and wajktftßding behind the table watching the players. My .attention was arrested by the juoX'Of an old lady whom I saw win the BtakVof ' £4Oll times running. At the same time fr I was in'stinctly aware of a young ■man who rose from the table a few paces offpn my right, and went to a Bofa near a a window close by. A minute later thefe came a short report from the directibn.of - the window, and on turning to- seMho cause I found that the young malßad rolled from the sofa, and a pistol. waslyijig beside him. The coupiers sat'atthe-tjible unmoved, but the players started ;.ftsd shuffled, and'in a few minutes the had started'to their feet, Several worajn went out of the room crying j-the greater part of the men gathering; gaping-, in-'a semicircle round the wounded man, ,dp lay on the floor bleeding stomach; but no one offered to help -him until ah English officer steppedand raising his', head, while I toqfcljjs feet, arid between us we lifted him-o"n;|o the'sofa ahd-.'stauriched his wound! as>wsli as we could with handkerchiefs. '.■(■ After several minutes, two or three qfhValsjjof the establishment appeared arm-chair, on which they placed the-;.vic-tim and carried him out,- -with looks'/of gave disapproval and affront. Afterwards I found that, whatever sympat|y might be extended to: those .wfe losses induce them to, make .'jwa'j A with themselves respootably ah .a «g| distanco, in their lodgings at Nice oueven v in the neighbouring solitudes ofiik mountains, suicidoor theattoMpfc : atJp cide within the precints of the ment itself, was held at Monte Carfo'.ah inexcusable breach of etiquette. By degrees poople returned to the tables, and in about twenty minutes from the.moment qf the shqt, play was resumed. !j)||e fyqrfl was in the mcantiii|o passed rqunt} ;that the pistol used had been a' tqy, unloaded and the pretended act of suicide -a. '-iijeie chantage or trick \q extort money,-,. 1 had reason to know bettor, and when Lwont out among the palm and ,oactus,.-and geranium walks above the sea, those alloys of paradise had for me somehow changed their aspect, and I was glad next'day "to travel further. Some time afterwards I ascertained the sequel through that excellent man, M, Adam, the senator and friend of Gambetta, to whose exertions about this time tl|o qrjgjn cf tip agitatibjv agajnst tho gaming-tables, was in' great tort djj'fj-. It turned out that tho vjctiui m the'present instance, a Pole, had,'afte): : t]iroe' months' painful illness, recovered s'u.fjf: cjently tq leave the pr-ingipajity, heen first tried, as, sjrqilar. wjjn they recovered always were trie.d,fqitp misdemeanour,"