PROFESSIONAL GAMBLERS IN ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1998, 28 April 1885, Page 3

PROFESSIONAL GAMBLERS IN ENGLAND.

A (OKki-M'om^nt, writing to the St. James (Ja/ttte nlatne to an aitide on '.' Gambling ' that appeared m the jour ml named, *ays : " \ou say that it is an open seciet that a ging ot eaid sh.upcrs have for several years been rljwg llllU tiaiie not only in gamblmg-hoiu.es but in ceitain London and liiighton Uuns. You are evidently aw ate of what is going on anil coulc? have added, 'They have %aued this with tups to vaiious watering places after the London season is o\er.' Some of the gang arc mixed up with actjess.es who help to entangle ' flats." But unite thcpiince of sharpers i<» a man who ha-, been at work for about fifteen yeais, and is a past master in the art. He is a member of lots of clubs, and I have heard it computed that he must have lauded over £50,000 at the least. He u assisted by a moio or less attiacthc wife, and it was chiefly through falling in lo\e with her that one poor fellow, some five jcars ago lo»t more than £3000 at ecarte at one hitting in his rooms at Biighton. The lucky winner of this sum began with no income at all ; and yet up to the time he ma. ne.l helned at the >ate of <]iute WOOO a xear His wife has an income ot a few hundreds, and be now manages to live quite ai mtilutuanc. At Pans he iwell known ; his wife* ai rival and h.jr dresses are described in Le Boiili'\.ii.l, Gil Bias and similar papers. 11< has taken various paying trips to gamb lin.' places ahioad, where, when he has picked up men who won at the table?, his wife would invite them in 'to puppei and a smoke ;' and then he and his confedeiates skinned them This woithj w reputed to )ia\ c added to his other accom pliblimentb that of 'bonnet' to a tlnli. Next to h ; ni— and often woiking with him— is a man who some yeais ago was on service in one of the dependencies of the empire Later on he was head ov crcars in debt, and now luxuriates in all <-ood things of life, is a member of various social clubs, is vciy populat. and quite a lepiesentatne niaahet. H<- calls himself by a fancy name, ami h-»s dmpp.d his t.'.uncctHin- oo «ntml\ that Idoiirtifa suigk in. mbei ot his gam; know-, tint he is man ied