DOINGS IN GAMING HOUSES. The gaming table : its votaries and victims, in all times and countries,
especially in England and in France. Vol. 2 | ||
ACCOUNT OF A GAME AT HAZARD.
The following account of a game at Hazard was given by a young man, who, in the year 1820, was decoyed into one of the gambling houses in the city, kept by one John Morley, who was convicted by the Lord Mayor, in the penalty of £200, `for keeping Hazard;' but who, it is stated, left this country for Ireland the moment proceedings were instituted.
`The house in question was to all appearance dovoted {sic} to the game of billiards, and most of those who frequented it engaged merely in that game. Through the agency of professed gamesters, who shared in the profits of the concern, those who
`The evidence of the young man was to the following effect: — He had been in Morley's house; the game of Hazard was played in the front room on the second floor; a door led into it from the landing-place, and another from the public billiard — room, which was the back room on the same floor; both these doors were during the time of play kept barred and locked, and never opened except to the voice of some person known to the master of the house. During the play the door was seldom or never opened, but before the play commenced there was an understanding given that proceedings were about to begin.
`In the centre of the room was a large circular table, over which a lamp was suspended, and round the table the players sat, in number, generally, from six to ten.
`The play commenced by one of the players taking the dice-box with two dice in it; two other dice were covered on the table, and might be substituted for those in the box, upon application to Morley, who acted as "groom porter.'' The person
`If he calls seven the main, and throws three and one, or six and four, the odds are two to one against him — inasmuch as there are only three ways each of throwing, the four and the ten and six wins, throwing the seven, that is, three on each
A number of young men, most of whom were clerks, were called to confirm the evidence as to the system, but none of them appeared.
In a letter published in the Times of July 22, 1824, we read as follows: —
`The action against the keepers of a certain
`After such "liberal'' entertainment, a visit to the French Hazard table, in the adjoining room, is a matter of course, when the consequences are easily divined. A man thus allured to the den may determine not to lose more than the few pounds he has about him; but in the intoxication of the moment, and the delirium of play, it frequently happens that, notwithstanding the best resolves, he borrows money on his cheques, which are known to be good, and are readily cashed to very considerable amounts. In this manner £10,000, £20,000, £30,000, or more, have been often swept away!
They left King Street about three years ago, when, in conjunction with T — — (a man who a few years ago took the benefit of the act, and subsequently took one or two "hells'' in Pall Mall, but has amassed full £150,000 of plunder) and A — — , who has £70,000 of plunder, they opened a club-house in Piccadilly, with a French Hazard bank of £10,000, when in a short time they divided between the four — after all their heavy expenses were covered — upwards of £200,000. In
DOINGS IN GAMING HOUSES. The gaming table : its votaries and victims, in all times and countries,
especially in England and in France. Vol. 2 | ||