DESPERATION AT GAMING HOUSES.
The most particular inspection was made of the player's person
by the gaming house keeper's spies, and even his dress was
strictly observed. He was obliged, before entering the saloon,
to deposit his great coat and cane, which might perchance afford
the introduction of some weapon; and the elegance of the
covering did not save him from the humiliation of having it taken
from him at the door. The attempts which were sometimes made on
the lives of the bankers led to these precautions — like the
indignities which are practised only in prisons for the security
of the unhappy inmates. It is certain that gamesters, reduced to
desperation, and on the eve of committing suicide, have conveyed
into these places infernal machines with an intention of de-stroying at once their cruel plunderers and themselves.
