Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1889 — STREET GAMBLERS. [ARTICLE]

STREET GAMBLERS.

Money Burled Out of the Way 01 the Police. The tricks of the street arabs whc chuck dice on the street corners and under the shades of the trees in Savan-1 nah are various, but the police gol onto one of their shrewd devices, which they will be very apt to drop hereafter, says the News. A mounted policefnan rode down oe a group of the colored crap-shooters, and they fled precipitately, leaving the dice on the ground. The officer was unable to catch the young gamblers, and when be dismounted and saw ths dice on the ground he wondered whj it was there was no money there too, as the youngsters had been so suddenly surprised that they hid no more time to gather up their stakes than they had to save the dice. The policeman began to inspect the ground narrowly and found that the gamblers had each carefully covered their money with sand. Holes of uniform depth had been dug in the sand, in which pennies andjiickels were deposited, several ol which he found. To thus conceal the money was not only for the purpose o. ■preventing its use in evidence against them for gambling, but also to avoid the loss of the money when a raid was made on them.

It is almost impossible for the police to break up street gambling, and arrests are difficult, for the offenders are always on the alert for the police, and have pickets out to give the signal on the appearance of an officer in the neighborhood, It is rarely that the young gamblers are caught, except by descents made upon them by officers in citizens’ dress, or when, by concert ol action.twoor more policemen approach from opposite directions, and theti sometimes two or three out of half a dozen or more are marched off to the barracks. But the young criminals are loyal to each other and do not betray those who escape. And how they are able to disappear so suddenly is a puzzle, for the ground seems to open and •wallows them up. The street gambling is’principally confined to the street peddlers, who, after the day’s stock in trade is disposed of, or, nearly so, meet by accident or; rrangement wherever there is enough sh ide to shield there heads from the sun. At first there may be only two or three, but the number is augmented, and sometimes as high as fifteen or twenty are in the group, and the one pair of dice is enough for lOC crap-shooters, every one of whom can have a go, while side bets are the biggest part of the game. A short sentence on the chain-gang usually follows the conviction of the street crap-shooter, but if the penalty were double the love of gambling is so deep-seated it would not break up the vice.