where small stakes are admissible. I saw a man win 50 or 60
dollars at this place, and then hand in his checks (markers) to
be cashed. The dealer handed him the money, and said--"Now
you go off, straight away to Union Square, and pay away all you
have won from here to John Morrissey. This is the way with all
of them; they never come here until they are dead broke, and have
only a dirty dollar or so to risk." There was some truth in
what he said, but notwithstanding he managed to keep the bank
going on. There is a great temptation to a man who has won a sum
of money at a small gambling house to go to a higher one, as he
may then, at a single stake, win as much as he could possibly win
if he had a run of luck in a dozen stakes at the smaller bank.

`In No. 102, in the Bowery, there is one of the lowest of the
gaming houses I have seen in the Empire city. The proprietor is
an Irishman; he employs three men as dealers, and they relieve
one another every four hours during the day and night. The
stakes here are of the lowest, and the people to be seen here of
the roughest to be found in the city. The game is Faro, as
elsewhere.

`In this place I met an old friend with whom I had served in the
army of Northern Virginia, under General Lee, in his Virginia
campaign of 1865. He told me he had been in New York since
the end of the war, and lived a very uncertain sort of life.
Whatever money he could earn he spent at the gaming table.
Sometimes he had a run of luck, and whilst it lasted he dressed
well, and stopped at the most expensive hotels. One night he
would sleep at the Astor House; and perhaps the next night he
would not be able to pay for his bed, and would stay all night in