England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
"Those seats of vice (the gaming-houses) which, for some time
past, have existed in the Quadrant, appear to be done up, as,
since Saturday, not one of them has been opened. Since the five
persons have been apprehended, the visitors have been extremely
scarce; nor was their confidence restored, even by the
proprietors' having the chain up at the street door, coupled with
a fellow's being employed at each of the hells to patrol before
the different establishments, for the purpose of giving the
requisite information as to who sought admission into those dens
of destruction. Although a very active search has been made for
the purpose of ascertaining what has become of Daly, the clerk of
the Athenæum Club-house, who left that establishment on the 8th
instant, no trace had been found of him--one of the many
lamentable instances of loss of character and ruin which overtake
those who suffer themselves to be lured into those houses. Daly,
who enjoyed the confidence of the whole of the members, was
suddenly missed on the above day. On looking over his papers, a
diary was found, from which it appeared that he had lost large
sums of money at No. 60, and as it has since been ascertained he
was there on the previous day, it is supposed that he lost 24 £5
notes at play which belonged to his employers. Upon this
discovery being made, some gentlemen of the Athenæum waited on
the parish officers, to ascertain whether they could put a stop
to the gaming-houses. It was, however, found that it could not be
done, unless some person would come forward and identify those at
play; a relation of Daly accordingly went to the house, and
supplied the necessary proof. It was at this establishment, a few
months since, the foreigners who had been fleeced made an attempt
to rob the bank; and, shortly after that, placards were posted on
the walls in the neighbourhood of the Quadrant, cautioning
persons from going into any of the hells, as drugged wine was
invariably given to those who were going to play."
In these cases, nowadays, our magistrates look upon a raid upon a
gaming-house as a very trivial affair, inflicting only mild fines upon
the offenders. They might peruse, with advantage, the practice of
their predecessors. Take a case at the Westminster Sessions, on May
9th--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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