into the dark and silent
streets, and, at a favorable moment, spring upon them, knock them
senseless and rob them. If necessary to ensure their own safety, they do
not hesitate to murder their victims.

Many persons coming to the city yield to the temptation to visit these
places, merely to see them. They intend to lose only a dollar or two as
the price of the exhibition. Such men voluntarily seek the danger which
threatens them. Nine out of ten who go there merely through curiosity,
lose all their money. The men who conduct the "hell" understand how to
deal with such cases, and are rarely unsuccessful.

It is in these places that clerks and other young men are ruined. They
lose, and play again, hoping to make good their losses. In this way they
squander their own means; and too frequently commence to steal from their
employers, in the vain hope of regaining all they have lost.

There is only one means of safety for all classes--_Keep away from the
gaming table altogether_.

At first gambling was carried on only at night. The fascination of the
game, however, has now become so great, that day gambling houses have
been opened in the lower part of the city. These are located in
Broadway, below Fulton street, and in one or two other streets within the
immediate neighborhood of Wall street.

These "houses," as they are called, are really nothing more than rooms.
They are located on the top floor of a building, the rest of which is
taken up with stores, offices, etc. They are managed on a plan similar
to the night gambling houses, and the windows are all carefully closed
with wooden shutters, to prevent any sound being heard without. The
rooms are elegantly furnished, brilliantly lighted with gas, and liquors
and refreshments are in abundance. As the stairway is thronged with
persons passing up and down, at all hours of the day, no one is noticed
in entering the building for the purpose of play. The establishment has
its "runners" and "ropers in," like the night houses, who are paid a
percentage on the winnings from their victims, and the proprietor of the
day house is generally the owner of a night house higher up town.

Square games are rarely played in these houses. The victim is generally
fleeced. Men who gamble in stocks, curbstone brokers, and others, vainly
endeavor to make good a part of their losses at these places. They are
simply unsuccessful. Clerks, office-boys, and others, who can spend b