“If they make 75 cents a day it is a big day for them,” said the reporter’s informant. “How little you realize the state to which many of these women are brought! Many of them are almost penniless. Frequently they come here in the morning and borrow money with which to begin the day’s operations.”
Pool rooms, as a general rule, run wide open; occasionally they are “closed for repairs” caused by a police raid, forced by some flagrant outrage against the law. They flourish in the most public places, with no restriction upon admission to any visitor. The daily races all over the country are posted on large black boards covering the walls, with a list of the horses entered and a minute of the odds which will be given or demanded by the house, from which the room’s judgment of the “favorite” can be ascertained.
The money is handled openly, bet openly, and paid openly. City detectives assist in their management, and “play the races.” Raids contemplated by the police are tipped off to the managers, and when the officers arrive the game has closed.
The incidents attending an actual pull are in the main more laughable than impressive. The “hurry up” wagon takes its load away, and before many moments have elapsed the same faces are seen again returning to the one attractive spot in their daily lives. These rooms are munificent contributors for protection. They pay from $600 to $1,000 per month. They hold back telegraphic messages of the results of races until their confederates have placed bets. They are patronized by women of, apparently, all classes. In one raid eighteen women were captured, fifteen of whom claimed to be married. All of them, of course, gave fictitious names; three had babies in their arms; three claimed they were wives of policemen; a few were well dressed, and all were undoubtedly devotees of gambling, sporting women who fancied they had discovered the way to lead an easy and money-making life.
The following extract, taken from the examination of the head of the police force of the city, will show the view entertained by that official of the nature of his duties, in this regard.
Before the senatorial committee appointed January 6th, 1898, to investigate scandals in connection with the police force, its Chief was interrogated and answered as follows, viz.:
Q. How many pool rooms have you pulled, how many men have been arrested and convicted for pool selling since you have been chief?
A. I understand one fellow has been found guilty and fined $2,000.
Q. But he was arrested by the Sheriff of Cook County, indicted by the grand jury because the police would not do it?
A. I don’t know whether it was because the police would not do it, or because they could not do it.