But for the implements of gaming there is little to distinguish the room from a first-class club-house.

Gentlemen well known on 'change' and in public life, merchants of a high grade, whose names adorn charitable and benevolent associations, are seen in these rooms, reading and talking.
Some drink only a glass of wine, walk about, and look on the play with apparently but little curiosity.

The great gamblers, besides those of the professional ring, are men accustomed to the excitement of the Stock Board.

They gamble all day in Wall and Broad Streets, and all night on Broadway.

To one not accustomed to such a sight, it is rather startling to see men whose names stand high in church and state, who are well dressed and leaders of fashion, in these notable saloons, as if they were at home." Conspicuous among the keepers of the gambling hells was John Morrissey, who had begun life as the proprietor of a low drinking den in Troy, and as a step in the march of prosperity, had fought Heenan, the Benicia Boy, for the championship of Canada.