Gambling in Madrid.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 239, 6 October 1894, Page 4 (Supplement)

Gambling in Madrid.

Fatal Aefeay in the Streets,

The Duke de Tamamoa, Civil Governor of Madrid, has issued a proclamation declar. ing thab vigorous stepß will in future bo taken to suppress the gambling cluba which flourish in large numbers in the capital. Although liable to severe penalties these establishments have long been tolerated by the aubhoritieß, who are ac cused of having received regular monthly paymenbs from tho principal clubs as donations to charitable institutions. Lists of the amounts thus received and of the manner of bhoir distribution have of late been published by tho Governor. His present action has been taken in consequence of a aerioua affray which occurred in the streets the other night between the police and a couple of gamblers. The latter had robbed the • bank ' at one of tho so-called ' recreation clubs,' where they had just lost all their money, one of them covering those aba table wibh a revolver, while the other similarly guarded the door. They escaped with fchoir booty into the street, bub recovering from their frierhb bho banker and croupiers rushed after them and raised a hue and cry. Tho two desperadoes separated, and, turning repeatedly, fired on their purpuera., withoub, however, inflicting any injury. The reporb of the firearms attracted a detective, who in trying to errapple wibh one of the fleeing mnn, was ebob through the stomach, the bullet lodging in his spino.

' His assailant was eventually run to earth in the Carmen Market, where he had con cealed himself beneath a heap of mat* and rubbish, and was pinioned and taken bo the police station, where he gave the name of Morgo. His companion, a man named Castillo, who carried the plunder, had also wounded a policeman who had joined in the pursusb, bub was ultimately overpowered after a desperate struggle by a young civic guard. The latter, afber receiving a bulleb in the leg, gallantly closed wibh Castillo, and dealt him two sabre cutß, one in the neck and the other on the righb arm, thus compelling him to drop his revolver.

Severol members of the police force, having come up, aided the guard to secura the thief, but it wag as much aa they could do to prevent Castillo from being 13'nched by the mob. Basidea the wounds inflicted by the civic guard, the prisoner received a severe stab in the abdomen from the spear of a night watchman. The detective wounded by Magro has since died.

The premises in which the brawl originated have been closed by the police, and the owner and croupiers, who were taken into custody, have been realeased on bail of 2,000 pesetas. Castillo, who is well connected, was, together with bis accomplice Magro, for a time employed in the detective force of Madrid. The affair has caused a great sensation in Madrid, and public indignation is loud in demanding the sup preßßion of so many incitements* to crime and suicide as these establishments have proved to be.—lieuter.