FIFTY GREEKS CAUGHT
IN A GAMBLING RAID.
In the Scramble to Get Away They
Rained Real Money, Which
Coppers Got.
Money was thrown on the floor in the pool room of James Varelas, 404 West Fifth street, last night at 9 o'clock in a wild scramble of fifty Greeks to get out at the back door when the police entered the hall through the front. Two young Greeks complained to Sergeant Edward McNamara that they had lost $100 playing seven-and-a-half in Varelas's place.
The officer called Patrolman Richard Elliott, J. P. Withrow and J. C. Welch to his aid. When the police ran in, those in the rear of the pool hall rushed out. Patrolman Elliott succeeded in getting $12, and Sergeant McNamara, $1.50. The Greeks were crowded into a corner of the room and the patrol wagon called. In the first load eleven men were taken to the station, and the wagon returned after another. It took four trips to land all of the Greeks in the holdover and fourteen men rode on the last trip.
Sergeant Patrick Clark fixed the bonds at $5 each, but the Greeks refused to put that amount up, and after being booked on a charge of gambling, were sent downstairs to the holdover. Varelas was booked as the keeper of a gambling house and his bond was put at $51. He furnished bond and was released. The frequenters expected Varelas to get them out on bond and when he refused to put up the money for any of them they began to call for the jailer and put up the cash for themselves. They will appear in the municipal court this morning charged with gambling.
