(Reprint from Bradford (PA) Era, unknown date; ca. 1880s during the Oil Boom at Richburg)
Richburg has a larger population of gamblers than any oil town of its size in the Keystone or Empire State. Many wear seedy clothes and a hungry look that denotes the opposite of a bright and prosperous run of business.
Their pinched cheeks betray the forced omission of many of their regular meals and an irregular diet that is controlled by their fortunes in handling the paste-boards. Their sour faces and their evident ill-will towards the world are suggestive of an unfortunate sail over the sea of chance.
There are seven full-fledged faro banks in different parts of the town. They are mostly patronized by individuals who earn their money by hard day's work. They are enticed by the hopes of making money in an easier manner than by a day's work and lay their hard earned wages down winning and losing with varying success until their money is gone when they have to go to work again until they make another raise of sufficient funds to gratify their infatuation for bucking against fate across the gaming table.
The "proprietors" of these faro banks have been unusually fortunate according to the statements of some who are posted on Richburg's sporting matters. One patron lost $900 in a single night last week. Keno, a game more peculiar to southern cities, is not followed to any great extent in Richburg. No one attempts to count the number of poker "parlors" in Allegany's metropolis.