Order Raid on Gambers

After working for weeks to get evidence “that would warrant us in making descent on places where ‘big games’ are played,” a slew of black gambling houses are shut down and those inside are sent to jail.

Acting under direct orders from Governor Fort and Supreme Court Justice Trenchard, District Attorney Goldenberg and County Detective Baitzel led a posse of twenty-five special detectives sent to Atlantic City from Newark and cleaned out three of the principal negro gambling dives of the resort. More than fifty men, including one proprietor and half a score of managers and dealers, were hauled to police headquarters and placed in cells. The raids were made entirely over the heads of the local police department, who knew nothing even of the intention of the county prosecutor to start his crusade. Guns, knives and police clubs were used in the fights incident to the arrests. In the joint of Smith, Dykes and Offler, on Surf place, thirty men were caught, and at least two-score managed to get away by diving through windows. Orders had been issued by Prosecutor Goldberg that no bail was to be accepted for any of those arrested, on the ground that Sunday bail bonds are not legal. But active politicians routed out of their beds after midnight, managed to rake up bonds and secure the release of virtually all of the gamblers. “We aim simply to make gambling a lost art in Atlantic City,” declared the prosecutor. “We had evidence enough to have raided a score of negro gambling houses, but it was my idea not to put the county to too much expense.” Asked why gambling houses run for the benefit of wealthy white visitors were not included in the raid, the district attorney said: “We have worked for five weeks to get evidence that would warrant us in making descent on places where ‘big games’ are played. My men have been unable to get into any of the suspected houses, and if they are running games at all, it is virtually impossible to secure evidence that would warrant raids.”

“Order Raid on Gambers,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 19, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/717.