Old Specie, the Treasury Detective; or, The Harbor Lights of New York — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

22 OLD SPECIE. _ then one voice arose above the others—it was that of a dealer. ‘“Faro!’? muttered the detective, contemptuously. He was after bigger game than that, and at first had his suspicions aroused, but he did not believe his man was here. Just at this minute a gong bellin the room beyond sounded its brazen note. This was an alarm. ; It meant the police were coming up the stairs to make a raid on the gambling den. . Immediately confusion reigned. The door was thrown open. Out rushed a dozen men, gamblers and players. They seemed to be posted as to the means at hand for effecting an escape during such an emergency as this. Most of them climbed a ladder, and went out of a scuttle, thus reaching the roof, from whence there were means of gaining the ground. Three men kept together and chose a different route for their escape. Old Specie saw that they were the owners of the game, and he followed them into a small room at the end of the hall. Here one of them, striking a match, held it while his comrades opened a door in the back of a closet, which allowed them to slip into the adjoining build- ing. The police meanwhile had rushed up the stairs, and were chasing the fugitive players over the roofs of the neighboring houses, with a poor chance of overhauling them. Old Specie had closed the door of. the room. Entering the closet he too struck a match, and ex- EComicbooks (elo) eS