New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-13

he mas not won, the respectable Mr. Wright, equally
of course, puts the money into his pocket But
where money is sent to back particular horse tho
fiction is kept up that some third pcrson-name not
necessary to be known to the public, but might be
called we will say, Mrs. Harris-bes against that
horse and wins or loses. But the possibility in carry
ing on great business like Mr.. Wrght's consists in
acquiring public confidence, and that confidence
would speedily be lost if in any case the money won
by q customer were not forthcoming. Mr..
Wright does in fact pay if he loses
and whether he gets the money from
anybody else or not is matter of Indifference to the
lucky fellow who gets it from him. SO far as the
public knows, and as the law knows, Mr.. Wright is
simply bookmaker" on gigantic scale To the
ordinary advantages of that lucrative business he
adds the advantage of paying himself a commits
sion on the money he loses. There are many such
houses in England. Wright's is perhaps the
largest. Morris, who is also under prosecution is
another great one You may judge of the extent
of their business from two facts On last years
Derby, when Blue Gown won, the amount
paid on that single horse through Wright alone was
more than three hundred thousand pounds sterling
somewhere near two millions Of what now pass for
dollars in America. The other fact shows the system
well extent of the business. The sums received
are enteredin a book like n oheck-book. Arecept
for each sum is torn out Of the book, and the cOun
teTfOil, containing a corresponding entry, remains in
the volume When Wright was arrested the police
found this book-indeod there was no concealment
about it, for the business was carried on in daylight
IN public Office with a great number ofclerks The
book contained $1,000 vouchers, of which S29OS had
been taken out Each one represented somebody's
investment, and this enormous number covered a
period of only two months. They varied in amount
from ten shillings 10 fifty pounds, and the whole
sum must have exceeded 100000 and probably was
G2OOO 600 or 100000
Considering that there arc some hundreds of such
houses all over England, and that their operations
are carried on with every sort of publicity that they
can only be carried at all by the completely of the
public and that they have gone on thus openly for
years it produces a sensation of surprise to find that
it is all done in fragrant violation OF law. There is
statute some fifteen years old against betting houses
known to lawyers as the 1G and Il Wet. 10, which
was carried through Parliament by the present Chief
! Justice. then Attoney-Gen. COckbum. 1t would be
very moderate to say that half the members Of the
| House of Commons and more than half the Lords
are habitual gamblers on the turf. Nevertheless
they passed this law without objection, for il was
understood that it was meant to put down
| betting by persons of inferior class,
! and it is well known that betting
on the part of poor men who cannot risk more than
ten shillings at time is an immoral transaction,
while betting large scale is truly gentlemanly
snort. If You happen to he clerk and arc tempted
to rob your masters till for the sake of backing a
Derby favorte the master class has plain interest
in discouraping these ventures. II you are Duke Of
| Newcastle and only squander revenue Of $4,000
| a year it is supposed to be nobody's business but
your own--does not degrade the patrcian order of
which Won are a distinguished member, nor lower the
tone of public morals encourage the clerk to fol-
low your example, and plunge" 10 the extent of his
means or of his opportunities for petty larceny.
few fellows Of the baser sort were first seized by
the police two OF three weeks ago. They were
promptly convicted by the magistrates. Gradually,
the police few at higher game. One OF their victims
! was a well-known operator at Manchester. II you
have ever pursued your studies Of human nature in
side the betting ring at Doncaster or EPSON, you
have surely noticed the cruel faces Of the men who
( carry bags-as Judas did-inscubed with their adj
| dresses in large letters-as / suppose Judas did
not These are the professional booImakers,
and some of them are commission agents"
of the Wright and Morris pattern 30 powerful
and coarse are their voices that one might suppose
they had formerly been costermongers and gone |
bowling their vegetable wares through London |
streets but that having been driven By misfortune
or Bnavery to abandon a respectable calling they
had taken TO the Ring as less desperate men take 10
drink OF to picking pockets. Upon good many oil
these ornaments to society has the law lately aid ITS
hand bat it was not believed that the authorities
were in earnest till they fell upon such cyiathans as
Messrs Morris and Wright Rich and powerful as
these men are they were arrested by police officers
under special instructions and had TO appear at the
police court-the immortal court still held in dlngy
little room in Bow-st These, like the other cases,
were prepared with care. Sums Of money had been
sent bv police agents 10 Wright's and 10 Morrss TO
be invested in different races, and il appeared that
in one case at least the officer had been lucky enough
TO win, and had actually got his money from Mr'
Wright some eight nine pounds less the cominls-
sion. II is not stated whether no was allowed
TO keep it. There was no want OF evil
deuee in either case. and the magistrate
showed himself perfectly ready to conyict-a thing
not always to be said Of magistrates when the ac-
cused is a person of wealth and the ohense one
which a great part Of the community IHlhk no
oense NJ all Needless to say that on behalf Of the
prisoners there was astrong array OF learned counsel
vet the evidence against their clients was SO concu
si,,e and the law so clear that there was found
difficulty in stating case with enough elements ol
doubt In it TO be carried up for final adjudication
But the counsel for the prosecution beng as anxious
az the other side for decisive OPINION the magls-
trate, Sir Thomas Henry, finally consented thaV INC
case should stand over for a fortnight 10 give Ino
LAWYERS time to agree on for the Queens Bench
Messrs Wright and Morris pledge themselves that tey
will suspend business meanwhile aud all the smaller
fry are naturally in great distress at the possible
destruction Of their trade, which they must pursue
al all for the present. less openly than heieOoloie
It was supposed at first that the sudden acuFiY
g Tho nolice was due to the zeal Of the new Metro
nolitan Chief of Police, Col. Henderson. The
roverh about new brooms is not without its aDpica
e. 90 him lint the betting prosecutions extend far