The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-07-13
THE TURF IN ENGLAND.


LONDON, June 26. 1899.
Truly the English turf Is at the present moment
nassinu through a fiery trial, and there are few
among us who are confident enough To say that 1t
will survive It, 1t does 1t will come f9fth purified;
but most probably It will sink undec 1t, a. did the
prze ring It Is idle to shut ones eyes to the fact
thar inst now racing is the Ishmsel OF sports; its
nend Is against every man and every mans hand Is
against it, There Is not print IN the country, from
the Thunderer down to the pettiest little provincial
rag. that has not hing at 1t Of greater or
less erect. The moralists and straitlaced
folks are coming out stronger than ever,
and predict the speedy destruction OF
"the beasts The comic periodicals turn
serous-they are always dull-on the subject and
draw the most horrible looking 'spid ers" and the
most innocent looking 'nies" Commerce strokes
itself down the back when thinks of the turf and
thanks God that not as that sinful institution.
The .'bullsn and ''bears' OF the Stock Exchange,
chucKling over the pockets full Of coins Of which
they have just swindled the unwary, frown when
they see the golden youth" hurryng on to the races
and talk OF their being ION the broad road" The
grocer who sands his sugar, the butcher who uses
unjust weights, the "snub-nosed draper' with
his cheating yard wand" all turn up their eyes
when they hear OF the turf and ask each other wh0
could believe it9' In q word, Mrs. Grundy was never
on the alert than just now, for the turf AFFORDS
plenty of private scandal and then what field for
gossip there is In Its functions as institu-
ton The cause Is not far to seek. Away
yonder in Kensal Green lies the Marquis OF
Hastings. cut down in the hover OF his youth, his
possessions squandered, his name dishonored. In
Carlton House terrace vulgar brokers have been all
the week knocking down. amid the comment Of
the herd the effects Of the young Duke Of Newcastle
within few DOORS too, OF the house where lives his
fathers old friend MIR. Gladstone In the Bank
ruptcy Court yesterday the preliminary proceedings
necessary to make him bankrupt were taken, his
creditor, the notorious Padwck, being the first wit
ness examined. Lord Westm0reland Is ruined.
Lord Coventry is about to be ''wnitewashed" Sir
Reginald Graham, it Is said, has been obliged to fee
the country. Everywhere poverty and disgrace
seem to dog the footsteps of those who 60 the
turf and have most power in obtaining In their
favor cutlery against it. So great Is the scandal
which the fall Of the Duke Of Newcastle created that
the authorities have at length determined to do all
they can TO repress betting, and hence
THE RAID ON THE COMMISSION Agencies
py IN postcp ae fact than last
three bodies OF police made descents on three or the
chief commission agencies-those OF Mr. William
Wright in COvent Garden, Messrs. smith in Jermyn
street and Messrs Morris IN Cork street. have
already explained that these agencies are offices not
for the receipt Of money by letter for investment
horses They are occupied only by the principals and
are pson to me o an es u
is conducted solely by correspondence, just as a
commission agency In general way Is managed.
Thus suppose A. b. desires to back Pretender for
the st, Leger he looks to the front page Of sport
ing journal, where he finds The adver-
tise price current OF the horses in the race,
from which 1t appears that they will
ge Two 20 0ae 9ss Fl @ or aer cen
say ten pounds, and asking them to invest it Tor
him. They reply by a Autographed form, In which
they state ''We have taken for yOu twenty pounds
to ten pounds Tor whatever was the market price at
the tlme) on Pretender for the st. Leger." Should
to Messrs. Smith, who by return Of post remit him
thirty POUNDS, less their commission at the rate OF
that the police descended Saturday. they seized
all the books and other documentary evidence on
person tonSd ON the premises and marched them o
to Bow street, where they appeared before Sir
Thomas Henry, who remanded them until to-day,
taking bail. Al the moment write they have not
yet been tried and the result shall only have time
before the mail closes to give in postscript.
THE LEGAL POSITION OF THE DEFENDANTS
There is no dispute as to the responsibility OF the
defendants and their perfect honesty in conducting
their business Ine r IA, are ,ae NUMBER Of
are not OF their number: In TACT While the former
live by cheating: the latter get their bread by far
dealing. A firm like any OF those charged could not
afford to act dishonesty for their clients would only
retaliate by going elsewhere. The question at issue
bring them within the operation OF the Betting act
OF 1853. Colonel Henderson, the Chief Commits
sioner Of Metropolitan Police, evidently believes:
opinion, not only among the public, but among the
soundest lawyers. In the first place. the Betting act
very simple reason that at the time it was
passed they did not exist they being in fact brought
to extermfnate the old betting shops which swarmed
in Long Acre harrington street and other parts of
| the metropolis, and which, bringing around them
horrible crowds OF the worst ruflans not only OBJ
st.ucted the th0roughfares, but put direct pre-
MUM crime. 1t was perfectly efrectual in It's OBJ
| sance as the most straitlaced could desire them
to be. AS soon as the act was passed the present
defendants and others took the best legal advice as
to the enterprises which they have been engaged
and were assured that they were not Illegal Among
others Mr.. NOW Baronl Bramwell assured them that
such proceedings could not under any section OF the
| act be impugned. Acting on this opinion they at
once went to work. and they have never once been
interfered with For fourteen years they have con-
tinued without hint from the authorities to show
that their business would, or could, or should or
might interfered WITH and the blow has fallen at
| last quite UNEXPECTEDLY. The defence Is that as
| commission agents they cannot be charged under
the act. They profess to bet no money Theg say
others, and they advertise themselves such. 1t Is
well enough known that they DO actually bet the
! for their clients That is to say when A. b. sends
his money for investment on horse to Q. D., and
| z. ID. says that he takes the odds from E. f., we
know well enough that E. f. Is a myth and that G.
ID. actually lays the odds to A. b. himself BY so do
ing he, OF course, abandons his position commits
sion agent, and constitutes himself betting man;
but 1t IS for the prosecution to prove the fact from
his books. G. ID. says he is commission agent and
that there is an L. F. with whom he transacts his
"a. BIS business, and he calls on the police TO show
that there Is not.
ArTEK THE FIRST EXAMINATION.
1t is Impossible to give any idea OF the consterna
ton that prevailed at all the sporting resorts when
| 1t was known what the authorities had DONE The
widest rninors were put IN circulation TO the ef-
Iect tnat the police were at once to he ''down"
on the sporting clubs and arrest the members every
man JACK OF them and that 1t was even in conteni.
| plation TO send body to Tatersall's itself and
seize al found within ITS walls whether peers or
cads. IL IL TACT that on Monday last four five
detectives were engaged all day in watching the
VICTORIA the Bentlnck, the Beaufort and other clubs
Tequented by regular betting men: but no descent
| has yet been made on them. IL is however. rtl.
mored that the government or the police-whichever
| IL az the bottom OF the crusade-haye prepared a
most comprehensive programme, Intending to ex-
| tngulsh betting wherever, by whomever and now
| ever II Is carried on Meanwhile the greatest vic
tms Oh tne present prosecutions or prosecutions
for in view Of the facts that horse racing and bet.