Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-30
The Piunger,s Return.

From the n. " Post.
During the past racing season an American
made his appearance in England whose career
there has created an unparalleled amount Of ex-
eitcment and curiosity. The newspapers have
recorded his movements from week TO week and
day To day scathing articles have been written
denouncing him, and philosophical articles ex-
planning him; a popular nickname has been
| found for him: dismal prophesies have been
made with regard to his future. and ingenious
legends invented as To his past. Crowds have
/ collected To see him when he went out TO take
| walk. and altogether as much attention and
! speculation have been layished upon him
| rs " he had been a distinguished pub
| lie character or a notorious criminal Ills
| time has been occupied while I'm England i'm
| betting on horses. What made him occupy so
! large and important place i'm the public eve
! was that he bet very large sums in other words
plunged heavily. aud that he appeared not
withstandng this to win. Anybody who has
! large amount of money can easily be a
1 'plunger." but TO plunge" and win is con-
| trary TO the traditions of the English turf for
very good reasons. The book-makers against
whom every ''plunger' stakes his money are the
capitalists of the turf. and have not only un-
limited supplies of funds but the accumulated
knowledge and experience Of a regular business.
The chances are all IN their favor just IA the
chances are in favor of the bank at Monaco or
against the lamb" i'm Wall street. They live
, 10y book-making. and their profits are economi-
cally considered. governed by the same causes
rs those which regulate the profits of any other
! eXtra-hazardous business.
, When an American, therefore. appeared i'm
/ England and began betting large quantities OF
what was known i'm the slang believed i'm Eng
land To be American as his dollars" on Ameri-
| can horses it was deemed certain that whatever
! his temporary winnings might be. he was
| destined in the end TO go home BANKRUPT and
! the book-makers accordingly made him well
come in the spirit in which Captain Rock makes
welcome his dear young friend Mr.. Pigeon. But
when, instead Of losing, he continued to win
heavily, and. as the turf is the great national
| sport i'm England. TO become an eminent person
their feeling about him began to change and the
most searching inquiries were instituted as 10 his
origin, sources of revenue and the probable
length of his purse. Very little could be found
out about him except that he was an American,
but legend soon sprang up TO the effect
that he was the agent of the owner of one of
the American horses. this owner being gentle
man who carries on his operations i'm Wall street.
and is recognized as a ''monopolist." Ii the
English book-makers had known what a Wall
street 'monopOist is. how he is able, 10y putting
this stock up or the other stock down. or by
cornering wheat. or iron. or lard to take out OF
the pockets of the business community just what
sums he pleases; how his squeezing" power ia
limited simply 10y his own sense OF Justice or
mercy, they would never have gone on bet
ting with the stranger after they had
discovered. as they thought, that he
stood in the relation of agent to one Of
this class. But not knowing much about
it they went blindy on. thinking that he or his
principal must eventually come to the end of
their rope. Meanwhile the mystery of the
''plungers' success led as any such success al
ways does, to the belief among the innocent
public who were parting with their spare cash
To the boOk-makers. from whom he was winning
it, that he must have some secret or system by
means of which he was enabled to defy ordinary
rules and make sure of success i'm advance. On
the other hand the fact that he was observed to
be on remarkably intimate terms with the lock-
eys led to the circulation of an unpleasant rumor
that he was not giving the ook-makers square
deal" He. however. being aware that envy and
caumny always follow i'm the path of success,
paid no attention to this idle gossip but con-
tnued to bet assiduously, and to win contin-
uOusly.
He has now returned home and has given to o
reporter an account of his operations on the
other side. which shows how curiously simple
| they really were. He is, it seems. agent of q
monopoiist. but, as he says plain business
man: i'm fact, ''hotel proprietor" who does
not like to have his ''outside operations OF this
kind heralded about any more than any other
man." He makes a public statement OF them
now, he says. simply because they have been
much talked about and ''they NAV as well lie
put straight" He did then. a matter Of fact
get away with Gg3. 600 of British gold or nearly
half q million in our money-an addition, by the
way, to the wealth of this country well as his
complain, as it calls for no export of bonds. or
manufactures grain i'm return. The ex,lana-
ton he gives of his success is that he beat the
English bOok-makers at their own game simply
by making better guess as to which was going
TO be the winning horse than they did. The
chances of any one horse winning in the same
season three Of the great English races are SO
remote that it would have been considered per-
fectly safe to predict that ''plunger' who
should take such a risk would be absolutely
ruInpd Ruf this Was ha ba
take. and he won by it f75. 600 of his 1913 600.
As to bribing the jockeys, he says that he only
promises large sum to Jockey 10 win. If he
has large amount on the horse he is to ride
According to turf ethics We believe this is allow
able. while giving money to a jockey to lose Q
race is of course fraudulent proceeding This
the ''plunger" says he never does.
He gives most amusing and at the same
time pathetic account of the ingrattude of Sir
John Ashley, a well-known sporting baronet,
who, after imploring the ''plunger" not i'm vain
to make bets with HIM. which. presumably,
turned out TO the baronct's disadvantage. sud-
denly turned upon his benefactor and asked
him in very prOfane language why he did not
stay in his ''bloody country" To this the
''plunger" replied with the dignity and forbear-
ance that seem to have marked his behavior
throughout. that he supposed that England
was free country" and that ''when the num-
bers go up it's public property" To this Sir
John broke out more Extensively STILL again
suggesting return to the United States, upon
which the ''plunger' turned his back upon the
barOnet. and has ''never spoken to him SINCE"
and would not any more than to dog"
1t will be seen that the reality falls far short
Of the legend There is a painful descent from
romance to prose when, after reading the bril-
liant writing about the ''plunger' which has
been produced during the summer we find that
Mr. Walton is commonly known here as THE"
Walton, and is obviously simply a book-maker
himself who has had the advantage of an ex-
traOrdinary run of luck. He has established
himself however, in the English sporting world
as new American type-the quiet. silent Amer
lean, whose origin, means of livelihood and con-
nections are all involved in profound mystery;
whose resources and nerve are unlimited: Q
gambler by nature and habit; who wins or loses
with an unruflled countenance, but who i'm the
end always wins more than he -loses-a sporting
man of destiny-somethng that suggests Pheas
fogg and ''Fresh. the American" but which is
nether-a type admirably adapted to the stage.
and one that we shall without doubt see on the
stage before long, where his purse will be even
longer than that which 1.-THE" has brought home
with him, and where its contents will be used.
not merely as a fund for more extensive ''out-
side operators" but, az the ethics Of the stage
demand, to ruin the wicked and to help the
good.