St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-02
A SMOOTH SCHEME.
How a Couple of Pool Rooms We're
Done Up."

Beating the races is a pastime that
has been INDUCED in lately by select
cOterie of sporting proclivities. Across
Third street, south from the Columbia
pool room, is a more modest establish
ment of similar character. Although
both establishments get their reports
over the same wire, it occasionally hap
pens that one place will receive its news
slightly in advance of the other. The
delay may be caused by the bad work.
ing of wire, crowd posting, and diff
ference of two or three minutes some
times results.
The gentleman who has good eye
for ''SleeperS" at the faro table, or who
waits for openings where a small in
veStment will return large profits, is not
slow to take advantage of opportunities
like this. He is apt to take time by the
fOrelock and pull it off. 1t did not take
over three or four days for the proprie-
tors of the smaller house to arrive at
the conclusion that they were getting
what is commonly called "the worst of
it." When six or seven cold-blooded
betterS who are not hanging
around pool rooms for their
health rush in and unanimously
back one and the same horse against
the field, favOrites and all. and when
this singular coincidence occurs with
a regularity that threatens bankruptcy
TO the pool seller and untold wealth to
the pool buyer, then it stands to reason
that the house is being done up. Just
how was the question, and it took two
or three days more to find out. Finally
the mystery was unraveled. At each
,>Iooa nnnuaniantlu naar tho don. xuhara
he could watch the blackboard and hear
the callers voice stood one of the
scherers. The moment race was an
nOunced it took but an instant for him
to step to the door and telegraph by GER
tain signs the winning horse. Schemer
No. stood in front of the pool room
across the street and had only
to Jump in and make his bet
before the pool closed. The others
in the conspiracy had only to follow his
example as quickly as possible. They
generally stood with their money ready
as if uncertain how to bet and then
would pass it up at the last moment.
Many times they would be too late, but
occasionally they would get there in
time to knock the pool box out of shape.
When the modus Operandi was discov-
cred, it was, OF course, an easy matter
to checkmate it. An erroneous report
was given out at one house, and plenty
of time was allowed the schemerS to in
vest at the other. The result was that
the pool rooms recovered portion of
their losings. 1t would not do for mis-
takes (?) like this to occur often, how
ever, and as the schemerS were very
quick to catch on they were not to be
led astray again, and so remain good
many hundreds ahead, it is presumed.
A similar plan to do the well-known
commission house of PresSey a. Wheel
er. was discovered about two years ago.
There was discrepancy in the time of
reception of reports at the chamber of
commerce, and at the commission house.
The signal bow to buy was communi-
Gated by waving handkerchief of a
certain color out of a window of the ex-
change at the chamber. A man on the
sidewalk in front of the commission
house three blocks away could note the
signal, and sometimes close deal. 1t
took some little time to discover the
trick, and the commission house lost
considerable before it was exposed.