New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-09

way they could talk the money out OF the pockets
of the spectators wonderful to contemplate.
BcT, experts in Judging the weaknesses OF human
| nature they did not hesitate to take
advantage OF discovery made years and
wears AGO and handed down through the corridors
., time namely that all men fools at an auction.
nut no man was obliged 30 buy pool. Whenever
be reached his limit he at liberty to drop out
and let some better staycr take up the running.
! Then he was also at liberty TO como again IN the
stretch. and by a brilliant squirt at tho flush win
ON the post by short head The once OF auctioneer
| Was a proud and lucrative one. The great man
was patronized to an unlimited extent by the nabObs
If the turf and felt no conjunction in extracting
| from the pools generous commission Of per cent
which no pocketed with becoming guso. Pools
we're pools In those days. one OF SoOO was only
ordinary one OF 81 900 low mddling, one of ~ 500
good middng one of 81, strict good mlddling
| one Of SO coo mddlng fair and one Of $1,000 fair
But by and by The law stepped in and poolsclling
came TO an abrupt pause. The Legislature Of
1s76-,77 was induced to abolish It. The con-
SEQUENCES were disastrous 10 the Jockey club, but
the spring and fall meetings went on usual. The
racing was of excellent quality, but there nobody
| n sec IT, The clubhouse balconies and the green
hillside seemed almost deserted, and there were
Gully hundreds In and about the grand stand and on
the ouarterstretch where on former occasions there
| had been thousands. The atmosphere funereal
rho members of the club were not slow in perceivng
that the chief cause Of the small attendance
| the absence Of pOolseling. Troops of who
we're formerly regular attendants at the park pre-
forred at this time 10 go to Hoboken on days
in order to bet for the enforcement of the law
had driven all the poolrooms 10 the NewJersey side
of the river where they thrived astonshingy. During
the racing season the receipts Of the Hohoken Ferry
Company were enormous
| Something had to be done The members OF the
| club and their friends were obliged 10 bet give
| up racing There was no more satisfaction there
than there is now in watching a horse unbacked.
Pierre Lorillard, just returned from Europe, sig-
gested bookmaking as medium of speculation. lie
had done business with sundry pencilers at Ascot
| and Newmarket, and considered the English system
a fair substitute for pools. As the Legislature had
not been intimately acquainted with the possibilities
of bookmaking, the new law did no. deal with that
method of winning and losing, consequently there
was no legal difficulty to be in introducing
It, 1t IS limited, nay it is even boldly asserted by
certain shining lights Of the turf that Pierre Lori
lard himself took the initiative in this matter, by
| becoming the hacker Of the first book ever made
| on an American racecourse, and the man he set up
in business was Rowland Robbins. Some money
was made, some lost The betting was exceedingly
light as the betting community continued to sit in
sackcoth and ashes beside the ghost of the departed
French and auction pools. But though the educating
process was slow It was sure and ere long MT
Lorilard convinced the public that the English
system of speculation after all an Improvement
| The Jockey club not TO be backward In coming
forward converted It's city headquarters into an Amcr
| can Tatersalps. Hero apartment. called SUD
scripton- room. devoted TO betting purposes. n
strict code of rules adopted and no person was
permitted to transact business on the premises t he
had subscribed himself member of this community OF
| hackers No fec required of members OF the
|
| rri,,ueco az subscribing The night before i'm
| nortant race and the night after were occasions oil
much consequence In the subscrlpon-room; the msh'
before being given over to the offering and hs oil
odds the night after to the squarins of accounts
The names Of all d,linquenis were posted Withou'
delay in a conspicuous part OF the Ooi ann inc man
who failed TO settle promptly found himself III ln'm
mont danger of osracism or something worse.
In few years book-bctting became the iaVoi1c
system of speculation on only the oldtmer'
incurred for the lost pools and refused to DO com
fored The younger generation OF tunmeh lea"il'
adapted themselves to the new condi'ions, 1r,,
makers thrved and multiplied, ard the jockey club
| nro6ied Handsomely By the sal3 Of boohnaMng
| privileges. From this source alone revenue u
| nearly $4,000 was derived at the fal meeuhg
of 1873 large sum when 1t IS Iecoiiecteh tha1 lhe
system had been in operation In this country Only
one year and was, therefore, stll an experiment
Compared with the revenue derived from the same
sonca in more recent years, the amount IS Daga'ee
for the Coney Island Jockey Club he's sometimes re-
ceived as much $4,000 day from the bookmahNs.
1t is undoubtedly true that bcobmaking. Wnlch was
unknown in this country thirteen years ago. which
was introduced IN 1877 with much fear ana uembnh2'
which was received with contempt and treated with
,corn by the betting community, which was fowned
down by the law which aftcrwad smiled upon
10y tho law ard ws'ercd and fed and nush TIL
fourished like a green bay wee-it IS undoubtedly
tIuc that bOOkmakng has become the nalnstay ana
support Of the racing associations Ct America Tic
DAY Is probably at hand when gate receipts viii
open and the public invited 10 enter free on the in
Piled condition that they drop few dollars IN IN;
Wreckers OF incomes. The plan Is being tried even
now in New Jersey, and It's result Will be watched
| with interest.
It was after several years Of successful progress In
| bOokmaking that the accommodating makers ana ul-
makers Of the law Albany werc persuaded 10 inter
ere with the advance and development Of the thorough
bred. Tie act prohibiting the sale OF pools W as
amended also T. prohibit boGh ; ,or Th u,
speculation in existence Oy the adopt0n OF Nlich
the jockey club could simultaneously evaie the law
and encourage the OF me 9cEey c &
coming desperate in the presence OF their declining
foru es secured the enactment OF the Ives FOOL Dill,
which permitted them to race and bet ara pet ana
race with certain limitations; They are racing and
betting under that law now, but not with any known
| limitations.
When Mr. Belmont resigned the presidency Of the
American Jockey Club. few years ago. John Hunter
was chosen to that office, and he holds 1t now Mr.
| Jerome dropped out before Mr.. Belmont did and be
came president of the Concy Island club. Later ho
associated himself with John a. Morris and built the
WcsicLester track AID TO the Westch sier track may be
charged the death of the American Jockey Cmb-if il
docs die-and the closing Of Jerome Park-f 1t Is
| closed.
| How strange the whole thing seems. The man
| who gave Jerome Park 10 the public is the man Who
has done most to take ii away.
| THE SERIES OF YALE-PRINCETON GAMES.
HOW THE TWO COLLEGES HAVE STOOD SINCE
THE LEAGUE BEGAN.
| There has been considerable discussion for many
ronr- nr 10 rolntluo efInnrih of Princeton and