Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-20

N Ala
| MC&2G GySM here in February on
| SM~S fZzeS visit to America for
S9S$@8S the first time. "Unole
John" Gideon, Wright and Safery are the
big bookmakers of the French turf, and l
do not suppose there are three other such
layers of odds to be found in England or
the United States. Two or three days be-
fore 1 left Paris Saffery won on one bet at
Longchamps S25, 900 and the next day, at
Auteuil, he carried off almost as much
more. He is rather interesting person at
French races. When he first came to Paris he
was salesman in an English clothing house,
Just opposite the Presidential mansion.
There he commenced taking bets, won
more in a year than he earned as a clerk,
his salary being only 5000, and soon he quit
the shop to become an out and out book
maker. Since 1874 he has prospered finely.
! One day Wright came over from London
for the express purpose of smashing Saff Fry,
who had done him a bad turn in some
racing speculation. But instead of smash
ing he became near being ground to pieces
himself, for he laid 66 to l against starter
in the Cambridgesbire, and Saffery took him
for s., 900. The colt thus backed at such
long odds won easily and it took Wright
some time to recover However, he is all
right now and is worth his millions.
ABOVE SUSPICION.
Mr.. John Gideon has lived in Paris %
years, and during all that time never has
the slightest breath of suspicion blown
against him. He lives with his family in a
magnificent house in the Champs Elysees,
the aristocratic part of the capital, and his
three or four sons are made of the samegood
stuff as the old man. He, too, sold clothes
in early life, and his father was a Hebrew.
The first book he ever made was on the
Lexington stakes, in 1848, when Mr.. Muir
rey's Miss Ann won, and then his book
summed up e5: lbs, out of which he had to
pay e5 los over to the winner. From that
time on his success was such that he followed
bookmaking in the ring and left the shop
in London to take care of itself. In 1862 he
commenced betting in Paris, and was led to
That year he received a commission from NJ
Lupin to back his horse Dollar for the North
amptonshire stakes, so he put on e200 to
win, at price averaging 80 to l, also laying
e700 for place. Dollar won and Gideon
|
The dav after his arrival was Sunday, and
there was racing at Longchamps. Of course
he went out, soon discovered it was good
enough for him to stay and enjoy, and so he
settled in Paris.
TN proportion to the number Of persons"
said he to me, "that is to say, in proportion
to the comparative populations OF London
and Paris, the people here bet ten times as
much and ten times bigger than they do in
England. Ali classes of people attend
French races habitually, not perhaps from
any particular fondness for horses, or be-
cause they know much about them-indeed,
| it seems to me that some OF them can't tell a
| horse from a donkey-but because the
French are natural born gamblers. Indi-
vidually they bet heavier than does any
Englishman, and hackers of horses can get
longer prices in Paris for the reason that.
while in England the run is on only two or
three favorites, here ali horses are backed
and bonkmakers can give long odds easily.
Bets Of 2O0 500, 1, 900, 1000 and 5000 louis are
notinfrequent, the amount of the bet depend
ing, of course, on the price of the horse, for
ii the odds are too long, one cannot often
take such wagers as have just mentioned.
ABIG BET.
tsThe largest single bet I ever laid was
10000 louis (S40, ,000) to 1000 louis against
ST. Blaize for the Grand Prix, and the colt
was not even placed. do not think there
was ever more money staked in any
country than on the Grand Prix of 1881,
when Mr.. Keen's Foxhall won. That colt
was backed for terrific sum, and the ring
came near being swamped, but we managed
to pull through all right, although I lost
nearly 100000.
Everybody bets in France, from the
highest nobleman down to the commonest
laborer. The betting here is both book and
ready money betting, and we do as much of
the one as the other. Both kinds are settled
everv Saturday evening at the Salon des
Courses, in the Boulevard des Capucines,
and the wav that that institution is run
stands pre-eminentlv alone in the turf
world. There is nothing like it anywhere
else that have ever heard of. 1t is sort
OF clearing house OF the betting trateanity,
but all the members do not settle there,
some of them preferring to do so individ-
ually with each other. The Pars-mutuel is
a great failure, because people do not know
how much they are going to receive until
the race is over, while by taking odds with
bookmakers they know exactly how they
will stand. There is something paradox
cal about TINS rarls-mutuel system, ior the
more money you Pu' or .,,i1 liorse Ine less you
are oouna 70 receive. tnink' however tne
system viii oe Kept up, as IL seems 70 SUIT
small oackers. 'nIse nose VINO no canon can only FISK or
~ irancs' anu Sno are tn always n1Ping 70
ca'cn an ou:s'uei! nave "a'cneu anu
stunieu tne tnihs cioSe!' anu l am sure
that IN most cases ~nat tue farls-mutuel
pays is ABOUT TWO poln's oeioW the oods
given In the ring
THE POLICE AND THE BooKMAKERs.
1,,-a NJ. c;doon ;f a., h.1..,
80 49, hon;nn @ ann .ronhlo r;,h 49, pan;n na
,e mass h .,rsred ~n n,e ~ .ho sn ai,s po'
''I1 .srSn SnI tot nt a. ;, so;J ba s.,ha GeSa. a
ine .uG. iS, .Iat No .nJ uT'e5nineh'
soon 'ouhu out thas a mistake nad Deen
made In trying TO stop betting ut the races,
and so test case was accepted to show the
LEGALITY of the prohibition. Some of no
-. $1,000 - To,nohor,n, 80
were arresteu a' nons1hdln p, Iakrh before
magistrate, convicted, ano all the money
was anpealed and last October tbe conv;c.
tion was quashed, we were acquitted, and
our money was returned. At the hearing
tbe nrosecntion advanced the aronment tbo1