The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-11-19
AFTER THE STARTER.
A peArHBep SCENE DESCRIBED BY
LOUIS HARRISON.

and He Imagined lie Had "a Copper
Lined Cinch" to Play the Track
That Day and No Time to Lose.
have hesitated about giving to print
the following true story of a deathbed
scene which occurred in this city. / had
the description directly from the doctor
In attendance. He has lately left New
York to continue his profession else
where, and l am constrained to tell the
story as he described it. suppressing all
names.
The snow and sleet dashed through
the death chilling atmosphere in wild
waves. The wind moaned dirge
among the telegraph wires. A solitary
hackman, driven from his seat by the
warning elements, had ensconced him.
self inside his mournful looking vehicle
and tapped upon the frost covered glass
to attract the attention of belated night
owls Winter in its cruelest phase was
upon us. In dingy looking house on
Thirtieth street young man weak and
emaciated tossed restlessly upon bed
He was race track tout, and the great
mental strain he had been subjected to
for years in naming sure winners had
left him an absolute wreck. His sunken
cheeks, his eyes ablaze with fever and
his corpselike pallor all denoted that he
had but few short hours to live. A
professional nurse, with that cold, hos
pita1 stretcher expression they all pos
sess, sat in a corner of the darkened
room and whiled away the time by
figuring how the undertaken would man.
age to get the coffin around that narrow
turn in the stairs.
The doctor had been summoned, and
when he rang the bell the tout waved
his bony arms aloft and shrieked:
<'They're off Tenny in walkl Tenny
gets all the money, and Salvador won't
be one, two, SKIP
THE ToUT's CINCH.
He fell back on the bed exhausted as
the doctor entered the room, The ply
sician removed his greatcoat and the
nurse shook the rain and snow from it.
"Doctor, this is dreadful night. ]
suppose you are wet through"
The tout regained consciousness and
muttered: ''The track will be heavy to-
morrow, and I've got a copper riveted.
lead pipe, copyrighted, air tight cinch.
Firenze in. the mudAshe swims in it
She can make the pace so hot that the
track will be dry before she does the
Grst quarter.
The doctor approached the bed, and
touching the patients pulse said, ''How
do you feel?"
''Well, I'll tell you," he replied, ''just
how feel about this. The Dryers sta
BILE is next to ours, and they tell me
everything. Phil told me this morning
that Blackjack would win in horrible
canter. You see, the party that owns
him fa 10 hnnlyi11incr nd
no one knows that he's out for the dust" /"
Turning to the nurse the doctor in
quired, Have you notified his friends of
his condition." The tout started up and
yelled: "Of course 1 have! | want to
let 'em all in on the ground floor. Why,
it's little sure money. saw him tried
first quarter ip 0:21t, the second in O:07,
and the third was SO fast that it broke
my stop watch and loosened three of
my teeth. How can he lose it? Why,
it's just like falling through the roof of
mint"
The doctor looked very serious and
said, He will be dead in an hour"
LOST BY A BREATH.
"Oh, no, he won't" the tout sneered.
"There's not dead one in the hunt. If
any of 'em were stiff I'd know it. 1 tell
you, Blackjack is full of Tabasco sauce,
and he'll leave all them other plugs at
the post. Why shouldn't he? Do you
know his pedigree? Blackjack is out of
Dark Lantern, by Blackwell's Island.
and he's born cracker
The doctor felt his pulse again and
sighed, II can do no more; must be
going" The tout caught his arm and,
drawing his head down close to the pill
low, whispered: ''After the Blackjack
race meet me in the paddock. If you
win I've got to give fifty dollars to the
trainer, twenty-five to the jockey and
twenty to the stable boys. I'll put what's
left on the next race, and if the horse
wins, you're in on it. So meet me in the
paddock and I'll cash your ticket
The doctor took the dying mans hand
and said, my poor boy, are you pre-
pared to meet the Great Judge?' The
tout gasped, II don't want to meet the
judge; the man I'm after is the starter. u
The physician pressed his attenuated
hand, and, as the moisture gathered in
his sympathetic eyes, said, 'sNow turn
your face to the wall, my boy, and go to
sleep 81 will," the tout muttered.
an get next to the rail, so that when ]
turn the corner they can't foul me.
Here's a telegram l just received from
the owner. There's 90 to on Blackjack
get it quick before they cut it down
I'll VIM
But he didn't. He quit in the stretch
and lost by breath.-Louis Harrison il
New York Advertiser.
The Sparrow's Bath.
Have you ever noticed the pugnacioui
little English sparrow perform his morn