Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1891-10-02
NEARLY A Vi |.
It Was His Long Odds Horse, But There
Was "a Slip After All.

Was Slip After All.
One hears some very odd stories of a
gamblers experience in pool rooms
where men between races while away
time by making contidants of strangers,
for racing, like politics, makes strange
bed fellows
Most of these "reminiscences are about
the narrator's i'll luck.
have heard good many such won
derful tales off and on, 1.-THE saddest
of all was related to me in Fourteenth
street commission room" by a seedy
looking man, with frightened look
about his eyes, as if he had played
five hundred to one shot with his last
dollar.
"T've had a good many hard turns in
this line" he said. Dead sure things
gone wrong! Copper fastened cinches
left at the post! And all that sort of
demoralizing business, but an expert
ence had in Chicago a few years ago
beat all else hollow in a long and, by
no means, uninteresting career of play
ing horses.
SIT was at the time when hurdle
races were more in vogue than they are
now. was in one of the pool rooms
out there one terribly stormy day and
had been playing in the very worst
kind of luck Every horse l bet on
seemed to get beaten by neck, nose
or eye lash. When entered the place
had a good big roll of bills and felt
quite confident of coming off a winner.
AS lost | kept up my courage, saying,
Your turn must come old man, so keep
stiff upper lip. ,
Accordingly the more l lost on one
race the harder plunged on the next
Icouldn't keep up with the procession,
however and when the race fifth had
been finished I found myself with only
twenty dollars left out of some hundreds
"The sixth was hurdle race with
thirteen starters. How well / remem-
Der that thirteen. / at once became
superstitious. i shall play the thir-
teenth horse / said, no matter what
odds there are against it
"When ! looked at the blackboard
my resolution nearly left me- for, to
my dismay, l found that the brute was
the extreme outsider. There was fifty
to one against him. l hesitated some
little time while | handled those TWEEN
ty dollars, the only money had in this
cruel, wild world and not one friend in
its vast extent upon whom l could call
for pecuniary aid in case of going broke.
"Should play that old plug and if
did should venture my little all?
Luck was dead agin me. | fully
realized that, hadn't picked single
winner in the whole card
what should do? Would the odds
go down to indicate that some one else
was backing the horse? Some fool like
myself, fascinated by the size of the
prize in the event of success. l want
ed some company in my misery.
didn't care who he was or what he was,
or if there was only one in the whole
crowd who would take the risk,
81 waited in vain. stood alone in
my folly The odds went up sixty tc
one. Every other horse of the thirteen
had some backing; mine had absolutely
none.
"'Well, here goes said in dcspera
ton at last, and planks down my TWEEN
ty dollars As the boolSmaker sale
twelve hundred dollars to twenty dol
lars he looked ;, at me as if were al
escaped lunatic and laughed.
81 felt angry enough to knock hin
down, but at that moment the tele
graph ticker began to click and thu
cry They're OFF, was heard,
81 need not tell you what jacllass
considered myself just then nor wha
+ pictures of hardships floated through
, my mind as saw my last dollar gon'
, on such FOOLS selection.
, at was only desperate mans inter
I est that l took in the race. felt
, couldn't possibly win-felt it, sir il
every particular bone in my body.
a 1.-THE muddy track made it hard work
for the horses to keep their footing, anC
, l was not at all surprised as the de
, scription Of the race was called off, t.
a hear of one horse after another taking
> a tumble. The only thing that kept mi
wondering was how my old dub WASH
/. among the number on his back in tn,
q mud.
:. "What was my establishment whel
A the stretch was reached to hear that @
the four horses that remained on thei
a feet mine was one.
"Would | win after all? l tried t.
g Danish such foolish thoughts, but o
r course couldn't. Another horse wen
down. 1t wasn't mine. They wer
a in front of the last hurdle, the poo
q room man next called out:
!. Great Scott! two more had fallen
: Which? A moment of agonizing sus
A pense, and then-well, sir, pardon m
v emotion. Even at this day." tn
= stranger said, trembling, 81 can no
n think of it without getting excited
: "Your horse, of course, was one @
o the two which had gone down thi
$ time" interposed.
n mo, SIR slapping his knee with
I great whack, "He ;lone remained o
d his fore legs-he won, sir"
!, "And you had broken your bad lucl
e so you stepped up and got your money
q and blessed the number thirteen" sal
e l, anticipating him.
/ mo, sir" he explained, getting a
:. angry as he had been excited before
o "They wouldn't pay the money, sil
v said that the rules of their blame
house were to the effect that two horse
must be standing up at the finish Or tn
bets didn't go. They condescendedt
give me my twenty dollars back but
r. couldn't by arguments or threats, &C
. them to change their decision. Clea
n steal? Well, l should say so, sir, "
IS never gotten over it, but might hav
# known my luck would down me-"
n And he turned his attention to tn