Los Angeles herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1890-1893, 1891-11-12
AFTER THE STARTEl
A DEATHBED SCENE DESCRIBED BY
LOUIS HARRISON.

He Was Dying Race Track Tot"
and He Imagined He Had "a Copper
Lined Cinch" to Play ON the Tack
That Day and No Time to Lose.
have hesitated about giving to pint
che following true story of deatfbed
scene which occurred in this city. lad
the description directly from the dotor
in attendance. He has lately left New
York to continue his profession dse-
where, and am constrained to tellbh
story as he described it, suppressingall
names.
The snow and sleet dashed through
the death chilling atmosphere in Wild
waves. The wind moaned a dige
among the telegraph wires. A solitary
hackman, driven from his seat by me
warning elements, had ensconced hin
self inside his mournful looking vehile
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 w
Thirtieth street young man weak ard
emaciated tossed restlessly upon bed
He was race track tout, and the greet
mental strain he had been subjected 10
for years in naming sure winners had
left him an absolute wreck. His sunkn
cheeks, his eyes ablaze with fever and
his corpselike pallo- all denoted that be
had but few short hours to live. A
professional nurse, with that cold, hos
pital stretcher expression they all pos
sess, sat in corner of the darkene1
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 walk! 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
stefan removed his greatcoat and the
nurse shook the rain and snow from it.
doctor, this is a dreadful night. !
suppose you are wet through"
The tout regained consciousness and
muttered: ''The track will be heavy to-
morrow, and I've got copper riveted,
lead pipe, copyrighted, air tight cinch.
Firenze in the mud-she swims in it
She can make the pace so hot that the
track will be dry before she does the
first quarter"
The doctor approached the bed, and
touching the patients pulse said, elbow
do you feel?"
"Well, Ill 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 wants to make a hogkilling, and
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 I have! l want to
let 'em all in on the ground floor. Why,
it's little sure money. / saw him tried
at daylight this morning. He made the
first quarter in 0:21i, the second in 0:07,
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. 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, 81 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, 81 don't want to meet the
judge; the man I'm after is the starter"
The physician pressed his attenuated
hand, and, as the moisture gathered in
his sympathetic eyes, said, "Now turn
your face to the wall, my boy, and go to
sleep" 81 will" the tout muttered.
"Pll get next to the rail, SO that when
turn the corner they can't foul me.
Here's a telegram I,iust received from
the owner. There's so to Ion 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 in
New York Advertiser.