The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1892-03-09
A DEATHeED SCENE pgscRleEp ~
LOUIS HARRISON


He Was "a Dying Race Track 'Tout."
and He Imagined He Had "a Copper
Lined cinoh" to Play on the Track
That Day and No Time to Lose.
| have hesitated about giving to print
the following true story of 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 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
hacknan, 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 a 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
pital stretcher expression they all pos
sess. sat in q 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 waikiki Tenny
gets all the money, and Salvador won't
be one. two, sikh"
THE ToUTs 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 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, How
do you feel?"
'Well, I'll tell you" he replied, ''just
how | feel about this. The Dryers sta
bic 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 | havel | want to
let 'em all in on the ground hoor Why.
it's little sure money | saw him tried
at daylight this morning He made the
first quarter in 0:2lt, the second in 0:07,
and the third was so fast that 1t 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
a 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. II
any of EN- were stiff I'd know 1t. tell
you, Blackjack is full of Tabasco sauce.
and he'll leave all them other plugs at
the post. Why shouldn't her Do you
know his pedigree2 Blackjack is out Of
Dark Lantern, by Blackwell's Island.
and he's born cracker
The doctor felt his pulse again and
sighed, ~ 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, II 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 gaspsd, II 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" II will" the tout muttered.
"Tll get next TO the rail, so that when
turn the corner they can't foul me.
Here's telegram just received from
the owner. There's 80 to on Blackjack;
get it quick before they cut it down.
Ill WIN
But he didn't. He quit in the stretch
and lost by breath.--Louis Harrison in