Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-05

great deal OF money TO deal in margins With
the buying of pools on races it is different A
ten-doilsr bill will do to start with This is the
alluring bait continually dangling before the
eyes OF the telegrapher that works on a s.race"
wire.
He will receive and send pointers from
men who have made racing and horses a life
| study; watch the result and find that had be
been quick to grasp the situation he could have
been benefited 70 a considerable extent fnan-
cially by betting on this information. The
same opportunity will materiaIize few DAYS
later and all his money will back the tip sent
out and this time he quits a loser. II is expert
ences of this nature that have led the tel
| egrapher to fight shy of betting on horse races
! On paper they can win fortunes in a week. but
let them once put up their hard-earned money
and their calculations and information goes for
| naught.
BIO WAGES TO THE OPERATORS
1t is said that proprietors Of gambling rooms
pay their employees big wages, as they are sure
of getting it back through the games played in
their rooms. So il is with the bookmaker that
employees an operator at IS day of four hours
work; the former generally retains a major
part OF the salary at the end of the week
The photographers handling racing reports are
generally young men. as the older hands gen.
orally decline the positions, and are experts
with the key and sounder. Their surroundings
have demorHlizing effect upon their moral
character and the good pay is poor recompense
AFTER they have been in the business a season
or two they become fully acquainted with the
workings of the different race circuits and with
several of the codes or ciphers in use The
next season, should they not be able to SECURE
their former positions or ones similar, they are
generally open for negotiations from outside
betting men, and scheme for tapping the
wires is generally the result.
We're 1t not for the vigorous action of the
Western Union Telegraph Company in prose-
cutting the wire tappers that captured for
trespassing schemes of this class would be de-
veioped every week. The telegraph company
derives princely revenue from this source and
must protect its customers. as thew know the
law Will not recognize the latter, as they too,
are battling against the statutes.
If any one will take the trouble to circulate
among the operators and gain their confidence
1t Will be found that three out of every four Of
them have original overlapping ideas They
do not make them public as a general thing,
but 1t has become quite hobby with great
many of them to figure out the chances of be-
ing captured or making successful raid on the
pool boxes.
A reporter of TIE EVENING STAR one even
ing recently dropped into the big telegraph
Office on 18th street at the midnight luncheon
hour. and during the let up of business a group
OF the boys" gathered around one of the
tables In an obscure corner of the room Some
one broached the wire tapping and racing sub
jects, and soon they were off, each one having
story to tell. many of them original and full
OF excitement and humor.
HOW PHIL DwYER DID THE BOYS.
'Say, Mac. tell us how Phil Dwyer did the
boys up on the racing circuit about ten years
ago. spoke up one Of the group. We've all
heard snatches of it. but you were right in il
and know all the PARTICULAR
Well, it's pretty rough to tell a story on
ones self. replied the operator designated as
Mac. put as had plenty of company on that
particular occasion and the story has never
been rightly told. don't mind letting myself
out tonight. To begin with let me tell Won
that the telegraph company and the book
makers hadn't things down to so fine a point as
now in regard to safeguards. We received $40
for four hours work and MANY of us stored
the money away and only went into the betting
ring on sure things The bookmakers knew
the betting fever was on us and that il only
took good thing to make us go down into our
pockets and hand our money over in exchange
for their pool tickets.
"Our circuit was long one embracing New
York, Jersey City. Philadelphia Baltimore and
Washington, and covered about fifty pool
rooms. was located down on street in this
city. 1t was toward the close of the season and
majority OF the operators on the circuit had
good-sized rolls of money stored away. This
fact also evidently known to the bookmak-
ers and they must have come to the conclusion
among themselves that this was too much good
money going to waste. They all Possessed
code books. and for a week before the trap was
sprung allowed them to frequently come under
our observation as if bv accident Phil DIVER
was a coming man then and coming with a
rush. He was interested in many books and
words that fell from his lips in regard to
horses, especially his own. were treasured I'M
the purest pearls. Stories of how he was
xxfr TrD dahl
over our wire before the regular business of the
day began.
THE CIPHER DISPATCH.
"On the day in question there was a message
passed over the wire about / o'clock in the
afternoon, addressed to all the bookmakers
on the line. 1t was in cipher and signed in
cipher, but all of us read it off like an open
book and thought We recognized Phil Dryers
signature by the number. 1t gave the outline
OF how the third race at Jerome Park was
to be won through drugging the fay-
orites and other underhand work and named an
obscure outside horse as the winner. 1 think
Parole was the king Of the turf then and was
entered for this race, but was among those to
be fixed. The odds against the horse given in
the code as the winner was something like 25 to
/. and you can easily imagine our suppressed
chuckles of satisfaction as this great secret en-
tered our chuckle-headed brains.
Il had something like $500 laid way at home
and Immediately sent q messenger boy with a
note to my wife to secure it, He returned in good
time and 1 asked the bookmaker that EMPLOYED
me how much money he would take on that
particular horse He made a show of hesitat-
ing and then said: Well, I'll take all that's
offered, and up went my $500 and COM
menced to buy house and lot in my mind
From what I learned afterward some of the
other men on the line put up all they had in
cash and then sold their watches and rings to
swell the amount. 1t was to be what they call in