New-York tribune., 1892-01-07
now THE BOOKSELLERS WERE SWISDLED.
A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR WAS BruBED-A WELL
ORGANIZED SCHEME.

A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR WAS BldBED-A WILL
oRGANIZED SCHEME.
The successful scheme Of telegraph orcr rator and
nnubcr " sporting men Tuesday to swindle the
poolccrs ~ the West and Northwest. telegraph oper-
ator, and hOrscmcn was one Of the best organized
fraud which have been tried for some tine. and, mad
pDpl,.lcr AT omaha not been A little short Oi money
after the hret race Guttcnburs, great deal OF money
might have been made by the sharT~rs. As 1t was the
,-,.,tc > to the thirty-fyc forty booksellers Of
ti,. Wet and Northwest heavy. As far as could
b, learned the trick was carried ont by bri6ng one OF
c ore,ator, between New York and Chicago who han
de the race reports The operator bribed received
list of rs and his instructions wero to send out the
entire ,t a. the winners the incorrect results gong 10
Al, western ard Northern points.
The winner OF the first race at Guttenburg was In
srh hut Congress sent the wires the name
of the horse which in first. In each OF the thirty
five or forty poolr0oms there were men who were In
th. con.p4tcy and when Congress announced
the winner the pool checks which they had were cashcd
Heavy bets had been made by the sharpers, and the
combined winnings OF the gang the first alone
amounted to a small fortune. Brooklyn won the sec
oud but Rosa c. was sent over the wire to the
poolroomS As the winner, and. with but one eXcep
tion heavy bets we're paid out at ST. Paul. Kansas City,
san Francisco and other cities.
The man who suspected that he was being swiudled
was / J. Dickov. manager of the Omaha poolroom.
when he learned that incorrect results had been sent
,ut he Informed the WesZrn Union OF the trick,
thereby preventing the organized gang from securing
many more thousand dollars the four races TO
follow.
Il probably took month fully to organize the
swndlr.7 said Assistant Chief Operator McDermott
" tie Western Union Office yesterday, land there
were probably 100 people who knew Of the scheme.
II was only necessary to bnbe operator along the
lima, tlaIi l.
be impossible tap the wire, ever which the race
returns are sent ~ in sending race reports the
quadmpeX system of telegraphy Is used ana inc
tanning could discovered AT once all along the line.
rnc operator who sent out the falsc reports 10 no
doubt between here and Chicago or at Chicago be-
cause Mmncapohs. ST. Paul H@ln Francisco, seattle,
Tacoma. omaha, Milwaukee. Kansas City and all the
other Western points received the Incorrect returns
from In, Chicago Office II was evidently the III
tcnul 10 play the card from start to nni,il ami
had not the Omaha man discoyerr The tick tho
swindcrS would haze banAnptcd se'eral Ptol>elers;
As It was, they beat the pcoliooms OIL the hrt and
1t was one OF three operators who sent out inc
false reports sdd one II the chief operators at the
Western Union yesterday t wns either the ,, man at
or the man at Chicago. Each declares that he sent
OF work Is no longer connected with the company. Tho
truth Will no doubt come out after awhile, and then
only one VIII he made Ia suffer.
superintendent lIunstone. Of the Western Union,
not inclined TO talk about the Swndle lie said he
neither Ncw-iork nor Chicago had anything TO do
with IL.
doubt the people ont there VIII find Ou who he Is.
This is NOT the first time such scheme has been tried.
but II f. the first time mOn than one po0lroom was
sindcd Heretofore the sharpcrs have confined their
attention to city"
Denver Jan 1.-TWO strangers giving their names
~ Ferry and Rogers have been in and about Austin
a co.'s pOorOOm for the last few days. They have
laid an occasional bet several with iniieent
results. until yesterday afternoon, when Congpss. a
horse tho tuttcnburg race, put on the bOaniS
a. A 10 To shot Perry invested $500 this horse,
and great surprise caused when the returns were
received showing that Congress had won. Mr.. Perry
pockrtcd his 5000 and quietly disappeared.
shortly afcrward tho man Rogers placed 500 on
Rosa g. a 10 to I. Strange to say this horse proved
"A winner also. The cashier of the firm paid the man.
who lost time in leaving the room. This last
traordinary luck set the poOSellcs to thinking. and
they requested the Race Bureau In NcwYOrk 10 verify
these winners Immediate answer received. show
ing that these lQses had not got place in their
respective races and that the po0lroOm had been
duped The wire haa been tapped somewhere east Of