Omaha daily bee., 1892-01-06
HAD A CALL ON THE WIRES.
Smooth Confidence Game Worked on the
Various Big Pool Rooms.
SHARPERS WHO HAD A DEAD SURE THING,
Omaha's Manager Saved Himself by n Very
Lucky Scratch-How Others Jared
Prince Riding A~gain-Other
Sporting News.

Probably the cieverest scheme 10 beat the
racing pool rooms Of the country herpetrated
In many years was the tappling of the tele-
graph wires yesterday by a combination OF
enterprising New Workers.. And as strange
and Incredible as 1t may all seem, the Dia-
mond pool room of this city was tho only
room of the score or more in the different
metropolitan cities to escape unscathed.
While most all of the Others lost money way
up into the thousands, the Diamond never
lost q genny, but on tho contrary had n win
ming afternoon, oven to the retention Of the
money played" in by the sharks to beat
them.
Briefly the iot was as follows: Early
yesterday afternoon before the post Tune
for tho first race had been placarded on the
blackboard, a couple of strangers, which In
itself Is far from an occurence,
strolled into the Diamond pool rooms. Mr..
Sabins was in the box and the other
attaches OF the house were at their accus-
toned posts. Immediately subsequent to the
''first betting" on the first race, Tor Whtch
everything had come in in proper shape. the
right ''odds'' and their details, one oil the
aforesaid strangers stopped up to the box"
and told Sabins TO write him q ticket for so
on Congress, who was a 10 to SHOT. Even
in this there was nothing out OF the ordinary
channel, although Congress, as all horse lol'
lowers know, had no right to win the race.
~ hIlo SHNhb1 Neff 10Y
when the stranger put $40 moro on him, the
crowd of course picking his example.
Congress Won. to BE Sure.
"They are off ~ cried the pool room crier.
Congress is not heard until the stretch Is
entered, when he is third. Thu next moment
the cricr announced, Congress winsP'
Then followed the judges decision aud time
all correct, and the bets on the race were
paid off, the room losing a "oookinS' OF
probably $500.
The strangers came up smiling tor the
second race, and when stranger No. l
stepped UP to the box and planks down n
cool hundred on Rosa q, a 3 to shot, Sabins
smelled a large sized Norway rat. There
was something peculiar in the mein OF the
sporty stranger, but TO demonstrate that the
raised the odds a half point"
on Rosa G., from to !,
TO 81 to |, hoping to tempt the men to place
enough money TO square him on the first race.
Then Stranger No. 2 stepped up, and with
trembling fingers and furtive glance counted
out 800 more in new crisp bills. Still
Sabin's was undecided, but when Stranger
No. | quickly followed up with $50 more, and
Stranger No. . with another 800, he realized
thot the proceedings were out OF the every
day rut.
Not Old Hands at 1t.
The add way in which the men bet their
money, their flustered manners, their eager
ness, and other evidences indicated that they
were not old pool room habitucs, but novlces
in the work, and Sabins began a hard job of
cogitating. This resulted in the conclusion
that there was u Senegumbinn lurking in the
woodpile, so he slipped out, ran round to the
Western Union telegraph headquar-
ters, and t~elegrapued to W.. j.
Dealey, the general manager at New
York, asking for the winners of tue first
two races at Gutenberg, Then he hur-
riedly returned to the pool rooms ana told
the cashier not to pay any OF the tickets on
the second race until he heard from his mes
sage. This came along in about an hour. and
1t verified all his suspicions,,as neither Con-
gress nor Rosa G., who had also been re-
ported as the winner Of the second race, wero
winners, Congress even failing TO get a place
and Rosa q running third.
Left in II Hurry.
The moment payment of the tickets hal
been stopped at the Office the two strangers
left the place, and nothing more was seen of
them, and it will probably be many moons
ere they again drop in at the diamond"
The 'bookingsh on the second race showed,
when the matter was all summed up, that
Manager Sabins had saved his house a loss
of from $500 to 81, 900, and, OF course, he is
feeling quite comfortable this morning.
Information received from Denver shows
that Harry Banigan room was done" for
about 5000 on the same deal, while the
rooms liz Frisco lost all the way from $20,000
TO 1886, 900.
AS yet it is not known where the wires
were tapped, but the prevalent supposition
is that it was right at the Gutenberg track,
and that one Of the regular operators was In
with the job. 1t is pronounced the sllckest
piece of wire tapping that has been perpe-
trated for years, IL not the cleverest on rec
ord. There was nothing in tho workings at
the rooms calculated to excite the slightest
suspicion other than that detailed. The
ciphers came all right, everything was IN
line. post time, judges decision, time and all
of tho minor details camo us usual. The
Western Union is hard at work endeavorlng
to locate the guilty parties, but it looks like
a hopeless task, so well were all the plans
for the job laid.