The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1892-01-01
AFTER THE STARTER.
A DEATHsEo SCENE DESCRIBED BY
LOUIS HARRISON.

he Was = Dying Race Track Tout"
and He Imagined He Had "a Copper
Lined cineas to Play on the Track
That Day and No Time to Lose.
Ihave hesitated about giving to print
the following true story Of a 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. s~uppressing all
N
The snow and sleet dashed through
the death chilling atmosphere in wild
waves The wind moaned a dirge
anon the telegraph wires. A solitary
hackInan, driven from his seat by the
warning elements, had ensconced him
self inside his moarnful looking vehicle
and tapped upon the frost covered glass
to attract the attention OF belated night
owls Winter il us cruelest phase was
upon Us. In a dingy looking house on
Thirtieth street a young man weak and
emaciated tossed res.lessly upon a bed.
He was a 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 ablazs with fever and
his c~orpselike pallor all denoted that he
had but a few short hours TO live. a
professional nurse, with that cold, hos
pital streteher expression they all pos
sess, sat in a 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 a walk! Tenny
gets all the money, and Salvador won't
be one. two, sixr
THE ToUTs INCH.
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 a copper riFeted,
lead pipe, copyrighted. air tight cinch-
Firenze in the mud-she swims in it
She can make the pace 50 hot that the
track will be dry before she does the
first quarter"
The doctor approached the bed, and
to-zctrsrr +ha rariap{s- r41lea sold ssHo-v
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 a 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 / have. | want to
let EN- all in on the ground floor. Why,
it's a little sure money. saw him tried
at daylight this morning. He made the
first quarter in 0:214, 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
a mint"
The doctor looked very serious and
said, HE will be dead in an hour"
LOST BY a BREATH.
ION, no., he won't" the tout sneered.
There's not a 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 a born cracker"
The doctor felt his pulse again and
sighed, 81 can do no more; l must be
going The tout caught his arm and,
drawing his head down close to the pill
low, whispered: CATER 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
EdAAONE hlu 1 4 NaSl yONA tlNhtt.
The doctor took the dying mans hand
and said. My poor boy, are you pre-
pared to meet the Great Judge.7 The
tout gasped, 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" 81 WILL" the tout muttered.
"Ill get next to the rail, 60 that when /
turn the corner they can't foul me.
Here's a telegram | just received from
the owner. There's 80 TO on Blackjack;
get it quick before they cut it down.
I'll VIM
But he didn't. He quit in the stretch
and lost by a breath.-Louis Harrison in
New York Advertiser.