The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-15

OF Ideas were suggested. They all involved
the presence Of confederate at the ring
side On fight night.
One method, which, it is said, is fire.
quently pyacticed. is this: The con Moderate
sees that the fight is over or that the loser
will ga out in another round. He pencils
lltHe memorandum. walks up to the open
WINDOW and drops it into the street. There
Is man In waiting to catch the message,
which IS instantly telephoned to the pool
room that is "in the SWIM"
Meanwhile the patrons of this poolroom
are in blissful ignorance, and the telegraph
OPERATORS send their messages into the
main Office, where they have to be received,
written out and dispatched-all of which
proceedings cost many minutes which the
poolseller turns to account.
The revelations in the case of Fallop and
Nagle seem TO show that tapping the
wires is very easy matter, and the pool
seller Is not man to stick at trifles. OF
course, the thing is risky, but men who
want to make big Profits have to take big
risks.
1t is not even necessary to tap the wires
to accomplish the result
The celebrated Magician Heller once gave
anexhlbitlon whehto the uninitiated seemed
sure proof either of a league with the arch
hend, or Of thought transference irrespec-
tive OF space or contact. Heller sat blind
folded at one end Of a long hail, hundred
feet away from another man similarly
blindfoided. Both were seated at plain
table on chair set over an uncut carpet.
There was 70 Morse instrument key or
sounder within sight or reach Of either.
Nevertheless when perfectly independent
committee of respectable citizens, free from
all suspicion of confederacy with either of
the men, whispered few words to one, the
other Instantly wrote out those words on a
sheet Of paper
When the thing came to be investigated 1t
was found that beneath the carpet was a
modified Geographic instrument; that the
shoes OF each man were furn ished with
long spikes which penetrated the carpet and
enabled messages to be transmitted with
the foot instead Of the hand. The pulSa-
lions at the other end were Identical with
the Impulses, and as each operator was
familiar with the Geographic CODE he could
OF course Interpret these ''throbs" just as
readily as an ordinary operator could read
off the ticks of the sounder.
1t Is mot proven" that this Identical
system OF lntercommunication exists be-
tween the interior OF club gymnasium and
the sanctum sanct0rum of the Bookseller
but there is means. whatever it may be,
by which he is made aware of what is
going on at the ringside pretty nearly as
we'll as IL he were seated there. AS the
men who are wagering in che poor0om are
bllssfully ignorant on the whole matter it is
manifest that the pO0lselier has just 80 9
"a
time.
1t is stated that during an important fight
some time since five men. who had been OBJ
served to be standing in the doorway at
previous fights, were very busy passing
memoranda TO a person who presently dis
appeared. On that night the booksellers
who took the short end won, and the bet
ting went on seven minutes after the fight
had been decided.
One very peculiar circumstance which
seems to show the delicate relations which
exist between the leading club patrons and
the poolrooms Is that every one OF these
same patrons who was asked for an express
sion of opinion about the evils Of the pool
rooms hastily exclaimed that sit would in
jure his business to denounce Them" or
words to that effect. Some few contented
themselves with negative shake of he
head and a smile, as much as to say, ut
wont do" But the impression left on the
mind was inevtablc-that If the clubs and
the poorooms are not lin cahoot' there is
no real antagonism between them.
1t is an open secret that some of the fight
ing clubs are practically owned by one man,
who makes a profit out of them. There
have been endless scandals In the last four
years about fake fights and divisions of
profits among the pugilists and a few indi-
viduals behind the scenes. AT first the
: fake Dugilists were denounced and black
listed. but somebody had made a lot of
money Out OF them.
The lightweight pugilists seem to be the
special pride and joy of the BOOKSELLER and
the lover OF fakes as opposed to the lovers
Of square fights and ''bonest sports"
Heavyweight fights are seldom sold.
possibly because the big sloggers have a
conscience in proportion to their avoirdu-
pois. This may BIO the reason why light
weight contests always create the liveiest
betting in the poolrooms and the largest
profit for the BOOKSELLER
At any rate the verdant citizens who go
into po0lroom to wager their dollars on a
fight may as well make up their mind that
the BOOKSELLER is always bound to win, and
that they might just as we'll shake the evil
one with loaded dice as expect to win in a
wager where one party knows everything
beforehand. and the other knows nothing