The morning times., 1895-09-15

him in the out of town pooIrooms I'D nos
get any thing like this price against him
Most OF the money went on at 10 and
20 When 1t is taken into consideration
that the parties who carried out the coup
bet thousands IL will easily be seen that they
lost thousands of dollars through the sys-
tenn Of shaving the prices.
This price question is not the only thing
against the foreign book. 1t has other
drawbacks that carry nearly as much
weight. For instance it can be readily seen
that it is a pretty hard matter to pick q
winner in the foreign book unless the player.
has private information direct from the
track where the races are going on.
1t is very seldom that this is so. Soma
of the owners at the track might have an
agent OF friend who sends them in tips.
and If so be stands a fighting chance Of
beating the game. 1t is the man who goes
up to the board and 4SPhazard attempts
to pick winner, who fills the foreign
book Golfers.
HAvENO LINE WHATEVER
1t Is tough enough 10 pick winner when
you are ON the track where the races are
being run and can see the horses work and
so draw some kind of a line on them
How much harderit Is when there is nothing
Of the kind to guide the bettor.
Suppose he goes by the betting that comes
in from the tracks, and plays his money
accordingly. 1t would seem that this
would furnish a fairly good line on the
horses that had the best chance, and it would
II 1t were not for one thing
The very horse that does not appear to
receive any support at the track might be
one who has been heavily played This
will happen through the fact that only two
bettings are furnished the foreign books
There are what are called ''flashes," which
show the price of horse that has been very
heavily pla yed. but the play must be a strong
one before these flashes are sent in
Again, q horse is often made q false
fayorite forthe purpose ofcatching the money
ofthe suckers who kno " nothing In the world
OF the merits of the animals running, bus
simply play their money the way the bet
ting goes
Nowadays foreign books are fairly honest
but there was a time when barefaced
steals were practiced. 1t used to be '.play
or pay" then, and money would be often
taken in on a horse after be had bees
scratched from race for some time.
LSO4 ha a nAh
The foreign book furnishes a great field
for the touts. A stranger who knows noth-
ing OF the horses will take a touts advice
on them twice as quickly as be will ON
the local track, where he thinks he has q
line on the ponies.
The touts Will oftenget up fake kilograms
and show them to the man they want to
get down" They Will tell him that they
would not show them to anyone else fox
barrel of money" This Is a great argu-
ment, and unless the sucker" is not so
green as he looks, the chances are ten to
one that he takes the bait.
Some funny things often happen in front
of foreign book desk. A tout who IL
pretty well known at the across-tbe river
tracks did a masterpiece of business the
time he got sucker to put down q
little bet for the boy" The good thing"
put it down, with the innocent remark
that it might induce him to try" and the
tout pocketed the ticket and incidentally
the money when the horse won
This foreign book business also furnishes
a great field for the crooked element on
the tracks who VIII not stVp at any kind ora
swindle. One of their favorite games Is
what is termed getting a guy up against
the wire"
In plain, everyday English this means
to get a greenhorn to put down a swell
bet. with the understanding that the foreign
book wire is tapped and that the infor-
nation VIII be taken from the wires and
the winner OF the race played before the
returns are allowed to 60 in.
THINKS THEY ARE TAPPED.
The so-called wire tappers will have .