Evening star., 1895-06-15
John Smith.
Wistful.

The card or ticket is the only evidence
it's holder has of the wager, and he is very
careful to hold on to 1t. He nervously
watches the race and yells himself red in
the face or stands mute, as the case may
be, when Wistful wins by d neck. AS soon
as possible he makes his way to the rear
of the box or stall occupied by the book
maker with whom he made his bet, and Is
one of a long or short line of men and
boys. as the case may be, who have struck
a winner" They wait until this cry is
heard: "All right Wistful, first; Floretta,
second; Applegate. third Time, .491s."
Then the cashiers commence to pay the
holders Of winning tickets. AS they hand
their tickets in, the cashier glances at the
sheet on which the tickets were recorded,
sees that the number, amount and horse
tally. and then. after mutilating the ticket
by tearing a small piece off the upper cor
ner, he files it and hands the bettor the
amount his ticket called for. This amount
always is the total of the sum bet by each
party. That is, where the odds are 10 to l,
and the successful bettor bet s.. he re-
ceives back just $55. the IS he put up and
the $50 bet against 1t.
The Foreign Book.
In the foreign book" the manner of
making, recording and paying bets is iden-
tically the same For the accommodation
of this concern an entire section Of the
betting ring is assigned. The background
is formed by long stretch of blackboard, so
elevated that the crowd may easily see it.
1t is so extensive and SO. conveniently ruled
off that the horses entered in five or six
different races at three or four different
race tracks throughout the country may at
all times be shown. ~
OF course a very complete telegraphic
service Is necessary, and one or more tele-
graphic operators are busily engaged all
the time. The jockeys who are to ride the
different horses, the condition Of the track
and weather. the odds against the horses
all this is being constantly sent in over the
wires. This information is marked up on
the blackboard, while the clerks behind the
long counter invite speculators to invest
Suddenly a cry is heard from the tele-
graph operator that they are off" at
just wherever it happens to be, The crowd
quickly gathers In front Of the foreign
book to listen to the telegraphie description
Of the race, the positions of the three or
four foremost horses being given as they
pass the different fractional points in the
distance of the race. When the winner.
second and third horses are announced
some little delay follows before those hold
ing tickets on successful horses are paid off,
for 1t is not until confirmation OF the
suit, together with the time of the race, Is
flashed over the wire that the fortunate
ones are paid.
Gambling Pure and Simple.
From the foregoing it is at once seen that
gambling in the foreign books has not even
the slightly redeeming feature of the pleas
ure derived from witnessing the races and
betting therein. 1t is gambling, pure and
simple. In the estimation of those who
have the best interests Of genuine racing
at heart, both in the east and west, the
fc reign book is one of the greatest evils to
tie found on a race track. To it more than
to any other one thing is the present low
condition of racing in this country attrib
utable. ..-
That this is so is apparent from the fact
that a few months ago the controlling turf
organization in the west followed the eX-
ample set by it's sister organization in the
east, and prohibited on tracks controlled
by it the running of foreign books. Both
the tracks across the Potomac permit the
foreign book, ard, indeed. 1t is openly as
serted that the management OF each track
is financially interested in the respective
foreign books. -
However that may be, the management
evidently disagree with Gov. O'Ferrall of
Virginia, who asserts, and with seemingly
ample authority. that the foreign book is
an unlawful concern, for no concealment
is even attempted. and 1t Is easily within
the power of the authorities 10 obtain any
and all information on which TO base crimi-
nal proceedings. If desired. The foreign
book is source of great revenue to the
tracks, and not infrequently play on the
races at the tracks is practically deserted
for the foreign books.
They are also profitable in that the op-
portunity to bet therein attracts much
larger attendance than would be the case
If betting was confined TO the few books
doing business on the races run at the re-
spective Virginia tracks. Hence, the pro-
hibition Of the foreign books would soon
compel the two tracks across the river to
close up. In this way Gov. O'Ferrall has,
provided he be sustained by the Virginia
courts, complete remedy against the two
tracks.