The morning times., 1895-12-22
How the Tout Gets the Living
the World Owes Him.
HIS MANY UPS AND DOWNS
Some of Them Mai ge to Make Little
Money, But Their Existence Is Pre-
cariOus-Their Ways of Working
Victims, With Some Cases In Point.
Where They Come From.

| cause they have nothing better to do, but
| IL is also of great moment to the happy GO
lucky fellow who lays claim to the name.
| Inerc are very rev good Iouts. by' -g,s,J'
reference is not made to their spiritual
condition, for although none of them may
| be sprouting wings, some of them are never
theless, fairly decent sort OF fellows. BY
| a good tout is meant one who can stand
up and pick six winners right Off the reel
and then turn to the foreign book and takea
| fall out OF II for another half dozen.
| Touts resemble poets, inasmuch as they
are born and not made. A bad tout will
| drive a man to drink, cause him to go up
| against 1.-The pipe" desert his wife, rob
bank, or, i'll fact, takca run do wn the whole
| calendar of crimes before he comes to his
senses, and wakes up to find that he has been
burning his wad of ''long green on so
called good things that have one and all
been born i'll the vivid imagination of the
| hustler" who has undertaken to run his
| shoestring into tannery. with all modern
| improvements.
Let a moneyed man, with more lucre than
| brains, get III the clutches OF one of these
waits OF the race track, and unless he has
a wad that has no ending he Will ere long
be slowly and sadly travelling home on the
hog train
LIFE OF UPS AND DOWNS.
| This, however, has not much to do with
| the manner in which this festive chap,
| with the propensity for separating gentle
men of fortune from their coin, procures his
| daily bread. 1t only serves to Illustrate
| that like Little Willie" the tout is as a
general thing not only strictly in it, but
| in it with both feet.
| There are times when the cold winter
| months set in that he has TO be content with
a simple and not strictly wholesome diet of
| snowballs, and 1t is even on record when
Il.
! during the more lucrative summer season,
anywhere from Six hours to couple OF
| days.
IL must not be thought for moment that
such trifle as this causes them any incon-
yenience. however. The excitement of the
race track makes them forget their hunger
during the afternoon and they can sleep, If
they go happen TO he so fortunate as to have
| Il place TO turn in for a snooZe, the remain
der OF the day.
| Then there is the excitement of getting
into the track, While most OF them have q
friend among the horsefnen who will fix
things SO they can get u badge, there are
others who are compelled TO utilize their
wits to the best OF their ability before they
find themselves in the ring ready TO Land
the soft mark" that comes their way.
There is a big, lusty chap, who is too
strong to work. at the across-the-river
| tracks. who has record OF having been
thrown out Of the Sheepshead Bay course
three times during one day. 1fthey haven't
| a ticket or the admission fee. IL doesn't
cause them much worriment, as in case they
are not successful in making touch, they
viii find some means of beating their way
IN before the first race is called.
| BUSINESS MAKES THEM SHARP.
That these hustlers are ON the whole II
shrrwd lot oI fellows goes without saying.
Their business keeps them on the jump all
the time to keep up with the procession,
IA there Is probably no other vocation In
the world that contains so many people
| who know II all"
There Is a bright young chap Not more than
twenty -one or twenty-five years old who
Is now eking out living at touting ON the
outlaw tracks across the river, who a
year ago had 100000 In his own right
He became infatuated with the ponies and
being born gambler his pile very quickly
passed over int the little tin boxes.
Nothing daunted, he kept un ut the game
and has developed into one OF the most
successful touts in the business. He has
| a suave, gracious manner, that quickly
wins the good graces OF his victim, and as
he is fairly goud at picking the winners,
now that he has lost his own money, he
succeeds In holding un TO his customers
One day at the Island track he stood
eyeing the board at the foreign book, when
glancing around lie saw a man standing near
the rail, whom he Immediately picked out
as a greenhorn. He edged up To him and
found, after n few minutes of conversation,
that the victim" had about six times as
much money as he had brains. This suited
Mr. Tout down to the ground, and before long
he had worked him up to the point or put
ting down a bet.
The greeny admitted that he knew moth
ing OF the game, ST. the tout undertook to
explain the workings of the foreign book.
He neglected, however, to mention that
the horses whose names he saw on the boa rd
were running at a track several hundred
miles away. After the necessary amount
of talking he extracted a hundred dollar
bill from the unsnphisticated gent to place
on a good thing
HE HAD AN IDEA.
He put this on and got the ticket, when
suddenly a bright idea struck him. Here
| was a man VINO knew nothing whatever
of the ins and outs OF the game, SO why
not work him for all he was worth? The
idea was no sooner conceived than he car
ried it out. He handed the ticket to his
victim and then told him that he could
make sure of ca shing it and getting square
| ride for his money by putting down small
bet for the boy.
The novice bit with such ease that, after
slowing the ten-spot, which he got from
him for the boys ticket, deep down in his
clothes to be kept for future reference, he
suggested that a small bet for the trainer
would be in keeping. This produced an
other tenner, which quickly joined the first
one.
BY some chance the horse managed to
win, and the VICTIM even after he bad split
up with the hustler, came out winner
he story was too good to keep, and the
| tout set his select circle of friends wild
that night with an account of the live
one who had put a bet down for a boy
who was riding in a race hundreds of miles
away,
One of the best touts that ever stood in
shoe leather was a gentleman of the African
race who used to operate on the board of
control tracks around New York. He was
well known to the authorities and had been
thrown off the tracks several times. This
did not daunt him, however, and he ap-
peared to always have plenty of influence
to enable him to getback.
This negro gentleman gloried in the
name of "Swallerger." What his right
name was no one appeared To know, and,
as "Swallerger'' answered as well as any
thing else, nobody took the trouble to find
out what his Christian name-was.
ONE ToUT's SYSTEM.
Swallergcr's great hobby was chalk.
His system of touting was probably as
complete a one as was ever devised. He
was not one of the kind who gets it into
his head that a certain horse cannot lose
q race and gets all of his agents down
on that one animal. Not he. He was on the
lookout for the best end of the game every
time, and IL there were seven starters in a