The Washington times., 1895-03-25

The last Of racing in the District OF Co
lunlbia VIII probably pass from public
attention during the month of April. On
April Mr.. Henry f. Davis, ttorney for
Fred 7. Miller, who is under Indictment for
making book at race at Bennings, will
ask the Court of Appeals to allow the case
to be reargued Ii is not likely this viii
be granted.
Then toward the close OF the month the
case will be called for Il trial on its merits.
As il was made as a test this will require
little time. II may then bc carried again
TO The Court of Appeals, but unless some
thing new can be Offered it is not probable
the old arguments viii be heard again.
What comes next viii very deeply interest
Mr Miller. He and his friends expect that
he viii be let off under a suspension Of
sentence. Whether he win be, however,
is as yet uncertaiR. The extent OF the law
under which he is indicted is five years
Imprisonment, and one man is now serving
a twO-year term under it, On the other
hand, no man has yet ever been convicted
OF hook making as an oifense against this
particular law, although il has been eff
]
District
The contest began as long ago as 1887.
The general law against gaming was the
only statute then prohibiting book making
and pool-Sellipe. Mr.. A s. WoFthington,
then District attorney, secured an Indictment
against Mr Isaac JoEes, now president OF
the Old Dominion Jockey Club or Grange
| Camp Association. He was then running
a pool selling business in the old Imperial
Hotel where now is the Hotel Lawrence.
BY one interruption or another and by the
legal delays inteIpoSed by the defense the
case was postponed till after Mr.. Worth
ington went out OF office
THE LAW OF IS.
The law of 1858 was passed defining and
fixing a penaity for the offense of book
making in the cities OF Washington and
Georgetown. Judge Hoge. Mr.. Worthing-
toms successor. cons ideTed this a legislative
construction of the law OF 1883, just as
Mr. Davis contends, and nollied the in
dictment against Mr.. Jones. Under the
new law, however, he broke up pool
! selling and book making within the city
( limits
The law OF 1891 was passed and this
/ fixed the limit of the law of 1888 TO the
/ line mile from the boundaries OF the cities
and the establishments moved outside the
( line. Racing continued a tIvy City and
: BeGnlLE : lot lHt Hsudl Ten udSs W thO
weeks IN the spring and fall and nothing was
/ done. Then arose the great fight over the
Gutenberg track in New Jersey The leg
islature of that state was elected on that
! issue, the party going out ofpower
/ onaccouut OF il.
/ MI EDgleman proposed to move his un-
popular all-the-year racing to the State OF
New York. There he was met by the Ives
/ law. Next he was hcardfrom here. He had
/ leased the Ivy City track till January, 1894,
with thepTivileEe Of renewal.
bIr Rrney had by that time beenappointed
District attorney. He began to look about
/ for some means to keep away fTomthis vicin-
! ity the gang that had been driven from two
other States. He found the law Of 1898 and
/ believed it TO be sufficient for his purpose.
RACING But NoPooLsELLING.
There has been a Maryland decision
against It's application to bookmaking, but
he did not believe this would stand When
/ Mr. Engelmanproposedto TO obeginoperationsat
/ Ivy City in the spring Of lS93he was notified
/ that the law would be enforced. He might
J race as much as hciikcd, but there must be no
pool selling or book-makIng. There were
several bluffs at racing, but it was a consid-
/ erable time before any one could be induced
To test the Law.
Finally a man calling himself Newton
I Bennington brought himself within reach
I OF the law He always claimed that there
/ was an agreement that all the book-makeTs
I should begin business at once and all subject
themselves to the la but when the moment
came he was the only man TO stick to his
agreement and step into his stand to lay
I money on the racing. One or two races
were run, Bennington, ERgelman and others
/ were indicted and the cases cametoa hearing.
Bennington's attorneys were Judge Jere
/ wilson and Judge Coleman. They made
4 hn ffpht with the same
arguments against the validity of the law
with which Mr.. Davis has sought TO pro-
tect Miller But Judge Cole decided
against them. The matter was not carried
any furtherthen. Bennington was brought
up for trial on the merits OF the case, as
Miller is soon to be, and he made the point
that he had not been indicted under his
true name.
Judge McComas sustained this contention
against the goodness of the indictment.
a second indictment was secured, but by
this time the offender had got away TO
Chicago.
CASE ALLOWED TO REST.
It was urged for him that he was i'll
there. and when finally he was well enough
to come back; the plea was made for him
that il was only q test case and he ought
not TO be punished. Tie law YVES settled
against the racing people, and that was
| all that the government ought TO ask.
4 Upon this his case was allowed to rest.
But the owners of the Ivy City and Ben
ning's tracks had too much at stake to
| give up the fight so easily. A number OF
them are very reputable citizens here, and
when the lease of the Ivy City track was
made to Engelmen they had no thought
that they were endangering all future rae
ing in the District When the EngelmaI
episode was past they hoped TO resume the
usual spring and fall races at the two
tracks.
The effort was made at BenniHg's, and
the Miller Indictment was the result Witt
their defeat in this case, which is com
plete and final as matters now stand
racing is abolished IN the District of Col
umbia until the law is changed. Unless
that can be accomplished the owners Of
grand stand, club house and stables al
the two tracks would as well break theil
boards up into kindling wood and turI
their land to truck-gardening.
The only practical question now left
in the case is whether Fred Miller shal
be allowed TO escape the penalty of tn,