Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-25
That Official is a Great Man, So
Says Pauline Pry.
HOW WOMEN CAN PLACE BETS
Members Of Congress More or Less
Interested in Horses.
IN REST IN HORS S

I have followed the races at Benning the
past week and 1 have learned
That in spite of the law to the contrary
bets are solicited.
That as an offset to the acknowledgements
which betting on the nod" offers women
gentlemanly agents of the bookies pass
quietly among women on the grand stand
tempting them with the odds and an invi-
| tation to make a bet.
That the reason the Jockey Club is not
playing to better business is because the
| humber of days of tho meeting is thirteen,
ard one of the gasekeepers is cross-eyed
man.
That If 1 were looking for an easy job
l would rather umpire a base ball game
than start race
That If I wanted to be a man Of real
Importance I'd be jockey before 1 would
be Congressman, and if 1 wanted to in
terest women would play the part Of
Pittsburg Phil before 1 would Romeo
That though Congressman Bailey has
sacrificed his interest in a string of 100
h1gh-bred horses because he believes horse
racing to be incompatible with good states
H,anshlp, there are number of other
statesmen who think differently.
L was left alone on the grand stand awhile
preceding the first race the other day, when
a man slipped into a chair behind me and
Ieahins forward. in quiet voice began
reading off odds on the horses entered,
concluding with, Don't you want to make
a bet?
All the while he la not been looking at
me, and so far as his manner expressed
ANYTHING the direct question he asked was
addressed to the judges stand, on which
MS far-away gaze was fixed, rather than
to me-
He had previously been talking in the
same mysterious manner with an Irish
iady Who L had been told, has not missed
d race iol the past twenty-five years. and
had been secretly envyiug her what 7
supposed was intimate acquaintance with
dead sure thing
l did not at once grasp that the man
was on simple and unlawful business bent
after ne had spoken to me- and thinking
| ne might be a kind hearted tout who had
somehow OWNED that 1 was an impecuni-
JUS newspaper woman praying for a good
onns 10 ran from the clouds, had gener-
ousiy EXTENDED to me the assistance of his
Information and his credit with the book
makers. But to make sure, l asked him
| TO explain, which he did announcing the
ot-dS once more, and when | answered that
L didn't fancy anything he had to offer he
| SAD he would be around again to give me
d chahce IN the next race l watched him.
anu IN tne same transformations way he
VISITED every woman left alone on the
grand stand. He was on hand with odds
LOT the second race. and a friend of the
irish lady put up dollar in his hands
thus revealing that the new system of bet
| ting, so far women are concerned is
| as convenient an opportunity to lose small
money as the old system of French mu-
| tUals. $500
The Irish Lady's Advice,
There were other quiet young men Of
| fering their odds to women. but on the
| very sensible advice of the Irish lady
| kept my money in my pocket
| iou don't know anything about these
| fellows. said she, land it's fool and
her money soon parted thatll be wasting
her dollars on them. Just you keep your
collars down deep In your pocket, and
| when you get a long shot on sometime
| you know, put up every cent you're worth
| and there you are. DO you see 2"
l saw perfectly, but l was not risking
any money, anyhow. The cross-eyed gate
| keeper was warning enough for me he
SIDES coming out on the train CONVERSE
tlon going on about me had turned on what
| IN luck on the turf, SO that 1 was
| IN possession of wide range of informa-
| ton governing the accomplishment of a
sure thing.
| One man said it was no use trying to do
anything II your railroad ticket bore an
even number. Another replied that for the
| past five years he had been working a svs-
| TEN based on his railroad ticket that al
ways Drought him out ahead at the close
VI d meeting This was to play the horses
according to the successive figures which
make up the number of a ticket A very
intense and very young man, who wore his
s trousers Users turned up around the bottom just
as tney DO In London said that he knew
positively what would queer his I,Icls
ana that was to watch a race on which ba
h had made bet He said he had to 20
| beh1nd post and stand with his back ~
the track, and that he always counted
and he had noticed that he never won r.
ne mad succeeded in counting less than
| seVenty-seven before the finish A woman
| who looked old enough to know better az
cared she was going to bet evervthinp
sne nad and could borrow that day, be-
| cause the palm Of her right hand burned
n G N,, ch1
make money. was soins 10
| l asked c. H. PettingiII if horse owners
ard Jockeys s are suIerstitous about races,
! or people, as most folks who get IN eorIv
| ana Know the world are apt to be The
aont lost their wits at the sight of a pea,
| shoulder, and neither do they quit ga WING
WOOD and expect to win simply because 2
black cat crosses their path or they han
| pen to find four-leaf clover"
| He is IA Great Man.
| Z. H. Pettingill is one Of the best-known
ard best-paid starters in the country
with all the other glory that attaches to
him. he is remembered in local circles as
| horse owner, whose horse Duke of Mont
| alban, was a winner of two cups during
the old racing days in Washington. What
is, perhaps, greater to his glory he is the
dlscoVerer OF Jockey Simms, who rode his
first mount in Mr.. PettingilTs employ.
i spent some time on the turf with both
| MI Pettingill and Thomas Flynn the
official starter of the Jockey Club, and
though In my day have met a number of
men of strength and reason. having
shaken the hand of Sandow and of Sulli-
| van In his prime, not to speak of contact
| with such minor instances of human great
| ness as are represented by famous states
men and men who annually shake the
hand of the Prince of Wales, yet among
| all the celebrities 1 have known none have
| ever so overcome me with sense of the
| power they WELD as these starters If l
| were jockey and Flynn or Pettingill
| ordered me to turn around, l couldn't do
SO promptly enough to express my instant
| conviction that they mean business; If l
| were a horse. and heard either of these
mems voices call, Come back" I'd simply
| paw the air to get there; and If We're a
I woman-well, that's what l am, and l give
| you my word 1 would not expect smiles or
| tears or any of the wiles for which my
| gentle sex is famous to make any impress
| sion on the marble front the starter shows
| to all the world.
| Do you know what is the evolution of a.
| starter?
In the case of Flynn he is graduate of
| Low cphn 10 hoo haa