The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-06-27
Apparently the Famous Piunger Has Again
Secured His Grip-His Stable Contains
No Stars Perhaps, but Most of His Horses
Are ServiceabIe Breadwinners.

MS WONT some years ago, may help him
recoup himself largely, If not completed,
before this seasons close. And while \
has his enemies like most other men, thei
is no question that the majority of thos
interested in racing, both among hors
owners and those who go habitually TO Sc
the contests, would be glad should Mix
Dwyer land on his feet once more. Hi
unwonted care in placing bets was dis
played somewhat 10 his own disadvantag
perhaps last Monday when, although b
played all three of his winning horses
Cleophus, Ben Ronald and Kingdon-h
yet missed some good prices on Cleophu
and Ben Ronald, apparently not having
the nerve to risk more than certain mod
crate amounts or their performances. YET
on the whole the day was such one fol
Dwycr as, repeated often enough, would
net him handsomely before cold weather.
Dwyer Then and Now.
Half decade ago Michael +. Dwyer
was counted a millionaire, and all his
money had been made out of horse racing.
AS bettor he had mountains of nerve.
1t was not at all unusual for him TO have
$50, 900, $4,000 or even $40, 900 up on one
of his horses at "short price" There
was time when his betting transactions
were frequently larger than the combined
transactions of the next half dozen most
| daring plungers in the country.
His troubles began when he got gay and
thought IL necessary to invade the British
| turf. The experiment cost him very
| dearly. A little later he found that his
Rockledge (Fla.) hotel property was not
as profitable as it should be. At one time
Standard Oil Flagler wished to buy it, but
Dwyer wouldn't sell. So Flagler put up an
opposition house and cut deep into Dwyer's
velvet. Today, it is said, certain New
York bookmaker holds big mortgages on
the property and that Dwyer now wishes
he had disposed of it when he could.
When he sold Ben Brush TO James r.
keene last fall, it was generally agreed by
those who knew Dwyer well that he must
be pressed for money, otherwise the sale
would have been obviously shortsighted,
since Ben Brush could almost certainly be
trusted to make large earnings this season.
Those who sought to explain the transac-
ton on other grounds than Michael's need
of ready cash ventured the opinion that
he had immense faith in the future of his
3-year-old Michael III, then a very prom
Using colt. But this prop to his fortunes
was taken away before the opening of the
'Ne'@pAAf
after having done so well in his early
work as TO give promise of winning the
Metropolitan Handicap and two or three
other valuable spring events.
Michael HIS death reduced his owners
string of racers to the three which won for
him last Monday and a few 2-year-olds.
not enough of n stable, the knowing ones
said, to make the retention of a high
priced jockey and first class trainer prof
liable. To make matters worse Dwy-
er's favorite jockey, Simms, was reported
to have left him for good and ALL But
most dark clouds are edged with silver
Innings after all. Simms is still riding
for Dwyer, and while his horses are not
Hanovers or Tremonts or George Kinneys
they are good serviceable beasts for man
who lives by racing to own.
"The Racing Twins"
Philip J. Dwyer, Michael F. brother,
now president of the Brooklyn Jockey
club, is very rich man.
In the old days the brothers used to be
known as "the racing twins" They be
gan life as butchers in slaughter house,
and less than 90 years ago were working
at their trade side by side in the same
establishment. When they cast their
butcher knives behind them and took to
racing, it was not because of any special
liking for sport or for their health, but
simply and solely for what there was in it.
The flier Rhadamanthus was their first
purchase, If mistake not, and in spite of
gloomy predictions by many turtles this
racer proved a veritable gold mine to the
brothers For years they had phenomenal
luck, the first break coming in 1888, the
year after Hanover astonished the racing
world and won thousands on the back of
thousands for the Dwyer pockets How
much the Dryers lost that year no one but
themselves ever knew, but it is fact that
twice between the beginning and the end
ing of 1855 season Michael +. was actu.
ally "clcan broke,' though he kept all
knowledge Of his situation from tho pub
lie and managed to pull through without
borrowing His famous bet Of sac, 900 to
win $4,000 was made that year, think.
on Joe Cotton, and tho seasons ending
was not half bad from the Dwyor point of
view.
Michael +. as He Is.
Michael f. Dwyer must be not far from
30 now. Some days he looks much youn-
ger, butthcrc are times when his age seems
90 at least. Ten years ago he always |
seemed less In age than he was, but the |
strain OF the last decade has changed him |
greatly.
He still has the power to laugh in the |
Old mirthful way, however, and the dim. |
pies accompanying his laughs and the
rudy Dwyer complexion are yet in his |
possession. He has always been known |
among turtles as n man of unusually COR
rect habits, 10 o'clock being his regular |
bedtime, which was sometimes showed |
back to ., but very rarely forward to IL. |
sun up Is or was his regular timo for ris- |
ing, and 1t used to be his custom, as it |
probably Is TO this day, to watch the early |
morning work both of his own horses and |
all the promising nags In the stables of |
others.
1t Is because Of his intelligent and con- |
slant study Of racers and conditions. old |
horsemen say, that Michael F.. Dwyer has
had vastly more good luck than bad. This
of course removes his successes from the