Evening star., 1898-10-29
WAS A GOOD THING


after the extinguisher was put on the
track and 1t was all over. stories
Of the ringers that had been put
over the home plate were numerous
enough. and some of them pretty well sub
stantiated, at that. But 1 only recently
heard the details of one very lucrative
ringer operation that was brought off over
there with so much ingenuity that even
the men who were hit the hardest-the
bookmakers. that is to say-didn't have the
remotest suspicion that they were being
DONE and probably haven't any such sus-
plclon down to the present moment.
"One evening a shabby-lookfng chap ap-
peared at a rendezvous of the bookmakers
ON E street near 18th. He looked like a
stableman, and he soon got into talk with
some Of the bookmakers. He touched sew
eral of them for the loan of S3O
I've got pair of skates over at one of
the outlaw tracks in Maryland, was his
story, and neither one of 'em has been
one, two six in any Of the races over there
Maybe they can do better down at Alexan-
der Island. l want to bring 'em down to
Alexander Island, anyhow and try to win
out their feed bill. l owe $50 stabling bill
at tne Maryland track, and they won't let
me have the nags until it's paid. That's
what l want to do with the $780,
The bookmakers all SHE'D when the
shabby-looking man made his touch, and
some OF them gave him the laugh.
can get all the outlaw racers I want
Tor TWO dollars, one of the bookies said to
lne rough-looking customer who appeared
to be thoroughly down on his luck He left
the headquarters of the ticket writer's with
look of great disappointment on his fea-
lures.
"A few days later the shabby-looking
man appeared at the Alexander Island
track with his two horses. The bookies
notlced the man hanging around the pad
dock, and they asked him how he had
raised the $50 to get his pair of plugs out
of hook.
g oh, dug for It, said the man. and
the bookies forgot all about him until, a.
couple of days later one of the mans
horses was entered Ior a siX-furlong race
The rough-looking chap showed up in the
oettlng ring just before the race and put
down a few 50 and So bets on his horse at
10 to l. A jockey that Travelled with the
stranger rode his horse in that first race
and the nag was in the ruck all the way
and finished rank last
THE shabby owner of the string of two
outlaw racers turned up at the bookmakers'
headquarters that same evening and the
layers euyed him a good deal about the
showing his horse had made in the after
noon.
He couldn't head bull I'D lane said
one of them.
The stranger smiled ruefuIy under the
rallying.
He wasn't much account, for a fact.
this afternoon he said, with disappointed
air. Why he went on, I've seen that
morse go six furlongs in .25 fiat
Six furlongs in 1.25r exclaimed one of
the bookmaAers. --tok here, pardner
you're not Jay enough to imagine that
you're going to win money with any horse
over at Alexander Island that has only got
a six-furlong record Of 1.25. are you?'
Wen, I'm going to try and see what
can do answered the rough-looking man.
doggedly.
Two days later the same horse was en-
tered in another sx-furlong race The
morse Went to the post at 30 to 1 and fin
ished eighth in a field of nine horses. The
owner lost few 50 and So bets again on
his nag.
THE same horse was entered in three
more races within the next week. The
strangers jockey riding him right along.
and the horse never finishing better than
hfth: lie was a ragged, bony, gaunt-lOok-
ing brute, that horse, and the bookmakers
noting his poor performances every time he
went to the post heightened the odds on
MIN right along, until you could practically
nave written your own ticket if you had
wanted to play him.
The sixth race for which the strapaer,s
morse was entered was at mile and there.
We're nine other pretty good outlaw racers
IN the bunch that went to the post The
shabby mans horse was the rank outsider
had on him. few minutes before thew
We're off the owner of the two plugs an
peared in the betting ring. He went around
to ten of the bookmakers who were drawing
III ana put greasy 50 bill down with each
one OF them on his horse to win at 100 to
l. Ihe bookmakers grinned In his teeth
as they took his money, which he seemed
to hand over very reluctantly
IL the last dust l got said the man.
dejectedly, but a miles that horses dis
tance, and he's got look-in. anyhow
There was a considerable DELAY at the
post, and when the horses did at length
get away the shabby mans brute was left
standing almost fiat-footed. The boy on
MIN got him going, however, although he
looked hopelessly beaten by the start,
Passing the grand stand the first time
around, the shabby mans horse had pot
up with the rear bunch, and he seemed to
ne running mighty smooth and easy for
a rank outsider. At the far turn on the
way home the horse was seen to set sail
for the first bunch of four horses in the
lead, and the wise people in the stand
thought ne was going almighty well for A
100 to ! shot. At the head of the stratcb
the horse seemed to fater bit but the
boy went to work him with Whin and
spur. and he responded gamelv He came
down the stretch like a cyclone. but the
boy, knowing his business, drew il fine hy
taking about forty wraps on the racer .nS
ne just won by a short head on the wire
from the favorite. 1t was the big dunn of
the meeting,
The rouSh-looking owner of the two
horses came around to the betting ring as
soon as the race was confirmed and col
lected his $1,000 bundle from the ten
booI1es They We're totally unsuspicious
the man seemed such an ignoramus.
L knowed a mile was that horse's die
tance,' he told them.
was down in St. Louis this summer
and ran across the shabby-lookine man
at the fair grounds track He was no
longer shabby. On the contrary he wora
gig-iamps, and a lot of EN- i reminded
him of the day he pulled off the 100 to I
shot with his cheap outlaw plug
Not such cheap outlaw plug at that
said he to me, with a grin. The horse was
one Of the cracks of the west. and 7 was
ringing him along for another man. The
horse could do six furlongs in ia fat
without even puInng over it. and he was in
the 1.3912 class at mile. Ny pardner and
myself picked up nearly $50, 900 on him en-
terlns him as cavalry nag The time he
won at Alexander Island the bow on him
hsd all ne couiL do to keep the horse from
winning by eight city blocks, which wonId
have queered the game by exciting sus-
picon.'" Su'
And the Boy Smiled,
An absent-minded man stood on the ova
nue. the other day and a ueWsbov conoo 49,,