Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-11-16
RACE TRACK TOUTs.
Smooth Swindlers Who Fleece the
Uninitiated
An Instance OF the Success OF
Their Confidence Game A
Wall street Man
Taken In.

Taken In.
One of the always interesting fea-
lures of an American race track is the
tout. He is interesting to the expert
enced race-goer, who is amused and
astonished at the peculiar ability the
tout has for separating Sucker" from
his money; he is interesting to the IN
initiated, who plays the art of the
sucker" and who never realizes un-
til the next day or so that he has been
skinned" The tout has developed rap
idly since book-betting first became
popular In the olden time, The tout
was usually a negro stable hand, who
was sincere in trying to sell what hc
regarded as good information for q
couple of dollars or so. Then. when the
real Information was lacking, fake tips
were offered, the little darkies relying
on their general appearance to bear
out their claims of stable connections.
The little darky was soon succeeded by
the white boy, and as the white boy
grew into man, he continued his oc-
cupation. continually changing his
methods as the public became better
informed as tothe doings of this fixture
of the race track. Now the old ragged
tout is thing of the past The touts
of the day, or "hustlers," as they call
themselves, are very careful Of their
appearance, and the better they can
dress the more successfully they can
operate. Many, too, do their work with
out ever going near the race track. The
New York Telegraph tells the following
story of how pair of topnotchers Sc
cured a good-sized bank roll from q
New York broker who was anxious to
make lot of money in a hurry:
''Only lately two touts arrived In
New York with 81, 1000, good credentials
from far western business people, and
were supposed to have a stable at
Sheepshead. They became acquainted
in some manner with Wall street
man. He was informed gradually that
by being discreet he could 'jine out
with the two, and when they were
ready to cut watermelon he should
be informed.
FINALLY one day one of the schem-
ers arrived at the brokers' office in a
hurry. He held q telegram asking him
to come on at once from his partner
at Cincinnati. The money was to be
bet in the western pool rooms to get
the best price possible. He would take
four hundred from the broker to show
him how it was done.
"The Wall street man begged to be
allowed to bet thousand, but the tout
refused.
Next day he returned. The broker
was excited as the tout pulled out roll
of centuries
"Tere's nine hundred, he said. Our
horse was second. We bet on him both
ways, and you are five hundred win
ner on it, while we are about even. We
saved our money and that's all. Mr..
Howard wired this from Cincinnati
"The New Yorker could hardly con-
tain himself. He asked the tout to
take half and his offer was indig-
nantly refused. 4 like you, that's all,
and want to see you win, said the gen.
erous tout. The broker was not salts
fed, for he wanted to bet more, a great
deal of money, and win pot The
tout would call tomorrow and tell him
their plans. The broker had all night
to figure on the delights of winning
money on the races. Two days later
both toutS called. They and the broker
went in his private office, where they
told him the next day their horse was
out to win, but he had better let their
man bet whatever he wished.
"'We will give you a chance, but you
will have to bet about five thousand.
for we shall bet ten thousand and the
price will get down to even with all
that going on, and we shall be hurting
ourselves by betting yours, which will
help to cut the price
'The broker agreed to bet the money,
and more, and wanted TO let two friends
in
THAT night the friends gave the
broker $4,000 each as a result Of his
enthusiasm. Next morning he drew
his check for $4,000 and went with the
two men to his bank, where he cashed it
and the checks of his two friends. The
money was given to them and the
broker was to call at the Savoy hotel,
where they were stopping, that night
at ten o'clock, with his two friends, to
receive his money and be guest at
little wine dinner. An hour later two
gentlemen hurriedly paid their bill at
,n1 savoy, ana an early train carried
them to Montreal, whence n steamer
bore them to Europe to enjoy the fruits
of their intelligence and industry. The
broker gave his friends their money
back, and he never 'hollered,' and prob
ably never will. He cannot afford to.
rhe two gentlemen who turned the
trick are known on race tracks from
Frisco to Brighton Beach as Little
Solly' and Pretty Willie A business
man who juggles with fortunes in his
own line will go to the track and allow
himself to be duped by a pair of 'touts'
who tell him a story which, If he would
stop to think about, would never de-
ceive him. AT the track, however, he is
in a different world, and as a rule the
smarter he is in business the easier he
is to infuence."-St. Louis Globe-Dem
ocrat.
FILIPINO IS GULLIBLE.
This IL Shown by Some Not very
Snnlv Tricks of the YRn.