The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-12
WORKED A RINGER.
California Gambler
Won His Bet on
The Dog Race.
RAN FIRE MARSHAL'S PET.
He Was Only a Cur But
He Beat the
Greyhounds.
RAN FIRE MARSHAL'S pet.

| case that ever heard of was cut loose
out my way" says the Washington
| STAR They used to have dog races on
Saturday afternoons in Vallejo, an
hours trip up into Solano county from
San Francisco, when I hung out there
back in the eighties. The mechanics
from the Mare Island navy yard across
the Napa creek got these dog races up
and bet on them. There was a book
made on 'em in every booze emporium
in Vallejo, and if you've ever seen VAL
lejo you'll know that there We're quite
some books writing chances on these
sprints. They were free-for- all affairs,
over a circular half mile of level road
back of Vallejo, and any man that had
a dog could enter the mutt. AS many
| as forty or fifty dogs of all breeds or no
| breed at all often went to the pump for
these sprints, with about 1000 to ! about
| the chances of all of them except two
| or three practiced runners that We're
held at prohibitive odds. One of the
machinists over at the yard had an
Italian greyhound that had walked
away with all of the $50 purses the boys
could get together. Well, a rank out
| JuSl
stood this swift running mutt on his
head The dog showed up with Paddy
Magee, a saloonkeeper, one Tuesday
| afternoon. Paddy had been on a trip
down to San Francisco, but nobody
| considered that fact in connection with
Magee's dog. Magee said the dog had
hoboed into his place just before clos
| ing-up time the night before, and he
| had taken the mutt in out of charity.
| "A Z
ever hit UP a dirt road-tall, lank and
! gallery black, with a long moth-eaten
| tail, ears all over its head, and big,
clumsy, spraddling paws. Magee took
| his bum find in the way of a dog out
for a walk on the day following the
night he said the dog drifted to his
place, and he got the boot all over
| town, the dog was so communicating.
| Paddy had never had a dog before, and
he was just shouted at when couple
of days later he announced that he was
| going to enter his mutt in the handicap
| race for dogs on the following Satur-
! day. The fellows that he told this to
| just lay back and hollered. Paddy took
i their merriment gOod-natUredly,
| though, saying that he didn't suppose
| he had a ghost of a chance to get the
purse, but the dog had come his way
| without being invited, and he intended
! to have some fun out of it.
| ''TWenty-three good running dogs
went to the post for the handicap.
! which was d big betting event, most
of the Mare island mechanics taking
| the usual halliday off to take the races
| in. There was howl when Paddy Ma
gee, hanging on to his mutt with a
| piece of wash-line, turned up. Paddy
had previously gone around to five of
the books in the Vallejo rum mills and
put down a dollar in each of EN- on
| his dog, the rank outsider at $50 to l.
! to win. He was bantered and guyed so
much at all these places that lie had
to treat the whole bunch standing
around.
1.-The Italian greyhound was the fa-
vorite in the betting, and there were
four or five foxhounds that were well
played for place and to show. Each
man held his dog at the start and the
italian greyhound was to let all the
| rest of the bunch get a start of about
a block before being turned loose.
well, the crowd had to conclude,
| when the race was over, that Magee's
dog had the dope in him, or something
| for the Magee mutt was never headed
In fact, none of the others were within
| a block of him at the finish. The Ma
| gee cur just lay back his ears ate up
/ the ground, and walked in all alone
| 1t was the biggest dump that had ever
| hit the dog-racing game in Vallejo
! and YOU never saw such an aStOniShed
and crestfallen lot of dOg-racers in
your life as that bunch Magee chewed
! the end of his cigar and quietly re-
| marked that he knew thing or two
about dogs himself, and that it had
| been perfectly plain to him right along
| that that cur of his had it in him.
| He collected his winnings on the spot
| and then the owner of the Italian grey
hound began beefing about the big
handicap that had been put on his
"sAu right said Magee, III go you
! 5000 even that my mutt can put it all
| over yours from the scratch.
| sHThe owner of the greyhound just
ate this I'D instanter, and when the two
dogs were cooled out they were sent to
the post again, Masee's dog just laid
his common old yaller-and-lemon ears
! hack and raced the greyhound off its
feet from the first jump. The grey
| hound shot its bolt in the first furlong,
! going like a quarter horse, and Magee' S
| mutt laying right alongside, with
! mounds left When the greyhound be-
gan to back up the cur had so much in
| reserve that ne just passed the cracker
lack as if it was tied, and won pranc-
| ING. with his head up and mouth wide
open, 'on the bit as We say, by 20
| lengths. Magce collected his 500 and
went back to town with his much
lchewed cigar working contentadly in his
mouth. Somebody sprung the ringer
crv as soon as Paddy's back was turned,
hut he was hooted down.
That won't do the gang said.
| Ringer. nothing. If he'd sprung bred
dog that looked like something on US,
| it 'ud have been different; but that cur
amt no ringer; he's just a natural four
| legged cyclone. and all dog
| strangely enough, Magee's dog disap-
| peared the very next day Magee made
/ a big show of offering a 5000 reward for
| the return of the sprinter, and small
bows secured the woods for miles
around in hopes of finding the dog, all
| to no avail. The dog seemed Just to
have been swallowed up. I saw the dog
| a couple of months later, but / didn't
| saw anything about it to the boys in
Vallejo. for 1 hadn't been mixed up in
/ the dog races and it wasn't anything to
| me. There was a fire on Kearney street
/ in San Francisco, and I stood on the
| sidewalk to watch the passing of the
| fire department. Magee's dog was in
advance of the chief fire marshaPs bug
| sy. with his head down, and going like
/ blue blazes. The fire marshars horse
was galloping like a thoroughbred I'M
/ der the whip. but he couldn't wear down
4 that dogs lead. After the fire was put
out l dropped around to the fire mar
shaIs office. 1 knew him.