The sun., 1899-02-12
CAT-LOSING AS A SPORT.
BILL CHETWOoD STARTED THE GAME
IN ROCK ISDAND, ILL
His Cat Didn't Come Bnck in the Big
Tourney and BilI Lost Heaviiy-Club-
Window BettinR- Mule Race, In LeRVen-
worth with n Purse for the Inst Ono In.

men with nothing much to do sat In one OF tho
| windows OF the METROPOLITAN Club the other
afternoon and made S5 bets with each other as
| to the color of the next passer-by. The luck
! was n good deal like matching pennies for
| awhile. with small percentage In favor OF
| white pedestrians. The older man Of the two.
who was taking the white end of 1t. OF course
| had the benefit OF this small percentage. but
| he finally switched.
Five this time that the next passer- by won't
be white" he said TO his companion.
Pm on" was the reply. Five that he will
be white"
There was n wait Of n couple Of minutes. and
then member of the Chinese Legation. gor-
gcous in his silks and furs, passed by the win
dow.
" 1 win" said tho older man Of the two.
" For why do you VIM Didn't you bet that
the next passer-by would be black ?" asked the
other man.
Not any. did l." answered the older man.
Il laid my five that the next man to go by
wouldn't be white. Remember that. don'tyouf
You don't call Chinaman n white MANI"
The younger man remembered and surren-
dcrcd his five
Il got badly the worst of this game when
Mckinley was being inaugurated." said the
winner of the last bet. Il had a window in
hotel on Pennsylvania avenue and the pre-
ponderance of the colored man on the street
struck me as odd, as It does most Western
folks So ! started to betting with friend who
shared the window with me that three out OF
every five people who passed certain electric
light pole in front of the hotel would be black.
He took me UP, and blamed il the darkies
didn't seem to disappear from Pennsylvania
avenue from the moment the bet was made. /
let the bet stand for five minutes. and by that
time was $l3O out. Then l was mad and
turned the box on him.
Tho darkies must have heard was betting
on them | said. and they've dumped me for
some cause unknown. I'll Just take another
end of it now. and bet you an even 500 that
| there won't be dozen black folks walk by that
| pole within tho next three minutes
He took me. He had hardly nodded his as
| sent when there was mighty ump-ta- ra- ra
| and blaro OF shri cornets outside that got my
| nerve. l can tell darky band mile of, and
| l knew that | was another 500 out. Sure
| enough. within thirty seconds Rorgeously
| bediZened black band. about fifty strong.
pNraded past our pole. handed over the 500
| and quit betting for the day"
Some more men came up. and they got to
| talking about queer bets.
Ever hear about that muo race we had out
| on the Leavcnworth Fair Grounds track 7"
| asked n man from Kansas. That was about
| Us bad betting proposition as l ever took
| chance on. even for fun. 1t happened back in
| 'S4. Six or seven citizens Of Leavenworth
| possessed mules that had u turn OF speed. and
| the way they Dragged about their respective
| mules a caution. Now. while mule has
whole lot Of commendabo points. his long suit
| isn't speed and these mule owners were good
| deal ridculcd for their talk about thorough
| bred mules The managers OF the local fair
| finally decided to put all of those nifty mules
| down on the card for race on the last day OF
| the fair. A purse of 500 was hung mp. and
| the mule that ran last was to win out the purse
| for his owner Now. that looked easy enough.
didn't All that the owner and rider OF his
mule had to 90, you'll suppose. was TO let his
mule LOAF In the race or snatch him. as they
call pulling an animal nowadays. But this
wouldn't have done OF course II for all Of the
and there wouldn't have been any race at all.
Therefore, no owner of mule entered in the
Each Of the owner riders had to ride OF the
other fellows mules See2 Then II was up to
each man on top Of a mule to ride his long
| cared mount for all he was worth. in order 70
| better the chances OF his own mu to finish
| last, There were two or three local books on
| the three quarter track. and when the layers
came TO this race they made 1t 2 to l and take
ever saw a large crowd Of bettors scra;nbing
| to get on a dead one. All Of us that wanted to
put bet down on the race had the privilege OF
to pick out what looked like the dopiest and
most lukcwqrm of the bunch. There ,wqs one
he couldn't and wouldn't run block for the
honor OF the nation. That mule was SO tired
| fence in the paddock. The wise people includ
Ing. myself. picked ont that mule as the one
and we began to play him off tho boards.
Everybody in The ring got onto that mule be;
when the mule, went to The post t?
y%ur ES wSs gMn eke e aeT the kfFy
| TO 100 in tho betting to finish last and we all
| thought it was like getting money in a lettert9
nal got away in front az Ihe, faIl OF the flag, and
| twenty lengths ahead pulled up; The glossy
coated nervous m mule that was the outsider In
fur!ong and pulled down the purse"
in @ck sand nj G ssS Go @StRsF naS RT
man in the party. Never heard of cat;
pf o % HSye y qSsr SSs" sneS heS oS% oSe w as
| pulled off in Rock Island. The ,wayit hap-
RenSGd vas this There was b an cid eiizGn out out
| Dragged all during the, summer Of 80 that he
had eat that couldn't be lost; The eat was
| male gender. and Bill had tried all ways to lose
that eat. he said lie had @ tied four bricks to
aud then heaved the feline into the Mississippi.
Tn, which runs pretty sYft at RoG6 G6 Island: land
Gs @ SErPE I ' he @p' 5na4 "fn Sst @S%2 aSs
on the front porch, licking or the wet and sun;
| nlnE himself. Blll was deternln 10 get RID
| OF the eat, though, and he finally tied the cat
upiin Jute bag and handed the cat TO friend
| OF his, II mail clerk on the Rock Island Rail
road, asking the mail clerk to Just ditch the
| cat. bag and all, at any old point not nearer
! than 100 miles from Rock Island Tho mail
| clerk did this to oblige Bill heaving tho cat out
| in tho dark somewhere near swamp, about
| 10 miles from Rock Island. Bill announced
d. N at the Post onlce three days later that
and with less Of its loft ear than it
| had had before, but still in tho ring
and not "A Whit Hly In HDpetlte, Btll by
| this time regarded his cat US n wonder. and
he made good deal Of n nuisance Of himself
| telling everybody IN Rock Island that in his
opinion. ,whch he was willing 70 back, with
| money. there wasn't a cat in the state OF Ill
| nois or. for the matter Of that. in the whole
| country that had such dead bead on home as
| hi, tom had. Blli's fellow ,cItiHens insisted that
| there was nothing remarkable about the eats
| performances that 1t was only natural for a
| cat to decline to be lost under any circum-
| stances, and that Rock Island was full Of cats
| that could repeat amy or all OF the perform
| anccs Of Bils eat.
somebody finally suggested that tho thing
| be tried. This was Just what Bill wanted, and
| so n committee on arrangements went ahead