The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-09
TOLD BY THE ~BOOKMAKERS.
TTO VICTIMS OF HEART DISEASE
AT RACETRICKS.
One Died ms lie va. Gettlne His Winning.

tntIe WISH mucl uOllR uIlvnB Nv pO'h-
makers cashiers. The race had been captured
by an outsider in the betting. Jubilant little
punches Of two or three. who had picked the
winner. formed. however, in the settlers lines,
waiting for the announcer to confirm the race.
Ono OF the fortunate hettors was a Eiddlc-aG"d.
wcll-dressed man of fifty. who. although he
had won pretty heavily on the race. did not cx-
hibit any particular evidences Of checrfulness.
He was an old hand at winning and losing.
and he looked like n man who knew how to
take the game az It came along. lie was. by
his looks. the least excited man In the betting
ring. The announcer confirmed the race, and
the cool-looking man, the first In his line,
passed his number to the cashier. saying:
The boys told me when | put down this bet
that | was on a dead one, and they all seem TO
have taken u hack at the favorite. Now they're
camping out, and I'm on a live one
Then his fnce suddenly contracted into an
expression OF agony. both Of his hands went to
his heart. and he fell dead. The crowd
thought the man had only tainted, and sew
eral OF them carried him over tn a corner
OF the ring and tried to revive him. A physi-
clan came along. and. after Il seconds inspec-
ton. announced that the man was beyond re-
suscitation-that his death had come in
stantly from heart disease.
knot Of bookmakers were talking about
the occurrence that night. and exchanging
stories OF odd experiences in paying off.
Before l began hanging up "a slate on ms
own hook said one OF them. Il was hand
ling the satchel for ono OF the oll-time block
men down at the st. Louis Fair Grounds. One
afternoon the boss passed me over a clean new
$1,000 bill that he had lust taken In. 1t was a
two-horse race-Madclcine and Linda and the
betting was pretty brisk on it; but rs the old
man wasn't in the habit Of taking down such
Iip money M that In giDulnp nha I l,pkn1 mn
to see who the hettor was. lie was "a quiet
looking chan OF 80 or so. lie looked rs If n
volcano couldn't get him OIL tho run. He
looked as sleepy as n cat ia front Of a CRATE fire.
l thought at the time. Ny boy. you're a nice.
tidy. unsoiled onc-thousand William TO the
bad; for he was taking the long end of it
Madeleine. at : to /. Linda was at 4 to D on.
1t was q three-quartrr sprint. ard the two
mares hooked M AL tho way around. 1t wasn
beautiful race. and either one Of EN- was a
winner right on the wire. Linda. however.
Just stuck out her tongue and won in the last
;uimGE; Us | could see from thG pr"nsr angle at
a lot Of hettors. who had stood at the wrong
angle above The Judges stand, thought Made
The young fellow VIII" had, passed over the
$1,000 bin on Madeleine was the first to show
twinkling. his face flushed. and he looked ms il
he felt pretty good. He was a man over Fix
looked a. il he could wear out {, JrInnchimmggi baco'
/ saw that he was under a misapprehensiOn--
that he hadn't waited ioG the number Of the
and able to lose that | didn't mind putting him
right,
"'Devilish close said he.
lay With a iittIH hhet,er rii ,So dow To- the stretch
You mean Linda. SAID he. ~
"",,E9, ! don't, ! replied, Imcan Madeleine
"'You haven't been smoking seconds. have
youI' he asked. looking, at me curiously.
Madeleine won by a head
not on the wire | told him.,
II face grew white and a vague. dreamy
myself: There's a chap who looks like the
rock OF Gibraltar IN n collision. and yet here
he iS h%ollering murder inside of him like any
Linda first. Madeleine second =" shouted
the announcer, and the man in front Of me
a second later had the weight Of dSad nan
aa gradually, as / could. being a slight man
myself. and then the usual medical man came
w and pronounced him all out A man who
has ever been warned by experience thar he
owns a heart. much less n man who knows that
he's got something the matter, with his Heart. |
was announced the next lay that this Young
dfe sn Q w Sa@ , had ben HnI the cashi Ter Of a big SAFE
itfG with an eighteen thousand dollar shyness
'"ihad an odd experience with a sleeper a
few years. ago" said another o. The book
VI IuIh III l.lt summer Oh ~. i picked nD
quite a clientele of hard bettors out in Chicago
STh@ d d} ,bo knew ISd m al b about the tn, horses
iin"bk;.. Trough. espesia Ii one Nie' young NJ t I'll nSV Who
owned a big hat store on Dearborn street.
This chap diln,t really know q racehorse from
something over three parts, fipsy, at that. and
yet he had such an unerring way of picking
on principle every time he showed W in my
line; He SoGksd It to m" for q good many
He played by book alone, for it really appeared
as If was fcad TO- anything he paved OF, my
two OF his bets. Idon't stand for hoodoos ike |
TINS, and SO ! Kept r;sht on: EIyi1g him what he
T Wa bsf s tSe,!4 II SSe e ! yne ' thmm ! d EGt hin ani
shut throughout the season-for hull-headel
luck don't class with percentage. notwlthstand-
ION the afternoon ip July, 1894, when Sa-
bine rranced out and broke the world record
lance il 2ls>., this young fellow ]collarrd me
for $500. | had given him = 10 | for $500, /
the race, bat he didn't appear. lie didn't make
his appearance during the remainder Of the
i hae IS%FeS i T m% aEi I iore5 ! r "Eon' Es ' hnI he
hotel, hut the clerks toidr ne TIA, he hadn't
noxt afternoon, but he didn't show up, Again
! nrovc by, his place OF, business; bur, the
around. lie" didn't sh5w W ~ at til the
track for tie balance Of til. noting, nor did
IFS Il ih; hat stor res 1TihE S Ghicaad a" ra T,S "a ar'Son 2F ID
his strange DISAPPEARANCE. When was pull
ing out OF Chicago | went and sa' tn" mead
man OF the hat store. and told hlm that il his
boss turned M he could get his 81 200 by writ
ing to my New York aidrcss. Inquired It tiat
the Young man might have, gone OH on u pro-
longcd toot,, and that I'd hear from him all
right. But didn't, In the fall of 10 was
booking out in San Francisco. on" afternoon
in October was Dusy handling rush money on
a lot Of good ones in a scyrn-aud
race, when II scedy-!OOking man crowded up
to me. ,,The man was partly Jagged.
Ha! he SAID, addressing me. It's good
Tor the blu" devils 10 meet UP with a layer
with whom my credit is good
looked the man over. | had the vaguest
possible memory that ] had seen his face some
whore before, but cou'dnt place him lor the
III" Of mo. ii" continued smiling in my teeth.
! thought he was a biz too much un her the red
stun to understand what he was talGing about,
and SO | went ahead taking in other butturs'
money.
Just give mo twelve hundred dollars
worth ut Mamie scott. old pal. will your said
the seedy looking man, regarding mo amiably. |
sure. sad |. Pass ny the cash
the man.
WALL away. Bill said /. I'm busy
49, Or he continued. still regarding me with
MS grln. you can PASS me- oven the twrINn