Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-10

gambling of the race course Will demon
stfate the stern seriousness OF the prop
and perhaps suggest a solution.
Few have forgotten the sad story OF
Newton, the cashier in the. office of
the collector of internal %revenue, who put
a bullet INTO his brain after the gamblers
Of the race track a led him to ruin.
His chief, Oscar NJ. Welburn, soon fol-
in the path of dishonor that the
horse gamblers have beaten with the
feet of disgraced men and women. We'll
burn staked the happiness of his family
and the future of himself on the book
makers. He lost, and is now a fugitive
from justice, his home destroyed ana
his family scattered,
The fate of A. c. Widber, who was city
is still q vivid object lesson
to those who care to reflect. He IS a
at a Quentin, and that was put
one step in his progress from the race
course. Bled by gambling thieves, be-
fuddled by scheming touts and robbed by
INSCRIPTIONS book makers, he stepped
out of his office in the city hall to- the cell
of q convict at San Quentin.
Theodore Figel is only an incident IN
the long story of shame that records the
existence of the race course in this city.
Figel was q trusted employe In a large
mercantile firm. He plunged on the
races, sent thousands of dollars to the
ooon INC SiAipAcyS SoNSS
horses. Then he awoke one morning to
find himself accused of murder and en-
bezzlement. He was acquitted on both
charges, but the thousands that went
to the race track never came back to
The scandalous revelations OF he Bot
kin case are too fresh IN the pubic mlnd
to need repetition. The race course sup
piled a vicious substitute for home, fam
lily and decent living. Day after day
Dunning and the woman who is accused
of a mOnstrous crime We're cheek by JoWl
with the motley crowd at the race course.
Dunning dissipated his earnings n the
contributions of his mistress among the
book makers and then disgrace and death
closed the scene on two homes.
The fall of Captain John Neall needs no
comment. With a future bright in pros
poets and a past honored by success he
gave up everything, abandoned his wife
and children. deserted from the United
States army, robbed his friends and fled
from. the penalty that the law must IN
ffict. And for it all he has a few pool
tickets to remind him of the race course
at Ingleside. Instead of being what he
was, an honored officer of the Federal
army. he is an embezzling fugitive.
Peter McGlade adds another name, IN
his own, to the terrible indictment of the
race course. Until the seductions of the
races lured him down he was trusted as
a municipal official, Who had served with
credit in various capacities. When the
book makers wrote him his last ticket
he fled from the city to escape the conse-
quences Of a crime. He was caught and
is now awaiting trial for forgery.
Ingleside has weighted the records Of
the local courts with their most pitiable
entries. Men of prominence and men OF
no moment in the view of the world are
stamped with the brand Of shame and
guilt because the race course is a local
institution that legislators will not or
dare not modest. Case after case has es-
capped public notice, but in what follows
something of the enormity of the evil
may be conceived and the justice of pc.
lice comment will be justified. Chris
Becker, the forger, needs Hardly more
than a mention. He is by instinct and
education a criminal. It is natural that
he should be one of the most notorious
horse gamblers known to the turf.
Not long ago two boys, Henry Walker
and Francis Dunn, broke into a room in
a Market street lodging house and stole
a coat, which they sold for So. That
theft represented their interest in the
gambling at the local race course, as
thousands upon thousands represented
the interest of Widber and Figel. The
boys were caught and arrested. They
dulullCSu lltlk s AIAI ~ VIZ"
they had lost all their money on the
races. The reward of their theft, paltry
as it was, seemed to them sufficient tC
give. them a new start in the evil gam
that has led big and little men in this
city to ruin. The theft of a coat meant
! disgrace to a family and destruction tc
the future Of the two boys.
The horse gamblers like nothing bet
| ter than an opportunity to clOthe thell
game with an atmosphere of the unusual
They have their hoy plungers," ant
| Edward Lydon was one of them. He i:
| now an u~nconvicted embezzler, whose
mother bought his freedom and permitted
| him to become what he is, a shameless
tout, whose means of existence had bes'
| not, be discussed. Lydon was a conf
D., Dental clerk in the service Of N. K
Masten, financial agent of the Southern
] Pacific company. The young fellow wa:
implicitly trusted. He kept the trust i'm
posed in him until he turned to the race
| course.
He became a thief, and on December 8
1897, was arrested at Ingleside track by
| Detectives Gibson and Wren. The charge
: was embezzlement, the amount $4,000
Lydon was arrested in the very act o.
betting on a race. He was arraigned II
the police court, but the charge was dis
missed when his mother made good thu
amount Of his defalcation.
The. course. of Robert Heaney wa
shorter. 1t required only two months TO
the book makers Of the ace course a
Ingleside to make a thief Of him.. He wa
employed by William F. Roberts as
, collector. Heaney collected $500 one day
tried his luck on the horses and lost. HI
, fled to escape arrest and punishment.
Few, perhaps, have forgotten the story
fof Jennie Zwaid, the little woman VIII
led a double life until the climax cam,
in disgrace. She was a bookkeeper in
downtown mercantile firm. She becam,
infatuated With a race horse tout, ant
through him began to bet on the races
; She made her tout her betting commits