The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-16
DIDN'T coUyr ON A DEAD NEAT.
A Newspaper scoop on a Horse Race Result
Th,t went WronE Most Unexpectedly.

That went wrong Most Unexpectedly
'I never pick up a newspaper nowadays and
read about one OF the set OF the famous Domino
winning a race but II recalls the time "orkeu
in n Newspaper Office said an old-time ele-
graph operator the other day. III was pack III
the DAYS when the great Domino was the star
two-year-old OF the Keene stable. ana WIN ono
exception was acknowledged as the greatest
two-Ypar-old Of the season. The execution was
Richard Croker's flyer Dobbins' These TWO
finally met in the Futurity and, although the
Keene horse won with Dobbins third, the lat
ter's owner was not satisfied with the result
| and n match was quickly arranged at the
Futurity distance for $4,000 a side. Now the
raper / worked on was an evening paper ana u
was the sole object OF the managing editors
life to beat the opposition evening paper ana
get the news o! a big event like this on the street
first.
THE other fellows had beaten us good ana
hard on the Futurity story a Few days oelote'
and the boss made no secret OF the iact mat u"
was going to get hunk. and In such a manner as
to leave no doubt that he could beat the other
paper when he started out TO do II. Accordingly
he laid all his plans a day ahead. and although
We did not know at the time what they we're we
felt sure by the way he strutted around the
morning Of the race that he had a winning COM
bination up his sleeve. Along about noon ume
OF that day he called me into his office and told
me that as the match race was the NTH on the
programme he wanted me TO have one OF 'he
other operators take the, result OF the fourth
race, and he also wanted me to get a WIRE IN
good working order and prepare TO get inc re-
suit II the big race.
kept so busy taking the general story of the
crowd at the track and the results OF lhe nrst
t,%So racer TaSes mat rnCo ! wh nsn the hs' manaSIns editor came
over to me and reminded me about nj instruc.
tons. He was little bit of afellow ana me moSt
nervous man | ever met lie couldn keep Sun
q moment under ordinary circumstances 40 you
can imagine what n state he was In when ne
fourth race " as over and ! took my place at the
kew to wait for the big race to be run, One
thing hat noticed as l. sat down was tnat
and while some had gone out TO get q drink
others were lounging about the place. AZ ms
was so unusual that ! asked one OF them whatn
meant, and when he told me | knew why the
boss had given them all permission 70 90 ms
they pleased until he got out the great beat on
The scheme was to have two presses set and
oil ready to start; one, or them was 70 REQ N
bis .csre type o r ,DoPP pm, w, MS,n asm 6s@ ef we Tt that
Domino was in the first line instead OF Dob6ins.
The Dobtin- extra was on press No ! ara me
horse won the boss was to c9il out No;
or No. 2. and the press would be started
in quicken time than II takes 70 tell IT., Every
thing had worked to perfection up to this time,
and Il wanted but cne OF the horses to win 10
81 smiled as i watched the boss walking ner-
vously about. waiting for the start Just IKE a
man would do who had bet a couple OF thous-
sand dollars. Suddenly the key OF My lnstru.
ment hogan to click and the boss quickly stonped
in his walk and looked anxiouslv at me but y
MY prov d I be the operator at the other end
testing Learning this, the boss at once re-
sumed his walk up and down the room. but DIS
stems were getting shorter apdit was appsten.
that I began to wish that they would start soon.
for 1t didn't seem possible that he could con
tain himself much LONGER. He looked TO me
like a man who was suffering, so great was the
strain on his nerves While l was watching
him from the corner Of nv eve. wondering
soon, the key began 10 click again. This time
the horses were on the way to me posi- 81 Inc
and wol Id be of -oon, Thi instead
OF calming the boss down somewhat, only sp;
The men who were .tandinE around To stop
their ak ng and also yelled downstairS TO
know 4 everything was ready below in the
pres~room In tie midst Of this the key again
began 10 work and ] called out that they were
'Tf the hos, had been excited before he was
simply = Wild man now and he shook all over
with excitement and his breath came in hort
loved the fr,t news ihqt they were on now told
me that th"v were together at tho quarter Attn,
a. announced This I was watching the boss
and | could see hi>lips framing the words rum
her two. which was The Domino press. Dob
bins iu-t managed te shove his nose in front at
the three quarters and the hos moved nearer
the speaking tub" as made tins anro,nce,
] ''laIlN lHNN 'Il' = ! WI Nu'N WV h'"A '-NA
head. aud tn hos with M" mouthpi"Ce 81 the
speaking tube pressed tightly against his lips
was waiting for the result.
Nv i Il cam, in good season. but never as
long a, | i've will | forget tn" eNpression on tho
boss face when the key told me II was "A dead
heat. hc-itltod lust = second before calling
it out. ftT I could almost riCture in my mind
what result II wound have on HIM Finally
called out ~ a clear, firm voice: Dead heat
The boss knees just gave way from under
him Ifha had no. grabbed a chair I'm sure
he would htv" fallen
Dead haat2' he gasped Are YOU sure?
II told him II had been repeated 10 me, ana
that there Q uld y" no mistake He was too
dumbtounded tS move for two or three seconds.
but when he Jaw all the Wen who were about
jump to their places ready TO set up a new scare
steraotvI@rs who almost to q man had gone out
of thr building, he came tn and IN a Jiny was
the same Old hustler. Everybody jumped In
ard work cd probably harder tNau he eyer
beat the opposition PAPER. ~ we thought We
would do We were ont on the street only a few
minutes behind them.
"When the whole thing was over and the
Glued to look upon the humorous side Of the
whole thing and have n good laugh, hut they
knew tho boss folt bad about II and RETAINED
from ENJOYING what un7er any other clrcum-
stances would have been a good Joke. We werc
all fixing I'm to 70 home when tho boss c4mo
ont Of his ONO, and. looking the men over in a
thoughtful sort Of way. said:
at was a crying shame th1t We tailed,
have { mo TO LOOK the matter over, IN inclined
to think the VIII 10 thine is n good ioke on me.
AVID hereafter II let ho-se-aC"s alone and try
to coop our friends with something in which
there Is no possibility or a dead heat bobbing
up to queer us
~ENGLAND'S Old WARSHIPS.