Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-09
CURED HrM !. BETTING

A party Of young Washington men went
over to New York; on Friday evening
last to see the running on Saturday of the
great match race. between Jean Beraud,
William C. Whitneys famous race horse
and the equally famous Ethelbert. the
horse that won the race for Perry Belmont.
his owner. At Philadelphia well-known
editor and writer. a. man considerably be-
yond middle age, boarded the tratn-he was
on his way to NeWYor on business-and
as he was known tp some OF the young
men through their fathers he Joined the
party. The young men treated the elderly
gentleman with good deal of Difference
and they somewhat sheepishly acknowl-
edged that they, were all bound for the
Gravesend track TO see the big match race.
The prominent Philadelphia smiled when
they told him that. and then he related a
little story.
Il never bet on horse race until a few
years ago." he said. "for the reason. per
the temptation. Had lived in city where
horse racing was one OF the great public
amusements dare say | might nave yieio-
ed to the desire to bet and win without
ever. did enough betting on horse races
for the whole family. He is through with
1t now. but it took him long time and q
mint of money to achieve his wisdom. 1
the first and only time l ever bet on
horse race. 1 didn't even see the race
visited a pool roonl-I confess the fact re-
luctantly-and did my betting there.
This oldest boy of mine put the tempta-
ton in the way Of his old father 1t was
quite number of years ago.. He was 90
ing quixotic things in those days. and one
of them was to pay a financially insolVent
horse owner on a western race track a
thousand dollars for horse called INDIA
Rubber. The horse owner needed the
money. which was enough for this lad OF
mine. He took India Rubber and put the
brute in the hands of trainer.
"A couple of months later the boy turned
up at my Philadelphia home to pay US
visit, and after he'd been with us for a
few days he told me about this India Rub
Der horse.
~ know it's not subject that interests
YOU he said to me, but this horse of
mine is going to be big winner, dad, and
If you could reconcile it with your con-
science and the tenor of your life to put
bet on him whenever 1 telegraph you that
he's going to win, why
Tut. tut, tut, boy / said to the lad
Don't speak to me of such things. Me bet
on a horse race? NONSENSE
Il followed this up with some gentle ad-
vice as to his own course in connection
with horse racing. all of which he took in
good part. and then he went right away
and took up his horse racing business where
he had left 1t off.
About two weeks after he'd returned
u the west, L was III iOor-
ing into a legislative matter. One morning
l received this dispatch from my boy out
west:
India Rubber entered today. He will
win at long price
Il smiled to myself as 1 read the tele
gram and reflected that the boy must have
ina gined l was losing my mind when he
sent me such message.
ION my way to the capitol in Harrisburg
from my hotel about o'clock that after
noon L passed by weather-boarded place
with the shutters tightly drawn that
knew was a pool room. l had never been
in a pool room in my life, but knew this
was pool room. on account of the efforts
that had been made by the better element
of Harrisburg's population to close the es-
tablishment up.
"Well my moral sense deserted me. and
/ went into the pool room. There was a
large crowd of young men gathered in
front of the blackboard, and in big yellow
letters on the blackboard l saw the name
of India Rubber. in a three-horse race. The
figure 90 was chalked in front of the ami
mails name, and. upon inquiry, I found
that that meant that the odds were 20 to
l against India Rubber to win the race.
Before l quite knew what l was doing /
had my wallet out and had extracted a
ten-dolar note therefrom. 1 turned to a
young man who stood at my elbow and
requested him to put the money on India
Rubber for me: The youth regarded me
with a quiZZical sort of smile, but he exc
cuted the commission for me. and handed
me a piece OF pasteboard with the name
of the India Rubber horse scrawled there
on. and the figures 5000 to $40.
Immediately after l got the ticket a
hush fell suddenly upon the crowd of young
men. and the telegraph operator behind the
desk began to sing out the positions Of the
horses as they sped around the track on the
far-aWay western race course.
Il grieve to confess that when the teleg
rapher announced that India Rubber led by
thirty lengths into the stretch-you must
mark this. no less than thirty lengths-I
think l experienced something of the I'M
holy joy and eXaltation of the gambler.
Then. after announcing that India Rub
Der led by thirty lengths into the stretch,
there was a pause, which was broken by
the telegrapher calling out in loud tone
India Rubber jumped the fence forty
feet from the wire" following this up with
the name of the animal that won.
well, 1 concluded then that horse rae
Ing was not exactly in my line, and when
l emerged from that pool room after max
ing my first bet on a horse race I was con-
WINGED that with my horse leading by
about 300 feet in the rush for the wire and
then losing the Lady Fortune had never
meant me for gambler I never mustered
quite enough candor and strength of pur-
pose to tell my son about that incident
and in fact, l was sufficiently disingenuous
to marvel greatly and express extreme
wonderment when he told me of 1t some
time later"