Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-12-27

Likewise For the Nan VINO Told
the Story OF low, with a Cao.,aI OF
Only 10 Cents. lie NON $t3...so on IA
Series of Horse Races.
This is the story a western man told to
party of racing men. lie proyNl it.
too, in part at least. hy referring TO a
turf guide and a church almanac.
1T was on June -. 1898. that got the
biggest returns on a small investment Of
money that it was ever my luck to get
before or since" he said. Il was in Chi
cago. The town was wide open. Some
of the poolrooms had 10 cent Combina-
ton pools. You could pick out three
horses on the blackboard to win for a
dime and get little ticket with a num-
Der on it for your combination. The
house took out a 10 per cent commission,
and the remainder of the entire pool was
divided among the holders of tickets on
the winning combination.
well, that Doth day of June | had just
a 10 cent piece in my pocket when | left
the house in the morning, and | hugged
il all the morning closer than a thistle
waiting for the combination pools to
open up for business. My landlady, who
was very good Catholic, had just re-
turned from early mass as | finished my
! morning coffee, and she told me that on
the church calendar it was st. Peters
day. In glancing over the morning pa
per | ran across an item also mention
ing St Peters day, ana later IN the
morning crowd of people coming out
from a church which | was passing by
! again called my atte,tieH 10 the festival.
about 2 O'Clock ! Strolicd into Riley's
big poolroOm, on tGC corner Of Clark
street and the alley, and began to study
the horses on the combination board.
Among the entries in three of the i've
eastern races which were Challcd up for
the days game were three names that
instantly commanded my attention.
These names were st. Peter, Peter i
and Blue Peter. These horses had no
earthly license to win any one of the
three races, but strive IS ! Gid to put
them out of my calculations ! could not
help linking them with the fact of its
being st. Peters day and feeling that ii
was going to be their day too. If | had
been the owner of SO note, | would
as soon have burned it aS placed 1t on
any one of their chances, b"t with only
10 cents there seem. ! % be everything
to gain and next To ma;hiu" to lose. SO
l got ticket on the 'hg".
"Then the telegrar.. .>.. U:ICrt began
to click, and they wt.H C.E After the
first Peter had gone Trough NJ !igLt,
as of course he did. | f.,t an amazing
amount of confidence. f.'aya the board
marker had footed up the total Of all
the tickets and deducted the ~ per cent
commission, he marked ~ on the black
board the total sum il The days pool,
which amounted exactly to $431.50. Now,
/ held the only ticket on the three Pc
ters and was of course entitled to the
: entire roll if only the two other name
sakes Of the good saint should do as
well as the first.
81 was quite calm when in the course
of half an hour the operator again an
nounced that they were off and really
took it as quite a matter of course that
Peter l. should lead his field home, as he
did, winning very easily and never for
a single moment giving me any anxiety
as to how he would celebrate the ami
versary. After that | wouldn't have
sold my ticket for dollar less than the
sum it called for, with Blue Peter, the
rankest kind of an outsider, yet to be
heard from.
race in which the last of the Peters was
to do his act, there was prohibitive ia
vorite against him at something like ID
on, which made Blue Peters chances
look very much like 80 cents, and will
confess to just a momentary weakening,
during which might have been open to
negotiations. There were all sorts of
odds offered against Blue Peters chances
%
them held a candle to the odds that l
had on him with my ticket. A hundred
to one is pretty good odds, but those fig
ures seem small compared to the odds l
had against Blue Peter, with over S437
to win against 10 cents. You may imag
inc that when the instrument began to
click and the operator started in TO give
a description of that race | felt much
more vivid interest in the proceedings
than if | had bet $4,000 on an even
money favorite who couldn't possibly lose
unless he dropped dead. Did Blue Peter
win? Yes, and when the official All
rightr came in over the wire few min
utes afterward there was only one man
in line in front of the combination cash
ier's desk, and he walked away with just
$437 so. / was the man."
1t IS not to be wondered at that the
group of horsemen doubted this story.
Then the narrator produced a turf guide
and the almanac. OF the winnings of
the pool and the amount of money in it
there was no proof except the horseman's
word, of course.
Its the most remarkable performance
on record" said one of the party.
1T is one of the inexplicable mysteries
of the turf" replied the man who had
told the story.-New Yorl Sun.