The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-09-14
He WAS A
GAME SPORT
Interesting Career
of /" Soldier y
O'DonneII.

Soldier o'Donnell, late of the Pozt
has returned to the mainland, a tine
expired man. O'Donnell was well kneuE
among the local horsemen as a cool and
fearless bettor on horse race, as uxE
who would back his opinion to the umtf
of his roll il he thought he was right
and as a man who took his medicines
stoically when he proved to be wxuzE
O'Donnell had not been here long <xp
rumor begun to get busy with his nazue.
1t was said that the turf was his chosen
profession, and that only few years SEE
he had taught the leading bookmakerG
of the country lessons which they wouIS.
not easily forget. He was credited wath
having at one time owned formtdahae
stable of long tails the persistent arS
judicious backing of which netted hira
snug fortune.
Then, SO rumor had it, came the ines
liable lean year. ODonnen could uns
do anything right His luck deserte1
him, and with 1t a goodly lump of his
fortune. Finally he became disgusted
with his persistent run of bad luck and
decided to make or break himself ON one
cast of the die The chance soon came
1t was at an Eastern track that o Dun-
nell had horse entered against field
which made the race lock a gift for hzz
entry The owner of the apparent gooG
thing decided to go down on his horse
for al he was worth. He did So Nx1
only did he bet heavily at the track, but
he wired commissions to poolrooms AZ
over the country The race was q sepen-
furlong dash.
His horse got off well in the lead. and
coming into the stretch held a three
lengths advantage. 1t looked as IL Moth
ing could stop him from cashing his tick.
cts. An eighth of a mile from home thu
hoodoo got to work, and the horse drop
ped dead in his tracks. After this o'Donr
nell enlisted in the Sixth Artillery ana
came to Honolulu.
At the June race meeting OF IgN
O'Donnell is said to have cleaned z
over 5000. Then the old aching to again
own a horse took possession of him, and
he obtained an interest In that anaze
dog, Brock. Brock was soon matches
against pony called ManuleH, whJch
he defeated in 4 common canter. O'Dsn-
nell bet to win 81 200 on this race TAX
winning streak landed the soldier a wfrz-
ner over several other minor races, and
year ago he was once again CONTEXT
ably fixed financially.
About this time the race between Max
Rose and Lawrence H was run. ard
O'Donnell tried in vain to bet s. 600 tr
800 on the Rose. Fortunately for him
the crowd was all for the Waikapu any.
which was beaten easily by q nuruhsr
Of lengths.
O'Donnell next matched Brock against
Aggravation at three-eighths of a mia,
and bet bag of gold on the colt ThfG
race cost him In the neighborhood AZ
$1,7o0.
Later on. O'Donnell became interests
In the black mare virgie A., and more
than recouped his Brock-Aggravatiax
losses over race in which virgie A
defeated Aggravation.
Another race between these fvr
horses, which furnished the public VIII
an unsayory scandal, served to hrfrx
ODonneil again into prominence Tia
day before the race he claimed to hxvH
been robbed of $500, which he said be
had intended to bet on Virgie A II
affair was investigated by the police aue
two suspected persons were arrested hus
afterwards released. Aggravatioh WON
the race, and Dame ruu1or was unkir,E
enough to remark that O'Donnell wxs
never robbed of his money at all. ana
further. that he won largely over tn
victory of Hollingers mare
AT the last June races O'Donnen h1S
good meeting, and since then hSR
hardly If ever gambled
He was bold bettor. a good winneS
and good loser. Cool and calculatfnx.
ne possessed the main qualifications Of .
successful gambler. and enjoyed an en-
viabie reputation for straightforward
ness and squareness. Craps pUkex
horse-racing, 1t was all the same. If VOC
bet with ODonnell. you could rest assu~
ed that the affair would be transar4eS
with the decorum of a deal In real estate
He neither asked nor gave quarter Yes
took your chance; he took his
O'Donnell Will be gambler all his liza
Dalliance with fortune is essential to h5s
very existence. After a while when he
has got acquainted with the ropes. 4
Is likely that he will be heard from on
the mainland race tracks, waeerinx
his money once again on an heroic scale
and maybe, as of old, striking terror int
the hearts of the bookies."