The St. Louis Republic., 1901-11-10

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
George Erhlich. a citizen of St. Louis is
a bookmaker by occupation. Technically. he
is what is known as a "bockman"-that
is. he stands on his little block writes the
prices laid against horses in a race on
his little blao okboard, takes the money Of
fered him in bets. calls off the amount of
the bet. makes change when necessary. and
hands the bettor the ticket that gives him
right to demand the money it calls for, If
the horse wins and to tear it up. keep
or throw it away. If the horse loses. as
horses sometimes do.
Mr.. Erhlich has been a bookmaker for
twenty-five years. He is yet a young. and,
TO be sure. handsome fellow He gets $40
day when he works and he works as much
as any rational man would care TO work
about go days a year. He is known as the
best blockman on the Western turf.
Mr.. Erhlich stands on his little platform.
writes the prices, takes the money. calls
the bet makes change and gives the bettor
his ticket. for three hours each working
day. To the average clerk and salesman
who works al entire week for from IS to
s20 $40 a week for doing this work may
seem a fancy salary. and one which they
could easily earn If they had chance. If
they could only once secure the job they
would be certain to hold it down success
fully. That is what they think.
Let US see If they could. Let US see what
MI. Erhlich does for his s12o per week.
Some Things a Hickman Does.
The races begin tomorrow. let us say.
He, being an expert racing man., follows
the horses. knows them and how TO rate
their chances of winning. He takes set
n D, an azFa 90
of eight horses start. Thus he has forty-siX
horses to whose relative chances to wiz
he must corr city. estimate or the result
will be most disastrous to him.
So Mr.. Ehriich spnds three hours to-
night figuring the dope" This means
that he takes his turf guide. goes over the
races run by each horse. notes the weight.
distance, time, rider, start, position OF
horses at every quarter and the result.
BY a system of expert figuring, he reduces
all his observations to an exact science
He puts the horses in each race down a.
he figures them and then goes ON and lays
what he thinks is a proper price against
each of them. He does THIS Tor each Ot the
six races; then goes TO bed
At d. m. next day he goes TO the track,
secures his working outht nom the man
In charge there, takes his bank ron from
his strong box and puts up the prices I0F
the first race. Then il is that ne often hlns
that the public viii not accept odds ne OI
fers AGAINST certain horses, While IL Will
greedily devour what he oilers against otn-
ers Mr. Ehrlich is there to please the pub
lie so that IL Will buy ms wares, Sa pur bns a
horse figured to l and the public refuses
to play that horse, he hoistS his price Mt
tie by little until maybe as good as ~ 10
/ is offered His idea is to get some one
to back the horse, so that In case ne loses roses
he will have certain amount OF money
.'in'' on him. The idea of bookmaker Is
to get every horse in the race backed 70
win. If he can do this he is all rlsht.
Only one can win. hence he has SO many
others running for him. the more the pct
ter.
when n Bookmaker Is Out of Line.
If on the other hand, Mr.. Ehrlich finds
that the public eagerly accepts price on
a certain horse he very quickly concludes
that he is what is known as ~out OF line,
in other words. that :, is offering too long
a price, that he can G-t Just as many bets
at 2 to / as at 3 to /, so he cuts from
to i TO to l. If the people continue 10
back the horse he will cut until weight
of money may force the price off the
boards. Thus, though the bookmaker makes
his own prices, the weight OF money bet
really adjusts them just as the volume
Of trade in any market forces prices up OF
I So far Mr.. Ehrlich's job is easy enough;
Taking the money looks easy, but is II
on a busy day struggling mass of insane
humanity seethes about his feet offering
him handfuls of bills. Trade is brisk and
he must take advantage of the flush mar
ket. He must take the money, count 1t at
a glance. find out how much the bettor
wants to play, make the multiplication
necessary TO show what the total sum of
S47 bet at 17Iz to should be. calls the bet
TO the ticket writer. makes the change, and
hands it-where?
Putting the Right Ticket in the
Proper Hand.
Forty hands are stretched toward him.
Into what hand must he put this certain
ticket on Lasso, calling for $40 in case that
stretched toward him. Among them. no
doubt. is the hand of the CRATER who is
always waiting for such a mistake Mr-
Ehrlich never saw the face of the man who
gave him the SO to bet. and, If he did, he
could not tell the hand that belonged to
that face. For arms and hands are all
jumbled up In one great mass Where Is he
going to put that ticket?
Why, into the hand that gave him the $50.
He had a glimpse of IL once among forty
others-he accepted two rolls of bills from
other hands since that glimpse, but, being
a first-class blockman- he remembers the
hand. and into ii he slips the ticket and
the change without an instant's hesitation.
If he had to hesitate he would not be
first.clsss blockman, 9 getting SO a day;
that has given them money and do not
have TO hesitate.
Neither must a blockman hesitate or halt
TO look at a price that he has upon his slate
II he has fifteen horses in a race he must
place and show-forty 1--WE prices in aii-and
when a bettor hands up his money the
blockman must fnstantaneously and without
IeIefItuS 10 tlls sfdec out thc pIopcI
amount bet. the odds laid. and the total
amount Of ticket. Now the prices may shift
and change several times In the course of a
races betting, but no matter how often
they change the blockman must never refer
to his slate for Instructions. nor must he
hesitate an instant in calling the price and
The writer has seen George Erhlich take
money In q poolroom on four different sets
Of races SIX races to the sets, twenty-four
races in all. 800 horses In the entire hot.