Evening star., 1901-11-23
THE NEW kIND OF TOUT

Casual raccgoers still hold in their minds
eye the type bf rae8-track tout that passed
out several Years ago-ten or fifteen years
ago, in truth. The eld-time tout was
rough, raueous-voieed, nliterate, shabbily-
clad tough. with a certain ease in talking
horse allied to persuasiveness of manner,
who tackled 1his victims whisperingly and
pretended to be attached to a stable, and
who depended largely upon the argot of the
track to help him through with the man he
selected to blk. The Pinkertons obliterated
this old-time' type of race-track tout many
years ago. The Pinkertons frankly admit
the virtual impossibility of eliminating the
tout OF the present species. 1t would be
IDLE to say that there are not touts of the
new type out at Benning this afternoon,
and that they have not been there ever
since the beginning of the meeting. They
are at all the meetings. Vain efforts have
Deen made to root them out from Sleeps
mead Bay to Inglesde, but their methods
are TOO 1oxy to permit of their being rooted
out.
The really discerning racegoers, those
VINO make a point of attending the local
meeting frequently, understand the curves
of the modern type of tout The modern
tout is nearly always man of better than
average education, of good address, often
oI me appearance, well-dressed-a chap
VINO knows the public and sometimes the
". ~ - - INC '''' SeS - city ''''' o'e -
The tout of this modern class is a stu
oent OF faces as well as of probable val
ues, and he picks out his victims shrewdy.
ne gets into conversation in a smooth,
easy way with the man he has picked out,
at the par, for instance, and such is his
front and his general makeup Che is as
iikeiy as not to wear diamonds and to
have fine pair of field glasses slung over
MS snouider) that the man he addresses is
pretty apt to be f1attered to be selected for
TAX by such thoroughbred locker, the
saying goes. This new style of tout goes
IN almost exclusively for big money-the
hundreds at the least, at the larger meet
Ihss-and he makes fine thing, as rule,
out OF his methods.
His pet scheme, like that of the tough
Iout OF other days, is to get hold of four or
iNe men with money on an afternoon and
inouce each of them to play different
morse In each race. He is almost certain to
PICK the winner in this way, and at the
emu OF the race he knows just where to
Hhu' the man to whom he has given the
actual winner. The tout looks greatly dis
treSsed.
-, BY Jove, old man. he is liable to saw to
Tue Fictim to whom he has given the win
ner' I've had hard luck with this one At
the very last moment, before put nv $500
oo"n on the one that gave you as a GER
tainty, l noticed, from the rail that the
noIse was bit lame in going to the post
anu ciean kerfummaxed on playing him,
ana came near running my legs off trying
10 10 ma you to tell You not to get your money
down. Good job, now, that I didn't find Won
Ell? Deuce of it is, l put the $500 on an
olher one and. of course, l lose. Don't like
TO ask you, old chap, but seeing that you
won out SO handsomely. I'm afraid I'll have
to ask you to pass me $500 out of your win
ninss as a temporary loan-just for the
afternoon"
IN almost every case, whether the victim
becomes suspicious or not that he is in the
hands of tout, he comes to the front
dS lHe track phrase is with at leac or
tlon OF the amount of the skillfully con-
trived touch whatever the amount NAV
De. Another method of the modern tout is
to assume the happy-go-lucky manner with
his man and to say:
Now, my boy, l don't know what you'll
.hink tI1i OF it, but l want to tell you some
snlng; Ihey got me for $1,000 yesterday,
and that wiped me out until nv remittances
arrive. I've got three good things TODAY
that l happen to know to certainty are
gong through, and I'll just let you in on
a proposition You put down, say. $500 on
each of these good things-and they are ali
cinches, as tell you-and hand over to me
we'll how'll third of your winnings
strike you? I'm only throwing this out
as d Httle snggesrion. you know, and you
are, OF course, at perfect liberty to take
II or leave 1t. No harm done either way."
rms scheme wins in many cases The
modern teuts are. as a rule, men of educa-
gone nat broke because Of their persistent
following of the horses with their own
money In former years. They take to the
toutlng game-some of them with no little
compunction 1t is bound to be said, in the
hrst stages--so that they can gratify their
uncomfortable passion for the racing game.
As said, most of them make out very well.
But all Of the money, or the great bulk of
II, that they pick UP by their crafty meth
ods, goes, back to the bookmakers.l The
Ilhkerton people are on the lookout for
these men all the time, but so adroit is the
type OF tout of today that he rarely per-
MUS nj hlmseif to be caught red-handed by the
seuths in the act of buncoing race
patron. When he is thus caught he is
ruled off, the courses, if SO dignified a
term may be bestowed upon a system that
aosoiu1eiy prevents him from entering the
grounds of any race track in the entire
country.