Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-13
AN INCIDENT At BENNiNG

VIM 10 % iona OF seeing thoroughbred
horses run that he generally has to prac-
tice great economy Tor a couple of months
after each Benning meeting. hunted me up
on Sunday afternoon last for the purpose
OF telling me that he had good thing
watermelon al ready to SLICE hog
Strengthening with the ak all sharpened.'
and other queer things like that, in one Of
the races on Mondays card" said a we'll
known real estate agent
Good thing, eh?. 1 said, scientifically
What makes you think it's a good thingr
Know a5fellew that sleeps with the
horse and eats .6nt of the same manager
with him. replied my enthusiastic friend.
Best thing of the meeting. Fact. You
cont nave to believe it, but / know it.
NOW, Monday's my busy day, and won't
nave chance to get out to the track until
about the last race if at all. But, as you
told me you intended going out tomorrow,
L want you to take a little money odtifof
me ana put 1t down on the good thing. The
GOOD thmg Is Honolulu, and he's going to
run in the fifth race Here's a fifty, and
L wish you'd get down ON Honolulu just
as soon as the betting opens, for the nag
is going to be heavily played, and the
opening price II just about be chewed up.
wen, l don't like to bet another mans
money, but 1 couldn't very well refuse
the commission, and SO took the fifty
ana told him that I'd do the best could
offered by the bookies.
L got to thinking about my friends
good thing after he left me, and finally
l determined to risk few dollars on Homo
lulu myself on the following afternoon.
THE tide of business that set in on me
as soon as I struck my office on Monday
morning was SO overwhelming that 1 for
got all about my promised visit to the
race track until after / o'clock, and then
I was iunching with a gentleman with
whom I've beenz negotiating somewhat i'm
portant deal for a number of months. He
was In a: laxative humor, and as he
happened to be a man of rather an austere
manner OF life, I couldn't excuse myself
by telling him that I wanted to break
away to go to the races, nor could plead
a business engagement, for the engage
ment was then filling with him had been
made two weeks In advance. We sat there
at the luncheon table until nearly 8 o'clock,
and then, when he. did finally give me my
liberty, l rushed over to the office to get
my topcoat and tell my young men that l
wouldn't be back during the afternoon. l
found my office fairly cluttered with folks
VINO wanted to see me about this, that and
the other-chiefly the wives of tenants who
had cropped In with set countenanceS to
demand spring repairs. I saw at once that
II I contrived to get to the races at all
that afternoon / wouldn't reach the track
until at least half of the program had been
run off. / reflected rather Wistfully about
that horse Honolulu. whose name had
fingered with me, and then the fifty that
my friend had given me to bet on the
animal suddenly shot into my mind.
knew that If the horse won, and at long
odds, without my having been out at the
track to get his fifty down, he would give
me the mourhful. reproachful gaze for
several months to come. had to talk to
the people who were waiting to talk at
me- however, and it was considerably af
ter o'clock before 1 showed the last of
them out. 1 knew that the race in which
the Honolulu horse was entered was due
q x nd SnI a
out, hailed a hanson cab. and told the
driver to gallop me out to the Benning
track as If all the mounted cops on the
force were )chasiHg his fare.
The cabBlan took the side streets for 1t
as long as we We're in the city limits, and
the way he got his horse over the ground
was a caution Z Outside the city limits
he put the Tsteedtat a run, and at exactly
eleven minutes after 8 OF clock l hoped out
of the cab at the, Benning gate, purchased
my ticket and rushed in. l saw as soon as
l got in the, grounds that the horses were
prancing at the post, and l skedaddled as
fast as my legs could carry me for the
betting ring to pit down my friends fifty
and little. fiftyasOf my own the Homo
lulu nag. ! had just reached the betting
shed when the. yell, They're off" went up.
and then the best [ could do was to mop
my forehead and humble things to my
self and watch the race and root against
Honolulu. i sawrtwo horses rushing down
the stretch neck and neck and when l
a
nosen 1 had to lean against one of the
stanchions of the betting shed.
Right at that point, however, my at
tention was attracted by terrific whoop
right behind me, and l wheeled around to
see my friend engaged in jumping on his
soft hat and yelling like a Comanche. He
saw me at the same instant, and he hoped
on me with a bear hug, and he did so much
internal chuckling that it was about two
minutes before he could speak. I was
afraid that he'd be laughing on the other
side of his countenance when I told him
that l hadn't bet his fifty on Honolulu
didn't look chagrined little bit.
It's all right he said L knew that
you weren't on the grounds, for was I'M
expectedly able to get out to the track for
you, and, not finding you, knew you were
detained, and SO 1 put fifty on Honolulu
and got 20 to L for my money, and I'm
only tidy little thousand to the good and
the biggest and coolest bot. they've got in
the she'd Sorry you weren't on hand to
take some of the. good, thing yourself, old
man. but accidents will happen
"Then he Jumped into line to collect his
winnings, while. L reflected dismally upon
the chance 1 had lost to gather in a little
spare change, wandered over to the bull
letin to see the names of the horses that
were booked to run in the last race and
the first name'I saw was Punctual
well I'll be Punctual individual for
just once today, anyhow 1 muttered to
myself, in bitterness of spirit and then 1
elbOwed my way up to one of the book
makers and bet the fifty that I had
brought to wager on Honolulu on the horse
Punctual. L didn't know anything about
the brute and when the man gave me q to
l for the fiftyI didn't thank he had much
of a show to! win-s But he did win by about
half a block, and inside of about forty
minutes after reached the track I walked
out Of the grounds just $500 richer. Which
was not so worse. If I'd reached the track
before the first race I'd probably have
played it with the fifty I took along with
me and gone broke on it. Wherefrom I
deduce the belief that the bald, bland
looking Stratford person who indited that
little saw There's destiny that shapes
our ends and SO on, was pretty CONVEX
SAINT with what he was talking about ;,
Canada's Tallest Man.
From the Chicago Times Herald
Edouard Beaupre, the young Canadian