The sun., 1901-08-11
THg PASSING OF THg TOUT.
NOT AT RACETRACKS As IN THE
OLDEN DAYS.


Desired Information Regarding the
Hervcs - Hew They Make Money.
The business Of 'touting' at the race
tracks In not what II used TO be. Time
was. before dope" sheets and books were
invented, when the racetrack tout was a
somewhat necessary individual. Without
the more modern methods Of keeping In
touch With the form OF the horses. the
'tout.' by close application to the work
Of the nags, was able TO- post himself. and.
thus equipped, he could impart mforma-
tion that was In some cases really valuable.
II was not so many years ago that the race-
track abounded In touts OF all classes. in
cluding those who dressed themselves In
swell clothes, wore make-believe dia-
monds and posed as horse owners and
trainers. The cheapest tout Of tten all
was tho fellow who hung around tho stables
and with what few bits Of alleged informa-
ito, hc might pick up gained a precarious
livelihood.
tho methods Of touts knows, the old scheme
was 10 pick out two or three horses In
race that had chance 10 win and give
one to one credulous bettor and another
to another and 10 on, with the result that no
matter who won the race. the tout had
man In tow TO whom he had given valuable
information In return for which he usually
received a piece Of the money This
method, however. soon lost favor becauso
wise men" at the Itrack-and everybody
tries to be wise-would not fall for it,
m tho Co h.. nj, t.r
into some other business or tried some
new scheme To-day there are compare
lively few touts at the racetracls who en-
ploy the old habit These who thrive arc
men who have the reputation Of knowing
when good things are coming OF. Betting
commissioners are Sin the know usually
and the bettors often follow their advice
Unfortunately. These commissioners, by
the way. might be said to bc type Of
modern end well l-devcloped tout.
Shrewd commissioners make money and
much easier than did the touts of olden
times Not that Il In intended TO infer
that all Of the commissioners ore not square,
but II is nevertheless a fact that some Of
them are prone TO do things that are not
exactly In strict accordance with the princi-
Piles OF honesty. For instance, il Is not
TO DO denied that some commissioners
shave Odds That Is to say II a customer
gives one OF them 500 to bet on a favorite,
the commissioner will como back with
the information that he has secured to
for the bet, when In reality he got 8 TO
8. II the horse wins the bettor receives
from the commissioner $40 plus 500,
minus percentage for the commissioner
trouble. who, incidentally profting by a
point In the odds. has pocketed $40 him.
self on the quiet. Several chances a day
to shave odds In this way net handsome
profit and at tho same time the commissioner
takes no financial risk himself
As the law prohibits the issuing OF pool
tickets, as In the old days. the bettor who
places his money with q commissioner has
no means Of knowing what odds wer
actually obtained and with what book the
bet was made.
The commissioners who bet money for
the women In the grandstand are, some
Of them. -shavers,' too. The women
make such crazy bets sometimes that the
just take the money and
lay against them instead OF placing the
bets with the books. In nine cases out OF
ten the horse picked out loses and the COM
missioner keeps the money, but once in a
while there's trouble. When Locket won
at Brighton last week il was possible 10 get
90 to against him. A woman in the grand
stand who had been an easy mark FOR the
"hold-out' fellows, called thin-faced sharp
eyed commissioner to her and said.
Here's Is. / want you to put Il on
Locket!'
The commissioner later told the woman
that she had put down her bet In the
ring 900 to s. and then went away, with
the bill still in his inside pocket When
Locket won the commissioner was seen
to turn deathly pale and then rush into
him. He hunted up all the moneyed
friends he had and borrowed enough money
from them TO pay the woman her S3O5,
for had he skipped the Pinkertons would
have gathered him In or seen TO it that
he could never gain admittance to a race
track again. All Of these commissioners
are licensed and numbered by the Pinker- |
tons and nobody but them can make bets
for the public patron
Commissioners naturally post themselves |
rs 70 the exact conditions OF the horses \
and try to know just what is In the wind |
In that way they are able to tout their |
patrons as to the best bets to make, but |
At the same time the touting is a secondary |
Anybody nowadays can |
OOk over tno pdhJ pefIOTndnces or |
thumb the dope sheets" for the previous |
work of horse, and learn readily the |
form as well as the possibilities of each |
As the racing public studies !
form more assiduously than ever before |
and as racegoers know vastly more about /
The game now than WAS their custom in |
years gone by, IL Is but natural that the |
outs services are not so much In demand. |
The education of the racing public IL ap- |
preciated more by the layers in the ring |
han by anybody else This is shown by !
he chalking Of odds alone. When horse |
ooks TO have a fair chance TO win in big
Held the layers put his price down as low
Ia possible because they realize full well |
hat the talent has figured the race Just as
,losely as they have and that the horse in |
question IL sure TO be heavily backed.
II was not long ago that though seven-
cen horses went TO the post In certain |
ace tho favorite was az 4 To 5. A dozen
,ears ago, when il was impossible to figure
orm so closely, tho favoriie In such a race |
md under such circumstances would have
,een az least 20 chance. For that
eason II is not at all strange TO hear much
ault finding among the talent over the short
,rices offered In many instances. But il
= all because the public has educated itself
n the ways Of the turf and knows how
O pick winners better than ever. Every
,ettor OF any account has his dope book"
Iandy and II is not O crude affair either.
{ IL neatly bound and can be increased
heet by sheet as each dav goes by. At |
glance, by means Of numbered index,
man can look over the past performances
4 any horse, which means his improve
nent or deterioration as the case may be;
he difprpnce I'm weight the condition |