The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-06-07
Tricks Of a Jockey

Thompson used to handle when the game
was In the hands OF guns. peter men, sec
ond story workers, dips. and that kind.
All you had 10 do TO get to Gloucester
from Phlly was TO dig cents for a
round-trip ferry ticket.
bought for the ride one way. II was
you TO make a try TO ride on the Della
ware waters for the return trip or sleep
ON the nigh side OF a Gloucester hedge
until the next day-for there was never
any chance for you to cop the money at
Gloucester-never the least teenchy bit Of
a chance.
Gloucester was so raw that We used
TO play 'em down there &c .ose- To lose
I'm telling you right While the i to
baby was on his way to the post, wc
used TO give each other TO l that he
wouldn't be In the money, and the gazoob
taking this end never made less than
expenses.
"At Gloucester II a horse was bound
TO win. and refused to be pinched back
by his boy, the boy 'ud fan Off In the
stretch and take a chance on being
stamped 10 death by the bunch coming
along behind. ] never played 'em at q
track where the color bearing boys need
ed the money worse than at Gloucester.
There was one little riding boy down
there. about 27 years Of age. who re-
quired the coin so bad that he got into
the habit OF going after IL with pitch
fork and a dog-catchers net. His idea
was TO get all the money in the world
cornered, and then dish IL out To the
losers at premium rates.
He was a great Jockey-one OF the
best that ever shook poker dice at weight
ing-out time I'm a Jockeys dress tent
and, OF course, that made his game all
the stronger. He could take horse out
OF the shafts OF hardware delivery wa
gon and nurse him home at 200 10 1. or
write your own ticket, and he could, on
the other hand. choke to death a ! to Is
thing that the owner had mortgaged the
old manor house upon. He had the
goods. and all hands knew II, and that's
the reason that they all went after his
game when they needed something ex-
tremely fancy In their business.
He was hard to buy. You'd say $500
for this and he'd chew blade of grass
and gaze drearily at the blue sky. Then
you'd hunch IL along to $500 for the job.
and he'd reach over and pluck a straw
out Of the bale and look the other way.
Then you'd mention S+0o. just TO see
how he took II. and he'd say he had a
date with his wife In Camden to buy a
outside figure, and he'd yawn and tell
you that, really, you ought to be run
ming a sweat shop. where wages were
low.
Finally, you'd name the figure that you
actually meant to cough up for the Job.
u
difference. and mako IL half as much
again. or get somebody else to do your
navigating. When It came TO that, you
always fell TO his wiles and dug his price
But he had his days. like the rest OF EN-
| when he was too good
Arnan who owned a few, a friend o1
| mine. had horse that he had named
| Juggler. Juggler was sure enough
| race horse He could run fast. At an,
| time he went after IL, at any distenc'
| with any kind of weight up to bale o.
| hay, he knew how to get home.
THE Gloucester bunch got into the
| habit of ducking and playing all around
| Juggler for place and third when Jugglei
| put on the colors. Juggler was right or
any sort Of track, like old Blitzen at the
Gut Snow, hail, rain. mud or fast
there wasn't any kind of going In which
Juggler couldn't prance to the front
well, one day. after Juggler had won
a 2-to-5 race in dog lope. the man who
owned him bucked. The man who owned
Juggler hadn't bet q cent TO the race,
having gone 10 the bad playing the other
ones, and he came to me with hts grief.
1--WE got Juggler In for Thursday, he
said, and, Of course, he'll be the short
priced one. The bunch he's got to meet
Is a leetle bit better than he's run with
down here, but he'll walk In, anyhow,
unless an arrangement or SO Is made.
"'Uh-huh." said I. Ask me hard
one. You know the boys, don't your
"'well' said Jugglers owner. you do
the talking. then. That boy thinks I'm
a syncopated millionaire. and he'll want
everything I've got
80 II was up TO me. I saw the wea-
zen n-face that same evening. Said /:
This Is one OF yours for $500. AL
you've got to do Is to get TO nodding in
the stretch and choke Juggler to death,
or nearly How aboutY
"Ten moments later I had undertaken
to pay him $1,000 in advance for the lit
tlc piece OF work.
1.-The only way I said TO the boy,
then, that you can beat Juggler Is TO
wear him out before the race. you
don't do that he'll run to wind and cop
the dough. What / want you to do is TO
take him out OF his stall about a quar-
ter-past 3 tomorrow morning and ride
him all the way to Camden and back at
a dead swing. Then, at post time he'll
be tired Are you there2'
"In kill him responded the wcaz-
ened faced person, and then / thought
the business was about right
"All that my pal, the owner or Jug
gler and | had TO do was to play the
second choice. mutt that figured DOC
per cent. above the rest Of EN- with Jug
gler out and then ride over to Phiia
delphia and make Chestnut street LOOK
like a sartorial shambles.
However we were not doing blind
stunt and so we got a couple or stable
men to see to II that this keen jock really
ran JugEler on tho boulevard at dawn S
early light. / don't mind telling you
right now--what we didn't know until
later-that both these rubbers went right
TO sleep In their little white trundle beds
instead OF seeing 10 1t that Juggler had
his quick exercise. and that when this
swift boy that had undertaken the Job
brought Juggler out for his long spin he
only took the horse down the road for
about two blocks OF darkness. and then
sat down and looked at the fading Milky
Way for n couple OF hours. Then he
brought Juggler back to the barn. and
when daylight slipped along he did q
whole lot OF business with the folks that
wanted Juggler 20 win at any old price.
Eyes. JugRler won-by about quarter
OF n mile The boy who needed IL so bad
had piped us through the sewer system.
nnd I am free 20 say that when we re-
turned 90 Philadelphia and, at Green s.
stopped 10 gaze into each others maps,
we did not cherish that boy any more.
Far be II from me- remarked Jug
gIer's owned TO me. TO entertain any III
will toward 20 promising n young person.
10. Al,,a h,tt,s nftf fn Af~y