The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-16
FREAKS OF DAME FORTUNE.
MEN THAT SHE MAKES RICH
FOR A DAY OR so.
4 Truck Driver Who Won 900 at the
Racetrack and Enjoyed 500 OF u
-schmidt's quick Rise and Finish nj
(hicago-IMck OF n PoolrOom clerk.

-schmidts Quick Rise and Finish NJ
Chicago -iuck OF n Poolroom clerk.
ANY White Wings with the left hind
pedal OF a bunnic, a nickel's worth Of luck
in an air-tight paper bag, and n two-dollnr
shoestring, can pull money out OF the
pony game once he gets 'em 20 spinning
right, but IL takes a man with an honest
Injun conk and properly oiled head works
10 hang on to the observation-disclosures
papers when they drift his way In stacks"
said a member of the Bookmakers' Club.
sThere are scores of seedy-lookng
ducks, with lace-work around the bot
toms Of their trousers. making 50-cent
bets In the cheap fields Of the tracks around
here during the racing season who havo
bet thousands 10 a maiden two-year-old
race in their day. They're the boys who
didn't know when TO stop.
There's a fellow driving a truck In Long
Island City on this raw afternoon who
ran four twenty-five cent pieces into SIS
600 at the Bay track in one week in the
summer Of 90. He was then a gossoon
OF twenty-five or so.
-When he put that first dollar bet down
on a long shot he knew as much about
racehorses a. ! do Of the function Of the
coherer in Marconi's wireless telegraphy
scheme. But the Invisible young. woman
with the cornucopia had the kindly focus
Oh him. and she plugged him along. q,
The way he played EN- was both pltlfll
and scandalous. He handed me armfuls
Of money on four-hoofed pieces of scrapplc
that an oleo manufacturer wouldn't take
as a gift, and they cantered In first without
enough heave TO their sides TO dislodGe
a piece of quicksilver.
sHe PLAYED 'em by the drcam-book,
bv numbers, by the direction and force
Of the wind, by the initial and muzzle
velocity, and by barometrical pressure,
hut lie couldn't fall on the wrong one with
his eyes shut and his hands tied behind
his back.
HE began on n Wednesday. On the
following Wednesday morning he had
$4,000 and an overnight jag that was too
numerous to mention.
1T was on this Wednesday morning that
his three brothers took hold of him. They
were all decent workingmen, and they knew
that Larry had all that money on him
They had tried to get him TO soak II INTO
the bank, but he wouldn't listen to EN-.
He wanted to chase all Of the bookmakers
into the swamp.
ION this Wednesday morning, however
Larry was 80 properly corned up that they
had him right. They took all OF his $4,000
except 500 away from him and locked
him up. They fed him on copious rye all
that afternoon. and when darkness fell
they pushed Larry into a wagon and toted
him down to n cattle ship with the agent
OF which they maze dITafl ReinehlSs
when Larry woke up the next morning
the second mate Of the cattle ship was
standing on his diaphragm with a helay-
ing pin In each hand and rudely .inquirtng
IL he Intended to continue his siesta until
the steamer mad Glasgow.
Larry nursed and fed his bunch OF short
horns with great assiduitv until the cattle
steamer made the other side, and then he
lined out for Liverpool. He had found
the 500 that his sensible and weu-meaning
80 - ,,,ly.I 80, - d, Ii. xlaat Vnnutg
and he steeraged il back TO New York on
the first boat bound west.
HE was n very suhdued and sedate
! Lawrence when he appeared before his
brothers. That was how they had Inquired
il. They thought that Larry needed heroic
treatment, and they felt that when he re-
gained New York after mixing II up with
underlined panhandle cattle he'd ho IN
olined to he good with himself and his nice
little $4,000
Larry was foxy enough 10 string 'em
along on that when he showed up, clean
and sober, after his trip, and, after watch
ing him for about three DAYS, they drew,
the 1880 out of the bank and handed
1t over to Larry, who told them that ne was
going TO pass il over to a lawyer TO invest.
'Yeez will shanghai me, Will yee2f
hawled Larry when lac got his paws on the
money, and then he hot-iooted for Sleeps
head Bay.
flilIlt AAlI W. "AN's - '@''
they decided to let Larry go To the devil
In his own way.
well. that'u be about all OF that. Larry
fell to my little old slate for a good halt
Of II inside of three days, and the other
bows up and down the alley got the rest
Of It. And there's Larry, gltapping TO hls
horses to-day. This Is a cold afternoon 10
be driving a truck, | surmise, yes-nof
Il was on the line at Washington Park'
Chicago, during the Worlds Fair year,
when that moon-faced Hanoverian Schmidt
Goa Xed his $500 into $4,000 III the course OF
four days play. He didn't know the Diff
ference between a sure-enough racehoTse
and a barrel Of kraut, but he drove seven
men of the block that ] could name and
had the rest Of us gnawing our nalis ana
rejecting that, after all, there wasn't such
a lot of fun in the sporting life.
AT the wind-up of Schmidts fourth day
when he had an even four-ffths of 100000
thirtv weight Of his Chicago relatives organ
lied a posse, rounded Schmidt up in the
garrett Of his mothers cottage and told him
that he was to be fed and maintained IN
that little room until such time as hey could
have his mother appointed guardian of his
person and estate or get a lunacy commits
sion TO SIT on him.
They formed a regular two-hours-on-
and-four-hours-of guard around The
Schmidt domiCile, after relieving the young
man of his entire bundle. and for -four days
the Schmidt, boy was in "a state OF siege
in his mothers garnet. Then he corrupted
one Of his guard-relatives 10y the promi~"
of q sizaahlp niece Of coin when hc shuU!i
pet free. did a lam out o.. TIA" house ana 10
the home Of a lawyrr, and Two diy~ later
he had lie $4,000 back. II" moauros4
u Schmidt consisted ~ tly fact tha' OF this
nifty pile he didn't give li- moth, who
ran n poor little old bakery iUr a iving,
so much a. "a plugged nickel.
schmidt lasted gust INH utV' ~ Wash
iupton Park with his $50 49,, and his cXhi-
hition of Trr'ouic grief when he found that
- &C - Sc -H -. H. FLN