Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-05-24
THE BITERS BITTEN.

\
other afternoon.
| All OF them hae. to give it up, naturally.
What's tnS answer" they said.
The an4wer is just as | state tia walk
over that wasn't a walkover, said the
western man saw an affair like that
few years ago in Montana.
Nowadays the discipline Of the Mon
tana tracks is about on par with tDe
| high standard OF Iace-track discipline In the
! east, but wnen the game first began out there
the crooked ness engaged IN by all HANDS,
i from owners to JCcgeys, and even stablg
/ boys, not TO mention the conniying bookles,
was something fierce.
This walkoyer taat wasn't a wakovef
! occurred during the second season OF rae
ing at Butte. Nine horse owners were in-
VOWED in the cute little job. None Of them
had been having any luck with mis- string.
and they all got together and arrived al
! the conclusion that they'd 60 after the
money with gnarled club, they required il
80 badly in their embarrassed business. 50
they decided TO do it in THIS wise: Lach OF
J the nine was to enter morse TO run in
six-furlong sprint, and on the day Of the
race, and about a couple OF hours before
! the arrival OF the hour for the event, eight
OF them were to scratch their horses, leay-
I
/ course, to have waikoyer-just solitary
canter around the track, while the gang in
the stand wnistled an appropriate quick
step, to capture tae big end of the purse.
What good Was tAis going to do the
other owners mixed up IN the little play?
Ga, nothing, except that they were to send
| their commissioners to pool rooms all over
the state to put down gobs OF money on
the horse that was to nave the walkover.
4 All oil the Montana pool rooms quoted
morning Odds and all tlat the commission
.rs had to do was to plaster their prinei-
pals bank rolls around at the morning
| horse-betting figures on the animal that
was to swing around the course all alone,
| and thea to 70 around and collect armfnls
OF money alter the confirmation OF the
walkoyer.
"Well, the job was cleverly planned, and
it went along on creased skids. On the day
before the race the nine owners had con-
| ference for the purpose OF picking out the
! horse that was to have the walkover. Some
| Of them were for picking out the best ami
NAL of the lot, the one that would be nat
| ural first choice in the betting, so that they
could claim, in scratching out the Other
! horses, that they were afraid OF the favor
lite, and, knowing that their NUTS Es.e ~
chance to win, had concluded to take cir
! horses out. The majority, however.
wouldn't listen tc this plan. They wanted
/ big n.eney from the pool room proprletors,
7 and taey knew that they couldn't get big
money ii they left the natural favorite in
! to nave the wakover. So they finally
4 picked out horse that figured to be 10
or 20 to one shot in the betting to execute
the lone gallop around the course. The com
missioners were given the name Of the
horse that was to nave the walkover, and
on the night before the race they all
] Jumped out in different directions through
! out Montana, to get their principals money
down in the pool rooms of the different
towns.
"On the morning of the day of the race
they all wired in to the nine owners that
they d succeeded in getting e money down
at odds averaging 10 to one against, and by
the time all of these returns were in the
pool rooms Of Montana stood to lose some
thing like 100000 on that beautifully ar
ranged walkover As soon as the owners
go. word from their commissioners that the
money was down they began to scratch out,
one by one the last of the eight horses
only being scratched about an hour before
| the race was to come off.
Several of the owners were called INFO
the stewards room to explain what their
idea was in scratching out their skates and
| permitting a common platter, that was
bound to be rank outsider in the betting,
to elope with the big end of the purse,
| simply by breezing around the course alone.
They all told the stewards that their horses
had been taken more or less sick that
morning, owing to a new lot of inferior
feed that had arrived at the barns the day
LafN q ~ ftsnxr NlovN ttnrl
that, but, as / say, pretty near any old
thing went on the Montana tracks at that
time, and the owners got away with their
| little yarn all right.
"Wel, the walkover was the second event
on the card, and when post time for the
second race arrived, the solitary mutt came
a-dancing out of the paddock onto the
course, and started to jog around the track
amid the whistling and stamping of the
regulars in the stand.
When the horse was nearing the far
| turn on the back stretch something queer
| happened. The animal was seen to come
to a gradual stop, and just as he was due
| TO make the bend he came to a dead stop,
gazed dreamily over the railing, and then
| deliberately lay down in a soft spot right
| In the middle OF the track. The boy on his
back slipped off, and he started to punch
and poke the waikover horse, but 1t was
no use.
''The skate was just too sleepy to yield to
any sort of persuasion short of dynamite,
and the hundreds of track followers who
hustled up TO the far turn to see what the
matter was found the horse sleeping just
~ peacefully as grounding coiled up in
his burrow for the winter They did every
thing imaginable to get the mutt to stand
up and finish his walkover jog so as to fin
ish within the time limit but it was abso
| lutely no go, and the time limit expired
thus making the race no contest, while
the animal lay there on the track, a-slum-
berng.
III You t~sy saw sAeepish-ooling lot
! OF horsemen, those nine owners were tie in
dividuals. Their hog killing hadn't com,
off, and not only that but they had lost
al Of the money that their commissioners
had bet, for morning betting in pool rooms
is the cllled 'pay-or-play' sort, and,
the wakover horse having failed to exc
L. II 49,