Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28
HIS LUCK CHAN GED

!. Il have often heard about the queer ups
and downs of the men who follow the
horses" said a Washingtonian who spends
! a good deal of his time in New York. but
never had such close, first-hand view of
the vfcisstudes of pony player as had
in connection with a visit that | made to
the Bennfng track the other afternoon.
The story had it's beginning in New York
. a year ago last March. One cold, rainy.
gloomy evening during that month drop
ped into a pawAshop on 10th street. i'll
New York. to price some valises that were
displayed in the window
II was looking at the stock when tall
fellow who looked considerably up against
it. came in. He man of thirty-five or
So and despite the cold weather he wore no
overcoat and the suit of clothes that ne
wore looked shabby and thin. His collar
was frayed and his cravat seemed to have
had a lot Of wear He needed a shave bad
ly. His shoes were broken at the sizes.
He was a good looking well-built, athletic
man, but he had a gauIlt, under1eu appear
ance. and there was a certain desperate
cast in his eye that attracted my attention
as soon as he entered the pawnshop. An
other fact about MIN that attracted my at
tention was that he carried a very fine alli-
gaor Gladstone bag-just the article that L
was looking for But 1t was piece Oh
travelling gear of a KIND away beyond my
means should I attempt to buy 1t new. me
bag had hardly been used at all, and L
judged it to be worth at least so. When It's
owner placed 1t on the pawnShop counter L
was surprised to observe that on one SIDE
in neat gold letters, set of initials exactly
corresponding to my own were neatly
sta mped
Let me have ten on that said the
gaunt chap to the pawnbroker.
The pawnbroker shook his head with the
aggravating smile of pawrbrokers.
""Three he said, briefly. That's all We
ever loan on valiSeS.
T,,at lnNlr th1t npn
coatless fellow. and see If you think it
calls for any 50 loan
"'Oh. 1 know it's good bag said the
pawnbroker. but we can't get anything for
your initials stamped on it. That spoflS
1t for me- The feathers scraped away for
the stenciling, and there's no erasing stem
Ciled letters. Three is all
The man with the Gladstone bag looked.
for moment, If he would like to have
jumped over the counter and grabbed the
COmplaiSant paWnbroker by the neck. But
he swallowed gulp two of pretty visible
wrath. and | could see with what an effort
he restrained himself. He prObab bly,
thinking of the big lot of interest money
that he had paid out in his time to the
pawnbrokerS. and it made him sore But.
as / say, he kept his anger down. and
started In to give the pawnbroker talk.
1T was good talk of the sort as I
ever heard-the talk of an educated man
pretty nigh down and out, the saying
Is. He had been with the horses in New
Orleans all the winter, it seemed. And the
horses had got him, as, of course, they get
everybody who stays with them long enough.
He had made his way up to Morris Park
for the meeting there with a bunch of
horses He all in and he absolutely
needed front to be able to go out and
get the money He couldn't do anything
with So. He could go down the bay and
get enough stuff to put up some kind of
| an exterior with $40 note. That was the
situation with him. He'd be getting the
bag out inside of month-there was no
manner of doubt as to that. Would the
pawnbroker let him have the ten-spot?
mo. the pawnbroker wouldn't.
There's no use in talking about it. said
the pawnbroker I get talks like that ten
times day. If / listened to all of en- I'd
have to go out of business. Three for the
grip, and no more
THE gaunt man with the grip picked it
up-and he was pretty gray about the
mouth, too-and walked out without another
word. followed him out. That grip SEEM
ed to have been made to order for me- and
besides that. wasn't unwilling to help the
fellow II he cared to be helped my way
III give you $50 outright for that bag
l said to him, halting him in the misty
drizzle
He turned about and looked me over for
a minute and then he passed over the
"'All right, pal he said. and thanks to
you
Il passed Elm over a $40 bill He took
around the corner. carried the bag home
and have been revelng in it ever since.
out at Benning the other afternoon
was being pushed and hauled down the
line Of bookmakers. hopelessly trying to
get a peek at the prices on the horses so az
to get a little holiday bet down, when a
tall chap, dressed to the nines-by all
odds. the best and most taStefuly arrayed
man l had seen the course swung
through the crowd and began to bet $500 at
clip with every bookmaker he could reach
on a horse named Alforten. The book
makers accepted his bets without the
money-he had merely to hold up his fin
gers to indicate the amount he wanted to
bet, ana their sheetwriters clapped the
figures down without any interchange of
money-the method. in short, whereby only
the recognized plungers make their bets
Il recognized the tall instantly as
the fellow from whom I had bought the
Gladstone bag in the drzzle outside the
New York pawnshop more than year and
half ago
LAS he STROBE by me, 1 couldn't refrain
from giving him bit of a nudge and say
ing to him:
"'Useful travelling article that bag
HE gazed down at me for half a minute
in puzzled sort of way and then his face
spread into a smile and he held out his
hand
why. you're the chap that passed me
the double sawbuck for the grip, aren't
you? he said. That was the biggest TWEEN
ty I ever saw before OF since-Tve never
1t out. I'll try and return that favor and
he bent over and whispered: This horse
Alforten's in. He can't lose. Get down
and If he loses I'll give you your money
back and with a good-natured nod he
swung along down the line of book
makers.
Pm not a racetrack regular, but l know
enough not to take all of the tips that are
handed out on race tracks. This one, how
ever, looked too good-there was every rea-
son to suppose that the tall fellow who
fancied had done him kindness wouldn't
swing me wrong If he knew It, I put
down $40 on Alforten at to l. and the
horse won In a galloD.
I've seen that fellow about a number of
times since. riding around In red devils
holding down the best boxes In the theaters
O. nights. dining sumptuously off in the
cosy corners of the restaurants, and all
that sort of thing. And every time see
him splurgtng around that way 1 have a
mental picture of him standing, shivering
and overcOatless, in a March drizzle in
New York. and I fall to wondering how
long 1t will be before he'll land that way
again. Never. I hope, of course. But you
know those ponies and what they do to
folksn'
"Billets," "Ingots" and "Slab.'