Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-28
BY A NARROW MARGIN

AioS LAG sumo fdt tHS DCihAaS ti0$sN'
ARE those that arg set before me when |
stretch NIX legs under the mahogany of a
prominent and brilliant lawyer of the
crescent city. WHOSE racing fever once
brought him within just exactly three
inches of self-destrnction. He has never at
tended the races since that thing happened,
nor does either of US ever by any chance
refer to the incident when we meet at his
dinner table. as We often do while the win
ter racing is on In the southern city.
He was manor thirty or SO when 1
first met him on the old track at New Or
leans years ago. and, although he mad al
ready forged rapfdlyto the front as law
yer, his addiction to the racing game was
undeniably injuring him in his profession.
He fell into the way of neglecting his prac-
tice for the horses. thing which not even
the sport-ioving people of the south VIII
brook in a man to whom they conf1de their
legal and often their financial interests He
was beautifully supplied with money when
I first met him. Things were not coming SO
easily for me in those days as they have
been since, and this man on several occa-
sions insisted on helping me with his purse
when / found myself in tight holes. with
all, or nearly all, of my horses gone wrong.
and the feed bills and other expenses of a
stable climbing up. 1 had a sincere liking
for him, not only because he had voluntar-
lily given me these lifts when needed them.
but because he was square, attractive and
uidfl, anu lilSu lily bSSt ~
get him to cut out his passion for the
horse-racing game. 1t was sort OF hered-
itary virus in his system, however, and ne
didt seem to be able to keep away from the
track. He lost great deal more often than
he won, and inside of three or four years
after l first met him he had wasted on the
horses several tidy legacies that had been
left him. and had lost, in addition, large
portion of his fine practice.
Meanwhile. / was going right along &C.
cumulating the dollars in conservative
sort of way with plenty Of lucky breaks,
and, mindful Of the favors he had often
done me in previous years, had on several
occasions offered to help him out Of hard
spots when l knew from various sources
that he was out on the limb, although he
himself never mentioned to me that he was
being pushed.
''One day, however. he came to me at my
hotel, looking more detected than had
ever seen him. and he said to me:
Friend, I'm afraid that I've got myself
raj a winning Of $1,000 inside Of three days
somehow, or find myself in the highest
pinch of my life up TO date
Well I replied, Tn pretty easy just
now, although I'm not exactly $1,000 strong.
What I've got to the good. though, is
yours, and you know it,
HE shook his head at that.
"'No.' he said. I've lost out at the game.
same game I'm not going to let my friends
turn hand over for me. Have you got
anything In your barn that you're ready
to put through at a good price?'
1T just happened, that did have a trick
of that sort in pickle. 1t was toward the
wind-up Of the racing season, and there
was three-year-eld eating my oats that
hadn't raced at all at the meeting because
time that 1 was saving him for killing.
What pricefho you think you'll be able
to get against the horse? my lawyer friend
asked me.
Hoe hoo H., I,i1 c&oIJ %l,@ h.
ought to be cha4ked DIP at from Is to 20 to
L. replied. Is-~, 81
is he good enough? he asked me.
dence in the colt was great.
All right said the lawyer. Now, you
always do your betting at the track, and
I'm not going to do anything to cut your
prices on the grounds I'll place what 1 can
get together in the pool rooms SO as to
leave you free to hammer the books as
hard as you can. I want to tell you that 1t
will mean very great deal to me If your
horse wins
1--WE took look at the colt together an
hour or so later. and he looked as fit as
baby grand tuned to concert pitch. I had
not intended to attempt to pull off the kill
When nan y awyr wSom had oa sa
often been indebted, mentioned the fact that
he needed to make winning inside of three
days I knew that he meant three days, and
so entered the colt in a six-furlong sprint
to be run on the second day following.
GAS I had expected my horse opened up
in the books at 20 to 1, and 1 took thou
sand worth of that. My friend, the lawyer.
had taken the morning betting in the pool
rooms and had got an average price of Is
to for the thousand dollars that he had
been able, not without considerable diff
Guilty. to get together, for he absolutely
refused to accept straight-out loans from
any Of his friends, of whom he still had
hundreds who would have instantly come
to the front for him If he had asked them.
''The lawyer and I stood In the infeld.
just opposite the judges stand. When the
horses got away from the post mine turned
halfway around, so that he was dead last
when he got into motion after the falling of
the flag. The lawyer had always been such
cool man when losing that was aston
ished to see him turn to q peculiar chalky
hue when he saw that my horse had got so
much the worst of the break. and couldn't
help but prod him just trif1e over his very
evident perturbation.
Easy for it,, said to him; the race is
not over yet, and even If We get beat we
both have pretty square jaws, and I guess
it's not going to put US on the Stag dump
for life.'
well. he only turned pallid, set coun-
tenance to me without a trace Of smile
on it, and only then did 1t begin to bear it.
self in upon my understanding that the
loss of the race meant genuine and heavy
trouble for the man.
MY colt made up his ground very gradu-
ally, and coming into the stretch he got to
LnrOdt-laICn OF inc IaVOrlt0. j knew
the favorfte to be a bulldog sort of an ami
NAL. that very rarely surrendered the front
position once he got it, and right down to
the sixteenth pole I wouldn't have given a
nickel on the dollar for the chance of my
horse to overtake him. But my horse had
a pound or so left right at the very end,
and the boy on him all but lifted him up
on even terms with the favorite The two
horses crossed the line, as 1t looked to me,
just in that way.
"a dead heat. If we're not beat I said
to the lawyer and we started to cross from
the inf1eld to see the numbers go up.
Your horse wins by just three inches,'
the finishing judge called out to me with
smile, and then the lawyer mopped his
forehead when he saw the number of my
horse go up. We crossed back to the in
field. He pulled a new bulldog pistol from
his pocket glanced about to see that no.
body except myself was watching, and
tossed the pistol as far as he could into the
long grass.
That's how close was to a tragedy that
1t would have taken me good many years
to forget. I didn't ask him in SO many
words what his purpose had been in case
we lost the raGe, but that he intended to
shoot himself if my Horse hadn't snatched
the victory from the favorite by those three
inches there is no manner of doubt He
needed the $1,000 wifi which to exc out an