The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-05
100000 IN TURF SCANDAL.
BOOKNAkERS BELIEVE "THE
FIDDLER" rs A RINGER.
His Victory at Morris Park ON Saturday
Hits Books All Over the Country
--Horse Thought to BE MacNa-
Observation-Disclosures Ryan Said to
Have Won $4,000 ON tho Race.

mAfA-Eet.Rlch.QuiC Ryan Said to
Have Won 100000 ON tho Race.
The stewards Of the Westchester Racing
Association will begin to-day a rigid in
vestigation into the running and identity
of The Fiddler. the bay gelding who won
the last race at Morris Park on Saturday
at long price and took $4,000 out OF
the ring. A conservative estimate of the
winnings on the coup made in poolrooms
all over the country places the amount at
100000 apportioned thus: New York,
1I0O, 900; Chicago. 500 400; San Francisco,
$4,000; Louisville, $4,000 and smaller sums
in other cities. Chicago credits John Ryan,
the st. Louis 'get-rich-quick" man, with
hitting the books in that city for 500 900
on the race.
A despatch from California received
last night stated that great deal
Of money had been bet on the horse in the
West and that an intimation had come to
the poolroom keepers there that The Fiddler
was not the horse who ran in st. Louis
under that name and showed little speed
but was supposed to be MacNamara,a horse
who is believed to have figure ed In similar
inoidents before.
Two leading poolroom keepers In CALI
fornia even went 90 far as to suspend all
bets until the identity Of the horse is es-
tablished without doubt and, although
the poolroom men have no standing before
the Racing Association, it is certain that
any suggestion that ringer" has been
run here will be the subject of the strictest
investigation.
The victory Of the horse hit the book
makers and poolroom keepers hard all
over the country. The horse was brought
here from the West lately and students Of
form found that The Fiddler figured to
finish pretty near the rear Of the bunch
In April Tho Fiddler ran in California
next to last in a field Of twelve. At St.
Louis on July 80 he ran seventh in field
Of ten, and after that did not appear in
the West. His last race there was so sorry
that followers Of the turf thought he was
dead or had been sold to pull an express
wagon. With such record upon which
to Judge the chances OF The Fiddler the
bookmakers put up 80 to against him.
and the money began to pour in. At post
time 1t was still coming.
Leo Mayer. George Rose, Billy Cowan
and Eddie Burke were the heaviest hit Of
the hookmakers at Morris Park They
didn't discover that there had been an un-
usually heavy play on The Fiddler until
they got back to town and began to
examine their sheets.
Then their eyes opened and the gloom
was thick at the Metropolitan Turf Club.
the headquarters of the bookmakers, in
West Twenty-sixth street. Yesterday the
hookmaksrs were Specializing as to who
had engineered the coup and marvelling
at the cleverness with which the money
was poured into the ring without attract
ing the attention Of the layers
Gamblers figured out last night that in
addition to the $500 900 won at Morris Park,
at least 500 900 was taken out OF the pool
rooms In this city.
1T IL undoubtedly the biggest coup in
the history of the ring, said leading book
maker, who handles as much money as any
Of his craft. we didn't discover how hard
we had been hit until we got back to town
on Saturday night and went over our sheets.
Then we were astonished.
up to date $500 900 has been paid ont by
the Morris Park bookmakers. That is
q conservative estimate and you might
add 600 to it and not be far out Of the
way. u was a clever job and that's sure.
We didn't notice anything strange be-
cause the money was put down in small
SUITS. don't think that any OF the bets
was over $50 Most Of them were about $40.
A gang Of men and boys put down the
money Because the bets were so small
the odds we're not cut
As good as 80 to 1 could be had in some
books and there was no difficulty in getting
20 to 1 at any time.
we haven't got any idea as to who put
the thing through. Certainly no one prom
inent In the racing or betting game took
any part in the ring proceedings.
Since we have been talking the thing
over It would seem. from the general
opinion that MacNamara was the ringer.
We felt pretty blue this morning when
saw that the papers said we had winning
day on Saturday; not when we paid out
10000 on The Fiddler.
And you can bet that the boys who
stay in town and take bets In the poolrooms
were stuck for at least 100000.
-We can't do anything about 1t and there's
no good in kicking. We've paid out the
money and that settles it. We can't get 1t
back and we've got to take our medicine
II The Fiddler, who ran such an astonish-
Ing race on Saturday, sthe same The Fiddle
who ran so poorly at st. Louis, he turned
out to be one of the sweetest good things"
that has been put through this year. If it
was The Fiddler on whom the killing was
made there was most startling reversal
Of form, but OF that the stewards can take
no notice. as they have no utilization with
the Western tracks.
When news began to pour in from many
cities all over the country about the big
amounts Of money which had been taken
from tho poolrooms, those who heard 1t
began to put two and two together and
take more and more stock in the belief that
The Fiddler Of Saturday was ringer, A
racing man who Is known to every follower
Of the sport expressed his belief that the
probability that something was wrong
Ia great.
There hasn't been ringer put through
in tho East In years, he said, shut when I
come to think Of 1t. I think something sensa-
tional may come OF this. I was at New
Orleans when Hiram johnson ran and 1t
was generally believed that a good horse
had been brought in from somewhere
and run In his name. Hiram johnson
couldn't be found after the race and hasn't
been seen since. had a good look at the
horse down there and remember that 1t
was said after his race when accusations