The sun., 1903-12-13
A REAL WIRE TAPER, he SAYS
FIVE YEARS CAMPAIGN AGAINST
THE POOLROOMS.
s,or, Of a Former Telegraph Operator
Methods by which the Bookmakers
We're Deaten-Some Big winnings
--Onl, Three Genuine Wire Tappers,
He Declares: Reauir ements Too Great


We're Beaten-some Big winnings
--Onl, Three Genuine Wire Tappers,
He Declares: Reduir ements Too Great
| was one Of the party that successfully
tapped the Covington and Louisville race
wire Feb. o, 1901, also the West Baden and
French Lick poolroom wire last March.
In fact, have been in every wire tapping
deal that went through since ls9s There
fore can explain every detail as to how
wire tapping is successfully operated.
In June. 1903, | accepted position as
telegraph operator with the Western Union
Telegraph Company, 1876 Broadway, New
York and soon gained the confidence Of
the chief operator, as he assigned me to
the race department. which Is very trusted
position.
Al this time racing was new to me, hav-
ing lived and worked up to this time in a
small Canadian city, but I soon realized
the great opportunity of making money
IL could only hold the races back few
seconds, and signal the winner to bettor,
who would be In one Of the rooms on the
circuit was sending the racing news over.
In order to do this successfully l must
understand racing thoroughly, and l
studied for hours daily until came to the
conclusion there was nothing more to learn,
and in July, 1898, l made arrangements to
send an operator to Albany, N. Y. to bet
according to my signals which l sent over
the wire in natural way, viz: numbered
the horses in alphabetical order. and gave
the bettor the winner in this manner:
fos, Brighton Beach meaning No ! had won.
brighton b..
Post brighton Bch meaning No. had won.
Post B. 3. meaning No. had won
POST Post Beach meaning No. q had won. &c.
Bv these signals we worked Johnny
Mscks poolroom in Albany for eleven
weeks, winning nearly S20,0 900. when was
discharged from the service without
reason being given
In the fall Of 1893 we bought two COM
plete sets OF Instruments, including climbers
yotmeter, rheostats, &c. My friend, hav-
Ing at one time lived at Montreal. persuaded
me to 90 after the Montreal string, running
from New York to Montreal via Albany
and North Creek.
Having all the necessary paTaphernaia
to furnish advance information and cheat
the poolrooms, we started for the Montreal
room, locating at Albany. Here we tested
all the wires running over the New York
Central right Of way, but could not find
the race wire running from New York
to Montreal. The following day We tested
the wires on the Delaware and Hudson
River Railroad and found what We were
testing for.
How we find race wires has puzzled tho
Western Union officials for years.
We take a large fish hook, attaching 1t
to the end Of pole, then run wire from
the hook down to our relay through the
rheostat into the ground. By carefully
adjusting the relay and shifting the hook
from wire to wire, we can read what
is passing over each without interfering
with the circuit any. We are on higher
resistance than the poolroom. Therefore,
the current goes through our ground and
the news is not interrupted. without
the rheostat the current would run as far
as our ground and stop, leaving no battery
uan the poolrooml side
\ After finding the race wire, we look for
.buitable location, that is a house to work
M. After this la found, we cut in, which is
done at night, but we have to test during
racing hours, which is in the dav time.
IThe writer gives a rather technical de-
scription OF making the cut-in, which may
he summarized as making q loop from the
wire to the wire tappers' instruments in
such way that it shall not be conspicuous.
There is switch by which New York can
be cut off from the poolroom. the wire
lappers being then able to send any mes
sages they please.
In this particular job we listened to the
news passing through our instruments
for three days, before we started to relay
the races, principally because this was our
first Job, in fact the first wire tapping
since 1888, when Ave wrong winners were
sent out from a tap on the jerome track
wire
The fourth day we had our signals made
up and the bettor In Montreal. We started
operations by holding the races back Is
minutes.
The Western Union, to protect pool rooms,
signs each confirmation OF race with a
cipher word which indicates the post time
of the preceding race, and the bookmakers
In the poolrooms close race at that
time. In order to hold the races back
we had to changethe cipher word, I had
supplied myself with copy of the cipher
while working in New York.
If the confirmation Of the first race was
signed -Dotage," meaning 2:s0. we would
change il to Ounce" meaning PAS. The
poolroom would be expecting the second
race at 245 while we received IT. at 2:30,
which gave us an opportunity of tipping
the bettor of az to what horse had won
by arranging the second betting in fix ed
way.
These we're our prices. and only
one would appear in the second betting,
and that would be on the winner. The
prices we used we're as follows: IA,
l-2, As, e-5, e-5, SO, 7-2, s, 7. IL. rs. 90.
At the time we we're sending the second
betting in to the poolrooms. we had the win
ner, and changed the track prices slightly
in order that only one Of our prices would
be posted in the poolroom against horse.
The bettor had a copy Of our prices and
could easily run over them and find the one
corresponding price marked up against
Q horse on the board.
We worked the Montreal room with
these signals for eleven days. when they
refused to take any more bets after first
betting, We then decided to stay in one
more day and cold-turkey the room-that
is, send in wrong which we did,
breaking the bookmaker, who to-day Is
under the impression that the scheme was
worked by his operator and the bettor'
while the operator believes that II was