The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-01
SPORT WHOEIKES TO
Get CONSTANT
ACTION
sIs
David c. Johnson Who Got
Nearly a Million From
Young Hostetter, Has Been
at the Game a Great Many
Years-He Knows No Such
Thing as Limit.

NEW YORK, Feb. 2S-David C.
Johnson. the man who won between
100000 and $1,O0O,00O from young
"Tod" Hostetter. is the most daring
gambler in America.
If there is any form of speculation in
which he has not INDUCED and played
a large part, 1t is not known along
Broadway. He has been broke"
hundred times. It is almost a certain
ty he will be broke" again. His spec
ulations are limited only to his re-
sources. His bank account is only i'm
tied to the caprices of the goddess al
whose shrine he Is d devotee. How
much of Hostetter's money passed
through his hands he alone knows
Gamblers detest publicity. AS John
son is a gambler. pure and simple, 1t Is
not likely the public will know any
more about the Hostetter affair than
has been published.
This man has been a conspicuous
figure on the race tracks and in the
gambling world for nearly thirty
years. He has made as many sensa.
tional plays as half q dozen Pittsburg
Pills, and he was at the game when
some Of the men who are prominent
today were youngsters. Way back in
the days when George L. Lorrillard
and Pierre Lorrillard We're the kings
of the turf Johnson was cutting a wide
Swath. 1t was with one of the LorriI-
lard horses he made his first star play.
Uncas was the horse, and the coup
that Johnson engineered with the racer
was the talk of the time.
Some Startling Plays.
In those days a man who wagered
$4,000 or $4,000 on a race was betting
as much as the man who today wagers
twice or thrice that sum. There never
was time when DaYy Johnson could
see the use Of having money lie idle.
and he made some plays that brought
gasps from the old stagers.
An old racing man. talking about
Johnson yesterday, recalled the win
ming he made on Troubadour in the
Suburban. Johnson was an intimate
friend Of Ben Ali Haggan, son of J. B.
Haggin. They were alike In many
ways, being of the same temperament
and fancies, and liking nothing more
than the thrill OF speculation. Ben
Ali Haggin was close friend of Capt.
s. S. Brown, the Pittsburg millionaire,
who owned Troubadour. Haggin had
a couple Of horses at Sheepshead Bay
he thought at first would have Took
In" for the Suburban, but later he
changed his mind. He told Johnson
Brown had q horse who would come
out OF the West and sweep the deck
in the East. He said he had seen this
horse tried early in April for one Of
the Kentucky handicaps, and the horse
had gone mile and a. quarter IN 3: o..
The trial was so easy for the horse
that Haggin said he believed 1t could
have been made In 2:08 If the Jockey
had ridden out. The horse was Trou-
badour. ~ |ass@ 1a-
Swamped the Ring.
That was a great year for the VIM
ter books. Edward Corrigan had sew
eral horses in the Suburban, and his
mare, Lizzie Dwyer, was favorite. It
was the first time a mare had been
favorite for therrace. On the day of
the Suburban Lizzie Dwyer opened at
to l and Troubadour at 8. The CON-
test brought about one of theemost re-
markable betting matches ever wit
messed in this country. Johnson, act
ing on the information he had received
from Ben Ali Haggin, got together all
the money he could. He and his
friends swamped the ring with Trou-
badour money. Capt Brown, had wa
gered a large sum in the winter books
and stood to win fortune. When the
betting closed in the ring Lizzie Dwyer
and Troubadour We're equal favorites
at Az to 1. Troubadour having been
backed down and the mares price
lengthening. OF the race there was
nothing to it but Troubadour. He was
q mighty horse, q greater animal, per-
haps, than ever HaggfnA in his enthu-
siasm had said. and he won the Subur-
ban hands down." as they used to say.
AS to Johnson, his winnings were an
nounced to be $96.OO0;6fyet few
months after this he was hard pressed
for money. on
Old timers also tell Nof a great play
he made on Herbert-not the Herbert
now on the turf but the Herbert Pierre
Lorlllard owned, and (which formerly
was known as Jem fPiunkitt. The
horse was In a handicap at Sheeps-
head Bay, and Johnson forestalIed
Lor1llard In the betting and made a
killing" that astonished the natives.
Always Wanting Action.
With race track plungers. as with
men in Wall street, you hear a great
deal about the times they made big
winnings, but details are meager of the
losses. There have been few seasons
In the last twenty-five when Johnson
has not startled the ring by daring
and successful play, yet nearly every
one OF these years Is studded with the
record of his failures score of
times he has announced his intention
or giving up the game, but every time
ne returns to the flame, only to be
burned again. Headstrong, passionate
and intense, he keeps dashing in time
after time. He has been a. bookmaker,
and could have amassed q fortune had
he been content with the percentage,
but that was too slow for his ardent
spirits. He has had faro banks, but
the percentage of the game has not
peen sufrcient to appease his appetite,
and he has gone out and "bucked" the
games of other gamblers The profits
ne garnered In his place through the
rich friends who gave their PATRONAGE
to him because of his pleasant address
nave gone TO fatten the bank accounts
Of others. He has been the partner of
Luclen Appleby,one of the shrewdest of
men, men ,,, put mat was teoJrslow for the
volatile "Davy" Johnson. The big,
dashing gambler was always wanting
actlon. He never seemed to be salts
ned unless he was getting lots OF 1t.
A Cock Fight incident.
If any one thinks that gamblers are
shrewd, Johnson will serve as an OBJ
Ject lesson TO prove the contrary. In
one of his trips to New Orleans to-
the winter races he couldn't get excite
ment enough out of the races and faro
oanks' SO he went to g. cock fight. The
betting was heavy. Johnson got warm
ed UP and bet a lot of money. The
bird ne plunged on was killed in the
PIT. When he returned to the hotel
handled the bird had Wounded it NOR
tally just before releasing the cock
for the final round. Re
A demonstration of how it was done
was given for the benefit of Johnson.
Ihere wasn't the shadow of a doubt
that ne had been swindled, but much to
the surprise of those present Johnson
laughed heartily and seemed to consid-
er the thing good joke, in which he.
an old and experienced gambler sup
posed to be able to protect himself, had
been MIXED like the veriest tyro. John
son gave UP chicken fohtire-nna of