Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-13
GAMBLERS NERVE

'Pittsburg Phils retirement frols the turf
| Is not In the nature of any positively last
and final Patti farewell, but the real
thing said a Washingtonian who is init
mately acquainted with George E. Smith.
the famous turf plunger. who, under the
| sobriquet Pittsburg Phil. has been q dis
tinctive figure on the American turf for
about decade and a half. 80 far as
heavy speculation goes, Smith is through
with the game. He Is man OF admirable
common sense. and, although he has a tenn
permanent of Ice and nerves of steel. he
told me in the course of quiet chat in his
New York apartments last winter that he
felt that the game had begun to make In
roads upon his nervous system. and that
many years ago he had determined to give
up horse speculation when he felt this sort
of thing happening to him.
George Smith Is easily worth million
and half. all but $500 Of which he made
out Of the horses. The 500 was money
that he earned as wages while working as
a cork cutters apprentice in Pittsburg. He
saved the 800 UP with the deliberate idea
of risking 1t on the horse races. He won
from the beginning. and has never known
a losing season. He came by his Pittsburg
Phil nickname In a peculiar way. After
winning a couple of thousands in Pittsburg
he gave up his cork-cutting job and went
to Chicago, where, during the winter sea-
son, he risked his winnings in a pool room.
That was in the days of auction pools, and,
In making his wagers, he fell into the habit
of passing in his name as Phil. There hap
pened to be another Phil who patroniZed
that particular Chicago pool room. and. to
differentiate between the two. the pool
room clerk put Smith down on their sheets
as PittSburg Phil, and the nickname has
stuck to him ever since.
Smith is only thirty-eight years old now,
and he has always taken care of himself
He scarcely drinks at all, smokes only once
in while and has made the care of his
health his first object ever since he became
prominent IN the racing business. He has
never lost his head at any time throughout
his extraordinary betting career He has
employed business methods in his betting
transactions, and the business methods
have won out for him. The extent of his
caution is shown by the fact that. when
he had made his first s150.OOO. he invested
every dollar of it in the purchase of an
nuity that gives him handsome income.
He doesn't hesitate to express the opin-
ion that, for most men. the horse game is a
bad and often ruinous business.
. I had nothing to lose when I went into
it., he has often said to me. L had no
advantages of any sort. and saw nothing
ahead Of me but a life spent in earning
a cork-cutter's wages. 1 didn't mind the
work. but wanted something better out Of
life-an education, for example. The best
thing that I've got out of my success on
the turf is the chance to pick up. as I've
gone along, fair average education. with
nothing to lose and something to gain, then.
the horse game stood no chance to damage
me. But 1t does damage-worse than that,
it absolutely destroys-every year thousands
of fellows of different sort-men of educa-
ton and ability with their chances in life
all open ahead of them. They get the
horse virus into their systems. and l m tell
ing you that that's powerful hard poison
to eradicate, once 1t takes good hold. No
man who has a good chance in life, who Is
able to chart out his way, and see some
thing worth while at the end. has any right
to gamble the horses-to gamble at all.
in fact. I've had a lot of luck, and have
contrived to keep my head above water and
my health sound-but If 1 had family OF
sons I think I'd come dangerously close to
preachifying in warning them Of the dan
gers of the race track. It's a madmanS
game, and that's a fact
$50 thoroughly convinced has Smith al
ways been of the evil of horse betting in Its
effect upon the average man that through
out his racing career he has been averse to
have the newspapers publish things con-
corning his personality and. particularly,
the stories Of his great turf winnings.
Such stories he has often told me. are
bound to inflame the minds of young fell
lows and get them daffy on the horses 1t
causes them to grab at and run away with
the idea that there are millions In horse
race gambling for all hands, and 1t makes
me sore to think of how many decent fell
lows have gone to the dogs through reading
of my luck in the newspaper stories and
endeavoring to string along after the style
of my game
''Pittsburg Phils first great winning was
made on the horse King Cadmus at Brigh-
ton Beach. When he went to New York
from Chicago with something over $1,000
he looked over the ground with his char
acteristtc caution for some time before he
risked a dollar. He obtained a private
line ON all of the horses running at Brigh-
ton Beach. When this King Cadmus race
came along he had his nerve with him, and
he was ready. He was convinced that
nothing in the race could beat the King,
and he put his entire 5000 on the horse,
straight. at 40 to /. King Cadmus won in
a walk and Pittsburg Phil has had his feet
on the high rungs of the ladder ever since.
There has been really a comparatively
small element Of luck in connection with
the mans huge success as a turf gambler.
He has nearly as fine an eye for horse
and horses condition as the fncompara-
BILE John Madden, for one thing. and in the
second place, he pays staggering sums for
inside informatfon-not information as to
jobs and that sort of thing. but to the
condition of horses. owners intentions re-
specting them. and so on. He only bets
races In which he sees winning chance,
and I have seen him sit in the stand for
two weeks at a stretch without ever max
ing wager. He rarely takes less than 2
to on horse, although he is by no means
long-shot player. 1t would be impossible
to exaggerate the GOODNESS of the man.
Last summer I stood beside him the
lawn just after a race, when the jockey
whose horse finished second went into the
stewards stand and claimed a foul against
the horse that had finished first After
about ten minutes discussion in the stand
the number of the winning horse was taken
down and that of the fouled second horse
put in Its place.
That makes a difference of $40 900 to
me- quietly remarked Smith.
His face was absolutely expressionleSs.
and don't believe the shrewdest reader Of
physiognomies on earth could have detect
ed from close scrutiny of the mans face
whether that difference of $4,000 was a
winning losing.
"A forty thousand lose-out?' I asked
him.
"'No-win,' he said. I played the second
horse
"And the lawn was cluttered with men
who were throwing their hats up In the
air because of the disqualification making
them winners of from $40 to $40 each"
The "Dull Season."
From the Harrisburg Telegraph.