Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-28
NEW ORLEANS RACES.
Almost Another Riot Resulted From a
Close Finish.

For few minutes Saturday afternoon a
small riot threatened to stop the racing at
the New Orleans track. Men howled and
shrieked and crowded around the judges
stand. Ono big man. A. c. Carter of Brook
haven. Miss. carried away with what he
called "bare-faced robbery" pulled q big
revolver out of his hip pocket and threaten
ed to fill Judge McDowelps body with lead
The trouble was caused by lack Of con-
fdence In the judges placing. To many Of
the occupants of the grand stand and lawn
Ja5ette. the favOrite for the third race an
parently won by a head. When the Judges
gave their decision in favor of Tioga by a
nose the crowd quickly gathered from ali
quarters and sought by "cat-calls" and
harsh epithets to intimidate the officials SO
that they would order down Tfoga's num-
Der and give the race to Josette.
When these words failed to bring about
the result desired, a big stranger, a casual
racegoer, pulled a revolver from his pocket
and shouted: "Josette won that race, and
III plug the man that gave it to Tioga"
The race track police quickly surrounded
the strenuous advocate of personal rights
and after a short scuff1e took the gun from
him and hustled him out of the grounds.
Then the crowd dispersed and for the time
being forgot the incident in their mad de-
sire to speculate on the fourth race
This is second incident of like nature
that has occurred at this track since the
meeting opened on Thanksgiving day. These
demonstrations of wrath over the result of
close contests Is something new down at
New Orleans. Horsemen say that 1t shows
lack of confidence in the ability Of the
officials to place the horses correctly. and
Is the aftermath Of the trouble caused at
the Bennin8 track this fall by the stewards
there when they told Judge Mcdowell that
he had placed the wrong horse second and
had him change the order of the finish.
Josette was the faVorite for the third race
and heavily backed at IL to 10. Tioga who
received the decision. was IL to 1 shot,
but her chance was not fancied to any large
extent. To fair start Josette went to the
front early, and. with Eva Russell at her
neck. showed the way until the last fifty
yards. Tioga. who had been running
third. then closed with a rush. and. in
fighting finish. received the decision by a
nose from Josette. who was a neck in
front Of Eva Russell.
The New Orleans handicap was the fea-
ture event of the program. 1t brought out
a field of eight horses. with Big Ben. Doc
Streets bay geldfng, the choice at even
money. These odds proved to be very lib
eral. as Big Ben went to the front with
rush In the opening strides, and, romping
along with his head noddins under restraint.
led throughout the journey and won very
easily by nearly two lengths from Capt.
Arnold. The latter ran in fourth position to
the last furlong. where he closed with
rush. and finished two lengths in front Of
Ascension. which early in the struggle held
second place.
Floyd X. was plunged upon by Sam H.
Hildreth and his friends to win the closing
event. They backed the colt down to 2 to 5
at the end. With Fuller in the saddle the
race was never in doubt. Floyd X. ran in
good position until near the finish, and won
in mild drive by length.
The track was deep and heavy from a
thunder storm early in the day, but despite
this drawback four favorites ran to ex-
pectations. The other two events were won
by strong second choice and IL to 1
chance.