The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-18

in to it,"
"Flaneur in the stretch by two
lengths!"
"Damnation!' the poolroom proprie-
tor was heard to groWl over and over
again.
Then the operator blared out the
name of the winner.
The winner wasn't Flaneur. The
opel5tor shouted ont the name of the
horse that had finished second. The
second horse wasn't Flaneur. either.
Santa Theresa third" doomed the
telegrapheP with all his might.
Flaneur hadn't finished in the mon
ey. He had chucked the race in the
last eighth, and was beaten a head for
the show money.
The poolroom proprietor cracked a
wan grin and mopped his brow. A
deep groan, punctuated by profanity,
reverherated around the room.
But the telegrapher was fired. all
the same, at the close of the after
moons business. His break had put
the plant in peril of having to put up
the shutters, and he had to go.
The story of the Flaneur incident
quickly sifted around town, and there
was a lot of talk about it among turf
men at the broadway paddock that
! night.
"When the wise ones beat the price
and beat it big. the horse generally
beats them" commented an old-time
racing man who had made book and
run poolrooms of his own in the West.
| In the racing game luck seems to light
on the side of those who, through err
ror, give the players all the best OF
| ii.
| Perhaps the most peculiar case Of
| that kind that ever occurred was in the
| biggest poolroom in Chicago on the
! day when the great Tamnlany was q
/ to 90 favorite-one of the shortest
prices ever laid against a racshorse
| in this country. The Chicago pool
room was on Clarke street, not far
from the Board of Trade building, and
it was room frequented by men who
bet nothing hut the large coin.
1.-The operator at the New York end
of the line in ticking the prices to
the Chicago poolroom sent 1t that
| Tammany was 80 to on or meant
to send it that way. The on of
course, meant that Tammany was the
/ to so favorite.
| But the New York operator either
forgot to tack the word ON to the
| Tammany price or the operator in the
Chicago poolroom failed to catch the
| ON so that the players in the room
were amazed to see so to 1 chalked ZIP
against Tammany to win his race from
! a field of comparative muttS-the Won
| derful Tammany that had been sweep
ing everything four-legged behind him
like so much chaff.
"They grabbed it instantly in one
hundred dollar clips and nearly $780,
600 worth of tickets had been written
| in the two minutes before the pro-
prietor of the room saw the break on
fhe board and called a halt while the
| price was being verified.
/ wired go to on and not go to
against you IDIOT the New York
operator keyed back in answer to the
Chicago operators query, and the roar
| than went up in the room when the
figures were turned square around on
| the board, making Tammany the
to 60 favorite as he ought to have been
at first, could have been heard half
mile -.
"The proprietor of the room did the
baby act. He got up on stool and
! made a whining address to the crowd
| who had chewed up the 60 to against
| Tamn1any, begging them to turn In
| their tickets before the race, draw down
their bets and not hold him respon-
sible for the error in the transmits
sion of the horses price.
"His speech was greeted with Jeers.
The proprietor of the room was a close
T,rice-maker. a merciless winner ana
mean man generally.
S0nlv q, few days before he had abso-
urtelv declined to refund dozen huge
i,ets IN a horse that had injured MIN
self 10 such an extent on his way 10
the most that he had to be Withdrawn,
| leaving his supporters w'tnous 'r0'