The Cairo bulletin., 1904-03-26
AN OLD TIMERS
HARD LUCK STORY
Once in AiiIuence Bnt Now a
Race Horse Tout
THREE LAPS TO A MILE
N THE GOOD OLD DAYS ON THE
ELECTRIC LIGHTED SOUTH
SIDE ST. LOUIS
TRACKS.

itndkUttIS eStu Ihdu SltPPtU tNtt
uy's Blue Front restaurant the othsi
ght and approached the man wht
I'D charge of the "hasher' counter
andcd him out coucoction Of ths
hot as pay FOR a square meal Har
Fasnt 70 be "conned' ami said:
Who are yoaG'
Who am IL" calculated the strang
r. keen light coming into his eyes
well should say I'm a race track
ustler just now on my way to tine
prings, but if you would ask ME
hat I've been. il you'd take toe
ing to tell you Among other things
We been trainer, owner. CHECKER
nd every day toH, but these have
cen only some Of my occupations
Il got my first lessons in the bam
the old electric lighted tracks in
d. Louis. whore they used to run
hree laps TO the mile.
Wasn't it dangerous quenef
he listener, who now has become in
ent,
No not what you might call very
angerous, / got to riding there my
alf. A horse that could skin around
hose short turns and break Qulct
tas all the goods in those days ,and
n our hurry to get away we never
hought OF the danger Then We
ised to run jumping races on that
title south side track. three laps tc
he mile"
How could you have the hurdles
without having some Of them in the
urng"
I'VE didn't try. Why everything
vas on the turns at that little circus
ing. for except about fifty yards. as
fou broke away from the sand, III
vas just Swinging to The left all
he way.
Il should think hurdle races would
ave been dangerous on such a tracb
he best way you could fix il"
No, not half as bad as You would
imagine. rode over hurdles many
, time and never had but one &C
emit There was heven Of III
tarted In that race. and ii would have
,een all right but on the outside
lorse' there was a cross.eyed Niger
nd at the first jump, just as We
we're beginning TO swing he pulled |
light across us, and we were all |
iilei up in a heap, seven horses and
even Boys and that cross-eyed mig
-er was right al the bottom Of the |
lie.
Anybody kised?'
No not unless It was that niger |
nd as had my collar.bone broken. |
was not worrying about him when |
was pulled out of the tangle.
The Judging used to be fierce at
hat track, too, and ii was a pity. fol /
he sport was popular Men who |
lad nothing 10 do would stay in ali |
ay from the legitimate tracks and |
Q ont there, because they could ser
he horses better BY electric light |
n that little track than they could |
&c them By daylight on the bis /
racks inst as soon as they were
ent off a powerful search light would |
@ thrown on them and follow them
trough the race from start 20 hn
ih
The great trouble was that no
ody was on the level and when |
nything was doing the Judges were |
pt 10 be IN with II. | had a horse /
J half mile race one night. and
had had him bottled zap for a good
hing for a long time. He was ( to
in The books. and by scraping urI
very dollar in the world I bad. /
ct an even century on him. know
here was something doing Tor / /
aw some Dutch butchers and Salon
eepors betting fiitic5 and hundreds
n the favorite at even money and 1
new they wouldn't bet any such /
money if it was on the square
Well The race was un ana my 1
orse won easily by q length and 1
half and was waiting for the 4
iiicial confirmation Of the numbers Il
8 at first displayed. saw a bic 1
mtch 1illoon keeper booking at q /.
.cket and swearing
"a eare thiag. oh, and I bet s200 4
.onse mt itt and with that the DE \
alloW chHckoi fne ticket down in 4
be mud and jumped on it, Then
went off swearing in dutch. and
s. | lost sight Of him in the crowd F
stopped and dug up the pastchcard
ut Of The mud just to see If he
al really bet two centuries on The +
orse that had just finished behind
no.
Sure enough there IL was. 500
ven on the fayoritc. but as was
ull looking At il / head a great howl
b front Of the stand that awoke
be echoes over in Illinois. ] knew I
hat that meant aud without wait
ne for anything more ] went over
nd got IN line behind the boobmakef f
tho had ISSUED Inc mud covered tick
9 ! held in my hand They had
liuncd me ont Of 5000 hy the DIS.
ratification of my horse. bat / got
100 Of IL back. even 10 Il was little 4
ouah on lie tig Duichmau
Tie fellow was giver q SQUARE +
neal and sent rejoicing on his way