Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-09
CLOSE CHANCES IN IT

The newspapers recently told the story OF
how a drunken telephone operator in Gin
cinnati caused the pool rooms out there to
place the false price Of 10 to / against the
great race horse Ort Welles, when the fig
TIRE at :he track was even money, and how.
during tic short space Of time before the
mistake was rectif1ed, the sharpshooters OF
the pool rooms got down enough money at
the false price to shred the Cincinnati
looms Of tens of thousands Of dollars when
Ort Welles romped home. An old-time turf
man. a partner in a racing stable owned by
Washfstonians. was talking OF that affair.
The Ort Welles thing went through all
right for those Cincinnati fellows" he said.
but when the wise ones beat the price. and
beat 1t big. the horse generally beats them.
In the iacfng game luck seems to fight on
the side OF those who. through error. give
the players all the best of 1t.
perhaps the most extraordinary case Of
that sort that ever occurred took place In
the biggest pool room in Chicago on the day
when the great Tammany was a l to 60
favorite-one Of the shortest prices ever
laid against race horse In this country.
The Chicago pool room was on Clark street,
not far from the board Of trade building,
and 1t was room freQuented by men who
bet nothing but the large currency.
The operator at the New York end of the
line in ticking off the prices to the Chicago
POOL room failed to catch the on attached
to the track operators figure against Tam
many-6O to l an was the way the track
operate Rad sent 1t Out-so that the play
ers in the Chicago room were amazed to see
CD to chalked up against Tammany to win
his race against a field of comparative
skates-the wonderful Tammany that had
been sweeping everything four-legged be-
Lind him like much chaff.
They grabbed 1t instantly in $50 and 500
gobs, and nearly 100000 worth Of tickets
had been written In the two minutes before
the proprietor Of the room saw the break
or the board and called halt while the
! price was being verified.
Il wired 90 to l on and not go to l
against, the track operator keyed back in
answer to the Chicago room operator 9
query, and the roar that went up in the
room when the figures were turned square
around on the board making Tammany
the 1 to 60 favorite. as he ought to have
been at first, could have been heard four
blocks.
THE proprietor Of the room did the baby
act He got up on stool and made a whin-
ing address to the crowd, who had eaten
up the 60 to 1 against Tammany, begging
them to turn in their tickets before the
race draw down their bets. and not hold
him responsible for the error in the trans
mission of the horses price.
His speech was greeted with jeers. 1t is
an ironclad rule Of the game that a pool
room must stand for all mistakes. More
over the proprietor of that room was a
close price maker, merciless winner and a
IHedH HAL SeheIdily oIliy d Ie" udS Dc.
fore he had absolutely declined 10 refund
dozen large bets a horse that had
injured himself so badly on his way to the
post that he had to be withdrawn, leaving
his supporters without a trot for their duff.
The pool-room man had edged In the old
in the starters hands excuse for not pass
ing back their bets to men who had wager
ed on the Withdrawn horse, and all Of the
freQuenters of the room had 1t in for him
for this and for a number of other emery
sure thing plays that he had made.
so when he tried to beg off on that
$50 900 Tammany roast that he seemed
surely in for, they plainly told him that
he was it to make good-that IL the ad-
vantage had been placed in his hands, by
accident or in any other old way, they
knew blamed well that he would have hang
inch.
1.-The proprietor of the room tottered
down from his stool like a man with the
vertigo, just as the operator began to call
off the Tammany race.
''Tammany led by Philadelphia block to
the three-quarters. Then, to the amaze
ment of everybody, he dropped out i'll the
stretch.
He finished nowhere, and a couple Of
minutes after the result was announced the
operator stated that Tammany had broken
down hopelessly, which was the fact Tam
many's bad legs had let down under him
in the stretch, and the boy on him had to
d,smount and lead him hobbing to his
stable That was Tammany's last race.
"All of which leads me to inquire: When
a gang of pool room players get, by mis-
take GO to l against a horse that is really
chalked at the track at l to TO, and even
then fail to get away with the coin-well
how can anybody figure it out where ne S
got any chance in life to beat the ponles?'