The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-11-03

so systematically guarded against the powers that prey, as one orf the race tracks under the jurisdiction. of the Eastern Jockey club. And it is equally true that were this not so there would be no place on the continent where the life and property of a citizen would be in greater jeopardy. To the crook" whether he be of high or low degres-a suave confidence man or a rough and tumble thug there is, obviously, no more alluring field, theoretically, for the practice of his profession than that of, fered by one of the inclosures where are raced. Nowhere else than on racetraek is money-a power full incentive to crime-so loosely and lavishly displayed; so tantalizingly Haunted within the apparent reach of greedy fingers. No steel gratings, no burglarproof wickets, such as safeguard the cashiers in every bank, separates the bookmakers cashier from the thou sands of persons who swarm around him every afternoon, jostling him, pumping him, rubbing elbows with him constantly. The capital of his employ er-known to the talent" as his bank roll''-is contained in an ordinary tin box reposing on the topo a high stool. The average bookmaker's bankroll, that is the money he takes with him to the track every day, amounts from ten to fifteen thousand dollars, and it consists of bills varying in denomination from one dollar to one thousand dollars. The number of bookmakers doing business every day in the ring of one of the lo- cal tracks is never less than sixty, and more often the number will exceed a hundred. At the very lowest estimate, therefore, one hundred thousand dollars, virtually in small bills, is floating
 loose for four hours each day in a space easily encompassed within half an acre. Law-abiding citizens, occa- sional patrons of racing, have often wondered why no precopcerted at tempts at robbery have been made. Many citizens, less law-abiding, have frequently attempted them. None of them in recent years, however, succeed
 ed. The latest attempt on an ambi- 5tious scale was that at Chicago track, where, at a given moment, dynamite cartridges were exploded in the betting
 ring by an organized gang of thieves. The purpose, of course, was to stam- pede the ring and to steal the cash box
 es before order could be restored. Not
 a dollar was lost. Only a few of the
 would be thieves escaped. From every
 nook and corner of that shed Pinkerton men materialized as suddenly as though
 A l r1 1elIl
 and wished for them.
 It is extremely doubtful whether such
 a plot could even be carried forward on
 a local track to the point of exploding
 the cartridges Certainly no group of
 self-respecting tcranls" with reputa-
 tions to sustain would think of attempt
 ing such thing. Every day there is a
 force of detectives, ranging in number
 from two hundred to five hundred, thrown out through the various inclo-
 sures, and the stock in trade of the in
 dividual members of this army consist
 in their knowledge of the big and little
 .'crooks" of the land; their ability to detect them if they attempt to ply their
 trade, and to identify them at 'head-
 quarters when that becomes necessary.
 The force costs the jockey club or the
 racing association that is holding a
 meeting at least five hundred dollars a
 day. Robert Pinkerton is noninally at the head of it, and he is at the track nearly every day to see that discipline and vigilance do not become relaxed,
 but, being a good captain, he has sur rounded himself with able lieutenants, and upon these devolves the responsi- Ebility of seeing that the law is not bro
 ken and that pockets are not picked,
 Two-thirds of the detective force, in fact all those that are not stationed at the various entrances, are in plain 1 clothes,'' and unless the racetrack pa
 tron is personally acquainted with them { lie has no way of knowing that they are not merely amateur racing men like himself.
 It would no doubt be good deal of a surprise, if not a shock, to the occa- sional frequenter of the course to know that from the moment he alights from 1 a train or surface car outside of the main entrance until he reaches the
 grand stand or the clubhouse he has run a gauntlet of detectives, that an inventory of his visible assets has beer made and mentally tabulated, and that
 his status in life has been accurately 1 estimated. Just outside the entrance three men in plain clothes are stationed leach day, and beyond the turnstiles an. other line is thrown across the walk Heading to the stands These men be- tween them possess as comprehensive 3 l mental rogues' gallery as could be found outside of police headquarters; 1 each knows personally hundreds of law 1 breakers, and it is a bold, or lucky ] "crook" who succeeds in getting by them Captain Haus and MT. Butler lare at the head of these splain clothes
 men, and either one or the other Is con- stantly on guard during the rush hours
 at the main gate.
 l It must not be inferred that because
 no band of organized "crooks" would
 attempt a raid on the strong boxes oi | the bookmakers that there are not plen: Ity of individual thieves and confidence
 men that will not take a chance oi pulling off a job" at the track Cap. tain Haus says that the number of mer -and women--' spotted" by him ani I turned away before they can gei through the trlrnstile will average twelve day. How many get by hin
 and succeed in running the next gantlet
 is a question, of course, which can best tbe answered by the number of com.