The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-05-15
THE MEN WHO SUPPORT
THE RACING GAME

Illustrated Sporting News
Who are the men who make racing?
From the members of the august Jockey
Club, which is all powerful in its govern
ment or the turf in New York State to the
lowly but well-hxed betting commissioner
In the clubhouses On the METROPOLITAN
tracks. long list of notable persons iden-
titled with the racing of lue-blooded thor
oughbreds can be made up One might go
on, in endless-chain fashion, naming men
whose fame has reached from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. for there are turf pillars,
SO to speak, on every hand.
Robert Pinkerton and John Cavanagh are
men of few words. Pinkerton has charge
of the rack track police and he has busy
time of it, with daily crowd of from 1000
to 10000 people to look after, with from
q. 900 to 10000 on holidays as an additional
pressure. But Pinkerton preserves order
with very little fuss and feathers. showing
what real discipline will do when enforced.
Cavanagh is the man in the ring" He
is the man to in case there is trouble
over a bet. Being constantly in the ring,
Cavanagh must have become hardened, for
there is the place where everybody lives
on excitement. There it is that the greatest
of would-be bettors take place each day.
with none killed but many wounded.
The bookmakers. cold-blooded crowd
of spectators, we'll posted as to the true
condition of each horse as far as their run
ners and track watchers can find out. and
always close students of form. They are
perfectly at home in the ring, where thou
sands change hands each day, and where
often the public's money goes up in the
ri he AOff fro,
the pencilers fat cigars. On a stool in the
middle of the big betting pavilion sits a
thick-set, good-natured sort of a chap with
sharp little eyes that are always on the
alert. This is THE Counsellor or, rather,
Sol Lichtenstein, lightning calculator, a
heavy Spectator and one of the shrewdest
bookies" that ever handled a sponge. 1t
is up to Mr.. Lichtenstein to make the
prices. In other words, whatever odds he
posts first are taken by the other book
makers as gospel. Lichtenstein is rich He
lives like nabob and is a typical man
about town. Eddie Burke is wholly in
LichtenSteins class when it comes to fig
ures and handicapping. but Burke is in
clined to be less conservative a specu-
lator. George Wheelock another slick
proposition in the booking line. is president
OF the Metropolitan Turf Association. Or
lando Jones, always with a Vandyke beard );
Joe Ullman. of Big Store" fame; Leo
Mayer, George Rose, Joe Vendig, Ike
Thompson and other well-known layers
are always on deck.
OF the plungers the best known is Pitts
burg Phil or George z. Smith. From
cork factory in Pittsburg. where he earned
few dollars a week, this sensational play
er mounted the steps to afiiuence. Pitts
burg Phil is rich man. How much he
is worth nobody seems to be able to guess
But that he has many bales of greenbacks
sewed up somewhere all the race track
sharps are prone to believe. Whenever one
hears of another killing by 'Pittsburg
Phil " possibly the idea takes root that
there is general opening of wine, the
lighting of many costly cigars. banquet
with dazzling lights, and, in fact, a high
old time, but nothing could be further from
the truth. Phil does not drink at ALL
neither does he indulge in night-hawk rev.
els He is quiet. studious, and knows how
to beat the horses. something that few can
say.