Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-23
HANDBOOK MAKERS
Police Make Raid on a Local
Cigar Store.
J. E. MATTERN CAUGHT
TAKEN INTO CUSTODY By DETEC-
TIVEs GRANT AND MULLEN.
Bailed in Sum of Five Hundred Dollars
for Future Appearance-The
Alleged Evidence.
J. E. MATTERN CAUGHT

A raid made by the police at the cigar
store of John E. Mattern, 436 18th street
northwest, yesterday afternoon, the police
say, shows that the closing of the pool
rooms across the river has not put an end
to gambling on the horses by residents of
this city. Precinct Detectives Grant and
Mullen surprised the proprietor of the store
and clerk when they appeared with war
rant which authorized search of the prem
ises in addition to the arrest of the propr1e-
tor of the store. There was clerk on duty
in the store when the detectives called, and
he showed that he was greatly surprised
when told what was wanted. Mr.. Mattern
was on the upper floor and he was placed
under arrest when he responded to a mes
sage telling him that he was wanted in the
store. He made no objection to turning
over the money that had been wagered on
the races during the day. and explained
that he did not back the book, but merely
acted as an agent or common carrier as
he expressed it, and received a commission
of , per cent. The cash and credit bets he
had received during the day aggregated
Sol, making his commission S15.O5
The money was in envelopes and each
sum was accompanied with a slip of paper
upon which was written the names of the
horses and the amounts to be bet upon
each There were envelopes representing
seventy players, many of them making sew
eral bets. On the outside of the envelopes
the bettors had written their names or
initials, and the names indicated that the
bets had been made by business men, clerks
and others. Before making the raid the
detectives sent Policeman Armstrong to the
store to play 81 on the ponies. He played
parlay' on Joe Lesser and 'Filatory,"
and the result of the races showed that
his money would have gone where most
such money goes-to the bookmakers. Mr..
Mattern was escorted to police headquar
W ho .i,f. yxy;p, Il
tain Boardman. Later he gave $500 secur-
ity for his appearance.
Sent to Bookmakers.
The money collected by the proprietor of
the cigar store it is claimed was sent to
the local headquarters of the hookmakers
and eventually found its way across the
river, where the hackers make the return
slips and arrange the money in envelopes
for the few who made winnings from time
to time.
Mattern made no effort TO deny his con-
nection with the alleged violation of la W.
as already stated and set UP the claim
that he was doing a brokerage business
similar to that of stock brokers. Friends
of some of the bookmakers have been tell
ing them that they could conduct business
openly in this way without violating the
law, but the prosecuting officers held TO
the contrary opinion and set the wheels of
justice in motion to have the court de-
termine the question. 1t is not likely that
this and other cases brought to the atten-
ton of the court recently will be post
poned, as were the cases in which arrests
were made last summer. In those cases
the defendants demanded jury trials and
were not called for trial.
This morning when the attention of AS
sistant United States Attorney Given was
called to the case in which the arrest was
made yesterday he found the facts entirely
different from what he had anticipated and
was not prepared to go to trial. Attorney
Campbell Darlington, who appeared for the
defendant, was not ready for trial, as he
had not had IN opportunity to prepare his
case. The hearing was therefore post
poned, and it is hardly probable that the
case will be tried until after the Inaugural
ton In the meantime United States At
torney Beach will be consulted, and 1t is
possible that the charge against Mr.. Mat
tern will be changed. 1t is the belief of
the prosecuting officer that offense
more serious than the one upon which the
arrest was made will be charged.
Uneasiness in Gambling Circles
The action of the two precinct detectives,
who are working under Instructions from
Maj. Sylvester, in making the several ar
rests of persons alleged to have been in
voved in the handbook gambling has
caused some uneasiness in gambling circles
1t is stated that fully 100 men have engaged
In the handbook business since the closing
of the pool rooms across the river. A num-
Der of them, it is said, confined their
operations to certain departments. There
was business enough in the government
printing office, it is stated, to keep three
men busy A member of the police de-
partment who has given the matter some
consideration said to Star rel'Arter today
that If the clerks would stop squandering
their money on the horses there would not
be so many of them in debt. 1t Is the loss
of money in this way, he said, that causes
many of them to be behind in their finan-
cial matters each month"; and thereby
causes the butcher, baker and grocer to
wait for what is coming to them. Thou
sands of dollars are lost by them every
month, he said, and still they will not
stop the practice. The bookmakers, he
concluded, usually get wealthy, but those
who make the bets usually come to grief
sooner or later.