Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-22
POOL ROOM STORIES
Queer Things That May Hap
pen After a Race.
GET N WIS BY WIRE
WHEN BANISHED CAME IN WIN
NER INSTEAD OF BANAsTAR.
Warrenton Left at the Post, but Still
Won-A Coup on Tulla
Fonso.
GET NEWS BY WIRE


Fonso
Written for The Evening Star.
"A Washington acquaintance of mine
who writes plays. or thinks he does came
to me the other day and told me that he
wanted me to do a little cola borating-
that's what he called it, and il sounded
good to me-with him" said an owner of
thoroughbreds who did not join the exodus
for New York. bat who remained behind at
Benning to train his string for the western
tracks.
When he uncolled what he wanted of me
l got in willingly enough for 1t looked kind
of interesting.
Hes writing a horse-racing play. and
he's making the big feature of 1t a pool
room scene. What he wanted of me to
get the poolroom color. His idea got me
into a sort of smoke-dream over some of
the kinky call-offs that I've listened to in
poolrooms the country over since 1 first
found out what past performances meant.
THE biggest dump that / ever saw
whole roomful of men stand for happened
in Los Angeles plant seven or eight years
ago. 1t wasn't the biggest as to the bun
die that all hands dropped-though that
was an item, too-but in the mean way that
the skids were pulled from beneath the
bunch
There was a race at Louisville in which
the afterward famous Banastar, then a
two-year-old was booked to go for the
first time. The tip on Banastar was all
over the country, and particularly strong
on the coast.
There were about 800 men In the room
when the first line came in on that race,
and when Banastar was chalked up at TO
/ they buffaloed each other to make the
A. Nhn
was a tried trick named Bantshed that
later on couldn't beat a hair of Banastars
hide Banshed was a to thing But
the crowd was all for the Banastar soft
money at to l.
Stood to Lose Heavily.
81 don't believe the room took in a -
note on the favorite. But when post time
came around the room stood to disconnect
the wires, turn off the electric fans, slap
up the shutters, and go right into sudden
and eternal liquidation in case Banastar
should cop.
"Thats the way 1t was rugged when the
KEY trouncer a big man with a leathery
throat gave the They're off at Louisville
bawl
four lengths and when he was still four
lengths in the stretch the proprietor OF the
room petulantly tossed a paper weight
through the glass door of his private oince,
be hunting for motormans work on the
morrow.
1.-THE 500 chaps who had gone to the Ban
astar thing with all the rags and old iron
and bottles coin they could dig We're just
rolling on the floor, a lot of them. with the
pure ecstasy of the situation The eau,
tious ones who had to be shown the red
hoard first were watching the mouth of the
operator as if he'd been a judge about TO
dish them out their sentences.
After Banastar had led into the stretch
by four lengths. the key stopped WORKING
for A few seconds. Then 1t got busy again.
winner it announced Bah
Then it suddenly went on strike again
But it was all right, all of the 500 felt.
and they started to box and rassie ana
lump on each others hats over the success
of the great thing -,
in the middle of all this, however, they
heard the bull voice of the operator, who
stood up on the platform to give his lungs
full play.
.Banished gets 1t by lip he shouted.
'BanaStar second!
Like Caterpillars.
.eWell, I've seen the boys rolling out of the
gate and toward home with a lot Of the
baby blue on their maps in my time, but
/ never saw 500 men curl up like cater
pillars before a CRATE fire like those 800 did.
1t was the quickest transformation from
rapture to gloom that ever came under my
observation, and there's good reason why
the recollection of it should stick along
with me, for I had gone to the Banastar
tip with the kitchen stove and the bath
room oilcoth myself.
Once, about the same number of years
ago, l went over from Cincinnati to Cow
ineton to get a bet down on Billy divers
horse Warrenton. 1t was a long Substance
race on one of the New York tracks.
"Warrenton didn't look the winner on
paper dope, but 1 had heard something. and
l decided to go to Warrenton with all of
the loose junk then on me. When l made
the Covington room l found that the whole
push had the Warrenton steer but that
didn't make it look any the worse. although
it put a crimp in the price.
'Warrenton was 10 to l whiZz at the
track, but the best the Covington pool
room people would slap on the board, in
view of the ll-hands-around tip, was to
/. 1 took that with all the chicken feed 1
had. and l figured to put the room $1,000 to
the worse on my own little ticket if War
renton should connect.
The room shut down on the Warrenton
play when the sheet writers had written
$50 900 worth of the thing. The Coving
ton room was then one of the biggest in
the country, but they knew when they had
enough of good thing.
Left at the Post.
1.-The operator hurled 1t out at us that
they were off when the key began to fuss
and named us, the three cockroaches that
had sailed out in front to make the run
the lead at the quarter when, after calling
off their names, the operator made a
morgue of the room and a slab-stiff of me
particularly by bowling:
"'WarrentOn was left at the post
THE keno cracks that those porkopolis
players let out of their systems over that
announcement didn't serve to arouse me
from my stun. l was Slouching toward the
poolroom exit, babblng to myself about
shoemaker starters and barrier bulldozers
and things like that, when. with my hand
on the knob to go out, l decided that l
might as well wait few seconds to find
out the name of the winner, anyway.
TN let you fix up your own mental pas
tel of the kind of mob there was in that
Coyington pooroom when the operator.
with a look of establishment on his chart
and a mouth all drawn sideways. called
out:
Won Just the Same.
'Warrenton wins easy by five lengths
1T was the high kite instantly for every
man in the room, but it seemed unbeiiev-
able. The operator himself didn't look as
IL