Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-12


ing, whereas the ringer with the bum looks
was one that had been doing fine out %
the coast the winter before up to the time
he let down bit in front and had to be
turned out In conformation. way OF go
ing, color, everything down to the minute
points, the ringer and the horse he was
devised to do the ringing for were Identical,
the ringer being subjected to the daubs In
spots wherein he differed from the original
of his name. The beauty of this scheme
was that the owner of the plug in whose
name the ringer was going to run was In
on the frame-up with the shady trainer,
and was hanging around the track grounds
waiting for the thing to come off.
THAT badge horse would surely have
nudged through and beat bad lot with
which he was finally entered. on the last
day of one of the Long Island track meet
ings had a stable hand in whom the trainer
had eonfided kept the rum out oil his head.
"But the stable hand picked up a souse
couple of nights before the day the badge
horse, who had worked a handy mile IN
142 was to be sent after it-and we heard
later that the commissioners were IN every
big city in the country-and he blew II.
With the suds bubbling around in his mid
riff he fell to limiting around on TINS nlgnt
that he was the great big boy VINO knew
about the neat ring -around-rosy bapeSky
that was going to fool EN- all.
Just about an hour after he'd let the
first crack of that kind out of his system
some folks that draw wages from the
Jockey Club were taking a look at that
badge horse by lantern light. One OF these
persons kind O. thought he recognized the
horse. But he wasn't sure. so trainer
who had raced down al ST. Loo for num-
Der of years before hitting New York was
telephoned for, and when he swung along
with his lantern and took look at the
horse he was there not only with the name
H. i,,t on, htrf
the one that he was going TO do the ringing
for The horse and the shady trainer were
out of the grounds, looking around Tor
stall room for one, not long after dawn the
next morning and when, after meeting of
the stewards week or so later, the train
er's name appeared in the list of those
ruled off the turf lot of folks wondered
what for, but they never found out. There
isn't much poetry in the rulings of the
Jockey Club. but you'll have noticed that
there isn't much publicity as to the what
for of those rulings, either.
IAN owner who had raced on the Mary
land outlaw tracks, and who, when re-
stored to racing favor by the Jockey Club,
never quite succeeded in convincing people
around here that he really meant to be
good, had ringer all dipped and vanished
and ready down at the Aqueduct track
couple of years ago. The horse that he was
going TO ring a speedy Splinter from
the Chicago tracks and he'd given to this
one the name of just useful Splinter that
had been doing the northern circuit up
around Canada and Detroit, for couple of
years. The ringer didn't need much paint
for he was really half-brother of the
horse in whose name he was going to be
rung and looked very much like the orig
inal and genuine package.
But gentleman connected with the
Jockey Club who had served a steward
at one of the Buffalo meetings, and who
had also a pretty good line on the horses
around Chicago, took an accidental peek at
the ringer one day when he lobbed past the
stand in an exercise gallop, and he turned
and asked a railbird what the name of that
horse happened to be. The railbird named
the ringer. The Jockey Club official strolled
over to the barn where the ringers owner
hung out.
THAT one of yours hasn't got such
bad way of going he said to the ringers
owner. Steps a good deal like one I held
the glasses on up around Toronto last
year and he named the original package.
THAT owner took it on the run and over
Inc fence as If in fear of pestilence, fire,
famine and sudden death, and nobody has
ever seen him around New York race
track since that hour He'd been involved,
1t was discovered later, accessory before
and after the fact in a ringer case up in
Michigan few years before, and had mar
rowly ducked the stripes for that job. A
ringer worker in Michigan who's caught
with the goods hasn't any more chance
than a SNOWFALL down below. 1t isn't
states prison offense to try the ringer gag
in New York state but that owner thought
1t was, and he's probably beating it yet
with both feet If his shoes have held out.
4
But the folks that are set to investigate
suspected ringer cases have got to be
mighty careful before they let anything in
the form of an accusation slip out of their
countenances.
Three years ago an owner of the only
middling successful class, who'd never done
much racing except around Memphis turn
eu up at one of the New York tracks with
a doggy-looking sort of a string all ex-
cept one. This one was naughty high
locker for fair, and he pushed the clods
away from his feet so fast in the works
that were given to him soon after the
strings arrival that the ringer watchers
began to move their ears and to sniff at the
ground around that Memphis owners sta
BILE.
One of the investigators thought the
horse looked a heap like one of John
Schorrs good ones that had been sold to an
unknown a year or so beforehand John
SchOrr. 1t might be as well to mention is
Memphis man. But the owner carried him
self so well under questioning that the in
vestigator resolved to go slow. The owner
without any unnecessary violence reit-
Grated that the horse was just what the
records made him out to be-a four-year-
old maiden gelding that had never raced on
account of bad front-pinning. The inves-
tgator called in half dozen southern
trainers, who at once. and unanimously
swore that the horse was the one that had
belonged to John Schorr of Memphis, and
consequently a ringer
This made 1t look as If a sure-enough
ringer case had been unearthed but to
make dead sure, the investigator wired to
John SchOrr at Memphis, asking him to
telegraph back the name of the man to
whom he had sold his horse. Schorr wired
back that he had bought back the horse OF
the man 20 whom he had sold him, and
that the horse was in his Schorr's, Mem
phis barn at that moment That tagged
the ringer investigation, of course but only
just in time to prevent action that would
have given the on-the-level owner a chance
to snag damages out of the Jockey Club
big enough to put a large dent in a stake
race holidays receipts"