Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28
MEN WHO HELP THE
Willy BOOKMAKERS


races ana race tracks, without the WHY
bookmaker the layer of odds. who usually
goes off with satchel full of money, would
be like the veritabe fish out of water.
According to sport who has followed
racing the greater part of his life the book
maker who is provided with good crew
has occasion to pat himself on the back,
for. as a good many of the layers are con-
stantly complaining first-class crews are
scarcer than losing l to 10 shots. Speaking
to Star reporter, re said:
only a few of the best-known members
of the Metropolitan Turf Association have
retained their crews in steady employment
for years at stretch Most of them are
Obliged to hunt around for good men to
fill out vacancies in their crews at the be-
ginning of every racing season, and some
are in constant hot water throughout the
entire racing season owing to the instead
mess of one or more members of their
crews.
1T Is not at al matter of competency.
for all bookmakers' crews have to he com
pctent for the performance of even a days
work in the ring. II is matter of steadi-
ness The good crew is the steady crew
II IS composed of men who so to bed "A
night instead Of remaining up to play in
faro and poker fieStas and to indulge in the
liquid accompaniments thereof and turn up
al the track for business with clear heads
and steady hands.
Perhaps in no legitimate business is alb
solute clear-headedness more essential on
the part of all hands than in the business
of handling the public's money in the bet
ting ring of race track The trouble
with many of the crews is that they cant
break away from their addiction to The
game ana there Is no successful method
known of playing any game both ends
IRON the middle coming and going, as
most gamblers admit
Most of the men who work for the book
makers are those who eventually lost ont
after playing the horses for years from
the outside Finding the virus of the game
so strong within them that they were I'M
httcd Tor less exciting employments they
sought their chance to remain on the tracks
by obtaining work bookmakers helpers
Not a lew of them are eX-plungers. A
sheet writer for one of the big layers is
man who not many years ago was in the
habit of betting $1.CUD and often more to a
race. He hasn't bet a penny since he went
broke and took his job as sheet writer
and he is accounted one of the best men
OF his rating in the ring.
The bookmaker's crew consists of a
sheet writer, a cashier, one or two ward
men or outside men. and occasionally a
commissioner. although the commissioner
is not strictly member of the crew and
only the layers on the largest scale en-
pIoy special commissioners. The men are
well paid for their work. Sheet writer's
earn from SO to SO a daV cashiers from
SO to SIS. and outside men about the same
as the cashiers. Most layers employing
commissioners make special arrangements
with them, sometimes adjusted on the basis
Of small percentage of winnings.
The most important member of the book
makers crew is the sheet writer. To be
tOp-notch at this work lie has to keen
MS head clear as whistle from the begin
ming of the racing season to the wind-up.
He is the man who registers the bets
visitors at the race tracks marvel at
the adeptness of the sheet writer. A
trained and steady sheet writer has the
quickHess of eye of weaver. the hearing
of an Indian and an almost incredible dex-
tertty in handling q pencil When there
are hundred more or less excitement
CraZcd men swaying around a layers stool
and the bookmaker is taking the money
with both hands and calling off the horses
names and the badge numbers in a perfect
vo!ley Of words, the trained sheet writer.
amid all the frenzy of yelling and protest
ing and jostling, is as cool as the proverbial
cucumber
He rarely makes mistake. although his
perciled entries OF amounts and numbers
may MOUNT up into the thousands in the
course of an afternoon.
With the bets coming in like Biscay
tide his work is difficult enough even when
there are only four or five horses carded to
start in race. When the event upon which
the mGdmen of the ring are betting com
prises eighteen or twenty starters it is
simply astonishing that he does not go TO
pieces under the strain. In such q ton
heavy event only few of the starters are
played as a rule of course, but few bets
are nearly always registered under the
names of all the horses and it is the task
Of searching for the names of these ami
mails on his sheet that makes the Sheet
writer's work so heavy.
He sits perChed on a high stool, the pad
upon which his big betting sheet is spread
resting on his knees. He scatters the names
OF the horses entered in IA
sheet. The names Of those likely to be the
best played are AT the top and the others
in more incOnspicuuus positions
The sheet is ruled for the entry of the
amount bet and the badge number. In the
cases of regulars who patronize the book
constantly the badge numbers are waived,
and the bet goes down that of Phil or
Harry or Jim, as the name Of the regular
may happen TO be.
IF the bet be a 'markcr'-that Is to say
one in which the layer has receiv ID no
money, but simply the spoken word, the
settling up to come afterward-thc sheet
writer indicates that fact in registering
the amount of the wager. The sheet writer,
constantly glancing up from his sheet
the marker bets of the regulars come
in. has so excellent a memory for the faces
Of all of the regulars patrCuiZng the book
that he has their names jottcd down al
most by the time the bookmaker has fin
ished calling off the character of the bet.
1t is in getting down the badge numbers
of the occasional visitors At the race tracks
that the sheet writer has his troubles. The
habitual raccgOer, when he names his horse
TO the boOkmaker and forks over his money
Will stand stock still. no matter what the
extent of the crowdInS and Glowing going
on around him, and call off his badge mum
Der in a loud and distinct voice.
Most of the habiJual track visitors have
had one or more sorrowful experiences over
nOn-COlleCtible winning bets owing to their
failure 10 do this, and they take no chances
But the occasional visitors, who are gen
orally in a state of great Illustration. and
many Of whom are more or less unfamiliar
with the system of betting. do not do it.
They are so much excited that they i'm