Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-20
BETTING BY SYSTEMS

nat StuH IN the green part VI i ne star
a Sunday two ago about the system
gag in connection with the pony thing was
about right" observed the unshaven man
whose clothing was not new. 1.-THE sys-
TENS haven't got me working the barrel
houses yet, but they sure gave me good
start.
II stayed with hull lot Of the systems
till looked like the reclining figure in the
foreground of flashlight picture of the
famine in Beloochistan, and one OF 'em
was that consensus system that The Star
published the stuff about.
Its one of those can't-lose systems. tnat
consensus thing. You can't lose at 1t.
J mean. when you play It with pencil and
! pad. But when you fall for it with the
| rag carpet andrhe kitchen oilcloth because
you need the kale to keep the landlady
! from hanging a combination paddock on
your door while you're around the corner
| stalking yourself to three cents worth of
!, ginger snaps for supper, the consensus
system is just as good and game a loser
| as all the rest of 'em, and If l don't know,
| matey, good Old Doctor Consensus himself
| isn't there with the wisdom about his own
prescription.
| to do is to pick out the stingaree that the
! ma jcrity of the newspaper pickers pick
| out in their regular selections of the plugs
! that are going to deliver the duH-maybe.
| ''Then you wrap up piece of gaS-pfpe In
| a piece of an abandoned shirt and go out
! and hunt for the price to play those con-
| sensus things a combination basis. After
! you've trudged along with the consensus
system for about three months you'll know
| how to write series of articles for ten
| cent magazine about How to Get BY on
the Eat Thing Without Earning Anything.
| thing
| Il played the consensus system consist
| entity for about three MONTHS and at the
end of that time I stepped on one of those
| weight through a photograph. The best
that the machine would stake me to was:
Git "or-you don't weigh enough to regis
| ter-git orr
| for me. And 1 suppose that's perfectly
miserable one on paper, too, that Jockey
| system.
| The smudge who worked that one out
for me on paper had fringe on the bottoms
! of his trousers that reminded me OF old
| fashioned lambrequin tassels, but he could
make it sound so good that fell into the
| habit, as I listened to him, OF feeling
| around for pair of coupon scissors.
But when 1 fell for the jockey system
| the boys who had been mailing four wins
| and two seconds a day out Of six races
would bring forty-three consecutive also
| rams under the string. and the minute I'd
| cut such boy out Of my list the next
time out he'd fetch a go to 1 crab home In
| a two-step, and that's how 1 was tagged
and famed. coming and going. both ends
from the middle, by the jockey system.
| LAS soon as I'd get mashed on a coming
boy. just signed by Sidney Paget or Jack
| Joyner or j. r. Keene at a salary of what
| ever the turf writers wanted to scratch it
| down at, the kid would develop into a
| stretch sulker or a rum fighter, or they d
| get to him from the outside, and that
| would put me out on the dump once more
| "All that I ever got out Of the jockey
| system was knowledge of quintuple entry
bookkeeping that would get me a job any
| time I needed 1t as fourth assistant ac-
| countant for the official dog catcher.
Then 1 fell up against that follow-the-
money system-that is when the horses
| were racing right here at Benning. I'd
just keep the duff right down at the bot
| tom of my kick until l saw how the boys
who showed some few thousands in on each
race got down. If I saw one of the hot
eating up the price against something that
| didn't look good enough to me to have even
| an outside chance, I'd shut my eyes to my
own line of dope and go to the one they
| played with all the enthusiasm of a period-
| cal sudser getting a highball lightup for
| the first time in year.
Il hadn't any sooner begun to play the
| observation-disclosures system and
chasing the plungers and their commission
ers around the ring than the turf reporters
began to print stories of how much all Of
| the noted plungers were losing.
'One day last spring at Benning I saw
| one of the gr-r-reat plungers all but break
ing folks arms, cantering up and down the
! line, betting $500 and 81 900 at clip with
/ the dig DOCKS on an even money CruStdCedn
| that Miller was riding. 1 all but slaughter
ed number of weak little men who were
I in my way in getting down my $32 on that
| one. When the race was over and the
| plunger's Miller-ridden thing showed daz-
cling speed after the numbers of the three
placed horses had been hung up, the
| plunger person. I observed, cooled off by
| applying a quart Of the missy amber Juice
to his covered works, and 1 heard him
| laugh real loud over the contretemps Then
he stepped into his $4,000 gas-gg and was
| Sheltered home by his imported motorman
| II staked myself to high-collared beer,
and then bummed my way back to town on
trolley car. The system thing is all right
| when you are just fooling around and don t
| need the money. But as for ever getting
anybody anything. gimme a peek at the
| blue prints, that's ALL