The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-17
SEVERE BLOW ID
 THE POOLROOMS All Messages are Held for
 Twenty Minutes NEW SCHEME AT AQUEDUCT Only Way to Get Information Out side the Grounds Was to
 Go to the Nearest
 Telephone.
NEW SCHEME AT AQUEDUCT

New York, April 16.-In an effort to en- tirely disassociate racing in this state from any connection with pool rooms, gambling in New York city or elsewhere, the Queens County Jockey club at Aque- duct today took charge of all telegraph wires running into the grounds, and es- tablished a strict censorship over all the gates incoming or outgoing, with dead line delay of 20 minutes on all outgoing messages. All telephone connection with the track has been discontinued, and the only way that the results of today's races could be known to the outside world quicker than the time limit fixed by the jockey club, was by the sending of messengers from the track enclosure to some point where a telephone was available
 Last year the regular pool room service from the eastern race tracks conducted by telephone company was discontinu- ed. To give the necessary information to the pool rooms news agency had been established with headquarters in Chicago. The representatives of this agency who were at Aqueduct today pre- pared to file information on the races in commercial telegrams were taken en- tirely by surprise at the drastic action of the jockey club. The plans of the racing association had been carefully guarded and the first intimation of the restrictive step taken today was notice to the newspapers that all messages filed with the telegraph bureau at Aqueduct will be subject to thirty minutes delay.
 All Information Withheld.
 This order was afterwards modified by ten minutes, all messages being held twenty minutes before being transmitted. Not only did the jockey club strictly guard the telegraph wires but it with held all advance information as to non- starters, the assignment of jockeys, etc, even to those within the race enclosure. Heretofore the scratching of horses has been announced as soon as the withdraw als occurred. The jockeys for the sec cond race have been posted heretofore before the running of the first race. and so on throughout the days racing pro gramme Today the information was not available to race patrons until after the results of the previous race had been verified and posted. The withholding of this information is a severe blow to the pool room service, as without the condi- tions for betting such establishments must operate largely in the dark.
 Resort to sdbterfuges.
 Various subterfuges were resorted to today to overcome the obstacle set by the jockey club. but the sending of mes sages to nearby points to telephone the results was the only progress the pool room interests made against the new or der of things. In each instance the mes senger had to repay his admission into the grounds, $3 fee being exacted for the grandstand enclosure.
 The censorship of the telegrams for warded from the track after the delay of twenty minutes has been placed in the hands of the detective agency which has general charge of admissions to the tracks and the safeguarding of patrons The system adopted at Aqueduct was un- der the direction of the jockey club the controlling body of the eastern turf and will prevail at all tracks in this state during the racing season.