The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-25
YOU BET AND EXERCISE, TOO.
BEAUTIES OF THE NEW BOON
MAKING AT JENNINGS.
Continuous Motion Imperative Tor. the
BOOkies DIFFICULTIES OF Making Bets
and Collecting Your Money-yege.
tables and Old Hats to n Front.

That new betting system at Bennings
20 all tho palrika.' said a thurman just back
from the Washington track. Running
eorses and trottinG bookies-beat that
cadnpina'lun and you're a live ous.
i've been trying H. on for two weeks,
and If there's going to be a six day walking
match at the Garden this winter. watch
ne get into it and win Never was any
system of exercise n invented TO beat that
betting gag at Bennings.
If you're not there with the heel and toe
thing. you might just as well stay at lone
and play mumbletypeg with yourself.
TOOK ne over. | dropped eighteen pounds
N the Bennings betting ring. and Pm as
hard as Il kootenay trappNr that's lived for
four wears on nothing but ~ven!son.
sol Lichtenstein left thirty pounds %
himself in the Bennings ring. and now he's
sot 10 throw sll of those gay. gleeful winter
clothes away and order new toys thst'll
~ his shrunken shape. All Of the bookies
Who Went TO Bennings and stuck it out
look as II they'd been training for long
distance bicycle races.
They've got knobs of muscle on the
calves Of their legs as big as ~pingpong balls
from their constant shutting around on
tho concrete floor Of the ring. Bob Pinker-
son. who staked himself to the job Of hurt
ing through the ring every nine seconds
or SO and bawling at the chalkers to keep
a~-mov;ng-Bob improved so much in the
footwork thing that he's going to enter
himself in all the weight-for-age spriuts
next year for people over fifty.
Well, If the chalkers got hardened up
vt Benuings as If they'd been up TO Null
doon's, you can dope il ont for yourself what
happened 20 the bettors. They got their
exercise coming and going.
First they had TO find a bookmaker to
get a bet down, and then, IL they won, they
had TO find him again to get their money.
You'd nail George Boles at a dog trot at
the far end Of the betting ring, and find
him doing a buck and wing TO keep up
she impression that he was shifting his posi-
zion every eighth of a second.
You'd grab hold Of his sleeve long enough
10 get your kale down, and then you'd go
out on the lawn TO watch the race and lose
him II your horse COPIED, you'd go into
the ring to hunt for George; but nix, not
there.
After lodging around for twenty
minutes somebody d tell you that George
vas making book in the paddock on the
next race, and you'd dive. over there and
End him talking with Bill Scully, while
bis cashier paid of the lucky ones who'd
been able to dope out Georges change OF
situation. l made one bet with Orlando
Jones while he was leaning on the coffee
counter below the grand stand, and when l
vent to hunt for him TO cash l found him in
the middle OF the automobile enclosure,
on the far side Of the clubhouse, laying
odds for the la-de-dahs.
Il caught Billy Snow doing the Czardas
alongside the overoost check rack, and
handed him a piece Of change on a horse
that won. l didn't find Billy and collect
until that night at his hotel. He told me that
after nudging away from the overcoat ack
he was gradually elbowed out in the direc-
ton of the Blsdensburg woods, and that
when he came to he found himself mired
In a swamp and calling out the odds on his
slate for the bullfrogs.
1T all came about through the ruling Of
the District Of Columbia legal authorities
tina the bookies couldn't remain in one po-
sition, on pain of being pinched for setting
up a gaming table. II they moved around
the ring the gaming table charge couldn't
be put against them.
They obeyed the law, with Bob Pinker-
Ton ~catapulting himself through the ring
70 see that they didn't forget, but they
weren't very strong for the theatre thing
yhen the days booking was over. Most OF
en- went to bed right after dinner.
The hacks did a swell business at the
Wlndup Of each days races. The dog tired
bettors and bookies tottered into the ca
iooshes as soon as they got out Of the gate,
because they were too tired TO walk to the
trains.
This Behring'S arrangement is q modi-
fcati3n Of the English betting system,
and its all the fun if you're looking at it
and not trying TO get anything by playing
It. The point is that the bettor has got
80 remember the looks Of the bookie after
ne makes his Let, so tlilt, in case his lick
WIS. he can find the p~eripatetic layer after
ths race.
There isn't a chance in the world Of
me chsiker's taing in the same lace in
0hich he took the bet, so that the bettor
has to shamb!e 10 and down the line and all
over the place 10 nail the bookie. Now,
p d town like Washington, where very
few Of the bettors are familiar with the
faces Of the bookies, this was an arrange
rnent that made the ring look like a BOBBY
hatch after zach race.
The yettors whose picks had nailed the
goods would be rushing aimlessly and
headlong all over the ring, trying TO pick
out their layers, and the layers would be
hot footing it to different sE OTIS in the ring
10 OF en- up their prices on the next race,
and the bookies' crews would be toddling
Yearly after their bosses, and Pinkerton
and his stan would be bowling OF the layers
and their crews to keep a.moving and never
stop moving, and the confusion was like
the all hands around windup Of a bum sketch
IN an Eyhth avenue variety theatre.
1t worked so much like a bad dream
On the first day that the layers undertook
10 fix something on their clothes on the
second day that would identity them 20
their players. On the first day the players
would stand OF and study the bookies for
o long time after making a bet so as TO
f1 the facial characteristics Of the chalkers
IN their minds. Then the bettors would.
mooch around the lawn, repeating these
marks TO themselves so as 20 make sure
that they wouldn't forget EN-.
Pink hair and a cauliiower ear-pink