The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-14
NO PAWN BR0K|NG
Stewards of the Jockey Club
Issue an Edict Against the
Practice
BY j. :. A, Macdonald.

stewards OF the Jockey club had some
thing besides the annual meeting of
the flatbush stakes in mind here to-
day. for they issued a mandate pro-
hibiting the practice of pawnbroking
on the several race tracks hereabout.
For years clique of sharp money
handlers has been extending loans
to race-track patrons who happened to
go broke" In playing against the
bookmakers. They would take mans
gold watch after he had tossed off his
last dollar on the final race of the
day on an advance of few dollars.
charging the borrower at the same
time about 8 per cent per month in
terest thereafter until such times as
the pledge would be reclaimed. "Bo"
Jones and Dug" Clifton are the
pioneers in the business of helping
financially straitened race PLAYERS to
secure car fare home from the race.
They came into the game poor men,
and are now wealthy. But the last
harvest has been garnered, for from
now on any one found granting loan
on a pledge on the premises of any of
the jockey club courses will be eXpell-
ed for life.
Many Reforms Made.
The jockey club has made many re-
forms and eradicated not a few abuses
within the last season. such as the
adjustment of the messenger service
between the women in the grandstand
and the bOokmakers. the stoppage of
the How OF information from the race
tracks to the pool-rooms and the in
shutting of a So admission fee to the
main entrace. which has effectually
Kept away class of patrons who have
no business with so costly sport as
the turf. But this latest move will
meet with the greatest appreciation.
The race track pawnbrokers stand
about the entrance of the ring. They
have made this their market place
for years. There they wait until a
plucked bird 1uttars away from the
clutch of the bookmakers. a little
walk underneath the grandstand and
soon the distressed Spectator has a
new bank roll and the willy broker
piece of jewelry worth twenty times
the loan. Where an average attend
ance of 10000 betters go to the local
race tracks every day in the racing
season, and where there is a turn
over of almost $250,000 in currency
each afternoon, the money in this
pownbroking traffic is astoundingly
large. For years 1t has been going on
and Dug" Clifton is reputed to be q
millionaire. Sometimes they secure
priceless articles for few dollars
which for some reason or other are
never taken up. Women are the
sharks easiest prey.
How They Make Money.
A year ago we'll know pawn brok-
ar of the turf. said: IF we had any
thing to do about it, there would be
ten race tracks running about New
York every day of the summer and
winter, When they are here in the sum-
mer We are harvesting continually
have hundred or more customers
whom see at least once a week,
some of them two or three times a
week, not counting the times they get
their things out. This means that
the money We lend at per cent per
month, the legal rate for us, doesn't
stay away long when the borrow and
we never charge less than a months
interest for our loan, no matter how
short time may elapse between the
borrowing and the returning. You
notice that man who just stepped from
the ring here to my station and got
his watch out.
YES" answered
He borrowed $50 on it, That was
yesterday. Today, less than twenty
four hours after, he comes back, gets
his watch and pays us ninety cents
for the use of the money. He won on
the races and we didn't lose. An army
of men in New York are doing this.
The average man does that two or
three times a week, and our profit
therefore is considerable. They pawn
their diamonds, watches, rings or other
pieces of jewelry and get the money.
If they win they come right back and
get their good lockers; if they fail
to beat the bookmakers they come in
with something else, and try as long
as they can for killing. The men
who do this we see at this time OF
year-the autumn-and no other At
the end of the season there is always
big digging up of money among the
clients. When the horses move on to
Bennings, at Washington, D. c., pre-
paratory to the long jump to the winter
courses at New Orleans, every mans
son of them-and women, too-will
make desperate attempt to borrow
from some friend enought money to
get out the junk to take South along
with him. The pool-rooms? Oh! that
is different ilass of trade altogether.
The race track crowd is made up of
good people. The pool-rOom players
who come to pawnbrokers are not to
be compared with them. 1t doesn't pay
any too we'll to lend to pool-room
players, and a great many of the things
They pawn stay with us until they have
to be sold at public auction. They are
a cheap class. and we have to scan
the articles they offer very carefully,
for they will stick us ii they can.
Can't stick race track pawnbrOker?
Don't fool yourself. They are any
number of race betters who are mean
er than we are reputed to be. They
get into us often enough. The pawn
broker does not always have sure
thing. There are at least five hun
dred men and women who are Clean
ed every afternoon on the raie track.
lhey come with money, and when the
last race is over they stand up in the
grandstand without as much as a
penny in their pockets. For years the
pawnbrokers have helped them home.
Now, thanks to the jockey club, they
must walk or steal ride on street.
car"
New Stars on the Turf.
Yearly in the year the experts con-
coded the twO-year-old championship
to Water Pearl. The big son of Water
cress had beaten the best colts out
and the honors were his apparently.
Then before the running IF tho Rr;uh