Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-25
THAT BETTING SYSTEM
AT BENNING TRACK

pecting his sanity
Scar Under-the-Left-Ear?" you say to
him. why. you internal woolgatherfng
pulphead, there isn't any SUCH
"Oh. wait a minute he puts in. hastily.
What did say? I meant that I'm play
ing oxford. Y'see. the fellow I made the
I his left ear, and If 1 don't keep repeating
that Identification mark to myself. why.
I'll never
| And
Another man to whom the What do you
| 1ike?' question was put never relaxed the
far-oh expression on his face as he replied,
| over and over again:
| Green Polka-Dot Four-in-Hand Tie
/ Green Polka-Dot Four-in-Hand Tie"
| rs that your plugs name in Siwash?"
| asked the man who handed me that reply.
| why. no." he replied. seriously 1.-The
name of the mutt I've fallen for is Zienap,
| but the bookje / handed my change to Is
wearing a green polka-dot four-fn-hand tie,
and of course II forget to remember that
| I'll be the Patsie when 1t comes to collect
| ing, and I'm"
| And so on again.
| One thing is more than certain, and that
is that the Benning betting ring under this
| Henglish-y knaw system of bookmaking
| isn't any place for burned man. If it's
a difficult job for an unpckled man to get
OF the trail of the layer with whom he has
| placed winning bet, It's all but impossible
| for souse to get by with the task. The
| man with the accumulation of suds might
| just as well hand all of his currency to the
| gum and peanut man. as little token Of
| his esteem. and then go up into the stand
and take nap. as to get a bet down and
| then expect to get anything back, much less
his winnings, If his horse cops.
X
! 1t was sad-if 1t wasn't. in some cases,
| funny-to some of the picked ones
! wandering around the ring, like a process
! sion of outcast souls, the first day of
| the meeting, hunting wistfully for layers to
! whom they had intrusted their money on
| things that won.
They hadn't tucked any Identification
| marks of their bookies away on their men,
| tai tablets, and such marks would soon
| have been forgotten by them If they had.
| And SO. when their horses won. all that
they could do was to roam drearily up and
| down through the crevices and crannies of
! the human maelstrom, and ask folks who
would listen to them
| SHAY, wheresh That duck wish zha wart
| on his nosesh THAT l give m kale to, hey
| pal?''
One of the souses. on the first day, had
| got SD on Oxford at to B, 50 that when
| oxford traipsed home he had $50 coming
! to him. But he might just as well have had
| $4,000 coming to him. so far as any eff
| forts Of his own to collect would avail him.
He clomped sadly up and down the aisles
| of teeming humanity for twenty minutes or
| so, scratched his head puzzledly and brac-
ing people this way:
SHAY. DO. there'sh little shrimp of a
DOOkle SnOneWnereSn drOun mere tnaSn got
| one punk lamp-think ish tn lef lamp-an
shay, can you peek aroun from here and
shee If you can shee him. hey?''
But everybody thus tackled had troubles
of his own and the SOuSe was nudging dis
consolately out toward the lawn when thel
bookmaker's cashier with whom he had
made his bet espied him, grabbed him by
the overcoat flap, and dragged him along
side of him. !
Here, I've been trying to spy you. mate
said the cashier to the souse Here's your
spinach-ffty-two bucks-and If you're taxi
ing it from me you'll beat it now while.
you've got something. If 1 can't remember
me own name out here, and me on the
water wagon for month, where dye think
you're gOn to git off at hey?'
'1sh josh like findin' IT, murmured the
picked one, gratefully, as he stuffed thei
fifty-two into his nankeens, and then hel
took the cashiers advice and craWled up.
to the stand and spent the remainder Off
the afternoon sleeping like any little child !
And as to the whole business which really
| isn't so mighty funny after all when you are
plunged into the miserably announcement
vortex of it, the question Is bound to sug-
gest itself What's the use? The Is
plainly an instance in which half loaf Is
not better than no bread. The book.nak-.
ers are not satisfied They get little or no
action, and are put to the vlest discomfort.
The public is dissatisfied. The bettors are
subjected to unspeakable wretchedness and
discomfort. The reformers are not salts
fed. Betting hasn't been stopped only dis
guised. What's the use of farce?
Wouldn't it be better to have the thing
wide-open, or not even pretense at bet
ting?
The English betting system is a joke in
more ways than one. If the English have
stood for that game all these years they
docile than anybody has ever given them
credit for being.
Here is a little matter that assuredly
merits the attention Of John G. Cavanaugh,
the astute and urbane ruler of all of the
betting rings under the jurisdiction of the
Jockey Club, including the Benning betting
ring.
l advert to the Buttinskis of the pay-ofr
lines.
The Buttinskis of the pay-off lines are OBJ
trusive and impudent gnats who should
be staked to mess of sweet-tasting but
deadly bug powder.
They are the mental mollusks who think
they have right to beat you to 1t In getting
their winnings from the bookie's man with
the dough.
If, by the benevolence of some superior
clemency that you wot not of. you chance
to win a bet, you take your place in the
line back of your bookmaker and you await
your turn to get what is coming to you.
ticket, or a Pullman ticket, a base ball
ticket. or any other old kind of a ticket.
You are perfectly familiar with the fact
that the rule among men is that all hands
shall line up. In buying a theater ticket
and patiently awaiting your turn In long
line, you may be more or less sore when
you observe a dozen or SO of swishy, violet
diffusing ladies deliberately traipseIng up
to the head of the line and getting their
tickets without even thinking of waiting,
but we take this sort of thing for granted
in America and 1t is a grievous fact that
American men have got past expecting the
same sort of consideration from women In
public places that men habitually display
| toward each other-except for the Buttin-
| skis.
Very well. When, by the aforesaid mirac-
ulous dispensation, you have won bet,
| you take your place in the line back of the
| bookmaker, perfectly willing to await your
| turn-willng, that is to say. to walt until
! the fellows who have got to the line ahead
of you have been paid off. You lean your
weight first on one leg, and then on the
other, till the red board, indicating the con-
| frmation of the placed horses, is pulled
| down, and all the time you are pretty
anxious to get your coin so that you can
jump into the main aisle of the ring again
| and find out the prices on the next race