The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-01
FREAK BETS TO KILL YIAR
ATLANTIC CITY FINDS MANY
THINGS TO GAMBLE ON.

- 0ta bA
an Actress Wsuid Go Into the water.
ATLANTIC C1rY, June so.-No poolrooms
are open hero this year, nor has the quiet
| tip been passed around yet that the under
cover faro banks and poker and crap games
are ready for business. Therefore the
loungem In and around the boardwalk
hotels, professional chance takere al well
as the large clsss Of leisurely and moneyed
chaps, are doing all kinda Of freak betting
among themselves. .
This seasons rage among women for
peacock feathers In their hats affords these
boardwalk bettors their main chance to
get action on their money. They manip-
ulate the peacock feather beta In all sorts
Of ways. The most popular way 10 for Q
group Of half q dozen or 30 Of the bettors
to make up q pool, each man putting In from
81 up to SO and each taking q guess as to
how many m with peacock feathers
win pass by the boardwalk hotel window
in q given space Of time, the usual period OF
time chosen being FIVE minutes.
The fellows who are we'll up on the pea
cock feather dope do pretty well at this
game. One man got five novices at It into
a ten dollar apiece pool the other afternoon.
The new mon at the game, not having paid
any particular attention to the prevalence
Of the peacock feathers in the women's
hats, took low numbers. One OF them
CUES sed that five women with peacock
feathers In their hats would 60 by within
the five minutes and the remaining four
Of the novioes picked figures up to eighteen.
The expert who organized the pool took
last say, and he amazed the others by regis
tering his prediction that forty-nine women
with the peacock feathers in their hats
! would trip by within the five minutes.
His poolmates laughed at his guess, but
ffty-seven women with the peacock feathers
o~rnamenting their headgear swung by
within The given time-it was during the
crowded parading hour-and the wise
one who had played the game before hauled
down the 900 pot.
The peacock feather game Ia also played
according to the layer and bettor system
by the men who have to have some kind
Of action on their coin all the time. The
layer will offer whatever price he thinks
right, according to the hour Of the day
and the size Of the crowd Of boardwalk
paraders, that the next woman to cross
an imaginary line In front OF the hotel
window won't have any peacock feathers
In her hat. The price he offers ranges
from 8 to 1 to 8 or 10 to 1. The chaps who
take the affirmative end Of this propo-
sition are entitled to the benefit Of what
are called .splits.' That is to say, II two
or three women are walking abreast and
together, and ona Of them has peacock
feathers In her hat, the man who bets on
the feathers gets the money.
At night, when the great majority Of the
| parading boardwalk women discard their
hats altogether and use wells, the gambling
has to do with the color Of the next veil
to appear. As the wells thus worn are of
all the brilliant hues Of the rainbow
this makes a.ively game, and the man who
lays the price has all the best Of it.
They also bet with each other as to
whether the next woman to cross the imagi-
nary line will or will not have a veil around
her hair, and this Is about an even thing.
The color Of the boardwalk woman's shoes
also offers an opportunity to the handbook
makers. The variety In the colors of
shoes makes this a lively game. The
handbook maker holds out black shoes
altogether. as being much the oommonest,
but the bettors have all the other colors of
women's shoes to pick from-tan, red;
white, champagne, and 30 on.
The immense number Of dogs OF
all kinds, attached to their strolling
mistresses by leashes, furnishes another
line OF betting action for the loungers who
must have something going all the time.
The fellows who make handbooks on the
dog proposition have this game doped
down to the finest kind Of a point. Here's
the way they arrange their prices:
Fox terriers. even money; Boston terriers,
. to 1; bull terriers, ..4'to II Poodles of all
kinds, s to I; c~ollies, ITO 1; bulldogs, 8 to 4;
spaniels Of all kinds, 10 to 1; Great Danes
and mastifs, Is to 1, and 30 on. 1t will
be observed by those acquainted with book
making percentages that the makers of
these boardwalk dog books give themselves
quite a shade, even though the fox terriers
Of other breeds, but the fox terriers are
not common enough to make them even
money shots, and there has been quite
makers round their books up and give
fox terriers, even money propositions.
The roller chairs offer ell sorts Of betting
schemes, especially at night, when the
boardwalk is fairly packed with them.
| They bot with each other as to whether the
next toilet Cndlr 70 20 Dy tho imaginary
line will contain one person, or two, or three.
| The double chair Is the ~favorite pick, as most
| Of the chairs contain two persons.
A man who stuck to the double chairs
for half an hour the other night almost
went out Of business before he discovered
that he was In bad. The convention Of car
builders was on here, and, the double
chairs having all been engaged, the men,
bers of the association had chartered all
Of the single ohairs they could find, and
these single chairs went by the given point
by scores.
There are q number Of big roller chairs
built for three, but Z to 1 Is the prevailing
price against one Of these crossing the
imaginary line next, and the triple chair
game is hard to beat at that.
Then the freak bettors occasionally pass
the morning bathing hour In gambling on
whether certain women bathers will or will
not 90 into the surf. A woman diked out
in q dainty bathing dress that looks as II It
had never been intended to be soused in he
sea water at all makes her appearance OH
the beach, and proceeds to stroll up and
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