Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-25
GAVE "BOOKIEs" ODDS

Mike Dwyer. the noted turf plunger,
who. starting as q butchers boy with q
'shoestring.' gained the position. which he
held for nearly sixteen years with his
brother Phil. Of virtual dictator OF the
American turf. millionaire and the owner
Of some OF the most celebrated thorough
BREEDS that ever raced In this countrs, was
a victim Of sort of mad betting reckless
ness which he developed during the latter
years Of his pIunging career" remarked
Washingtonian. formerly an owner of race
horses. who knew Dwyer well when
Mike died q few days ago he didn't have
anything. His more cautious brother Phil,
man worth upward CT five millions, had
been taking care of Mike for q number
Of years. Mike was well taken care of, of
course. but he didn't have anything what
ever left of his once great fortune. and he
man during the ten years OF invalidism be-
fore his death. He developed the hypo-
chondr1acal idea that the whole world was
against him; whereas almost a,, the S whole
feeling of sympathy for Mike, even
though he had never been at any pains
in his day Of health and power to make
friends.
"Dwyer formed during the final years Of
his tremendous betting career, most vim
dictive hatred for all bookmakers. A good
many race followers who get cleaned by
the bookies develop strong dislike for
those gentry, but Dryers feeling toward
them became one of absolute hatred. This
may have been in way natural enough,
considering that the layers got an OF
Mikes money at the finish. but 1t was far
from being reasonable, all the same, for he
had had his crack at the bookies and put
many a terrific dent in them.
'Dwyer attended the Benntng meeting
four years ago-the last time he ever came
to Washington. He was just about able
to walk about a bit then. He used to
drive out to the track in buggy and in
the care of colOred man. and 1t was In
its way pitiable to see him sending in his
little 50 and SIS notes from the buggy to be
placed on his picks-especially pitiable to
people (and was one OF them ssI 1oo VINO n aaa
chance of one of his own horses and never
bat an eye whether he won or lost the wa
ger. The spectacle of any famous piunger
reduced to the level OF piker has always
struck me as something mournful to see.
" Mike Dwyer was the last Of the famous
plungers who made practice Of giving
the bookmakers odds. The noted Piunger
and during Mixes day. and the habit
cleaned Walton, just as 1t surely cleaned
Dwyer. The big plungers since Dwyers
day have nearly all utterly declined to
give the bookmakers odds except in most
extraordinary cases. Pittsburg Phil, the
top plunger Of them all, whom the book
makers never had chance in the world to
N,
he died last year, attributed his success as
a turf bettor to the fact that he simply
would not play an odds-on horse. no mat
ter how exceptional the circumstances nor
how great a cinch the odds-on horse ap-
peared. Pittsburg Phil had habit Of
saying-and 1t was the truth-It's hard
enough to beat them without giving those
fellows on the stools Odds and II Phil
couldn't get even money or better for his
he'd let the horse he liked run for the
end book. as the saying goes. In fact, it
was rare thing for him, especially during
his later and most successful years. to
play any horse at price smaller than 8
lone day. a good many years ago, when
Mike was known to have bet $4,000 on
his horse Joe Cotton to win 5000. q
friend Of the plunger's demonstrated with
him-I happened to be present at the time.
stick To- that kin ss' q work. the
He's got every chance. hope he will
win. But you've been up against the game
could happen that might keep him from
winning. He might get left at the post,
he might run into a rail, he might pick up
stone me- and n 60 he might
might just not feel like running at all to-
day; and you've bet 10 to l. away up in
the top-lofty figures. too. with the book
to happen to your horse. It's madness,
man: plain madness; and they'll get you
If you keep 1t up, mark me-
ly enough, but he was there, as usual,
with his specious excuse for giving the
bookmakers such immense odds.
my horse is just as much certainty
as anything can ever be in horse racing.
isn't hep he said in reply. All right. It's
a mile race, and JOEL probably put the
mile down in lao, or 100 seconds I'll be
making 10 per cent on $4,000 invested for
just 100 seconds, won't I? Just you show
me. II you can, how or where can invest
my money at bigger interest than that and
I'll quit betting on my horses and go to
your scheme.
"All of which sounded very fine, Of course
But Joe Cotton was beaten, and beaten
good, in that race.
after all. there may have been some
pretty firm underlying reason why Mike
Dwyer formed such an intense hatred for
the bookmakers. 1t may be that he knew
some things as to the methods they en-
ployed to clean him that nobody else knew.
It Is fair to suppose that man who gave
the bookmakers such fine odds as Is to /,
as Dwyer quite frequently did, must have
cooked up some little ways of his own
to .yank down big money Of the sort that
Dryer habitually spraddled around in his
zenith day. Many an old turfman in this
country, for example. will still wag his
head when the race that Hanover, Dryers
greatest horse, lost to the mediocre Lag
gard at Monmouth Park is mentioned. Han
over the marvellous descendant of the
speed marvel Hindoo. who also belonged
10 DWyer, was tno champion morse OF
Americas horse that. in my deliberate
opinion, could have run figure-of-eight
knots around all Of the cracked-up Sy-
sonbys that ever stood on iron. Hanover
was entered for the Omnibus stakes at
Monmouth Park, and it looked like such
a perfect Joke for him that the best the
bookmakers chalked up at any time was
/ to 10. Dwyer went to it for $45, 900 $45.-
600 put up to win $1,000. The mighty Han
over ran like some other horse that day.
He didn't begin to warm up at all until the
race was over, and then the inferior sort
of an animal named Laggard was two
lengths the best of it at the wire. 1t was
stated in whispers by knowing ones at
that time that the bookmakers had handed
Mike lemon on that occasion, and it has
been stated openly since. 1t has never been
revealed how the job was done-whether
the jockey or the horse had been got to-
by the bookmakers' cheerful workers-but
that the almost miraculous Hanover could
have beaten off his field on that day If
something hadn't happened, nobody ever
doubted. Only short time afterward he
made Laggard look like a fat man trying
to catch up with the Empire State Ex-
press.
"a great many so-called sentimentalists
of the turf men who provided cozy and
restful old age for the race horses that
bod caryad fher, well duripO thar ciyo