Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-18

The annual forced exodus of the race
track touts from New Orleans was started
by the New Orleans authorities last week
Here Is matter in which the New Or
leans race tracks have a decided advantage.
The city authorities help them to get rid
of the touts In no other American city
does this system prevail. In the other
American cities where racing IS carried
on the best that the track officials can DO
is to put the touts outside of the gates
and keep them out. But In New Orleans
the authorities are not satisfied to see the
the professional tout simply excluded from
the race track They nudge the touts out
of the city altogether. They argue fairly
that a tout excluded from the race track,
and thereby cut out of an opportunity of
making living by playing and preying
upon the gullibility of suckers Is a
dangerous individual to have around a
town. He's going to get the money some
how, even IL he has to wrap up piece or
gas pipe in a newspaper and go after IL
from the shadowy shelter of dark alley.
And so the New Orleans authorities snag
the excluded touts at the race tracks anu
chase them out of the city.
The race track people tip off the New
Orleans police authorities that there's go
ing to be a roundup of touts on certain
day The movement is generally started
at about the present stage of the winter
racing season when all of the touts nave
become thoroughly we'll known. ~Ihe touts
know nothing of what is In pickle ior
them. Then on the day appointed, they re
suddenly corralled by the track police and
hot-fOoted to the exit gate in sets of tours
Here, at the gate, the New Orleans pollce
are waiting for them. They're given the
alternate of getting out of New orleans
within twenty-four hours or of getting
''vagged" if they overstay that limit. me
touts get OUT all right. 1t doesn't make
any difference whether they've got ways
and means of going or not, they get away
sonnet how. They know that the alternative
is no mere phrase used by the New Or
leans police for the purpose of frightening
them.
When the first roundup of the touts was
made down there some of them figured that
they were only being shoo'd for frfghten-
ing purposes, but these stay-behinds were
one and all clapped into Jail on the va
grancy charge and they all did their
bits" too So that nowadays when the
New Orleans tout-and most of them are
from the northern tracks-are tipped OH
that their time to skedaddle out or New
Orleans has arrived, out of New orleans
they get if they have to accomplish the get
away on a slde-door Pullman or the hos
pitable platform OF a blind baggage.
Old Timers Only at the Winter Tracks
THE old-time tout fingers only at the
winter tracks," observed a turfman who
left New Orleans about the time that the
Hayman string, now at Benning, left the
Crescent City. Hes been garroted vir-
tually out of existence on the big tracks of
the north. It was hard job to scatter the
old-time touts and finally to wipe them out
altogether for the race track people had to
do 1t all themselves and had no assistance
from the police of the cities. The Pinker-
ton men attached to the tracks had a good
deal to do with nudging the old-time tout
out, but, after all, the main reason for his
disappearance from the big tracks up this
way was that the followers of the horse
game, even the casuals and holiday Wis
itors became too wise for him. When the
newspapers began to publish the racing
charts virtually every man with the horse
bug took to doping the ponies himself And
up this way racing is an -year-round
game. At the winter tracks the casuals
are nothing like so wise as they are at the
tracks where the game endures year in and
year out for about eight months out of
every twelve, and SO the touts have made
their last stand at the winter tracks. The
time Is at hand. however. when they'll be
obliterated altogether from the winter
tracks
Tips Every Horse.
"When the big movement against the
touts up this way was inaugurated some
years ago a few-a very few-of the old
time touts dressed up, smoothed the knots
out OF their voices slung hook shop field
glasses over their shoulders, and went to
work on a new plan. You'll see a few of
these left-overs around the betting rings
yet. But the diked-out tout of this era is
pretty greasy of speech, and he lays low in
digging up live ones. He knows that he
hasn't got the liberty of movement to en-
able him to put different come-ons on to all
of the contenders, or even all the horses In
a race. That was the main clutch of the
old-time tout-snagging a sucker to play
each and every horse in a race. l once
stood beslUe one of these touts when the
bunting flashed and the field got away from
the post. The tout was stalking himself to
a packet of chewing gum and had his back
to the track.
"WeH. there they CO. said the gum
seller to the tout.
The tout never turned his face to the
track, but yawned sleepily and idly read
the little motto that he pulled out of the
| package of gum.
q" You don't appear to be much interested
in this race, Red, said the gum seller to
" Me? said the tout Interested? What
rr?
/" Well amt you playin' none of 'em?'
inquired the gum man.
&" Say, what dye t'ink I'm here fr-me
complexion dlsgustedly asked the tout.
Am playin any of EN-? wy, I'm playin'
tn hull id eighteen OF EN-!
Then, as the winning horse was about
to pop under the wire the tout took a swift
peek a the number on the winners saddle
cloth and darted into the ring to nail the
easy mark to whom he had given the win
ner' for his bit.
An Awful Slip-Up.
Occasionally, when they Were hard-press-
ed for time or when a race contained one
or more horses that seemed to have no
mortal chance on earth to slam into the
coin, the touts fell down in this game. The
most disguised looking human being that
ever ] saw was a tout who had slipped a
cog In this way 1t was at the Brighton
Beach track, and the tout was the noted
Flaxy Murtha, who made his final cash-in
years ago. FlaXy was a famous towhead
tout around the New York tracks and he
could talk the fin off a Chink joss in some-
thing less than half a minute when he got
real warmed up. On this afternoon he had
herded five different jells up against five
different betting ring stanchlons, and con-
ned each of them into putting up pretty
good money on the chances of five out of
the six horses in the third race on the card.
The sixth horse in the race was too awful
for even FIaxy TO try to steer a mark
against, and so he neglected to dig for a
bitter on that one.
1.-The sixth horse was a 800 to ! shot to
win. with 100 to 1 or anything else you
wanted against his chance for the place.
Trt that one lust puffed home In front of