Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-04
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald
NEW ORLEANS, La, Feb. 3.-The
mon who go down to sea In ships, the
turf soldiers of fortune, are to he pitied
whom they strike along the shoals of Ill
luck, here in New orleans, hundreds of
miles away from their friends and sue
cor i'm the north
From distance the will-o -the-wisp
life of the professional race track fol-
lower Is tinCed with the glowing color
of romance, but how really different II
all is when one gets close to the game.
II is impossible to come to New Or
leans during the second part of the
long winter campaign without realizing
how extremely hard Is the lot of the
race track ne'er-do-well.
Years ago the average creole citizen
met with a warm heart the entreatics
of the man who, having gone broke"
on the ponies, was obliged to- seek as
sistanCc Then came n scourgc of i'm
posters until nowadays the unfortu-
nate professional who falls upon lean
days sometimes actually starves to
death unless the charity of one of his
kind can he availed.
OF course, this is q circumstance not
confined to this city, for II is Just as
hard to strike on ones feet in San
Francisco or anywhere else when once
you go down for q fall.
When the winter campaign opens up
during Thanksgiving week the great
hordcs Of owners trainers, jockeys,
boOkmakCrs, clerks, touts, tipsters and
bobtail hongers-on come to town fairly
we'll staked.
However. they soon find the sporting
season an expensive one, each day
wearing down the little bank roll, until
a series of losing bets lands the aver
age one of them on the reef of Nor
mans Woe
Scramble for Life
Then onsues a wild, frenzied scram-
BILE for a daily existence until the
balmy breath of early March days be-
tokens the welcome moment of depart
ure for richer and more familiar pas
lures at Washington and along the
line at Memphis and Nashville
AS the days of the latter half of the
winter arrive the unfortunates grow
desperate. Then the city newspapers
are brimful of sensational police stories
a race track man fallen by the way
side generally playing the principal
role in the little drama.
Some of the best stories and richest
experiences related by turf folks have
to do with the "broken guys" here in
New Orleans of a winter
This winter the crop is a bit more
luxuriant than usual for the hotel
lobbies were never before so numerous,
clothes in general beset by his friends
as soon as he leaves the City park or
fair grounds gates, with the fury of
famished wolf pack tearing to shredS
the fallen traveller.
Since the opening of the season back
in November hundreds and hundreds
of men and women who came to town
flush of pocket then, have gambled off
their money and must now do the best
they may until the exodus to the sum-
mer fields. And what they do and
who they do is a story which can be
told only in chapters.
diminishing Flynn"
a member of the Down and out club
the other night said: do you know
there are 2OOO broken fellows in town
this present minute? To get a meal
day is no more than the average one
expects; to grab two is bit of luck,
and to enjoy three straight is positive
luxury.
You know 'Famishing Flynn? Well,
he introduced a gang of the fellows to
a joint up on Rampant street. The
proprietor used to be a bum himself,
and is now Well-to-do. He sees no one
go short on a meal and a warm place
to fill out the long, weary nights.
"At first two or three guys would
drop around. NOW tHere are twenty
The saloon man takes a personal inter
est in each one. He gets to know their
names and wises up to just how they
came to be buns, and 1 don't believe
he would object if twenty more made
his place a temporary home.
AT midnight he puts on a soup for
us fellows, and after we've all got
around a bowl or two, why, he comes
into the circle and discusses the entries
for the next day and argues with us as
if we were going to bet $4,000 on a good