Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-24
BY Clarence L. Cullen.

By Clarence L. Cullen.
race follower who used to do the best
he could around the tracks-which means
that he impaired to perfect strangers his
opinions as to the probable winners of races
is one of the Benning advance guard now
in Washington. He is in better feather and
higher estate than he used to be- 1nasmuch
as he is known to all turfmen, he doesn {
make any bones about 1t that he used to be
dispenser of information'-he doesn
say tout" because that isn't q pretty word
and there is no need for him to say 1t, any
how. Moreover, he is now the owner of a
few horses, and 1t is no longer necessary
for him to nail entire strangers against ring
stanchions and whisper confidentially to
them what he thinks about the outcome of
the race about to be run. Being there
with some horses and bank wad. he Is
now in position to talk reminscently or
that period of his life when he was doing
the best he could and he was In TINS hu-
NOR the other night when he uncoiled an
entertaining narrative of a whole buncn Oh
good luck that was pushed In his direction
in curious way at Benning meeting sew
eral years ago.
THE first week or so of that meeting" he
said. II tried the palav stuff on lot OF
ring drifters that looked like certified
checks, but they We're all two-dollar people,
who only wasted my breath and time. l
was smuggling along on the So-to-a-race
game had me anchored in the going.
x
"One day. lust before the last race. as 1
was coming out of the paddock, l brushed
into a man leaning against the rail-trig-
looking midtle-aged man, with one of those
- shaving brushes on his chin. and a pair of
keen lamps with smile in them i thought
he'd do as well as anybody else.
Well. | guess it'll be just little airing
for old Ethics in this trudge?' | said TO him.
The trig-looking middle-aged man turned
about from the rail and regarded me pleas
antly
An airing will probably be the extent of
his endowment he said, in an agreeable
sort of way MI Presgrave seems to think
that his horse Latheron will come home
alone.
There was something kind of confident
about his way of speaking that made my
sit up and take notice, even though my
Ethics shot had missed fire. Latheron,
hey? l had overlooked that one. And La
theron only had eighty-five pounds up, too,
and had been working well.
And this MISUNDERSTANDING man with
the brush on his chin said that Fred Pres
grave like. Acknowledgements, who never
likes anything in his she'd nor says so, un-
til he all but knows that it's in. L passed
on. and wnen | reache,, the paddock en-
trance l asked one of the Pinks standing
there who the man with the chn-hair was.
Say, don't YOU ever read anything in
the papers except the dope charts and the
pictures of the horses? he asked me.
That's the man that helped to dump Spain
on the Stag heap-thats Admiral Schley.
(which is who il was. all right. His map
had puzzled me. but whe-. the Pink handed
me his name | felt foolish for not seeing it
at once. And Fred Presgraye had told Ad-
miral Schley that Latheron was the one,
hey? And was there chance in eight mil
lion that Fred Presgrave. a man with all
sorts OF toppy Maryland connections, would
hitch Admiral Schley to dead one?
mae four Jumps of it to the ring and
tore off $50 on Latheron, straight at Is to
l. Latheron was the bell-cow, straight
enough. Little Hennessy brought him nome
In his lap. Kind o poor for me, hey, to
get sent along TO the correct one by the
man who was there at Santiago?
Well, a day or so after that one of the
biggest men that l ever saw away from a
tent, in trying to walk around mel was
leaning against a StanchiOn in the ring
knocked my program and pencil out of my
hands. He was about seven foot high and
had a big polka-dot red necktie smeared
all over the front of his shirt-smooth face,
high browed, good-natured-looking man. He
was bending down and picking up my pen
Gil and program before l could unlimber to
stoop.
Thousand pahdons, subj he said to me,
handing me the gear. Wholly uninten-
tional, sub, l assuah you-all. feah, sub,
my somewhat excessive bulk rendehs me
mo or less clumsy, sub, in such crowd as
this
Right courtIy colonel, l could see all
right. that one.
Don't mention it, said to him. AS
you swung along l was just wondering if 1
could guess how many blocks Melrose Is
going to win this race by
The scvcn-fOoter was just about to walk
away, but he came back at that.
Since | have caused you some incon-
venienCe, sub, he said to me, bending over
to get within range of my ear, per-
he IN sc n o. 10
conviction that Melrose may not win the
race at all, sub. 1t is no violation of conf
dence in the circumstances, suh TO me TO
say that Mlstuh Madden thinks ve'y highly
Of his FLY Lalite-no violation of confidence.
sub, since Mistuh Madden is not betting
himself this yeah
Then the giant passed along. making a
very civil, old-fashioned bow he went.
Getting pretty chummy with the nobs,
CHI somebody behind me said then, and
looked around and saw Cooper, the chief
ring sleuth of the Pinks.
Who? The big colonel who just butted
into me?' said I. is he a toff?'
Congressman Ollie James of Kentucky
said the Pink. He knows a few about the
ponies-raiSed with EN-. Great friend of
John Maddens.'
so there was another perfectly miser-
able gag for me, hey? Congressman Ollie
James of Kentucky and a great friend of
John Madden's, and Madden liked this
Lalite trick out of his shed.
The betting was just opening. I was
there for a flash of the 10 to l against
Latte, taking d hundred each way at 10,
and : To ) across the plank. In less than
minute I.a!iJe was at TO 1 to cop. and
the pencilers wouldn't take much of that.
Maybe you saw that sprint. Lalite
made EN- all look like North Carolina
rdZur-back shoats, boy looking back and
gTinuing all the wa. He could have
brCugh: her home alone if he'd ridden her
with q side saddle. Rotten break for me,
wasn't il, getting run into the ring on a
live one by a giant from the national halls
Of legislation?
A few days after that l was prowling
around the paddock before the last race,
waiting to get a peek at good-thing