The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-09
SAFE TO LEND TO RACING MEN
PARNBROKER TALKS or THOSE
HE HAS STAKED TO MONEY.

~ AAoA vi EON WIN bNNoOA -
shine and wore a baggy looking suit OF
clothes, walked into a Sixth avenue pswn-
shop a few ~forenoons ago. He gave a
barely ~perceptible nod to the proprietor
OF the pawnshop, who was talking with a
couple OF customers at the counter. The
proprietor left the two customers for q
minute.
Hundred, Abe said the shabby man.
With the greatest OF animosity, ship
mate replied the pawnbroker cordially,
and he fished out n fresh 500 note, and
handed il to the man. The shabby one
nodded again, stuffed the note carelessly
into a vest pocket, and strolled out. AS
he reached the door the ~pawnbroker called
after him:
Anything that looks right to-day2'
Not a thing" called back the shabby
one rather b~rusquely. Cards rotten
The pair Of customers couldn't help but
notice that the shabby man hadn't handed
over anything to the pawnbroker in ex-
change for the 500 and that no ticket had
been made out.
Pretty soft for that one, I'd call it, re-
marked one OF the customers to the pawn
broker. "Strolls in, asks for one OF the
yellow men, gsts it, GDPs il into the Mex
and trudges out without handing over
airy thing, and even nix his monaker to
any piece Of paper to show that he'd copped
the century paper. Pretty soft, taking II
altogether. What's the answerf'
NO particular answer" replied the pawn
broker. except hat he's the headliner on
my list-and it's quite a little list-of people
who can get the occasional piece Of money
from me without pushing anything over the
counter and waiting for a ticket. That
ones close to being the leading information
man OF the racetracks. You'd call him a
tout. You wouldn't call him that to his
face, however, without taking a swell chance
Of picking up one or two bruised lamps.
That. however, is what he really is, though
he has en- established clientele and hasn't
had to hunt up any new ones for a long
while. Well. he's been mired in the going
for a spell. that's all.
Has the makeup Of a bum. you say?
So he has. But he never looks any different.
no matter how strong he may be. He's a
born SLOUGH as to his dress. and il he were
to pub $500 worth of raiment OF himself
to-day he'd look just about the same as
you saw him tomorrow. Last summer he
looked like somebody r~oosting az one OF the
Mills dumps. and he was from $50, 900 to
$40, 600 strong until the windup around
here, when he went TO New Orleans with the
winter racing georges. They o him for
the bundle at New Orleans, but as / say,
he looks just the same now as he did when
it required q pair OF inch wide rubber bands
TO go aroun his roll.
For fifteen years that | know OF, and
probably for a good many years that | have
no personal tab on, that fellow has been
-.nilloftnn hafpynnn ynTifo hln uvnalfh nnH
utter bustedness. But he's always been a
tout. Even when he's there with a roll big
enough to clog an old fashioned caves
he remains a tout, although at such times
he sloughs of his own coin on the caylses
like a lumberjack after the spring drive.
He 3 one OF the kind Of information people
and there are many of them around the
New York tracks-who car put other folks
right about the once that are due to connect
with the coin; but who can't get down on
them themselves. somehow or another.
when there with a bundle.
All Of this. though, isn't explaining Why
| handed him. as you saw. q 800 note with
out any collateral, or why, II he asked me
for il, I'd hand him a thousand just as
willingly. There are several reasons. One
on the level with me Another 10 that he
and a few others Of his sort have made me
win something Ike S90.O0 o Oh the horses
during the last few years. I've only
beer on a raoetrack three times in my life,
vet the sum I've named ia the amount I'm
ahead OF the game. The man you saw me
slip the century to has been responsible
for my getting most OF il. and his strength
with me lies in the fact hat he not only
never asked me for a penny Of the winnings
| picked up on his information. but he
aIwava refused to take any percentage
when ] offered the money to him.
Never mind that. he'd always say when
| tried 10 break on n piece of the won change
and put it in his hand. I'm there with all
! need Just now, and you're pretty handy
when ] want a bit of it,.
"But he'd go right on passing me the good
things that drifted his way, even though
he never accepted anything for his end If
it. Hold been doing this for a number Of
years before he got a series Of wallops that
put him to the mat for quite a spell. Then
no cam To me and asked me for o thousand.
He got il Just az quickly rs | could open The
door II my safe, A mont later he came
back and put the thousand in my hand.
I hadn't expected that, and ;old him so;
ut isn't what you're expecting hat gives
YOU the right feel. pal. Tes his reply, ANY
how, it's my system. dom want ANYTHING
from You except TO keep you handy. You're
one Of my little holdouts, chats all.
ITS been going On chat way ever since.
He's never down and ont for any length OF
time worth mentioning I've let him have
as much as 1000, in siOO and 5000 and $500
driblets. before he got a winning break,
and lust as soon as they came his way again
the first thing he,did vas 20 zephyr In here
and pass the fout thousand back to me IN
a lump. But during al this time. whether
he was in right himself or not. he never
failed 10 tip me of on the things that looked
right 70 him, and his stuff s the cleanup
stuff for the four times olt 81 Ave. He's
into me 81 800 or so. in hfties aud hundreds
and such like. since the bad break he got at
New Orleans and around here In the early
spring but he can get Into me three or four
times that much before III begin 20 worry
or TO feel any fear that he isn't going TO get
up again. know from many years knowl- |
edge Of him that he's one OF the kind OF track
followers that can't he kept down, and he
has shown me how clean he IL In money
deals by the way he has handled me.
There are half a dozen other men within
a radius 81 three blocks Of my place here
from whom he can get money In .he same
way as he gets II from me-with no security
at all. One 81 Them is another ~paEnbroker
and the others are saloonkeepere and hotel
men. They hand il out 70 him unquestion- |
insly. and ne invariably hands it back 10
them when he gets a break. as he does to me.
They, too, have all profted immensely from
the inside stuff that he has given them about
comeoff .hings at the tracks
He IL, as I've said. the headliner on my
list OF people to whom pass 1t out without
asking them TO lay down anything Of equal
value, hut there are about a dozen racing
men, and none OF the others are touts
either. TO whom ! freely lend money without
&c. IL /