The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-08-01
RILEY GRAMMAR
IS DEAD BROKE
The One-Time Famous Plunger Now
Nervous Wreck-Was The
Best in The Bunch.

Riley Grammar, whose meteOric ca
reer as the kingpin of the betting
ring on the local tracks several years
ago made him a wonder of the turf
world, has again met with the fate
OF the race track plunger. He is
clean broke, after brilliant and de-
termined rally to renew his shatter-
ed fortunes. says the New York
World.
The nervy young boOkmaker who
set the racing world aghast prior to
the great Henry of Navarre-Domino
match race at Gravesend by handing
nearly 100000 to that race alone,
he monopolizing the business of the
ring by offering point higher on
Domino than any other boOkmaker
within the Enclosure, Is a mere shad-
of his former self. Physically he is a
nervous wreck; financially a total
wreck, his only apparent means of
earning an existence being that
which may be garnered handling a
commission or winning lucky wag-
er with its proceeds.
Tall and very thin, with cadav-
erous race, he is a human shadow
III the betting-ring at Brighton Beach
these days, silent and mOrOse, walk
which once characterized his pace
through the gambeiorium, and sell
dom If ever smiling. His face Is that
of man sad at heart.
Recently his bad luck-his bet
ting luck-changed. He placed sew
eral good winning wagers to his cred
it, and was rapidly accumulating a
bank roll. His friends, old and new,
believed that Riley would again be
seen prominent and domineering
figure in the ring; but bad luck
came back with a streak, and the
former plunger could not struggle
against the handicap. He was again
broke" and again the time-honored
axiom, "A plunger never comes
back" was proven.
THE races can't be BEATEN" he
sighed, after losing bet which, had
1t won, might have again given him
a start; and today he repeated it
1.-The races can't be beaten" He
added:
i've tried 1t from all ends of the
game-frOm making book to betting
from the ground, and from owning
and having an interest in race horses
but / can't make the money hOld-Il
can't send 1t along. Well, things
have changed nightly since l was
the big store in the betting rings
around here. That was the time when
my old friend Byron Mcclellan, who |
owned Henry of Navarro, Sally Nc
Clellan, Caesarion and other good
ones, was alive and much in evidence
on the turf Byron believed that
could make a book against any man
living, and he backed me for thous- |
ands and we won.
1.-The day of the Henry of Navarro
Domino race l shall never forget. |
The match was run over the Graves |
end course, and / was confident that |
Henry of Navarro could beat DOM |
inc. McClelland thought SO, too, and |
we were willing to bank our lives /
on the result of hitch-up between |
the pair. / went into the ring pre-
pared to win or lose 100000 on the /
result of the race, and had backing /
for that amount / let the big fell
lows of the ring make the price that
day against Domino, which was held
as the favorite, and then | shouted
my odds point, yes two points,
higher and chalked them down in big
figures SO that all might see.
They came at me like tigers with
handfuls of money and markers I'M
til the They're OFF, cry came, and
still | was taking money. If l had
had several pairs of hands l could
not have handled all that was thrust
at me. Still chung to the higher
odds against Domino and shaded the
price against Henry of Navarro. II
never saw SO much money bet on a
race. The public loved Domino and
went to him with every confidence
and l took everything that came
along. The race, as you all remem-
Der, was dead heat-the squarest
and surest dead heat that ever was
run But even with the dead heat
the book won $4,000 on the divis-
ion of the bets.
well, it's all over now, and I've
been trying for several years to get
back to the high places, but luck and
have been against me
m stick to the game. though, but
he reverses come too often now to
ct me imagine that l can get new ]
,al1 l