Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-22
By Clarence L. Cullen.



NEW YORK. September p. 1907
shabby for,orn little wisp of man.
who used to be the greatest and wealthiest
Jockey in the world. plucked a blade OF
grass from the sheepshead Bay infield sat
urday afternoon last chewed it rum.ua-
lively for a minute and then spat 1t out.
HIS face was drawn. He looked very down
and miserable
Well" he said. they've made a bum Of
me- YOU see'-I hadn't met him FOR several
years. Member what Phil told me- that
time-you were by when he said 1t? Phil
told me that they'd make a bum of me If l
didn't watch out. And they have Made a
bum of medium" and the down hearted
little fragment of man repeated the word
over and over. as If trying TO get used to
the sound of 1t.
He was referring to a bit of advice that
the late 'Pttsburg Phil George Smith
tried to stake him to at race track one
afternoon a few years ago. BY chance /
| happened to be by when Phil was unlim-
| bering the piece of advice.
| You can't beat EN-. you know" said the
greatest plunger in the world to the little
| man who had been the greatest jockey In
| the world. You don't know how You're
| joke at 1t. Almost everybodys a joke at
|
| EN-. That's my business But you can't
do it. You never will. They'll get you
| They made you in the first place. Now.
| don't let EN- break YOU. You sure could
ride EN-. but you sure never can beat EN-.
| They ii get your shirt If you stay with en-.
| They ii make a bum of you"
This cold plunger Pittsburg Phil was not
wont to wax so eloquent all that came
| to. But he had won hundreds of thousands
of dollars In his devious way on the jock
eys mount in other years, and he didn't
want to see the rued-off little man go
broke at pony betting. He felt sort o sorry
| for the wisp of a man He tried to advise
him to buy neat little annuity for him
self. But the little man wouldn't listen.
well. you member what George said to
me that timer ne kept repeating over and
| over the other afternoon. He said they'd
| make bum of me. and they have" and he
shambled away. rather moving little figure
of shabby wretchedness daubed on the fore
ground Of the gay racing picture.
Curious. though. isn't it, that he wasn't
able to beat the horses when he quit the
saddle? You see. he had quite a little cap
ital-and all of the fellows who have "sys-
tens of beating EN- know that you've got
to start with capital. And he had
racing friends and pals innumera ble--the
good people. too-oWners trainers. layers.
railbrds, checkers, commissioners. He
knew them all He trained with the inside
racing push. They liked him. They were
willing to send him along They didn't
mind doing all they could to enable him to
seen with. because he'd been the greatest
jockey the globe. And so, in starting
out to play EN- from the ground, the little
man certainly had with his connections.
lot of shade folks who have to grope
around blindly in making their picks
And yet they got him. They took him."
in turf parlance. Now he's bum. He
says himself. and he ought to know.
Queer that he couldn't beat EN-? Oh. not
so very queer Not many people really beat
them for any length of time, you know.
They NAV beat 'em for a little stretch, but
not for long. How, then do they hang
that's just 1t. They hang around on the
fringe Of the game, touting, checking.
working sheet writer's or outside men,,
or doing railbird stunts. Just hang around.
How many friends have you in the racing
game who really go right ahead beating
EN-? ANY at all? And how many fellows
do you yourself know that the ponies have
made buns Of?
Did you ever get real chummy with an
opulent fat-necked bookmaker in his hours
Of relaxation and hear him guffawing over
the very Rabeaisian humor of the idea
| that anybody can beat the horse with SO
note2 or a 500 note? or $1,000 note? or
$4,000 note? or that the ponies can be beat
| at all by the fellow who plays EN- from
the ground? Because, you know, they do
laugh over the very idea of all that. They
| roar over it. They slap their knees over 1t.
| They all but roll on the ground over it. 1t
| tickles them almost to death. And when
| they get to the subject Of the race track
piker-the fellow who starts to the track
| with a ten-spot, digs up three to get
| through the turnstie. and then expects to
run that seven shoestring into a tannery
| trust-when the auriferous chalker with the
| sixty-inch surcingle and the concentrated
drops Of expensive wines standing out dew.
lily on his forehead falls to talking about
| the pikers of this class. how he does just
laugh and laugh and laugh until he all but
| snaps a pickering string! You ought to
hear 'em sometimes. IT, great.
! And yet what a fat lining that pikers'
| money does make for the satchels Of the
layers! They don't care much for the
ov roa see They
have to pay out much Of that kind OF
money When the wise kale' drifts their
they're taking ehanes The eyae
these land on the crags In time But they've
got an ace in the hole and something up
their cuff when they grab this money OF
| their satchels, for they know that the
vastly greater part of 1t is in their satchels
| to stick there.
1T gives me tn lid-buzz { listen t these
bone-conks O. new chalkers knockin' tn
pikers," 1 overheard one of the most sue
cessful bookmakers In the main ring saying
tn play O. about fifty pikers an you fellers
can have tn big-wad bettors! Me fr tn
duff that can hang on to!'
i
| X X
But-maybe you've got system
WE'LL that ought to help-til you think
IT over for a minute or From whom
did YOU get that system Of yours? From
sc rather seedy chap who was pretty
keen to sell you the system for couple
If dollars wasn't it? And It's good 'sys-
tenn. at that. eh? Well. why. then. doesn't
the fellow who worked it off on you play
the system himself and get rich at ~
why was he insuch sore need of your S2!.
The system" perhaps, tells you how you
can start out with 500 and infal!ibly win
5000 week with it, which will relieve you
Of the necessity of working for living any
more. and loafing is all kinds of fun Isn't
it the wonder, then, that this system
purveyor doesn't get hold of 800 some
| Where-even If he has to carry the nod or
| drive a truck to get it-and then proceed
| - -, COCO Tor himself avery week so that