Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-22
TOO WISE FOR THEM

| pdSSy ClolueS, LOOKS more ike h prosper
GUS farmer than born and bred city man
and proprietor Of cafe, Aalted at the
outer Boardwalk rail- to watch the antics
| OF school Of porpoises at the end of one
| OF the piers.
couple OF hawk-eyed sure-thng men
from New York-Atlantic City is full Of
| put absolutely out Of business while back
spotted the understanding Washing
tonian. And the Washingtonian out Of the
| tail Of his eye. saw that they had spotted
i him.
Look like they might be able to go the
| distance eh?" affably observed one Of the
| sure thing men to the Washingtonian. nod
| ding in the direction of the leaping por-
| poises The Washingtonian permitted the
| air Of rusticfty that enwrapped him to
thicken. He allowed that the porpoises
appeared to be right smart travellers.
Thus was the talk started The pair of
cinch men became very busy with the
Washingtonian He for his part, was
curious to find out just what their game
was.
He found out when he accepted their in
vitation to join them in drink. They had
| the drink in an ornate hotel cafe. the walls
| of which are Uttered with coored prints
portraying famous race horses of the past.
Ever play emp? the more laxative OF
the pair of cnchers asked the Washing
tonian, pointing to the pictures of the
thoroughbreds.
The Washingtonian probably remembers
the name of every great American runner
since the days of Hickory Jim. and he has
been up against the pony game most or
his life But he wasn't letting the sure !ne.
thingers in on that. So he lowed that
there were some right smart steppers to
sulky out his way.
oh. the trots.". said the talkatiye one
disparagingly. 'Trotting Isn't racing. l
meant the runners"
Nope, the Washingtonian didn't know
anything about them kind of horses"
well, us two are from up N Yawk
| way" said the garrulous one land what
| we're going to do to the poolroom down
here tomorrow will be disgrace to civili-
zation''
The Washington man reckoned that they
must be pretty good pool players, If they
expected to win so easily as all that came
to- By this time the pair of cheerful work.
ers looked as if they felt 1t was going to
be shame to take the money. The To-
quacious herded the WashingtOnian
into an alcove and explained the whole
thing to him. The horses name was Lit
| tie Woods. he said, and the horse was 60
ing In sprint at Gravesend on the fol-
lowing day. The cinch man had furt!vely
cast his eye down the entry list in an
afternoon paper and had lit upon Little
Woods the least likely horse to win
| during the whole afternoon Of racing on
The CRATER suggested that the Washing
tonian should bet couple Of hundreds on
the race. and he went through the usual
rigmarole resorted to by such cheerful
workers to convince their mark that
they have the surest thing ever. The
Washingtonian agreed with the CRATER
that it looked like powerful easy way Of
making some money. He'd think 1t over.
he said. He gave the CRATER his name
and the name of the hotel at which he
was stopping-the best in Atlantic City
and invited him to call there shortly after
noon on the following day. The worker
convinced that there was q little easy coin
| in sight. with perhaps plenty more to fol-
| low. looked like somebody who'd already
cashed.
When the amused Washington man re-
| turned to his hotel he found in his letter
box a special delivery letter from a very
astute horseman friend of his operating on
the New York tracks. His amazement over
the coincidence was immense when he found
that the letter concerned the chances Of q
horse named Little Woods to win his race
on the following day. The New York horse
| man expressed the opinion that Little
| Woods might prove to be a good thing at
long price, and he recommended his friend
the Washingtonian to take little shot at
it. The Washingtonfan marveled that he
should be advised by trusted friend to
play the same horse picked by a pair of
chaps whom he knew to be grafters pure
| and simple. He knew very well. however.
that the grafters had hit upon Little
Woods name by pure chance.
The two workers were at the Washing
tonian's hotel at the appointed hour on
! Tuesday forenoon. The Washingtonian took
them aside and told them he reckoned he'd
go in with them. Where was the place the
bet was to be made? He'd go along with
them. he said. This suggestion didn't At
the grafters book at all. They hemmed
and hawed. and said the poolroom was
being run very close, and that they had had
difficulty in making arrangements to be ad-
mitted themselves They'd take the Wash
f,,~r to-, Do, L1k$ &c.,.
and put 1t down on Little Woods with their
own bundle. But the Washington man stood
pat on going with them. Rather than lose
him they decided to permit him to accom-
pany them to the poolroom. They figured
that even with the soft mark in the pool
room with them they could only pretend to
get his coin down Little Woods. They
went to the poolroom all together. and
when the betting was chaiked up on the
Little Woods race that horses price was
| spread across the board at 100, 40 and 20.
The Washington man then led the pair Of
grafters to a corner of the room. His
bucolic manner had dropped away from him
Have you fellows got any money be-
tween your" he astonished the two cinch
men by inquiring. looking them over keenly
The garrulous one was the first to recover
He pulled out bogus roll, with yellow
one on the outside.
air. well. we've brought this COB down
to put em out of business on that Little
Woods thin. and"
That's all right. matey." interrupted the
Westinghouse. to the increasing amaze
ment of the pair Of grafters. But have
you got any real money I'm not referring
to phony wads, but to currency. Because,
If you have got any, you want to go to
that Little Woods thing with the bank
roll. It's in.~ I've no hard feelings against
you two ducks-youre doing the best you
can, 1 spose. And I've had my fun out of
it. It's devilish queer that you should have
attempted to make mark out Of me
through the medium of horse you thought
was a dead But 1 heard yesterday
afternoon that this dead one of yours Is the
liveliest good thing that has gone to the
post this season. We haven't got time to
fan it over however Here look at this"
and the Washingtonian showed them the
letter he had received as to Little Woods
chances. They recognized the name signed
to the letter and were dumfounded
that they could hardly gurgle.
I'm going to take little pike at it,, said
the Washingtonian. and he slid over and
bought Little Woods three ways. $40 each
way the ticket calling for 600 in case the
horse ran to the tip.
The pair of grafters promptly frisked
themselves and they found that they could
just squeeze $50 out of their respective
and sundry pockets They bought the
same kind of Little Woods ticket and
then the poolroom folks, without any flash
from the track, rubbed the price against