Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-02
TALES OF AN OLD BOOKMAKER.


by SullSh.
Don't ever let the poppy idea get hold of
you that the time to press your bets is when
they're swinging right for you" said Ike
Thompson, the dean and Nestor OF Amer
ican bookmakers in the progress Of talk
j had with him recently at New York
broadway Paddock" When they're COM
inx home according 10 your chalk and the
numbers that you've put the rings around
are going up-that's about the time for you
TO whittIc "A match down for a toothpick,
gaze overhead to see how the evening Is
holding w, and take II easy and comfort
aEle Ike. The notion that it's a wise trick
TO press your luck when they're coming
your way IS as old as the game of dice
md that goes back to the days of the
Shepherd Kings Of Egypt. I'm told-but it's
a notion that was pUnCtured and exploded a
long time ago. You don't see any of the
toppy gamblers doing that nowadays.
Pittsburg Pills Way.
I've seen the late George Smith (meaning
Pittsburg PhiO sit In a grandstand for
three weeks at stretch without ever get
ting down n bet. That was when his regu-
lar season was over. He was $50. 600 to
the right on that regular season of his. and
he just climbed into the grandstand for
the air and to listen to the band music AT
another stretch. however, | saw that same
George Smith 20 for solid fourteen days
without ever Cashing a bet. Right then
when he got busy. That's when he
Chewcd gum the hardest and made the big
fght-when he was in bad. He never saw
any use in fighting trouble when he didn't
dave any. but when it came his way he
stakcd 1t to bear hug that near about as
near cruuchiug It's bones as was necessary.
81 wouldn't care to say how many tens
OF thousands Ii took Phil to wrggle out aft
er that punk fourteen-day stretch when the
storm signals We're all set and Tapping for
him. but | 90 know that that of
the periods when he wasn't thinking Of the
shine on his shoes or the set of his vest, but
of how To poke in the wallops that would
daze. He got out. and better than that
away better-and then he Immediately re-
uemb"r,d that he had some letters to
write and became and stayed bashful till
the correct bunch hit him to make a new
start
~ few summers ago Charlie Ellison sail
ed along with the spCe-laden trade-winds,
taking II easy and not trying to scoop up
all Of the breeze Of the ocean, being wholly
content with what he was getting until he
ran into typhOou that threatened TO
SILVER his timbcrs a whole lot. That was
when charlie began to tug at his straw
colored mus;aChe and to give directions to
his crew Tie knew that the time to try for
IN UppcTcut On the jaw of luck was when 1t
was trying 10 get gay with him. He came
up for each round when time called, a
little moro battered and Eroggy each time.
but stu there, and finally he landed right.
and more than that whercupOn he decided
that 1t was sin and a shame the way he
needed a shampoo, and let EN- race for
'ShaUghnesSy.
For. you see, it's only the people with the
hectic spot on each cheek who get them
selves worked up to a typhoid temperature
and try to boost along winning streaks. !
never see a man sitting at faro table with
enough stacks of yellows and blues in front
of him To screen from view the whole front
of his shirt that l don't feel Ike hitting
him behind the ear with piece Of gas
pipe. So that he'll have to be carried out
and away with what he's walloped the bank
for There's nothing disgraceful about chill
blains. It's the man with the continuous
performance cold feet when they're drifting
his way who'll be shaking hands with him
self along toward the finish. But the man
who has the sense TO relax his speed 10 an
easy jog when he finds that he's in right
must also have the nerve 10 hop out at
1.:iS clip when he discovers that the Lady
Fortune has framed up a conspiracy to
push him 10 the outside rail and hang him
on the fence. Not all betting folks have
got that nerve. even the ones who have
the wisdom TO go slow when they're making
Roadway.
The Tale Of Broker.
II know New York broker who when
he was playing them, had that kind of-nerve
10 give away He started in at a Sleeps
head Bay meeting six or seven years ago
10 play the favorite system 10 cop pat $500
per diem. For week or so he creased
along all right, and then he hit the sunken
rock About a dozen short priced favoriteS
lost out on him in a row. and at the end of
that evil streak he was just about pat
$4,000 on the wrong side. | don't have to
elaborate upon 1t that this was a fierce
proposition. considering how short-priced
the ensuing favorites promised to be AS
matter OF fact. the next favorite was the
great Mesmerist flly Hatasoo. the only
other one in the race being Smoke, a pretty
shlfty sDTinrer herself HatasOo was the
1-to-5 thing, and Smoke was held at Ala to l.
The broker wasn't playing the favorite sys-
TEN that demands that the price be even
money or better. but Just favOrites at any
old punk price down to / 10 10. He an
nounced to his friends that he going
to put enough down on Hatasoo at the
grueiing 1-tC-J price to win out and vindi-
cate his system. They all tried to dissuade
him. but they had no chance TO get by with
their dissuasiOn. The broker sent a dozen
hastily hired commissioners into the ring.
and they got his markers down for $4,000
on Hatasoo at the 1-to-5 price. Hatasoo
COPIED by tho merest face-just the lip
down on the tape, and she stopping
every jump at that.
That was about as big a bet was
ever slapped down on an American race
track, but the story OF il didn't get out be-
cause the broker had never got a name for
plunging. and so he wasn't being watched
for that sort OF stuff. l won't say that he
did n wise thing in planting such huge
bundle IN one little sack, but I'm talking
about The people with the nerve to do things
Ike that. and that one sure had II and TO
SPARE. lie played his favorite-to-cop system
struck no more such boys, winning his $500
a day right along. He got frigid pedals
at the end of the season because the game
took too much Of his Wall street time. and
hy hasn't come back 10 It since.
The Tale of Mike Dugan.
ION a smaller scale but nevertheless on
q scale that meant Just as much to the peo-
Ilr engaged, I've seen men belabor the bel
dame o? bad luck with barrel stave till
they made her yell for breather Old
Nike DUgan OF Brooklyn was one of them.
Mike was an Old-faShiOned, rough-neck
Of a Turk with the Galways, and he kept
q. mighty profitable 'longshoreman's grog-
gerry not far from the Erie basin. He had
q nO-acCount gussoOn OF son who pikcd
along with the ponies and hated the sound
tlc word work. and one day Mike tossed
this y. G.. son Into The outer atmosphere
and warned him 10 remain away. The OLD
man had no sooner done this than he be-
came sore on himself, and so, urged alonS
Hy t.. boys mother. ne made up his mind
O. give the youugster another chance for
l.s tHw agate. He knew that his son could
o.. found at the GraVescnd race track,
so. .a'. the ra ing was on then. and so he