Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-07
PRIVATE BETTING NO CRIME
JUDGE GAYNOR HOLDS 1T NOT
ILLEGAL TO WAGER.
Not Unlawful to Keep Record of the
Bet-Racing Men
Jubilant.

NEW YORK, August THAT private
or ordinary betting is no crime no matter
where carried on. was the decision given
yesterday by Judge Gaynor in the ap-
pellate division of the supreme court.
Brooklyn. when he dismissed the case
against George Sterling. who bet on a
game of golf. Judge Gaynor also holds
it is not wrong to make a note of such a
bet on card. providing no offer is made
to make public bets. This decision may
be construed as going one step further
than did Judge Bischoff, who said it was
no crime to make a bet unless it was re-
corded
District Attorney Coles of Nassau coun-
ty and other officials charged that Mr..
Sterling made wager of a basket of golf
balls with Ephriam Hamm on the out
come of match they were playing on
the Salisbury golf links at Garden City.
They also held that the bet was recorded
and that It was as much a violation of
the anti-Sambling law as making private
bets on horse races. Judge Gaynor agrees
with the latter contention but states that
neither is crime: that it does not matter
whether an ordinary bet is made on a
race track, the golf links or in parlor.
Liberal Decision.
This decision, rendered after hearing
on a demurrer to the return to a writ of
habeas corpus, is more sweeping than was
expected. Judge Gaynor made a clear
plain statement of the law. as he inter-
prets it. and 1t is evident that he enter
tains a more liberal view than some of
the judges and Kings county officials who
have been active in the racing cases.
Friends of racing were enthusiastic over
the decision, as it was taken as an indi-
cation of the attitude the appellate divi-
sion will take If appeals reach that court
in cases now pending. The contention of
several men who are now under indict-
ment is that they made private bets and
We're not making public books. Judge
Gaynor also criticises the common prac-
tice of applying for writs of habeas cor
pus. In discharging Mr.. Sterling. Judge
Gaynor says, in part:
THAT every judge of the supreme court
is obliged to issue the writ OF habeas cor
pus on application. whether he wishes to
or not. and is subjected by statute to a
severe penalty for refusing. is, in itself. a
reason why members of the bar should
not apply for it except in a case of ne
cess1ty, lest the writ be abused. 1t does
not seem to me that 1t was necessary to
invoke the writ in this case, for 1t is
quite inconceivable that a magistrate
would rule that the information against
the relator states facts which constitute
d crime and hold him for trial.
OCI(AAAS 4NOI
"Ordinary betting has never been made
crime. The law has never descended to
thrusting its nose into the personal con-
duct of men and women to that extent,
and those who try to make out that it has
only tend to create disrespect for 1t. In
the administration of the laws no one
should set himself up as better or stricter
than the laws.
mo law can be enforced except by pub
lie opinion, and wise legislators never
pass law which lacks public opinion in
its favor. Such laws are dead letters. eX-
cept as they are stirred up from time to
time by the few among us who delight In
meddling with the conduct of others, or
to levy blackmail The community sheds
them as a snake sheds its skin. All that
the last legislature did in respect of the
gambling laws was to make them apply
inside of a race track the same as out
side 1t in no other way extended or
added to the said laws
LAS to the writing of memorandum of
the bet on a card by the relator, it is
enough to say that section No. 351 Of the
penal code is confined in plain terms to
the case of persons who engage In the
recording or registering Of the bets of all
corners as a practice or business. That is
common gambling or aiding and abetting
common gambling. which the law does
not tolerate. The difference between il
and ordinary betting is too plain to call
for words.
IAN ordinary bet is not a crime. whether
made In your parlOr or on a golf links or
a race track. nor is the making of note
or memorandum thereof: but if you hold
yourself out to bet and bet with all COM
ers. or generally, or become the general
recorder of such bets or of bets between
others. you are guilty of crime"