Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-29

New York with Il bundle. and the bundle
kept gathering size and circumference.
He skAted ii up to the quarter OF A mil
lion figure. and then he got the bug in
the rear part of his bean that he was de
signed by Providence to he an owner OF
race horses. Pursuing which bug he ag-
gregated unto himself some NUTS, among
them that Flip Flap mare.
Flip Flap broke Whitley.
She was one of those flicker mares. That
is TO say. she always did the trick when
Whitley" was looking out Of the window
and failed to bet on her. And she alwaA
finished back with the land crabs when
her owner INDEBTED for sockdologer
bet Several times. when Flip / lap was
delayed in transmission, Iangdon bet
high as $4,000 on her.
Not great many bets, at that, even in
a $2o0.O00 bank wad, are there?
No, there are not. and Whitley" found
that out when it was too late.
Saw a man the other day who'd been
watching 'em run at Oakland. out yondcr
on the coast.
Say, what dye think" said this person
to me. Il saw Whitley Langdon bettin-
a two-dollar note for himself on a horse
at Oakland the other day
Kind O. slow-musicky at that. wasn't
it? And yet it made sort OF a rounded
ending. Whitley began with a two
dollar note and now I'm way of speak-
ing he's ending with that size currencS.
Because 1t ism t likely, the way the bookics
recent years, that Whitley is ever aga.u
going to run a two-spot into a quarter Of
million. Just about once on this earth
does fellow have a chance to crack those
kind of melons.
Johnson a Gambler.
Davy Johnson, too. I saw Davy on
Broadway month or so ago. He looked
shabby I believe he's hiked out to the
coast now to look the winter game over.
But If he's gone it's even money he had
to make a dig TO get there Because he
sure was broke down to the ends OF the
knuckles when the game closed up
around here.
Davy, you know. is the most recent Of
the big pungers, and he sure deserved
the reputation he got for the plunging
thing. Now, I never take any stock in
big figures in connection with plungers
winnings or losings unless I happen Ia
have been contiguous to the operations
myself, and therefore, had peek at what
was in progress.
l happened 10 be thusly contiguous at
Gravesend one afternoon three years ago
when Davy Johnson won $4,000 for him
self Pretty handy bit of money. that.
Trouble was that he lost il all back, ard
heap more besides, within ten days.
Johnson. when the skates were running
straight for him, bet money like as if
look like money to him. 1t looked only
like stuff for betting purposes.
And, I'm the case Of Langdon. IL was
a horse that finally tapped Johnson for
his large wad and got him on the rocks.
Oh. you know the horse all right I
hardly need TO name him.
Roseben. The Big Train. The Empire
State Express The greatest sprnter.
perhaps. in our turf history.
Yes. it was Roseben that rugged things
SO that when last l clapped an eye on
Davy Johnson he looked-for the first
time in my recollection-as if maybe his
tailor had curled up on him until he'd
Cancelled at least a part of the old bill
Johnson was swimming along like a
deep-sea dolphin, getting the bales OF
kale just as e-e-easy, until. he, too, got
the microbe that he ought really to have
some hawses. One of 'em was this tree
menjous RoSeben.
No doubt in the world about Roseben's
tree-menJosity. either. except that he
didn't do it just when Davy needed to have
him do it. Johnson won some bumper
bets on Roseben during the first year
that he had him. But after that first year
Roseben sort of fell into the skittish
ha bit of Aprll-fOoling Johnson on critical
occasions. DaVy never lost faith in his
mighty siX-furlonger, however. and kept
right on sending in the big packages And
the finish came, as it had to come. Rose
ben initiated Johnson into the Down-and-
Out Club.
At the Metropole. not so long ago. I
heard Eddie Burke say that Johnson
Udu 1851. all loiu, Three HutlGTt'l
thousand bucks on Roseben. Eheu,
Three hundred thousand bones. put ont
tidily at five per cent interest-um:
enough to keep a fellow from hanging
around car barn trying To nail a job as
a motornan. don't YOU think? But JOIN
son. like all plungers. never thought ~
the chilly old days when the sky is over
cast and leaden and when the silk
papers have all gone away from
there down In the kick.
No Plungers Left.
Riley Grammar left few dollars whom
he died suddenly out in Nevada last
spring. Just a few dollars, and he hadn't
picked up those few at the gee-gee game.
either but at a Nevada faro bank that lie
happened to wallop. You know all about
the kind of bets Riley made when he was
nifty -kitching around the New York
tracks. The blue sky was his limit. and
he complained that even that was To-"
pikersh.
How bout Kid Weller? The Kids on
the lee shore. l don't mean to say that
he doesn't know where he's going 10
annex beef stew for himself tonight.
But the Kid is in, all right enough.
remember when. only few years ago.
he frisked himself to see where he stood.
and found that he was worth half
million In coin and negotiable papers.
Now he's sort OF mooching around, rub
bling his head. and wondering where IL
all went to, yes. where it all really and
truly went to.
What about Chicago O'Brien. who used
to play 'em for tens of thousands
crack way out on the limb-the third
money soaker? Well. Chicago has a
little house for himself down on Long
Island. That's about all.
No use going over the whole list. But
the simple fact Of the matter is that not
one--not single one-of the plungers was
there with anything at the wind-up ot
the racing season this year. 1t wasn't
because II was grabbed racing season.
either. They were most OF them pretty
nigh broke when the season began.
All OF which leads back to that conclu-
sion expressed some distance back that
plunging Is just a side line, that's all. 1t
wasn't meant for a business. For out Of
all Of the fellows whove tried to make a
successful business OF it, only just one
or two ever wound up doing anything
more cheerful for himself than munching
After Featherweight Honors.