Evening star., 1909-04-11
MAKING BIC MONEY
AS SPORT PROMOTER
Harry PoIIak, Ex-Washington
Citizen, Stands at the Head
of the Game.
By Clarence L. Cullen.
Al Correspondence Of The Star.

ATLANTIC CITY. April 1O.1W9.
The thing commonly known sporting
life" they say. is what the late Gen.
Sherman called war
1t is Il good many things besides that.
1t is dandy little money eater. and very
rarely is it a money getter.
A few minutes ago. though. l was nit
ting and being mitted by young fell
low, a Hlingler with the glad and festive
Easter throng here, who has been frivol-
ing along with the sporting thing ever
since he shed his knickerbockers, and
who after vicissitudes that listen like an
old-fashioned story book. finally has made
the sporting thing fetch him in the kale
in bales and bundles.
The thing is worth recounting because
this youngish chap-he's only little
above thrty-is Washingtonian. That
Is. he was brought up in Washington. He
beat ii away from there at an early stage
of it, but Washington folks are aces with
him. and the wistfu gleam creeps into
his wicks when the talk veers around to
little old Washington.
The youngish fellow I'm talking about is
this Harry Pollak chap, the promoter Of
the heap-big- -money-getting Marathons
that you've been reading so much stun
about during the past seven or eight
months.
Pollak is there at this hour with a bun
die that he'd have some trouble in slowing
In the crypt of the Capitol. and yet he
has been toying around with various
maybe-maybe money propositions In con
nection with sports ever since ne hfst
sneaked into an obscure barber shop and
asked the barber man to shave him and
not tell anybody about ii.
/ first knew this smooth-faced, eX-
tremely self-contained. quiet-spoken kale-
Snagger Gas he is today when he was
stationed outside the door of the city edi-
nf nor
TO flag all and sundry persons who de-
sired to ask for work, submit ideas for
stories. and all like that. He was then
coping out all of three iron men per
lunar week and right glad to get it. 1t
was only a little while after he'd done the
sudden hike from lii OF Wash'n'n. and
the $3-per thing looked like Astor money
to him. He spent all of his time while
he wasn't telling applicants for work at
the city editors door that the city editor
was dead or something-spent all of his
time reading the sporting pages and try
ing to dope out some feasible way or
bursting into that domain and getting
something out of it without being burnt
to crisp.
Next / knew he was moochng around
the outlaw racetracks of Maryland-Iron
Hill and such luff1y plants-training. or
trying to make himself believe he was
training. a bunch of outlaw skates.
Where he ever learned the difference be-
tween a racehorse's bar plate and pint
of gelatine / am not here to try TO ex-
plain. But, all the same there he was
i saw him-training a bunch of pretty
nifty outlaw nags on those old merry-go-
rounds. and getting his regular allotment
of purses out of 'em, too, and he dldn [
get mad or swollen with vitriOl or any
thing, either when fellows mooching
around those old tracks took him for
water boy and patted him on the tallowy
hair and asked him IL he knew where the
pump happened to be.
X x
1t was observable of this young fellow,
even at that comparatively remote period.
that he wasn't bucking anybody's else
game. His idea was to deal the cards
himself. He desired ever to be on the
yon side of the layout. I mention this
circumstance because I've been noticing
right along that the ducks who aggre-
gate-Eho get it together in the long run
and hang on to it-are the hombreys VINO
from the very beginning are enamored OF
that idea letting the other fellows DO
the gambling
Well, the bottom dropped out the old
merry-go-round horse thing In Maryland
and it was up to the subject of this
casual little sketch, possessed of his lk-
ing for the inside end of the sporting
thing, to try something else. Next l saw
of him he was thickern thieves with no
less an exalted little parsonage of his age
and epoch than J. Todhunter Sloan. the
most renowned jockey of his time and OF
all time. Wherever Sloan was 10 be seen
there likewise and similarly was to be seen
his alter ego. young H. Pollak, and the
former Washingtonian didn't appear 10
be suffering from any lack of prosperity
on account of this alliance. When Sloan
went to England to ride for jocks and
kinks and persons of that general char
acter Pollak went along with him. He
didn't go along as a hanger-on. but as a
young person with an idea of his own.
This idea Of his own wasn't new for this
side of the pond. but 1t was dead new
stuff for perfidious Albion. England,
y'knaw, had never had any racing charts
Racing charts had been published In this
country for yahs and yahs, and 1t had
come to pass that the keepers OF the
dope sheets here depended upon them
lust as much as they depended upon their
breakfasts.
But Great Britain had never taken to
the dope sheet idea. and it was the gen.
eral view that Great Britain. on account
of it's natural conservativeness and Its
instructive dislike for any and all things
originating in this country wouldn't fall
for the racing charts even if they were
started over there.
PolIak had to be shown, anyhow. So as
soon as he arrived in England with Tod
Sloan he went to work to try the dope
sheet thing on. None of the papers would
even look at the idea. You can imagine
what they handed out as to that. Racing,
W
with an upper-case I. in England for
some 'undreds of yahs without nanny
racing sheets, y'knaw, and therefore 1t
didn't beoove any blawsted, bloomink
American to come halong, etc.
But PolIak fell in with quite bunch
of high grade British racing men, who
had visited the states and who liked the
idea of being enabled to keep a dope line
on the work of the horses through the aid
OF the racing sheets, and these people con-
slituted themselves Pollak's clients.
lie got TO work and made racing sheets
for his select group of patrons at so
much per man 1t wasn't easy work
You see the race tracks in England are
straightaway courses, wholly different
from the American circular tracks. One
man stationed in the press stand of an
American race track. can make a racing
chart with the aid of his field glasses and
an assistant to iot down the relative posi-
tions of the horses they dart around
the circular courses.
On the straightaway tracks. however.
with the horses out of sight of the audi
il was different. and helpers had TO be
employed to make u note OF the relative
positions of the runners at different stages
OF the journey Poilak got his helpers
made the charts. had 'em set up in due
form. and made money out of them.
In the meantime. Tod Sloans bunch of
pals Americans who had accompanied
him 20 England were making thousands
and tens OF thousands betting upon the
mounts that Sloan told them would just
about do Nix that for Pollak. He
couldn't sec the gambling end of it, and