The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-08-06
DICK BEDELL
 "COOD NIGHT" Slick Boy Who Worked Both Ends Against
 Middle. Cleaned up the "Bookies" Hereabout and Copped Considerable Change
 Otherwise.

Selecting a town near Bridgeport as the last of number of New Eng land cities for the exploitation of his scheme to beat the horses Dick Be- dell. a natty little jockey, made a fine clean up in this vicinity before he left for parts unknown early this week. Bedell left Bridgeport in a hurry. with unpaid hotel and auto- mobile bills, and borrowed money to the amount of several hundred dollars But from the pace he travelled, those who were intimate with him believe he spent most of his borrowed money in this city. If he is not recover ing from his strenuous activity in a sanitarium or turkish bath, Bedell is probably recuperating in the tall tim bers far from the haunts of police and detectives.
 Bedell came to Bridgeport after he had scattered paint in generous splotches all around Springfield and Hartford. He anchored at the Strat- field, and alternated between that ho- tel and other local hostelries. He claimed to have an infallible means of beating the races, and those who watched several of his plays made by means of the telephone and telegraph companies to bookmakers in other cit ies. declare he made good.
 Bedell imparted in confidence to a number of his chance >acquaintances here the method he used to beat the ponies. He was one of several par ties to the scheme. The bookmakers were first misled as to the time of the race upon which the killing was to be made. They were led to believe the race started several minutes lat CT than it was really scheduled. With that feature attended to, the bookmak- CTS were willing to take bets up to a considerably later time than they would ordinarily accept them.
 Then it was up to Bede1 to have another associate at the race track. When it came time for the race, the long distance telephone wires would get busy. Beden would wait beside the telephone with the wire open di- rect to the race track, waiting for the result of the race When he got it., he would place his bet, upon the horse that had already won the race. Bedell plunged for all he had, but strangely enough the favorites almost invariably won in the races he se- lected for play, and he could not make any great killing.
 It took little time for the fame of the little plunger to spread broadcast among the sporting fraternity, and as in the case of most successful plum gers, he developed a big following who sought inside information as to the merits of the horses. Bedell was not strong on imparting this informa- tion, but selected a few horses once tion, but selected a few favorite ones to whom he conf1ded the secret of his success.
 BedelIs followers trusted him inn plicitly, and when there came hitch early this week in the manipulation of his scheme, he made generous touches from all those who were like ly to have plenty of cash on hand, and then he vanished.
 When he had quit Bridgeport, stor- ies reached here of his doings in Springfield and Hartford. It is re- ported hereabouts that the Hotel As- sociation has issued a warning against harboring Bedell. Several Bridgeport CTS want him for loans of from $50 to s2OO. But even if they get hold of Bedell, those who know him best say he wouldn't have enough left to pay his fare back here, for he spent his money with lavish hand, buying wine suppers and hiring automobiles.