Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-01-15

hotel brokers' Office keep al the tele-
phone wire connected with he pool
room. Soon as my friend AZ the track
opens the regular telegraph wire and
retards the information so that ne
can apprise us over the brokers wire
of the winner the clerk in the ONCE
will call me up at the poolroom and
! III know how to place my bets. And
as I stated before, I'm bound 70 WIN.
You see how
NEXT day-a fatal $4,000 day for
~ Felix-he met Mr.. Tompkins ana
was escorted TO the nearby pool
room" Il certainly had all the marks
of the genuine betting rendezvous.
Everything was going on just as II is
going on in poolrooms where there are
no "wire-tapping" schemes afoot
/ 1t seemed that Mr.. Tompkins' had
hardly time enough to walk from the
Cashiers" window to the side OF
Felix before the telegraph operator
announced in a loud voice, Rollins
by wins" Instantly Tracy was sur
rounded by a group who congratulated
him. Fine tip" and Put us wise
next time" were the comments. Fellx
/ saw Tracy later hand in his ticket
to the Cashier" and receive verita-
BILE mountain of gold certificates in re-
/ turn. At least they looked like genu-
inc money. The fact is, a few of the
| outside bills were the regular notes Is
sued nv Uncle Sans bureau of en-
! craving
Felix felt an instant envy to think
that another had got such a great haul
of money that should have been ms
at least he should have won as
much. He had cleaned his office sate
of it's $4,000 and it rested against ms
beating heart in the inside pocket OF
his waistcoat. Another race started.
A number of bets were made by men
standing around. They seemed bets,
all right. The men went through the
regular betting motions and 1t all
looked proper to Felix. Some of the
men pulled away fair sized rolls
when the result was announced.
THE telephone bell jingled again.
i Mr.. Tompkins is wanted right
away" called the telephone attendant.
Tracy fairly leaped to the booth. Eel
tx followed him close, determined not
to miss anything this time Out
popped Tracy, so quickly that Felix
we'll might have wondered how he had
time to get anything over the tele-
phone.
whats the horse? What's the
horse?" he urged of Tracy as the
king" went on hop skip and
jump toward the Cashier"
"Old Stone-be sure you get It right
old Stone" snapped Tracy Any
body in the room could have heard
what he said, although he went
through the pretense of putting his
lips close to the ear of Felix. The fact
is they all did hear it. They knew
Tracy was going to say it, Most 81
them already had their overcoats on
and were edging toward the door q
the "poolroom.2
Tracy stopped at the window d sec
ond Juggling at his pocket to unloos-
en- his wad Felix couldn't wait for
him, although the tip came from him.
He planked his roll of gold certifi-
Gates down in front of the window
and then thrust them through into
the hand of the Cashier"
Fifty thousand dollars on Old
Stone!"
He stood to win $780, 900 on the
wager!
Felix was afraid the size of the bet
might cause the proprietors to refuse
it. He need not have been nervous. A
ticket was thrown to him. For the
first time he thought of having beaten
Mr. Tompkins" to the window.
Where was Mr. Tompkins, anyway?
Nowhere in sight.
Hurry call came for Mr.. Temp
kins-he had to CO. said the tele-
phone attendant, and Felix noticed he
had his overcoat and hat on.
Funny he didn't stay to bet on
that last race said Felix in puzzled
way. He had a pretty sure tip.
bet on it."
said the attendant He figures what
he don't get today he'll get tomorrow.
Good day. That's the last race. I'm
going home"
Felix waited until the telegraph OPP
orator called out, Summertime
wins!" You know how he felt and
acted Figure out how you would
look in the movies if it suddenly
dawned on you that you had lost $780,
300 in six seconds. But come to think
Of it, no one can figure it out until he
actually loses it. Felix looked for the
Cashier" and he had gone. He turned
round to ask the operator" a ques-
ion and he was gone. BY the time he
wheeled about again the bettors we're
gone.
TRACY had very good start, for the
1 instant Felix placed his $4,000 in
he window, he left the room by a
Jack way, and opening a door behind
n