Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-15
.CHAS. Mitchell
EKPATIATES ON
! TIN-H0RNS
BY w. q. teAT) mAsTERsoN9

BY w. 3. DAD MASTERSON.)
Charlie >MitcheITs career I'm the priZI
ring. compiled and being written b!
A. G.. Hales, the eminent war cores
pendent and author Of Peter tbs
Great" contains some pertinent re
marks about the tin-horn gamblers o.
this country. Mitchell, in his char
acterization of this parasitic element
tells many truths concerning their mo
dus operandi I'm connection with sport
ing events generally. In his descrip
ton Of the tin-horn gambler as com
pared with the genuine sport in this
country. Charlie says:
p Speaking now when ] suppose
shall never see America again. | want
TO say that In Gods green earth there
is no fairer people than the American
public. Crooked things are done there
60 athletes--so. they are everywhere
else; no nation that know anything
about has monopoly of virtue. The
public OF America love fair play; they
believe in fair deal all round, and dc
their level best to keep things on an
even keel It's not the public that is
to blame for the crooked games that
are sometimes played on athletes; it's
the dirty dogs who hang on to the
game, the tin-horn gamblers.
What the Yankees mean by tin.
horn gambler is something equivalent
10 the English 'win-tie-or-wrangle'
gamblers. You find the 'tin-horn' ev-
erywhere-on the race track MODELLING
jockeys. hanging around stables. brib-
ing the hands 10 dope horse that
looks like winning when they have
laid against II. They haunt the run
ming tracks and square peds or score
them They are in evidence at scull-
ing matches, and there is never big
fight afoot but the 'tin-horn' is around.
They'll square a man TO lay down II
they can, and so get sure money out
of the public: and IL they can't square
they'll get him made sick II they can
tamper with his food, or In any other
way. even If they ruin his health for.
ever by doing so. Failing this, then
try the referee, and by bribes or intim-
idation work on a weak man or a
coward to give false decision.
The tin-horn Is the curse of all
sporting life in the states; he's Meth
er man. dog nor devil, but mean mix
tnre OF .thaAlot, With,a dash of swine.
thrown In. The tin-horns were the
only. people I ever had any fault to
find with in the states: they never
could square me. and took mighty
good care they never 'doctored' me.
The proof that they never squared me
lies in the fact that only once in my
long career was beaten. They got at
referees more than once and caused
me to get only draws when | should
have had the verdict.
The scientist who can discover a
that viii eliminate the tin.
horn gambler vii confer an amending
benefit on sport. He's parasite, and
nine-nine times out of hundred he's
a cur IN his heart; he'll use a knife or
a gun at times on an old man or
dead drunk, but his best weapon is
bluff. He howls the universe down
when he is cornered and has to pay
nut In spite of all his dirty work and
trickery. and when this happens the
tin-horn is sight for the gods; he'll
20 and sit In his fayorite saloon. his
Ieet on table, his hands plunged deep
down in his breaches pockets-a
change from having them in some
lne's else,
He has his hat pulled right down
over his brows, and will wear big
cigar in his mouth. pressed right In
along his cheek, so that he can chew
I and expectorate freely. and as he
blowers at all the world he whines
hat he's been robbed. The tin,horn
s always robbed when he loses: he's
,uch a laundering cheat himself that
he thinks every one else Is as bad as
he. He never makes allowances for
he luck OF the game, and when they
lave to disgorge money they sweat
blood.
They are venomous, as most cow
lrds are. and sometimes they get
men. over whom they have
acquired pull through some shady |
to 'scorch' the individual
hey are up against There were some |
II those .stiffs' at the Cleary fight. and |
hey. Of course. howled at me when |
aid Cleary out. but the populace ST.
enced them.
"The morning after the Cleary bat
lie the press had a lot to say. and they |
aid It. Those who had ioked the
most about my cheek in taekling the !
zig fellows came down the ladder |
most gracefully. They ate the leek. as
he Weishmen say and ate it as IL |
hey liked II. They were more than
air, they were generous. and as they
low realized that was In earnest and |
lot bluffing about match with Suiii- |
an. they told him plainly to go and |
.et fit and keep fit, or he'd strike all |
he trouble In the world. This was the
irst time the big fellow had been