New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-21

J. patty with the prohlbltlon law. Does
this hope anticipate the revocation of
.,s volstead and the Mullan-Gage regula-
ions? Never!
put lust think moment.
When the Hart-Agnew anti-racetrack gam
.r,s bills were passed in 1908 wasn't the
s..th knell of racing being sounded? To heed
=. reformers of that day, it certainly was.
And wasn't the bookmaker to be as extinct as
40 Dodo as soon as Charles E. Hughes, then
governor. signed the bills? Absolutely. Has
.rvtb;na of the sort occurred? Has the sport
- kings ceased to flourish and have the
sbookies" been forced to go to work for
.;v;noe You know they haven't.
The newspapers, during the New York leg
;sative session of 1908, were just as full of
.nti-gambling legislation as they have ever
hsen of the approach of prohibition. 1t was
unclaimed by the reformers, and many rae
enc enthusiasts sadly agreed, that if the Hart
senew bills were passed the racetracks would
he cut I'D and sold as building lots, the book
De
the breeding Of horses would go blooey Race
track habitues had Mysteries and the blue law
.avece.es rejoiced.
The Hart-Agnew bills passed the Assembly
on June 10, 1908, by vote of 50 to 20 and
were Immediately rushed to the Senate, where
the real fight was being waged. There the
vote was split almost evenly.
To be accurate, there were two anti
gambling bills, the first known as the Hart
Agrew measure and the second as the
Percy-Gray law. They were companion
measures, and, for the sake Of convenience,
have since been referred to by the name of
the first of the pair of bills. Mchinney's edi-
ton of the Penal Law, which is considered
standard, does not mention the latter meas
ure in tracing the history Of legislation pro-
hibitory of gambling.
In June, 1908, every newspaper in New
York State was full of the fight being waged
at Albany over the Hart-Agnew and Percy
Gray bills. On June / and IL they de-
voted columns to an account of how the bills
had passed the Senate by a margin of one
vote, the poll being 26 to 25, after having
passed the Assembly. Most of them made
hero Of Senator Otto G. Foelker, Of Brook
Ign, who left sickbed to journey to Albany
and cast his legislative ballot in favor of
the measures sponsored by Governor Hughes.
After the final passage Of the measures which
amended Section 351 of the Penal Law,
Governor Hughes was quoted as saying:
Importance of which cannot be overesti-
mated"
and Thomas Hitchcock, then considered
the largest owner of steeplechase racers in
the country was quoted as making this dole
full plant: "This is the worst blow ever
struck at legitimate racing
1T was conceded that eventually racing
would stop if betting were stopped one
New York City newspaper stated, in announc
ing the passage Of the bills.
Lest it be thought tnat this newspaper wa
Hedging in its last phrase, it was the consen
Gus Of opinion throughout the state that race
track betting was a thing of the past thu
moment Governor Hughes dipped his pei
into the gubernatorial inkwell and affixed hi
name to the bills, which he lost no time il
doing.
That law is still upon the statute books. I
repealed Section 351 of the Code and becam
Section 986 Of Chapter IS. This is how j
reads:
Amy person who engages in pool sellin
or bookmaking, with or without writing, a
any time or place, any person who keep
or occupies any roorn shed, tenement, tent
booth or building, feat or vessel, or any par
'hereof or who occupies any place or stan
Of any kind upon any public or privat
grounds within this state, with books, papers
apparatus paraphernalia for the purpos
oi recording or registering bets or wagers
u selling pools, and any person who RECORD
Il registers bets or wagcrs or sells pools G
''akes books, with or without writing, upo