Evening star., 1926-03-07


ably knows more about the
methods employed by horse
| race tipsters than any other person
| in the country, yesterday made a
| startling expose of sure thing" bet
| ting systems.
| Judge Donnelly characterized the
so-called "inside information" tips on
| horse races as being sheer guesswork.
| The Post Office Department, he said
| is determined to protect the guillible
public OF Washington and other sec
F! tions of the country from crooked
racetrack tipsters. who use the mail
| to defraud thousands of suckers
daily.
Asked if Washington is a fertile fell
| for the operations of tipsters. the $,
| licitor replied that while they ar
| not as active here as in New York
| and few other large cities. a good
! deal of betting is done in the National
Capital.
1t was pointed out by the solicitor
of the department that there is no
| Federal law aga inst race track tip
ping. However. he explained that in
case fraud is practiced by the tip
| ters the Post Office Department can
prosecute them for fra audulent use of
| the mails upon complaint of their
| patrons.
In Washington there is law
against horse racing. but there is no
| restriction prohibiting track
| tipping. 1t is true the District code
| of laws prohibits the operations of
| bookmakers. but nevertheless bets on
| horse races are taken. In some in
| stances the District government is
powerless in it's efforts TO cope with
| existing conditions.
loI ~ tS:
hundreds of newsstands in Wash
| ington. There are exclusive tele-
graph tip services advertised and
sold for $25 the subscription. Indi-
| Gated in the tip sheets are telephone
sepecials." which mean that the pur-
| chaser of one of these racing papers
may call a given telephone number
| after a certain hour and get the "hOt
| ones"
Then there is the wizardrv of the
| individual Handicapped" He pre-
! fers to make his own selections from
| the form displayed by the horses
| in previous races Here the damage
| is self-inf1icted.
| SO far as the actual running of
| horse races is concerned Washington
| stands aloof. The passing of old Ben
! ming race track. near the District
| line in Northeast Washington termi-
| lldleu tIldl.
| Here the story is told Of how Wash
| ington became horse ''raceless." The
| old track was the scene of many thrills
! for Washingtonians who followed
| horse racing nearly a score of years
| ago. 1t was profitable track as we'll
| and old-time followers there still tell
| stories of how a group of supporters
of less successful courses just outside
| of District limits cleverly circula ted
propaganda which induced local mer-
| chants to believe the place magnet
| for the money of prospective custom
| ers. Finally Washington mercha nts
| obtained petition prohibiting the
sport of kings in the National Cap
| ital.
| In the campaign launched by the
| Post Office Department against the
| crooked tipsters routine for con-
Quoting investigations is in effect.
y y x ~
NNHEN a complaint comes to us"
w said Judge Donnelly az he be-
| gan to explain the procedure of Uncle
| Sam i'm rounding up race-track tip
sters. I'VE hold their mail and suggest
10 them that they come and identify
| themselves in order TO get it and give
| evidence of their reliability"
| Here the keen-eyed solicitor dis
| closed some of the fictitious names
| under which experienced tipsters op-
| crate. Usually they call themselves
some high h-sounding title such as -
| Syndicate or news or publicity bu-
| reau, he said.
Seldom do they show up, contin-
ued the solicitor I'VE warn them the
| first time we catch them that the
| mails are not to he used to defraud
| people out of their money, and then
| if they persist in their operations we
send them to the penitentiary.
These tipster cases do not compare
| in importance with some of the big
| fraud cases we handle, but they are a
! pestiferous lot, like a swarm Of gnats
| which nettle us with their stings. 1t
| is amazing. however. how many per-
! sons permit themselves to be swindled
| by these artists who are always offer
ing a sure thing About the only
sure thing in their schemes is that it
costs the individual something to find
| out how they operate.
I'VE found out that hundreds of
| tipsters operated in New York City
alone. and most of them in the best
business sections of the city-they
have Offices in the immediate vicinity
of Times Square. on Park Row and
on Broadway. Entire buildings in
certain sections were occupied by
them. Some of them have no perma-
nent address, but operate from pool
rooms. Often they migrate with the
races to Kentucky, New Orleans
Maryland, to Saratoga and Canada
and to the Northwest.
Tip sheets are sold at thousands
Of newsstands in New York and Bal
timore. and in many Of our large cit
les the throngs Of men who study the
racing reports posted on the outside OF
news offices vie in number with those
who stand to cheer the big league base
II scores.
1T is difficult to detect the willy
crooked tipster, who has no claim at
all to reliability. He often uses white
envelopes for mailing his tips without
a return address upon them and mails
them from various places so that his
operations will not be detected.
Many tipsters state on their litera-
.ture' that they do not want letters
sent them, but suggest that their
clients use the telegraph and express
compa nies to forward their money or
ders. They even use big rubber
stamps in red ink for marking their
sheets. DO not mail anything to me.
Telegraph or use express But 1t is
so much easier and simpler to send
checks through the mail that they re-
ceive money in that fashion even
against their expressed wishes.
I'm spite of their swanky statements
as to their utter reliability. trouble al
ways comes to tipsters through their
clients. The methods of some of them
are so crude as to be absurd. For in
stance, many of them send out tips
on every horse entered in certain