Sentence:  No one, however, would have anything to do with him, as Mr. Keeson's orders in those respects were very strict&thinsp;; he had often threatened any one of his "employés" with instant dismissal if he found him in company with one of these <WSD>touts</WSD>. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.