Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1879-09-06 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE GAMBLING AND SWINDLING AT HORSE RACES. The Paris Constitutionnel takes occasion at the recent suicide of an individual who was driven to despair by heavy losses on racing events, to make some very just, and by no means uncalled for strictures on the growing passion for horse racing, and the betting, that is, gambling connected with it. The individual spoken of threw himself into the sea at Trouville, on the coast of Normandy, opposite Havre-de-Grace, ort.the 18th of last; month (August). His body was washed ashore the following morning at a locality known as the Black Books. He_ had lost all he possessed by betting at the races at a place called Douville. , The Cbnstitutionnel proceeds to say :—" The common gambling houses (in England they are called "hells") are paradises of innocence and morality in comparison to what takes place on the turf; and the swindling on the turf is all the more dangerous because it it is not, like the gambling houses, interfered with by the police; and because the races have the character of a popular amusement and festival." The betting, or more properly speaking, the gambling connected with the races is carried on on a colossal scale; and all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest, eagerly and passionately participate in it; The same feverish excitement which animates the player at the hazard-table, animates also the horde-racing multitude. The love of the so-called " sport " is confined only to a few. The spirit of gambling is what moves the great majority of the amateurs of horse-racing. What a rising storm of frantic shouting begins as the horses approach the winning post I What a furious hurrahing and waving of hats as the winner rushes past the goal I A cool spectator would be disposed to regard the whole multitude, at such a moment, as a parcel of raving maniacs. On the race-course all distinctions of rank and station seem to be temporarily set aside. Millionnaires, gentlemen, black-legs, noblemen, grooms. jockeys, tradesmen, farmers, pickpockets, and beggars are all there assembled, and in a great measure mixed up together pell-raell. The passion for horae-raoing and Its invariable concomitant betting, infects all classes of society. Clerks, shopmen workingmen, and even boys, all make their bets, or stake money in a club on some popular event, such as the St. Leger and the Cup at Doncaster, or the Derby at Epsom. It is high time that this growing social cancer should be restricted if it cannot be altogether eradicated. The rack draw together all the very worst elements of society. Possessors of E.O. tables, thimble-riggers, and other sorts of swindlers resort to the racecourse and plunder the simple, unsuspecting common people' particularly the peasantry from the villages, with recklessness and impunity. Then after the races of the day are over, the publiohouses are filled to overflowing, and drunkenness and debauchery, quarrelling and fighting are carried on till late in the night. In fact, a race-week is a general Saturnalia for the populations of a wide district surrounding the town in which the races are held. For a man of sound sense and correct taste, a horse race is at best but a very insipid and a very uninteresting spectacle. That it is also a very cruel amusement cannot be di=puted. On nearing the goal the poor animals are ;,lvagely lashed with the whip by the jockey with all his might; and their sides are gored and torn with the spurs in the most inhuman manner. Sometimes a horse falls and his limbs are broken; and sometimes by the strain on his breathing his lungs are injured for life. But it must not be imagined that every race is decided by the actual superior swiftness of this or that horse. When hundreds of thousands of pounds are depending on the event of a race, they must indeed be very simple who are credulous enough to believe that the apparent efforts to win are genuine, and that the strife is real and earnest. Those who are well versed in the mysteries of the betting ring could tell a very different story. One of these adepts at a recent " meeting " in France made up his " book " in such a manner that he pocketed eight hundred thousand francs (£32,000) by the event of a single race I Whence come all the enormous sums won by the swindlers at horse race? Why, evidently out of pockets of the simple, the credulous, and the unsuspecting. Several of the most esteemed 'members of the French Chamber of Deputies intend bringing in a bill, next session, to restrict the growing passion for betting on horse races.—Communicated.  A