OCR Text |
Show I HORSE GAMBLERS I WITH GREAT ME H --The nerviest horso gamblers In H America live out In that sylvan retreat II whence Mary MacLane halls, Butte. II Mont.," raid the owner of a string of thoroughbreds now being trained out l at the Bennlng courso. saya the Wash-II Wash-II lngton Poet- "I was taking lunch at a II Butte club one of the most sumptuous H clubs In America, by the way one day II last summer. The telephone In the grill II room of the club was rigged to the place II called In Butte the 'Calling Off Joint. It a central headquarters, that is, where 11 nn operator calls off the results of the II races all over tho country, so that all II hands with telephones can know the H winners and practically tho whole H population of Butte plays tho ponies. Hj The megaphono was tacked onto the Hi telephone, the first race at one of the New York tracks being about due. "It was a seven-furlong race, and tho fast horse but notorious quitter, De-Hi De-Hi murrer, was In the lead all the way, as the megaphone voice began bawling when tho They're off!' cry was sung HI " 'Demurrer In the stretch by eight I lengths!' camo tho voice through tho megaphone. I "A perky little chap with a white HI mustache, a big millionaire of Butte, H hopped from his luncheon table scat HI and sung out at the top of his voice: HI "' 'Bet any man In the room ten thou-sand, thou-sand, even, that Demurrer won't be HI one-two-throe" " 'Demurrer's a dog. but you're on,' HI called back a big man at the lower end H f tne ffrlll room, getting to his feet the H Instant he heard the challenge. H "He had no sooner taken the bet H than tho megaphone announced the H names of the three placed horses, and Demurrer wasn't one of them. Tho big man strolled over to tho lit tie man's table with a grin, scribbled a H check for 510,000, and walked back to H his table, with the remark that that H hound Demurrer already owed him HI about $100,000, that ho never expected to get back. HI "I remarked to the man I was taking H' lunch with that that struck me as be- H' ing a pretty nervy transaction on the H part of the little man. laying J10.000 H: against the In-the-money chance of a H, horse with an eight lengths' lead In the Hi stretch, but he answered that was HJ nothing. Hi " 'On the day of tho Brooklyn Han- HJ dlcap,' he said to me, "a bunch of us HJ were sitting around In hero when the HJI race was off. Hi " 'You'll remember that that was a HJ neck-and-neck race between Gunfire HJ and Irish Lad all the way. Well, when HJ It was called off that Irish Lad was a HJ head to the good in the- stretch, we rc- H garded it as a cinch that Gunfire would H rP fr sne was seasoned and keyed H UP after having run several swell races. H an(l it "aa Irish Lad's first time out H 1:ist season. H " '"We ail said, then, that Gunfire H would just traipesky in. Well, d'ye see HJ that little fellow over yonder with tho HJ wispy yellow mustache? He's the son HJ of his dad, which means that he's a HJ bulldog on a gambling proposition. HJ " 'You're all stuck on Gunfire, hey?' HJI he yelled, 'I'll lay every man In the H room two to one, In any amount, that HH Irish Lad wallops her.' HJI " 'It looked good, and we slammed HH SS0.000 worth of Gunfire bets at him be- HJI fore the megaphone got to singing HJ again. HJ " "He watched our' fingers go up, ln- HJ' dlcatlng the amounts we wanted, said, HJj 'You're all on,' and then the voice HJI through the 'phone bawled: HJ j " 'Irish Lad wlnsr HJ: ' 'The kid was pretty nearly as HJ nervy as thehorse running for him, and HJ! he won out on his nerve.' " |