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Show 1 o j HOW TURF EXCHANGES ARK OPERATED. ; j There was n big crowd at the local 'I ' turf exchange. All kinds of people $ 5, were there. Besides the professional : gambler, and the horseman, there i , ' were business men who had just cal- Ilcd in on their way back from lunch; I, the dry goods clerk looked in long I enough to sec if his favorite was to be among the starters over at Frisco, and to put in a dollar which might bring him enough to take his bluc-cyed bluc-cyed charmer out to Saltair; the lawyer law-yer too, was among the crowd with his little ticket tucked away snugly into his vest pocket. There was also the mining president, the street car conductor, the hotel proprietor, in fact, all kinds and conditions of men were to be found with their eyes glued to the board all with that lor'., of expcctcncy .upon their faces tin t only can be found where gambling gamb-ling is going on. Over at one, side of the room there were to be seen a dozen men very carefully going over large scrap books which record the races from the beginning be-ginning of the season. These were the confirmed devotees of the game. They who make a business of playing play-ing the "ponies," and who arc to be found at the "Exchange" from week end to week end, and who can trace the action of any horse from the beginning be-ginning of the season all pver the circuit, and talk learnedly of the merits mer-its of every jocky who has madi a mount, giving his biography and his pedigree to the fourth generation. Over at one end of the tables a man was sitting quietly smoking. Alternately he watched the crowd and the board where the odds were published. pub-lished. When the caller shouted, urging urg-ing the crowd to be in haste if they wished to place their bets, as the horses had been called from the paddock, pad-dock, he did not move, though there was a twinkle in his eye, and a quiet smile was playing around the corner of his mouth. The writer eyed him a moment, and then moved over and took a scat at the other side of the table. "You don't seem to be playing the horscf?" the writer remarked. "Well hardly" he answered, with his quiet smile. "I am on to the game." "There is a game then?" the writer asked. "Well rather. When I gamble, I will try something in which the percentage per-centage is a little smaller. In this game the dice are loaded all ways.'' "Yet people do win." "Yes, I have seen people win at faro, when the box was- 'fixed,' but it was only because there were larger stakes to he made for the 'house' from what was on the board." was the lacnoic reply. Just then the caller's voice was heard from the wire. "They're into the stretch" he drawled with an accent ac-cent which can only be heard at the "Exchange." "Bareboncs leads by half a length. Crackcrjack one-half length behind Joggledown, who is second. Now the winner. Crackcrjack" Crackcr-jack" and his voice was drowned in the babble of sound which came from the crowd which had been breathlessly breathless-ly silent when the return began to come in. "I'll never bet on a favorite again" said a young man with a white face throwing himself down in a chair at our table. "I have followed that horse through the season that Crackcrjack, and he never was even third before." The stra. cr only smiled, and the young man got up and walked out. "He thought that counted" the stranger remarked when the young fellow had gone. "The young fool thought he had a chance. That the game was square. If he had been really on to the game he might have known that the ability of a horse to run cuts no figure in the race. A horse only wins if it is in the books to win, not otherwise." "Is there no honesty in horsemen then?" I asked. "I don't say but what there arc honest horsemen," was the reply, "but you sec honesty docs not always count. It is money that counts. There was a time when racing was on the square, when the best horse won, but that was before the days that these so-called 'Exchanges' were to be found all over the country. It is these which have loaded the dice against the public. If I should tell you that there is no racetrack in the country that the owners of these 'Exchanges-' do not in a measure control, con-trol, It is not generally known that the exchanges are all in one great combine. A few of the leading book makers of the country control them all. These book makers arc heavy stockholders in the loading tracks of the country. They have the officials offic-ials under their control. The horse owner may be as hottest as he may-r-may be as determined as he may to run on the square, but he is powerless. power-less. Why the judges arc in the power of these men. The judges control the jockics, and woe to the little man who should attempt to go against their secret orders. It all depends upon the money which is upon a horse. If the betting is, for instance too strong upon a favorite, the word is telegraphed in cipher to the track. 'The favorite must be beaten.' The word is passed down to the judges and from the judges to the jockics. The favorite gets a bad start. All the other horses bunch up against him. Even the jockey who has the mount, has been warned and he docs not dare to disobey. dis-obey. If he docs, there is a protest pro-test put up against him. The judges have him in their power, and he is lucky if he gets off with a heavy fine, and it often happens that he is ruled off the track. Ydti 'have.'7 often heard of a rank outsider winning. Wjell if you only had the power to peep behind be-hind the serenes, you would sec that even if sonvc plunger had made a wonderful 'killing' that the bulk of the money bet went into the pockets of those who run the 'exchanges., There is only one way to beat this game. If you had some way to trace the betting in all of the 'exchanges' in the country you might then fix up a combination which would win. This as you know is out of the question. It is a roulette wheel with half the numbers in the green and no green numbers on the layout. Rleal roulette, rou-lette, where the wheel is not faked, only has two numbers in the green, and you can bet on them if you choose. In this game the odds arc often seventy-five per cent against you. "It looks like a very accommodating accommodat-ing thing don't it, for the owners of "" 11 the 'exchange' to take so much trouble trou-ble to make up those scrap books? The truth is, that the more their patrons pat-rons study these books the less they know of the game. "If you want to bet young man, just coime in and put your money up on the first horse you come across. If the book makers want you to win, why then you win, if they don't, why then you loose your stakes." Just then the caller started to call another race. The stranger stopped abruptly and listened, then getting up sauntered out into the street. n 1 |