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Show CITY POOL ROOMS CAUSE A STIR During the past two weeks there has been considerable competition between be-tween Ihe pool roni of the Forum saloon on Grant avenue, between Twenty-fourth and Twenty-ilfth street, and the exchange nt the Odon Turf saloon on Twenty-fifth street, bet wee a Washington and Grant avenues, the two places being only u short distance uparL The pool ruoru at the Forum has laid claim to the exclusive wire from Oakland races, but in sonie way the Ogden Turf has been marking the resells on their board. A bole In the floor of a room abo o the Forum, occupied oc-cupied by employes of tin. Ogden' Turf, j was discovered Saturday evening and tho men were arrested. Tho men arrested were Carl Farr and Richard O'Connor, but were released re-leased soon afterwatvl, when It was discovered ttut there was no law under un-der which they could be punished so long as they had not tampered with the wires over which the- reports are received, and there was no evidence to this effect They obtained their reports re-ports for the rival exchange by cutting n hole in the floor of a room directly over the poolroom, but It Is clulme.l that neither of the men were telegraph operators and that they took tbo reports re-ports only after they had been made by the :.nnouricer. Details of the affair Involve the names of several prominent business men who are said to be connected with the exchange located In Rlack & Wards Forum saloon on Grant avenue. av-enue. It Is also hinted that the publicity pub-licity resulting from the affair maybe may-be the signal gun for a wholesale crusade cru-sade against the race track poolrooms and that this form of gambling la Ogden Og-den Is doomed. Tho investigation by the police officials offi-cials was mado at the Instigation Insti-gation of Jimmle Dunn, one of the proprietors of the Forum exchange. Il Is claimed that the exclusive franchise fran-chise for the Oakland and eastern races was obtained by the proprietors of the Forum exchange, and that the reports cost them about ?ln" Ppr oX- It is claimed that previous to the tcond II.K.r arrangement and telephone tele-phone service to tho Turf exchange, representatives of that institution were stationed In the Forum and obtained the race reports, afterward conveying them to the Twenty-fifth street resort Tho proprietors of the Forum are said to have become acquainted with this system and refused t. allow the Turf messengers to enter the place. As the Turf continued to receive reports, re-ports, and even more nulokly and accurately ac-curately tlmn before, lunn nnd bi-t associates had mispiclons of wire-tapping. Armed with a search warrant. Chief of Detectives James Pender and Detective De-tective rturk went to the F. rum and went at once to the second floor, which Is occupied as a rooming house and operated by a man named Rogers. Rogers Is said to have opposed the visit of the officers through the rooius of the upper floor, but they were supplied with the necessary nec-essary papers in the form of a search warrant. In one of the rooms directly over the large blackboard on which the races are marked up, tho detectives found Farr and O'Connor. For the use of this room tho Turf proprietors are said to have paid Rogers J20 per week. In some unknown manner the visit of the officers had reached Farr. and he had succeeded in cutting the telephone instrument from the wall and hid It. 1'pon Investigation of tho room if was found that a hole about one f.x.t square bad been cut in the floor, afte-whlch afte-whlch the opening had been covered by a rug. Hy lying on the floor with his ear to the opening a man could hear the reports as they were read "ft by the announcer, or even take the reports direct from the telegraph Instrument In-strument If he happened to be an op orator. The reports were then transmitted trans-mitted to the Turf exchange by telephone. tele-phone. After making their discovery Farr and O'Connor were taken over to the loi;ce headquarters and the count-attorney count-attorney was summoned. Proprietors ot the Turf exchange also sent Attorney Attor-ney H. H. Henderson to the police department de-partment to look after the Interests oi their employes. I'pon ncounlntlun himself with the circumstance of tho case the county attorney arrived t the conclusion that, as the men had I not molested the telegraph wire, there was nothing In the statutes under which they could be hold and punished. pun-ished. On the advice of the county official. Chief of Police Brown. m therefore released Farr and O'totinr r. Much excitement followed the announcement an-nouncement of the arrest of Farr md O'Connor, and for a time a small-sized riot was threatened. Employes and patrons of the Turf exchange descend ed on tho pool rm operated by Dunn and his associates and started a free-for-all. but the trouble was quickly suppressed by the police. |