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ON KRiTISH British RACE TRACKS In the English sporting papers of the past season there has been quite a deal of discussion in regard to blackguardism that is at all times more or less prevalent on the turf in England and which is to be seen at even the most fashionable meetings meetingsThis meetings This recalls anew my astonishment on first going racing in this country at the orderly good behavior of the average American race ¬ goer as compared with those on the other side of the water where the hordes of foulmouched foulmouthed ruffians which are to be met on the cars and in the different enclosures with the exception of Tattersalls Tattersall are so offensive to all decent people that it is really a wonder some determ deter ¬ ined dined effort has not long since been made to get rid of what is undoubtedly a great blot on Eng ¬ lish lush racing racingI racing I need not refer here to the manner in which the average racegoer racketeer conducts himself in this country but will relate what is to be seen on nearly all racecourses in England where be it understood there is not the system of protec protect ¬ tion ion that is to be found in the metropolitan district here where one feels as safe in the ring or on the grandstand of a racetrack as he would at a church sociable sociableIn sociable In England there are organized mobs of all sorts of trickiutheloup trickiest fakirs who from the moment they get into the railway carriage until they return in the evening have been plying their occupation and a man has to become pretty well accustomed to their game and their language before he would want to ride in the same car with them a second time while as to any respectable woman traveling in the same car that could not be thought of ofJk of Jk he various racetracks the principal s jurvlie burlier of annoyance are the welcher belcher and the ticket snatcher The latter gentry carry on their occupation chiefly on what is called over there the outside that is outside any of the rings and when there are great crowds and many bookmakers Quite a percentage of the bookmakers are safe good men but there are also many welchers welders among them and as the ticket snatchers and welchers welders are practically oae Soave breed of varmint they work in together If there is anywhere on earth to be found a more brutal and audacious gang rf ruffians the locality has not yet been heard from fromIn framing In regard to the welching belching fraternity there are any number of well known ones they have been at the game for twenty years or more and are still at it although they are known to the police and also to the officials at the different race meetings but in this as in other matters in relation to racing in England everything is conducted on the principal of the survival of the fittest The racegoer racketeer is permitted to pay his money and protect himself and if ho hands his m ney NE over to a welcher belcher instead of ascer acer ¬ taining staining who is safe and who is not that is his lookout lookoutThis lookout This may be all right in one view at least but in the matter of the ticket snatchers who are simply bands of brutal thieves it would seem as though neither the police nor the racing officials have done their duty by the racegoing racketing public else this evil would long ago have been stamped out The ticket game is worked in this way Backers are spotted when they make their bets and in the event of their horse win ¬ ning Ming or their ticket in any other way calling for cash when their ticket is held up to the bookmaker who is always on a box or some ¬ thing to elevate him above the crowd it is promptly snatched snatchedA snatched A favorite method is for one of the gang to get on the opposite side of the victim and just as he is in the act of handing his ticket up to give him a smart rap on the shoulder which in nine cases out of ten will cause him to turn his head that way and in a twinkling a con ¬ federate has the ticket and although the vic ¬ tim may have plenty of witnesses he has no redress and almost invariably the snatcher collects the coin coinThere countered There are of course lots of instances where some game handy fellows get satisfaction but the thieves are so well banded together that usually discretion is the better part of valor On rare occasions a policeman will take a hand but it is so common for racegoers racehorse to be welched belched and to have their tickets snatched that but lit ¬ tle tale is thought of it and it is only when a vic ¬ tim is being abused that the bobby inter ¬ feres fees so that it will be seen there is practically no protection for the small bettor in England EnglandIn England In the rings with the exception of Tatter sails welching belching also abounds and it is rare in ¬ deed that money once handed over to a welcber welder is ever recovered In this connection it may be stated that racegoers racehorse in England have to pay much more for accomodatioua accommodation than is the case in this country Many of the older courses are free to what is called the field in this country but what costs two dollars at the first class meetings in the neighborhood of New York costs five dollars in Ei gland and with no such sense of security of purse or person as is the case here hereThere heather There has been as stated above repeated newspaper agitation going on for years in re ¬ gard guard to racetrack ruffianism ruffians in England but things are just about the same today accord ¬ ing King to what is reported to have been going on during the past season as they were twenty and thirty years ago And it must be said that this is oue moue thing that is very much better done in this country where such scenes as are common on English racetracks are practically unknown Kelston Keelson in Morning Telegraph
