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PITTSBURG PHILS CAREER. " Pittsburg Phil is worth today somewhere "between 5700,000 and ,000,000," said a well posted gossip of racing matters. "Eecently he made the statement to a friend that since the first year he began to play the horses he has sever quit a season a loser. "Its a funny thing how George Smith came to play the horses. As a young man he was -working in a cork factory in Pittsburg for 8 -a week. He dropped into Harry Prices poolroom and bet a dollar or two on the baseball combinations. One day it was raining in three towns. There were no baseball games to bet -on. Phil heard Harry Price selling an auction pool and invested on a horse whose name began with O. The horse won and Phil bagged 2, the biggest winning of his life. So he gave up baseball and began a remarkable career with tho horses. In a few years he left Chicago with 93,030. He had never been on a racetrack. If there is any way to keep him from winning no one has ever discovered it. "There was a time some years ago when 4 Phil told every enquirer just what horse he was backing. But now its different. His ruses to deceive the ring aro remarkable." You may remember how many races he won in 1896 and 1897 with Belmar, a horse that was less than consistent until he came into Smiths hands. After Belmar had won several times the price grew short, and one day, going down on the race train, Joe Ullman and others were backing Belmar at 6 to 5. This price was only even money at the opening of the betting. Pretty soon along came Ed Gaines, known to be- Phils commissioner, and seeing the price on Ullmans slate sneered out even money, eh ! Why thats too short. I will lay 9 to 5 for ,000. "Just then Charley Dwyer, coming along, took Gaines offer. Gaines strolled away saying with a laugh, He hasnt got a chance. Joe Ullman heard all this talk and jumping off his box made such a commotion in tho betting ring that soon Belmar advanced to 2i to 1. Here he was pounced on by strangers . A veteran of the ring once said strangers did jou say ! Every damned stranger is Pittsburg Phil. Balmars price was knocked to 4 to 5 and he won by several lengths. "Once last year Tod Sloan was riding in a race in which Dutch Skater was beaten off. That night he said to Phil: Dutch Skater could have won if I had been up, Sloan is full of egotism, but he is full of racing sense, too. "Three days later Dutch Skater was entered, and Phil asked me to getmy horse and buggy and take him to the track by daybreak. We landed early and found owner Jennings stable. Phil said, sit down and eat breakfast with the boys; Ill be back directly. He then went and told Jennings that he would give him the purse provided he would let Tod Sloan ride the Skater. Jennings gladly accepted, not consid. ering Dutch Skater to have a chance. That afternoon Dutch Skater opened at 6 to 1 he would have been 20 to 1 but for the public fancy for Sloan, and strangers grabbed a lot of the long price. Just before post time Phil visited the ring and grabbed all tho 3 to 1 to be had. Tho Skater won by ten lengths. Phil petulantly told the reporters that it seemed to him as if he couldnt do anything without being advertised as winning a fortune. I managed to scratch out ,100 and am ,000 loser on the 3ay "Yet, as we drove home he handed me a 00 bill after paying all expenses. The victory .of Dutch Skater had netted him 9,000. How can such a man as ho be kept from winning? Yet, nothing unsavory has ever been fastened to the name of Pittsburg Phil. You have heard of the story of how, when the young sports father died, the old mans friends wanted the boy to reform and offered him the choice of a 0 a month night clerkship in a hotel, or a desk in a railway office at 0, and how the boy said, If I am to support the family, maybe I had better keep my 0-a-day poolroom job, "Well, Pittsburg Phil had a taste of this, when, with 3,000 in his pocket he returned to Pittsburg from Chicago. He then invested in a home which he gave to his mother and bought securities sufficient to give her a comfortable income for life. After all this had been done ho walked out on the street with 6,000. "Ho met his former employer, tho owner of the cork factory. The man had also been Phils Sunday school teacher. George, he said solemnly, I am glad you have returned. I have heard that yon. were ungodly and likely to become a gambler. Accept my proffered aid, and resume your honest avocation of cutting corks. Your salary of per week still awaits you. "Pittsburg Phil was non-plussed for an instant only; then pulling out his bank roll and skinning off a 51,000 note calmly replied: Im much obliged, sir, but instead, Ill stake tho Sunday school to a thousand dollar library. "
