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FOLLOWING THE PLUSGERS. Concerning a feature of the New York betting rings, one duplicated daily in Chicago. Leander Richardson, writes in this entertaining fashion: "Persons who have nothing special to interest them can extract a good deal of interest from a half hour or so spent watchfully upon the fringe of the betting ring. It is here that information of various sorts goes flying about from lip to lip in the most spirited way. and the varying effects it has upon different people are striking to behold. ""There are great numbers of men— probably running up into the hundreds — who hang breathlessly upon the movements of the best known bettors, and if they happen to know the onlooker they will come galloping up to him with an air of the utmost importance and exclaim, a- though conveying some piece of news that is about to shake the world to its foundations: " Pittsburg Phil is playing His Royal Highness." or David Gideon is backing Maximo Gomez." or "Riley Graunan just told a friend he didnt think Goddess of Night could lose. "It is amazing to see what a swarm of small, fry will go trailing off after rumors of this kind to venture their money in the wake of Mr. Smith, Mr. Gideon or Mr. Grannan. They dont seem to realize that any of the well known bettors ever lose, but proceed upon the general theory that these men either know more than anybody else about the condition and capabilities of the different horses, or are in with "something doing." As a fact, the populace at large would be astoucded to know of some of the streaks of bad luck inevitably encountered from time to time by the men whose bets run away up into the thousands of dollars when. the think their chances of winning are good. When people hear that Mr. Smith has not picked up a bet in two or three days, they wink with .-ly knowinguess. as much as t0 6ay it is all right aud he is simply trying to throw off the public. "When Mr. Gideon observes to his friends that he is many thousands of dollars behind upon the meeting in hand, and one of these friends indiscreetly mentions the matter outside, there is a feeling that Mr. Gideon is planting some diabolical plot to pull off a good thing without exciting suspicion. •"The mass of little fellows are persuaded that if they follow the big bettors they will win, not realizing that these men are on hand everyday and possess a capital sufficient to enable them to stand a series of losses and win everything back in a whacking big bet when they find themselves rightly placed. ""The writer happen, to be in the way of knowing that in three consecutive days at Sheepshead Bay Mr. Smith lost a little more than -548.000. "The small player- who followed him consistently during that period, if any there were, m ight certainly have been engaged in a healthier occupation, and it is a sure thing that they believe he wa- darkly scheming for their deceit end discomfiture by putting small bets on the horse- that Jlost. and secretly unloading extensive bundles of currency upon those that won."
