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DRAKE AS A PLUNGER. J. A. Drake is the best advertised bettor in the country the best advertised bettor since the days of Plunger Walton. The American turf of this generation has had such plungers as M. F. Dwyer, Riley Grannan and Pittsburg Phil. In a racing way each of these men have speculated in a fashion that would give pause to this breezy bettor from the west, but none of them has been exploited as he has been exploited," says a New York newspaper of Wednesday. "If all the stories of Drakes winnings, from the day of his advent at the Saratoga meeting of this season down to the present time are true, then there no longer is any mystery about the scarcity of money. Instead of calling on the Secretary of the Treasury for relief the banks should have a session with Mr. Drake. He has the money. If any doubting Thomases there be let them consult the daily papers from August 3 to October 15, recon the amounts alleged to have been won by him, and be convinced. For if they be not convinced by the array of figures presented to them, then indeed are they without faith and without hope. Duck or drake, this man with the atmosphere of the west all over and about him must think he has fallen into a small puddle else surely such a fuss never would have been made over his betting operations. "Mr. Drake certainly bets and wine also loses, just like ordinary mortals. He is not gifted with second sight. He is not the seventh son of a seventh son. He has no unusual or extraordinary means of gaining information about the condition of other mens horses. He bets and wins and loses. Despite the alleged magnitude of his operations it is not on record that he ever broke a book in the east. The layers always seem to be willing, if not eager, to accept his money. They do not fly to cover when his black betting commissioner approaches, nor do they seek to discourage him by cutting the price unduly. In fact, Mr. Drakes money carries little or no terror to tho layers. They are on hand to do business. They have been doing business with him for some months now, and if any of them are the worst for their dealings with him they must be splendid dissemblers merry men who laugh and grow fat while their hopes and their bank rolls vanish into thin air. The betting ring is a sensitive organization. Distress there becomes apparent quickly, and inasmuch as. no symptoms of distress have been shown there it cannot be that Mr. Drake is working such sad havoc as the tales of the day would have horsemen believe. "Go back ten years back to the time when M. F. Dwyer was in his heyday as a bettor. Note the contrast between tho temper of the ring of that time and the temper of the ring of today. The ring was as strong financially and otherwise then as it is now; but, with all its strength, Mr. Dwyer, single-handed, kept it at bay. He snapped his lash and the ring growled, and growling slunk away. It never had the courage to stand before his onslaught. It knew him to be a clear-headed, cool, daring bettor and it feared him. When his com-sioners went the rounds the odds were cut hurriedlysometimes wiped out completely. And with his commissioners it was not a case of, I will bet you 00, or, I will bet you ,000, but, how much will you take? Men who delight in such tales still love to tell of the day when Joe Cotton, with 0,000 of M. F. Dwyers money at Btake, eot up in time to win by a hose, or, of that day at Jerome Park, a decade ago, when Kingston, carrying more than 5,000 of the Silent Plungers money, was beaten on a fluke by Terrifler, and the Silent Man remained silent while all about him was a crowd hissing and jeering at the unfortunate jockey who made the mistake which resulted in defeat. All of which goes to show that, although we did not seem to be aware of the fact, we had plungers worthy of the name long before Mr. Drake camped on the trail of the betting ring. "If Mr. Drake were the out and out plunger which his followers would have the racing public .believe, there would not be a layer bT"oddsiniown this morning with money enough to buy a meal ticket in a Bowery restaurant. At Morris Park yesterday he cashed after each of the first four races, the first, third and fourth races being won by horses carrying his own colors, and two of them being at lucrative odds. Strange as it may seem to those who have not followed Mr. Drakes betting operations closely, the layers were in line and ready to do business on the fifth race, every man of them. Clearly Mr. Drake is no raging lion of a plunger, else with winning bets on Charlie Grainger at 7 to 1, Runnels at 3 to 5, Cinquevalli at 5 to 1, and South Trimble at 2 to 1 there would not be a layer left to tell the story. Clearly also Mr. Drake is willing to live and let live. It is his privilige to bet. An amount great to others might seem small indeed, to him. The harm to the turf is not in the money he wins or loses because, as already shown, the layers and tho public proceed on the even tenor of their way but rather in the tales told of these winnings and losses, and in the fact that in the tilling of them the sport itsolf is made secondary to tho betting feature of it. Heretofore the stewards have taken radical measures to suppress this evil tendency, and if the circumstances warrant it there can be no doubt that they again will resort to radical measures. In the meantime there should be no alarm over Mr. Drakes betting operations. There is no reason to label him dangerous."
