Britisher Cannot Understand It.: Roughly Treated on a New York Race Track, He Complains and Goes Into History., Daily Racing Form, 1908-08-09

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BRITISHER CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT Roughly Treated en a New York Race Track He Comnlains and Goes Into History Occasional English tourists write letters to the New York papers about the peculiar way in which the Hughes antibetting law is enforced on the New York race tracks Mr Jocelyn Walters of Marchmont House Richmond a London suburb England Writes to the New York Telegraph com plaining that he was threatened with arrest because lie wrote the names of the jockeys in a race on his program and goes into further complaint as follows followsAs As I have witnessed horse racing in every European country where the crowned heads may be seen recording their wagers outside of Russia where it might be possible to experience something similar at the hands of a Cossack I will say that I never saw a more orderly conducted well be ¬ haved or even solemn assemblage of people at a race meeting where to any unbiased mind what ¬ ever wagering was transacted was comparatively trivial simply incidental and universally associated from time immemorial with the paramount sport of racing 1 have taken an interest in racing and watched the phenomenal improvement of Americanbred horses since Parole won the Saratoga Cup in 1S7S previous to his winning the City and Suburban Handicap at Epsom England when he was ridden by the late Fred Archer for Mr Pierre Lorillard The liberal efforts on a princely scale oC private owners here since then have resulted in such mag ¬ nificent specimens of the thoroughbred horse as Colin etc etcOther Other countries have had similar Illjudged ex ¬ periences at the hands of puritanical wouldbe turf reformers such as Mr John Hawke and the coterie with him who endeavored to abolish betting on horse races in England and who Instituted a legal cam ¬ paign which was defeated by the most eminent judges on the English bench the Lord Chief Justice of England and the late Baron Itrampton who de ¬ clared that their interference was a distinct inter ¬ ference with the liberty of the subjects who were free to wager on horse races so long as they were confined to a place approved of by the English Jockey Club of which the King of England is prac ¬ tically the head The case was finally carried to the Court of Appeals to decide what was the meaning of place which was ultimately decided to mean an inclosurc within the race track known as Tattersalls ring to which an extra public charge of 5 is made for the privilege of making wagers if so disposed At the same time a bill was passed by the legislature declaring till betting In public places as in the streets poolrooms etc Illegal and subject to heavy lines linesThe The general opinion abroad is that the bill passed by the governor of New York was aimed to secure a similar result the suppression of indiscriminate gambling by the community at large and this lie certainly has succeeded in carrying out in the most thorough manner so far as the race tracks are con ¬ cerned To go further appears a wanton persecution savoring of the middle ages and if persisted in the universally renowned and recognized freedom of the United States becomes a byword of the past the emblem of liberty which greets one in New York harbor a caricature and a mockery and the names of all men associated with these measures will be handed down to posterity with fitting reproach for all time with everlasting stigma on this great land of their birth and its most cherished tradi ¬ tions


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908080901/drf1908080901_6_3
Local Identifier: drf1908080901_6_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800