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CONEY ISLAND JOCKEY CLUBS ATTITUDE Declares It Will Close Its Gates to the Public if Betting Is Not Stopped New York August 22 It was decided today at a special meeting of the executive committee of the oney Island Jockey Club composed of Schuyler L Parsons chairman and personal representative of William K Vanderbilt owner of the Sheepshead Bay course who is at present in France Cornelius Fellowcs Herman B Duryea T Harrr Alexandra and Francis U Hitchcock that an autumn meeting at Sheepshead Hay of eleven days will bo held if professional betting is eliminated absolutely The following adoptedThat resolution was adopted That the autumn meeting be run off with eleven days racing omitting the two Fridays vouiuiencimr August 20 and closing September 12 provided all professional betting can be stopped Should it be friind impossible to stqp professional betting the gates will IK closed to the public aud the stakes only run off offIt It was reported that the executive committees action was due to instructions received from William K Vanderbill who insists that not only tho letter but the spirit of the llartAgncw antibetting law be obeyedIt obeyed It was resolved to run off all tho stakes as origin ¬ ally scheduled and give the usual number of over ¬ night purses to which the added money will be the same as at the June meeting Because of the ab ¬ sence of stake fixtures on the two Fridays Septem ¬ ber droppedThe 4 and 11 these two days will be dropped The remarkable feature of the meeting was con ¬ tained in the announcement that stringent efforts would be made to prevent the public from betting on the chances of the horses in the various races and the accompanying threat that in case the Coney Island Jockey Club found it impossible to enforce this rule the gates would be closed to the public and In order to meet the obligations in ¬ curred by the association the various stakes would be run off in private privateEven Even oral betting such as has boon practiced at tin tracks since the law went into effect will be stopped the committee declares That kind of iKtting in the view of tin committee is a violation of the snirt of the law Speaking for the committee after it had finishul Its session Mr Parsons said We ire not going to equivocate about trving to is ton betting We mean to use every means to stop betting absolutely and if these means fall we will adopt extreme meas ¬ ures We are going to obey the law as it stands and not try to dodge It in nnyway Tho law forbids professional betting and we are going to live up to it itIn In many ways the Coney Island Jockey Club occupies a unique position In the horso racing field Hie president of the association is William K Van derbilr Among the directors aro Clarence H Mae kay E I Morgan F K Sturgis and Harry Payne hitney The reason for the Coney Island Jockev Clubs present radical departure from tbe policy s is the thewhieirAeMnr whieirAeMnr uistrict Attorney Elderiias called in anticipation of the coming Shccpshead Bay meeting The attorneys for the track were in favor of hold ing the meeting They say that if the races are conducted along the same lines as the Saratoga and Empire City meetings there would bo no danger of police interference The directors of the Joekcv Club hnvo boon saying right along that the meeting would be held at any cost It is said that Elder is planning an unusually drastic campaign against bettors and everything possible will be done to prevent speculating at the races in uy form
