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DECISION IN FAVOR OF NEW YORK RACING. New York. November 21. An important step In the way of defining what may or may not be done 011 race tracks under the Ilart-Agnew law was made yesterday when the judges of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court made public in a decision handed down in the case brought by Assistant District Attorney Elder, of Kings County. The decision is in favor of the Brooklyn Jockey Club. The proceedings which resulted in the decision rendered today was a test case. Melville Collins was arrested for accepting a wager at Gravesend race track June 10. of this year, ami he was held for trial. Collins brought habeas corpus proceedings before the special term of the Supreme Court, and his release was ordered. Iu the decision today by the Appellate Division the action of the special term is upheld in all particulars. The judges say the statute is aimed at the "stakeholder, the bookmaker and the pool-seller." In conclusion the opinion says: "To construe the language in the manner contended for by the learned district attorney is to wrench words from the context, to violate the grammatical construction of the sentence and to ignore the historical development of the statute and the obvious intention of the Legislature in the various enactments of which it is the ultimate result." Philip J. Dwyer. president of the Brooklyn Jockey Club, said: "This decision gives us a new lease of life. The ipiestlon now to be determined is: What is a lKtokmakerV Judge Geismar touched on that iiuestion some time ago and discharged eighteen men who were charged with violation of the anti-betting law because they accepted credit wagers. He held it is not against the law to take bets and that a man was not a bookmaker because he did so."
