Trials of a Race Track Judge., Daily Racing Form, 1910-05-26

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TRIALS OF A RACE TRACT! JUDGE. "ihe arerace peraoa who e,„., t,, :, Va.e traek thinks thai all ■ jinl. baa lo do is m crowd as - mud dignity as be possibly can into his personality, dress well, l - k Important ami be coMlj reaerred 1 in ins manner. Io eUsah Ike stain to the judges -land as u" nwnntlng 1 throne and anee or twice • in the afternoon o to the clnbaoaae for refresh inenis." savs the New ..ik Preaa. "The regular f pay Im- racing judges of the Oral rank in the 1 1 I stale, is *.-, a day. They are no paying thai 1 iniieii ju-i now. beeanae !.• tori 1- sol fielding as ahnndantly as ii once did. Chrbi Fitzgerala, who Jaal baa been appointed presiding fudge of the metropolitan race traek-. probablj wiil gel 3 ■ day. - Judges ai New Orleans, Falun, re. Jacksonville. • Montreal and other places gel *J.~.. Sometimes | they add to their usefulness bj acting as clerks ..1 1 tne scales, oSieutl bandicappers. and maybe by help m ant in the secretarys oahce. They earn their f money eren ii they do nothing more than perforin 1 their judicial duties. The placing of the horses 1 2 : • naily is the smallest part of a race track judges ■ woik iliai is. when the jadge is a real judge. •"The race track Judge who knows bis business and attends to it, is a bnsy man in the racing season. ; He occupies tne same position la the tart world that the police captain, the magistrate and 1 the district attorney combined do in a small eon, niuiiM.v. He has lo l.e the father coiifes-or of tke jockeys, the corrector of the wroag-doers, the guard hum, the guide and the friend .t ail. Take • case . of a boj of fourteen, fifteen or sixteen yeara old wlio suddenly derelops Into 1 popular Jockey. In a few days ins earning capacity jumps from board 1 and lodging and 1 few pi nun - for ■pending monej to an income a- great as a man el wealth. L.r. .Mar there are boys who hare this experience. They may be ahi. io 1 un Sio.ooo. 0,000 or mare 111 !i season of eight ..1 nine awntka, and yet they may set their principal pleasure and i", n ttfe i"": playing marbles. It they are not cioeelj guarded the harpies ami the crooks will get them In no time. The snecessfai jockej has to be suicided from women, wine and touts from the dav be shows the first aiga of abBltj or be wiH not last long. There are a scare or more of broken-down youn around New York today who. in their time, bare been popular idols for ■ fen brief m,-. There is one jockey who is still in the saddle and able to earn ■ ....d Ineoaat who was Bared fr disaster a a kind hearted race traek badge. When His bay was Bfteen be probablj was the mosl promising lightweight jockey in America. There hardly waa a race in which be did not have a mount. He w. ■ makiag 00 a week when he suddenly gol to rnn-ning around with had characters. The indue wen I to him one day and s|ioke to iiiin in a fatherly, kindly manner. The little fellow cried and promised to mend ins ways. A week later the lad "a- ill iimn a drunken spree. Tin-1 the lodge 1 •!•! him what had been the experience of Bonae other jockeys, and add, .1 tlal what lie was going !• do In his ease was something ill. 11 be had no legal ri.uhl to do. hut be thought it was necessary and proper. The Judge told the Joefcej thai in future he waa going to collect all the hoys 1"..- and as,. hi- n tainer and only allow bun a certain amount for common expenses. The Judge asked the buy how much he had been grring bis mother, and was as- tonished to find that the lad bad been rery gene a. allowing her ¥1"" ■ week far the keep ... bt -self and his two sisters. The Jadge said be would continue this allowance. •ihe bay was BeUghtoa. He had tired ai Ms had companions, and money really was a burden to him. IL- nail far more than be knew what to do with. Re was ;, M,y 0f good principles and a fair amount of common sense. He simply was a little tlit weak. But a few davs later the judge bad BB experience be did not relish A woman l.uill on battleship lines and weighing about 230 pounds, garbed -in a manner to put the rainbow to shai . waited iii him with her troubles. Sin- waa the Jockeys mother, and sh. feared starvation unless , her allowance of 00 a week was laereaeed. The ...ear before she had been taking in washing, but the sudden success of lei boy and the influence of money had led h.-r ml . all sorts of extraTaaances and a week was sack I -im:i 1 1 sum she did not see how sili possibly could get along with it. Sin-cum to the Jadgi to a.-k him to turn over te her all of her boys earnings. The fudge explained to the w an why he had token the stand he did in regard ti the boy. and pointed out tn In r thai she was in pari responsible because she herself had Ml guarded and protected her son. But nothing be could say couhi disabuse her mind of the belief tear -he was a much-wronged woman, and that tin-judge had some ulterior motive in holding back the earnings of ber young sold mine. The indue bad had a lot of experience with frantic females and intolerant fathers and moth. 1- of Jockeys, however, and promptly forgo! the annoyance. Bui not for ■Ions. A tout slept ed bin a dav or two later and tried lo question fan about the boy. The lodge could not understand the interest the fellow took in the case and ordered the leal away. Rut the nexl evening the thing was char to him. He bad three callers at his hotel. ihev wen- the fockcj the .jockeys mother and the toat, and they had come for a showdown. The woman wat unusually giddy and unusually voluble. The cause was quickly disclosed when she introduced the tout as h.-r husband, and said they bad just been married, they jusi had been drinking, also a great dial. The woman was about fiftj fire and the tout twenty- two. "The tout told the yadge thai now thai ha bad married the Jockeys mother, be had necessarily be e e the father of the boy ami. as Bach, would col le.-t the hoys . iininus and also arrange about his riding engagements from that time forward. Also he wanted the monej tin jndg. was holding for the b The Judge looked al the half-drunken pair and at the innocent youngster whose capacity for ...ruins money was bo great, and then be read a lecture le Ihe ■ "-lisli woman and l thai scamp of a tout. He I.ld the woaaan she was old enough to be 1 mother of the man she bad jusi manic. I. thai DOS sibly her years might warrant ber being biz grandmother. He added thai if she had 1 grain of sense sbe sl Id ha, known that the tout did not marry her fee love or ai: lion, but simply because be wanted b get control of bi r boy, and thai Just aa soon a. tke boya earning capacity waned, just -•• soon would the scoundrel desert ber. He pointed out thai 1 very dollar il.- joek.y earned would go into the capacious man of the tout. He told the tout be never wouM gel ■ penny ai that ixs earn ills. "Then he added something thai toiwai.1i I white uio the teats cheeks. He told him thai several tinns he had 1 sidered tlie advisability of bavins bini ruled ntv. and thai this last act ot ids waa the one thai sealed but fate: thai uever agaia so ions as be, the judge, was a race traek unteiai. would the tout be permitted on the grounds r any race course ever which be had jurisdiction. To Ihe ton llns was in,, a sentence of imprisonment for life. He hissed for forgiveness, pr ised lo be good; promised to do anything Hn- fudge asked. But the judge ordered him out of the room, 1 gether with his foolish wife. ■It is twlve years sin,,- ihi happened. Tor tive fears that Judge collected lb. eamiags of thai boy. : and winu the Jockey rami of as.-, the fudge turned over a -in-. I! -or, une to him. ii ■ boy is no longer a star, hut be still is riding. H is nianied and has a line borne, and i- a good and useful citizen. He has marly 00.010, his own money, today. His mother lives with him. The tool disappeared within :, 1 week after the interview with ih. Judge The two Bisters of the Jockey are married and pi . • ■!-. If it had not been lor the s lion of that J Jadge in thai boya case, thi popular foekey would I in. 1 hav" lasted more than one season, and Ihe mother would have had to go back to the wash tub. "Thai i- only one of dosens and dozens of cases. Jock. .- maki lots of trouble. The foolish youngsters enter Into all sons ol engagements. A popular Jockey, j it left to bis own devices, sometimes will engage, to ride ns man 1 ball 1 .;,,7., n diffen il horses in the sane rue. Then own ra and tn inera have disputes: trainers and rubbers and exercise hoys i ire disputes; feed men and horse own rs 1 ive disputes. "The real judge lias I,, straighten out kinks and deal out Justice In many odd affairs He has v.i:-in-si s before him in this rase and that cast li • vaml ,1 - Into r irges Hut are 1 illy based 1 1! ol.. dues- and ehartrfs thai bavi but a suspicion of fraud, jusi as does 11 • district attorney into • ■• - thai are brought before him lo ascertain whether the guilt Is moral is I. ::,! ami whether a prosecution must follow or a postponement of action until :i later date. Feu 1 1. groers I now li w n 1 the fudge has to 1 1 and bow much the iudgt bas lo do , at a race track, espcciall] the ra- e track beyond the metropolitan district, and no one knows with what relief be usual!] mounts tbe stairs in tlm i Judges stand."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1910052601/drf1910052601_3_1
Local Identifier: drf1910052601_3_1
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800