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SOMETHING OF EAKLY BOOEMAKING Xew York November 24 In Canada and iu various titates of the Union there is every disiwsi tion to eliminate the professional bookmaker Legis ¬ lation is being constantly aimed at him and the ra of the iiarimutuel as a means of speculation teems at hand handThere There can be seen almost every day in the Astor House rotunda two wellpreserved men who did Jiiutli in the past to make Iwokniaking a popular vehicle of speculation on races in this country says the Sun These men Harry Stedeker and Ridge lrfveiii were asked recently to tell something about the carlv days of bookmaking in America AmericaYou You couldnt have met anybody who knows more iilmut it answered Stedeker In the year 1S72 the 1tte Joe Gleason and I were selling theater tickets in front of the old Olympic Theater on Kmidway when George L Kox was playing in Huinpty Duuipty Two years after that lK th of us wen dead broke ald I suggested to GleaKon that it milit bo a good idea to locate in some billiard looniand lay odds on the races then being run at Saratoga iiuuinoiitli Park Pimlico and in the west We found a place at 3S4 Third avenue and began vVir tw twVatcr Vatcr we went up to Jerome Iark and T was one of nine men parading up and down and earrviti bags over our shoulders offering odds a Vewnmrkct Among the nine were the late bbins John McDouall 1 rerre rrillard to come over ere an eucae iiVi m iii the then unknown method of book ii Mi Ilowlaud Bobbins also had Mr Lorillards mur7 iiot onlV moral but actual In fact as si wsofVen the case In those days in England when became amateur bookmakers Pierre imnoblei 1 Vir iinrri reallv en was ail amateur layer in this wary That was the beginning of bookmaking ilow much money did Joe Glcason accumulate V wsl akVai iont know said Stedeker but I do know1 mount Vccrcditcd to him was vastly at tli almost a uionowly ln However lie lind ftle7I1e H two three forni of betting long enough Tccii iiiiation of a hamhwme fortune lie K rt he in one of the finest houses livoil for i an years Gleason used vT Union avenue ill It was on i Sara ftaraioga I TMi mcn from various parts betting on horses he had the mst course In such a way that of iu matter hm it won 1 co mu AfillWin AfillWinbS bS bSl jtlug at l V Lexlnglon In S 18 w wV c rlem V L yers doing t rf l on Third v ktabll of horses that ever the west It was the joint property of Cheppu and Milton Young and was trained by Brown Dick a negro horseman who developed among others the famous Ben Brush BrushIn In 1877 Stedeker and a friend instituted the com ¬ bination form of betting in the books and at Sara ¬ toga they made it a custom to lay 1000 to 10 that no one could name the five winners which in those days composed the program They won 32 000 that season and had many imitators Ten years later P J Dwyer as president of the Brooklyn Jockey Club killed all combination betting at his track because of a scandal involving the gigantic horse Gleaner and this was the final blow which practically knocked out tills alluring form of specu ¬ lation If left to pure chance alone combination bet ¬ ting would always be popular but it led to so many mean attempts on the part of small operators to correct fortune that it was very justly eliminated The least offensive form of correcting fortune was by paying some trainer to scratch a horse which looked to be an absolutely wire winner of the last race which usually meant losses of thousands foi the layers layersPresentday Presentday racegoers easily recall a period when Barclay and Fulton streets were honeycombed with places where horses could be backed to win large sums It was not at all difficult to do business in these rooms In the neighborhood of Broadway and Twentyeighth street too were the large poolrooms of Tommy Johnson and Bill Johnson A II Cridge Kelly Bliss and William LovclL In these rooms on the night before a race could be seen hundreds of eager men anxious to make wagers and this helped to increase interest in the contests at the track the next day dayOf Of all men most responsible for the introduction of bookmaking into America Charles Reed stands preeminent Xearly thirty years ago he induced George Haugbton to come to New York from Eng ¬ land Haughton was an uptodate 1 6okniaker and Reed having large capital backed iilm The duel between Reed and Haughton on the one hand and Plunger Walton on the other one day at Sheops head Bay is recalled by old racegoers racegoersIt It was in 1882 when Girofle beat Barrett and Bootjack Walton well known at that time as a professional backer and particularly as a backer of horses trained by Eph Snedeker and ridden by Billy Donohue made two wagers of 10000 each on Gir ofle the odds being 6 to 5 Reed and Haughton were depending on Barrett to win for them Walton was flush with his enormous winnings of the year before in England on Iroquois and Foxhall and bis long career of success made him unpopular with prominent layers It culminated in his trip to Eng ¬ land in 18S3 with Girofle which wound up disas ¬ trously
