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ENGLISH TRICKS AGAINST BOOKMAKERS. In the spring „r 1 • » 1 :; a funny little affair fen-IM-iicl atWjrc race ii—a a. fee small Wve tele graph office was suddenly Hooded l v a shoal of wires from London. The torrent started mysterious ly at midday ami did not stop until nearly three. 1 he messages, which were unclaimed, turned out to l« iH.gus ones, u.sC.,i simply to block the line, lor three hours be two telegraphists were l.iis,-laking down messages like "I am llemv the Kiiith. I am. and *A Happy New Year," while dozens of iH-ople se. ,t angrily demanding whv thev could not get through to I/,mlon. The idea in ••.cups" like this is to get a good price on some horse by preventing the commission agents in town, with wlum the bets have been made Iroui covering themselves by backing that horse ou the course and so aaaRlajg the starting price. I he cleverest piece ,,r turf knaverv ever carried out was simply dazzling in its neatness. In the days when one hading sporting paper supplied all the dailes with the racing returns, betting, etc.. ■ man called en the editor of that paper and offered to resort .m out of the-way meeting. He had to he there otli i.ill.v. s„ could do it cheap. As the meet ing was ipiite unimportant the offer was accepted. In due course the program of the meeting came in ami was published ;„ iti] 1„. pmpen followed by he handicaps, the list of arrivals, etc. Th« bookmakers in town, of course. Ixxiked l»ets freely over tin- lime country meeting. Next day the nHH results made the inoelinu out to i e ipiitc successful. The papers complimented he officials anil encouraged them to do even b.-iter next year. Didnt tiiey wish thev could! The whole thing was Ihiiis fr m beginning lo end. Town, fixture:, judge. jo ko. ; and horses were the pure invention of some brilliant ••Imy." So was the race course. the racing, too. But the betting was not. Scores of bookmakers lost heavily over rates that had never been run. An attempt was made not long ago to repeat this trick by inventing a small jumping meeting. It fell through only by the merest accident. All the details had not been properly thought out. The bubble was burst when the telegraph department began to make inquiries, their special telegraphists not being able to find the place.
