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NOTED POOLROOM MAN NO MORE. Peter De Lacy. Who Fought Back at Bace Tracks ;* That Withheld Betting Information. Dead. New York. November It;. — 1ctcr De I-acy. foremost for uiauv years among the |»oolrooiu gambling g fratevnitv of tbis city and. paradoxically, a leading g figure in" later days in the lights that practically y wlp-d out b«l*e racing in New York and New iV Jersev. died last Satiud.i.v night in St. Lukes hospital . of pneumonia, which developed after an operation for gallstones. Mr. De Lacy"* age — he was 1 years old— was is a "a in st him when pneumonia set in. 1niil last it Tuesday when he liecanie ill at the home of his is daughter Mrs. Alice Itatcliffe. with whom he lived 1 -II IV West Seventy-first street. bo had seemingly v lM-cn in good health. Ilis daughters. Mr-, itatcliffe e and Miss Kate De Lacy, and two graudchildreu sur-ive r- him. Hi- wife died more than twenty years - "vir IK* Lacy"* life had been one of active fighting « licit bean in the dav of his callow youth in the old d S. veiith ward, where he was I...IU of Irish parent-. ... When firemen had to light rivals with their lists t- as xvell as flames with water in the old volunteer ..• tire department days, young Pete De Lacy was in n which added to the r. the Ihick of the ructions .-poc-taeular qiialiiies of a Maze in the old days, even •n if the tight- may li»t have mad.- for efficiency. Vnd next when Sumter was tired upon, young De man* of the volunteer tire laddie- Of -,f I acv like so bis dav donned the blue and inarched away to the ie blare of bands to do his part for the 1 moll. He le l.uht throughout the war and tln-n he came back k Manhattan, where for a short Mm,- his to hi- native comings and going- were of so little moment that no recor.1 remains of that brief |»r,od ol his career r But one day. almost half ■ MM ago. lower -r Manhattan which until verj recent years the apart-imr I- ll.-l.le "he held ,,f their effort-, heard that a "fug ma" named Peter lb- l,.cy had opened rooms ■ Li Ann street In n for faro and roulette playing at He em- public schools I*- Lacy had gathered whatever of elemental mathematics was necessarv V ., ii •busii.e-" purpose- and with this, plus a., in iuiiate .....res-iveiies- ami shrewdness, lie Louan tin ie .ili. ar ui? of - bankroll which a generation ago had and at the tune of hi. death h figures .,, bed -iV « V-%o Broadwav sorting men say. in the neighbor- r. " "I ,f •iiTeW me up " was De Lacys often r-P ,.. Jt.:i" to lie police when the law made Ie dena.ee I • r-ain-t his Ann street place. But there r. time after be had made money in Aim street ■t / •■ h iw.ved in is t» Barclay street to open a a ■•"■Vlnm hat he .net with temporary deieat The ie had Income so notorious , l-»hTv # - H»i.«7tloii Vtreet poMroom of reformers called upon the late te ,;,?7 Hl.ckenPwhbi; kwnVnThesporting circle,, aa ., ,b ""»- and !K had l.eeii a partner of He ie i- house. In De l.acys - I a.v - :.i .., i Hi. he I- irdiv r " . -tree! under way at 33 Iark U..w. v. M venture, who i j.ot imjo „,,,;„,,„, ,,,. »c J ,o7had powerful politician to lend him their in- u- to 0 is s d " 11 - 0 e 1 d ■ s • d f £ e J. ■ • ■ 11 - * ■r ;* g g y iV . is it is 1 v e r- - « d ... t- ..• in n r. •n De Of -,f ie He le k his r -r I- fluenee in his Park Row days. Years before lie had gone into ward politics and had been an associate of "Fatty" Walsh, father of Blanche Walsh, the actress, who died two weeks ago. But despite po-• litical influence the police closed the Park Row poolroom tein orarily now and then, during which time De Lucys men sold pools from their hats out on the sidewalk. When the poolroom men of the city got together at last and formed a protective organization to fight threatened legislation against them De Lacy was made treasurer of the associations fund, which was piled up by daily contributions of 0 from each iKRilroom nian in town. Then when it was MM*-d sary to send some one to Albany to try to kill the Saxtan bill it was cue of De Ijieys men who is alleged to have carried a roll to the state capital with instructions to pay each state Senator who would accept the bribe . H 0 to vote against the bill. The Saxton bill, however, was passed. From Park Row. De Lacy moved to Fulton street. where he remained until he led the movement of gambling men fr.un lower Manhattan up town to Broad wav and side streets. That fight which he had led Tal—I the Saxton bill with an organization lank roll said to have lieen *MM was but the be ginning of a long series of battles, in court and out. wlii-h Do Uicy waged so steadily against wealthy owners of racing stables and tracks that, as uews- paper files show, when the news was published that a constitutional amendment which virtually ended horse racing in the state bad been adopted De l.acys picture appeared in the papers with the statement that the amendment "is L r him a great triumph of petnoaaj spite." The odd spectacle of De Lacy still adding to his wealth as a poolroom king and Be Lacf head of a "reform" movement to interfere with racing was first presented alMuit twenty-five years ago. His fighting qualities which later on were to make him a source of irritation to the Whitneys. Beimonts. Sturgises. Thompsons and other wealthy men in- terested in racing got under way at the old Linden track near Elizabeth. N. J. New Jersev lace track promoters tool; the ground that news ft the races on lliidr track was their property and if poolronm men wanted the news di-,. rect from the track they must pay 0 a day for the service. De Lacy did not want to pay the sum demanded, and after many ingenious methods of flashing the news surreptitiously from the tracks to I he pootrooani had lieen di-covered and stopped, he allied hhiliBjjT with The Rev. Dr. Kempshalf. a Pre-byteri.ui clergyman of Elizabeth. N. J., and other "reformers, to tight the racing men. The fight resulted in the closing of the Linden track and then De Lacy started a racing war in Monmouth County which dosed the Long Branch track for a var and. with the adoption of the New Jersev anti-racing law in 1894. dosed the Monmouth and all other New Jersev tracks permanently. Next De Lacv came across the river and started a new battle in New York by leading a light against the Brooklyn Jockev Club. The fight went on until by IMS De I.acy "was not inly banging away at the track owners, but was hailing the bookmakers themselves into i-ouit in an effort lo stop layers opera-».• rioiis on the tracks. AIkiiu tl.e last af De Lacys activities was the operation of a poolroom exchange In a house he owned ill Koiiv-s.--oiid street. The cleanup of the tenderloin which Police Insjiector John Daly tinder-is took wa- perfected when Daly dosed De Lacys exit change for good. A part of the fortune which De Lacy is said to have amassed i- in valuable real estate holdings on Breadwav and side streets in the Tenderloin section.
