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STARS OF OTHER DAYS RECALLED. Western Turf Writer Tells What Jones and the Reiff Brothers Are Doing Nowadays. Emeryville has a fascination for Eddie Jones, once famous as a race rider, says- a writer in the San Francisco Chronicle. Eddies name was on the tongue of every spectator who attended the races, when the gates of the familiar course were thrown open in 1S95. On that occasion Jones piloted four of the six winners first past the wire, and that feat included the winner of the opening handicap. For several years thereafter Jones continued to ride with success on the transbay track. In 1900 Jones pet forth for greater conquests on the tracks of .Europe, and while coming into the stretch at Brussels his mount was jammed into the rail and " the little jockey sustained an injury to his spine that confined him to a hospital cot for several years. When able to get about with the aid of crutches, Eddie forthwith set sail for this country and Emeryville. Jones came back to take a part in the sport of racing, but it was not in his former proud and exciting position in the saddle. He secured a berth as ticket taker on the paddock gate and for years he was known to the thousands who visited Emeryville. Then came the closing down of the track and Eddie was thrown out of his position. He still remained in Emeryville, however. He was a daily visitor when the old course was being demolished to make way for a truck garden and factory sites. The little crippled jockey sort of dropped from sight until the last baseball season. He was discovered one day behind the counter of a cigar store at Fortietli street and San Pablo avenue. Eddie is getting along all right and is still there with his smile and a readiness to tell of the days when lie was booting over winners before the big crowds at Emeryville. There are other jockeys in Oakland, famous in their day. who are now enjoying the fruits of their earnings in the saddle. They are the Iteiff brothers, Lester and Johnny. The pair was well known on American and European tracks some fifteen years ago. but, when their riding days were over, they settled across the bay. The Reiff brothers are engaged in the real estate business and boast of a wide acquaintance. Almost any day they can be found whileing away an hour or two at Wrights billiard parlor. They are examples of the modern jockey in taking care of their money when the scales start telling the truth of increased poundage. Then there is Eddie Hayes, another lad skilled iu handling the thoroughbred. Eddie grew heavy even when Emeryville was still running. He was forced to retire and turned his attention to baseball. He also aspired to be an artist and was engaged in going to an art school the last we heard of him. It was baseball, however, that fascinated Eddie most. While his father engaged in training and racing a string of horses and his brothers embarked in piloting horses, Eddie, the most successful horseman of the family, was always anxious to get into the national pastime. Instead of exercising gallopers, Eddie would be playing ball, and it was only natural that when he got too heavy to sport silks that he turned all his attention to baseball.
