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WHEN RACING WAS FOR SPORT ALONE Feature of the Meetings of Long Ago on the Washington Track at Charleston. .Tcsiah Qnincys diary record of wsigers .aggregating 2,000 pounds on the Flimnap race is indicative of the active spirit of betting before the outbreak of the Revolution. That spirit increased rather than abated with the revival of racing after the restoration of peace. Betting was conducted then, however, under different methods than those of these days. Bookmaking and poolselling were unknown. Gentlemen carried ivory tablets, morocco or vellum covered, upon which the recorded the items of their wagers with the names of the takei-3, and the differences were adjusted, generally, though not always, at the end of the day, or on the morrow. Thus casli was not necessary, and the prevailing tendency was, therefore, probably, to bet more than is possible now under the bookmaking system. Horse racing reached its zenith at Charleston under the auspices of the South Carolina Jockey Club, the oldest jockey club in the United States. The date of its organization is not definitely known, but it probably came into existence after the Revolution. It purchased the Washington race course from the heirs of the founders in 1830; and the following year inclosed it by the erection of a seven-foot fence. Then, for the first time, a small assessment was levied on foo passengers. Distinguished visitors, or even respectable strangers from abroad or from other states, were never allowed to pay for entrance. They were received as guests of the club, and provided with tickets and badges entitling them to all of the hospitalities . of the meeting. The meeting lasted a week, and was usually held in the early spring. The Jockey Club dinner, on Wednesday evening, and the Jockey Club ball, on Friday night, were the chief society events of the week. In 1850 the club had over 200 members and an annual income of more than 0,000, derived from subscriptions, real estate, bonds and bank stock. Besides the race course the club owned a large farm adjoining, where horse owners could get supplies and accommodations for their help. In those days raee week was the red-letter occasion of the year. Mrs. St. Julian Ravenel, widow of a descendant tne pioneer of the sport mentioned, wrote as follows of the enthusiasm of Charlcstonians over racing: "Race week was the great popular festival shared by everyone, from the government and ladies in the grandstand, to the negroes who sat unmolested 011 the fence tops only the sick and infirm staying at home. The ladies in carriages; the gentlemen on their handsomest horses; the boys on their ponies; the poorer sort in carts , and wagons of every kind; the negroes in numbers, all thronged from every direction to the course. It was a gay open-air jollification, good humored and merry, thoroughly enjoyed by all." To complete the picture we must add the statement of Dr. Irving that the schools were closed, shops shut up, and the courts adjourned at noon to give opportunity to all to attend the races, and that venerable and distinguished dignitaries of the land, clergymen and judges touched elbows on the grandstand. There can be no gainsaying that much of the same spirit exists in the old town today, notwithstanding the inscription on the statute books of provisions forbidding the sport. The last successful meeting of the club was held in 1800. No meetings were held during the war, and only one afterward. That was a failure, so after remaining dormant for some years, it sold its real estate and other assets and went into liquidation. The last president of the Jockey Club was the venerable Major Theodore G. Barker, ,a distinguished lawyer, still socially prominent as hiead of the fatuous St. Cecilia Society,
