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TURF INCIDENTS OF OTHER DAYS Something of the Early Days of Bookmaking and. the Hen Engaged, in It, NEW YORK" N. Y.. December 24. When book-making was the popular vehicle of speculation on the races in this country, Harry Stedeker and Ridge Levein were prominent among the old-time layers. The former was once asked to tell something about the early days of bookmaUiiig in, America, and contributed .the followinc;, "In the year 1872 the late Joe Gleason and I were selling theater tickets in front of the old Olympic Theater on Broadway, where George L. Fox was playing in Humpty Dumpty. Two years after that both of us- were dead broke, and I suggested to Gleason that it might be a good idea to locate in some billiard room -and lay odds on the races then being run at Saratoga. Monmouth Park, Pimlico and in the -west. We found a place at 384 Third avenue and began to do a llttls business. "A year or two later we went up to Jerome Park, and I was one of nine men parading up and down and carrying bags over our shoulders, offering odds a la Newmarket. Among the nine were the late Modoc Fox, S. Howland Bobbins, John McDougall. John Hackett backed by Ridge Levein. A. Hi Cridge and Henry Stanford. The last-named was an Englishman with a long gray beard, who was induced by Pierre Lorillard to come over here and educate Americans in the then unknown method of bookmaking. Howland Robbins also, had Mr. Loril-lards support, not only moral by actual. In fact, as was often the case in those days in England, when many noblemen became amateur bookmakers, Pierre Lorillard really was an amateur layer in this country. That was the beginning of bookmaking here." ACCUMULATED A HANDSOME FORTUNE. "How much money did Joe Gleason accumulate?" was asked. "That I dont know." said Stedeker, "but I do know that the amount accredited to him was vastly exaggerated. However, lie had almost a monopoly of tiie one, two, three form of betting long enough to start the accumulation of a handsome fortune. He lived for many years in one of the finest houses in Saratoga. It was on Cnion aveniie. Gleason used to invite prominent racing men from various parts of the country to partake of his hospitality. It had taken the public a long time to realize that it was just as hard to make money betting on horses to be third as it was to pick winners straight. It really never was 1 to 2, 2 to 2, and 3 to 2 in his books, as some have said, but he framed the odds in such a way that of course lie had the best of it no matter how it would come;" Stedeker, W. II. Cheppu and W. Atkinson, were pioneer odds layers in the west also. At, the spring meeting at Lexington in 1880 they were the only layers doing business. All three of them made money. Atkinson kept a fish store on Third avenue. Cheppu was at one time half owner of the strongest stable of horses that ever went to Sariitoga .from the west. It was the joint property of Cheppu and Milton Young, and was trained by. Brown Dick, a I negro horseman, who developed among others the famous Ben Brush. In 1877 Stedeker and a friend instituted, the combination form of betting on the books, and at Saratoga they made it a custom to lay ,00Q to 0 that no one could name the five winners, .which .in those days composed the program. They won 2,- 000 that season and had many imitators. -Then years later P. J. Dwyer, as president of. the Brooklyn Jockey Club, kiiled 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 this alluring form of speculation. If left to pure chance alone combination betting would always be popular, but it led to so many mean attempts on the part of small operators to "correct fortune" that It was justly eliminated. The least offensive form of "correcting fortune" was by paying some trainer to scratch a horse which looked to be an absolutely sure winner of tiie last race, which usually meant losses of thousands for the layers. PLACES WHERE LARGE SUMS WERE WAGERED Present-day race goers 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 ail difficult to do business in these rooms. In the neighborhood of Broadway and ! Twenty-eighth street, too, were the large poolrooms of Tommy Johnson and Bill Johnson, A. H. Cridge, Kelly Bliss and William Lovell. In these rooms 011 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. Of all men most responsible for the introduction of bookmaking into America Charles Reed stands pre-eminent. Nearly forty years ago lie induced George Ilaughton to come to New York from England. Hnughton was an up-to-date bookmaker and Reed, having large capital, backed him. The duel 1 between Reed and Ilaughton on tiie one liund and I "Plunger" Walton on the other one .day at Slieeps- head Bay is recalled by old race goers. I 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 Epli Stedeker and ridden by Billy Donohue, made two wagers of 0,000 each on Girofle, the odds being C to 5. Reed and Ilaughton were depending on Barrett to win for them. AValton was flush witli his enormous winnings of the year before in England on Iroquois and Foxhall. and his long career of success made him unpopular witli prominent layers. It culminated in his trip to Eng-, land in. 1883 with Girofle, which wound up dlsas-; trously.
