view raw text
AL COONETS TOUGH LTJCK What would be your inward feelings if some one came along at a stage of your existence when you did not have a single sou, and slipped ten crisp, bright ,000 bills into your hand? It is indeed a pity to continue with the tale in these days of the high cost of living, but Al Cooney declares that it actually happened to him one day back at the old Washington Park track here in Chicago. "Oh, boy, Oh, boy! is all that can say when I think of that day," declares Al. "Earl Linnell had a California plater named Alaslca. All the breaks had been going against us, and it had reached the point on getaway day when we were broke. I went to Charley Gates, a chip off the old block, Bet Em a Million Gates, and mentioned the fact that we were out to win with Alaska or walk home. "That was the extent of our conversation, and after Alaska had won, much to our delight, up comes Gates with a stack of pasteboards as fat as a hat. Without any ceremony whatever he peeled off tin ,000 bills and tossed them to us. Never will I forget that occasion, for it almost stopped the beating of my heart."
