Chapter VII: Part 7

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JAMES SUTTERS, another betting man, also advocated licensing. He thought that street betting might with advantage be restrained, but considered it a very respectable trade, although he agreed that it was not becoming for women.

Mr. CHARLES GOULD, J.P., Epsom, had complained to the Home Office of the inadequacy of the police force sent to Epsom Races. The last communication he had received was to the effect that the Home Secretary had been informed that as there were several thousands of these dishonest betting men, it would be impossible to provide sufficient police protection.

Mr. RUSSELL ALLEN, managing proprietor of the _Manchester Evening News_, gave evidence as to the harm done by the betting press, particularly the halfpenny papers, with their racing editions, which conduced largely to the class of betting done in the street by working men, concerning which he read letters from employers of labour attributing fraud and embezzlement to their work-people betting. Great numbers of bets were also made inside the works. His own newspaper had given up tips and tipsters’ advertisements, and had suffered accordingly. It was not prudent for a newspaper to go beyond that single-handed. If starting prices were made illegal of publication for all alike, it would have a great effect.

Superintendent SHANNON, of the L Division, Metropolitan Police, had had great experience of the evils of street betting. Last year[14] in Lambeth 441 persons had been proceeded against. They were fined over £2000 in all. One man was fined sixteen times in the year. Every large firm’s employees in South London were waited on by one or more bookmakers. All the bookmakers employed scouts to give them warning.

Superintendent WELLS, of the Limehouse Division, said there had been a great increase in street betting in East London in the last few years. One man was fined twenty-eight times and one twenty-seven. The bookmakers took up their stands outside the railway stations and factories, and in the busy streets. They were thus enabled to catch the workmen going to or from their work.

Lord Provost CHISHOLM, of Glasgow, gave evidence with the knowledge and sanction of the Corporation. Betting had increased all round, especially street betting with the industrial classes. He spoke both from personal knowledge and the complaints made to him by citizens. Betting was carried on to a large extent in factories and workshops, the bookmakers sometimes having their own agents employed in them. He would make the penalties more severe, and would seize all money found on bookmakers and imprison them. He believed public opinion would support such measures. He was opposed to licensing bookmakers. Women were in the habit of betting with bookmakers like men.

CHIEF CONSTABLE OF GLASGOW: He agreed with the evidence of the previous witness. Licensing would only encourage the bookmakers. They ought to be imprisoned. There was very great risk of the police being tampered with by bookmakers. Some had already been bribed. Many Glasgow bookmakers did business by telegram and letter. The Post Office had been complained to, but could do nothing.

Mr. BRYAN THOMAS, Hon. Sec. of a Labour Organisation, said he had forty years’ experience among the working men of East London. He would do away with street betting entirely. He would treat the bookmakers as rogues, and give them three months’ hard labour.

Rt. Hon. JAS. LOWTHER, M.P., a member of the Jockey Club for twenty-five years, did not think that large bets had increased of late years, but betting was more widely diffused, and not confined to sporting circles. He considered that there had been a great increase of betting all round. He could not suggest any way of reducing the misery caused by it. He saw difficulties in the way of licensing bookmakers.

Mr. W. B. WOODGATE, the well-known aquatic authority, would license bookmakers, and would fine any of them practising without a licence £500 or six months’ hard labour. The witness related a case of police bribing which he had brought before the authorities at Scotland Yard, but it ended in nothing owing to their careless handling of it.

Mr. EDWARD HULTON,[15] jun., of the Manchester _Sporting Chronicle_, was against the prohibiting the publication of the odds, and in favour of licensing bookmakers.

Mr. J. BAIN, formerly a member of Tattersall’s Club, also of the Victoria, Beaufort, and Albert Clubs, gave evidence as to the poisoning of race-horses for the purposes of the betting market, and how leading bookmakers were laying heavily at the club against the poisoned horses before the general public knew of what had been done. He also showed that many of the prices quoted in the newspapers were mere bogus quotations to induce the outside public to bet.

Colonel TANNETT WALKER, a large employer of labour at engineering works near Leeds, said that betting was the very worst thing any one could take to, and did a great deal of harm. The workman very often knew nothing whatever of horses. His usefulness was destroyed by betting, however skilful he might be, as so much of his time and thought were taken up with it. He would favour anything that would put a stop to street betting. The boys were encouraged to bet in the workshops.

Mr. LAMB, second secretary to the Post Office, said there were 82 special telegraphists engaged at Doncaster Races; 30,000 private telegrams were sent off. Gambling in any form was regarded as a most serious offence in that Department, and any of its servants are thereby rendered liable to dismissal. Employees were often tempted in the course of their duty while attending to betting telegrams.

Sir ROBERT HUNTER, solicitor to the Post Office, explained that there was not the same power over betting as over lottery communications, owing to an interpretation of the Advertising Act of 1874 confining it to such betting as was localised in a particular house or place.

The DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, Minister for Education, had been engaged on racing for a considerable time. Thought that there was nothing wrong or immoral in betting. He would very much regret its being stopped: it would seriously injure the national amusement of horse-racing. He thought betting the support of racing. Saw nothing wrong in the bookmaker’s profession, and, in reply to a question as to their taking small sums from children in poor neighbourhoods, he said he had no knowledge of that sort of betting. He could not give any opinion about licensing. He did not know at what point betting was too general.

Mr. ROBERT KNIGHT, J.P., Newcastle, for twenty-nine years secretary of a Trades Union numbering 50,000 members, had thirty-two years’ experience of the working classes. Betting was largely on the increase among them, especially young men and women. In three and a half hours a bookmaker in South Shields was seen to take 236 bets. Bookmakers went from door to door inducing women to bet. Some took as little as sixpence. Employers found that intelligent, concentrated effort cannot be got from minds absorbed in betting. He would neither employ nor trust men who indulged in it. The facilities offered by the press are largely responsible. Betting among the young had become rampant. Lads of bright intellect were found to develop cunning instead of character. If the betting craze was not checked the sober youths of Germany would take the reins of the commercial world. The odds, tips, and bettings news should be abolished from the newspapers. The Trades Unions endeavoured to stop betting, and would not appoint a man known to indulge in it to any place of authority or trust.

Rev. J. W. HORSLEY, M.A., J.P., Rector of St. Peter’s, Walworth, for ten years prison chaplain, during which time 100,000 people passed through his hands, said betting was a frequent source of trouble. In one gaol there was a whole wing set apart for these prisoners. It was now increasing more than ever. He considered the example of the aristocracy greatly to blame; and said that if the King would stay away from race-courses where professional betting went on it would do more than anything else to assist in putting an end to it.

OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN ON BETTING AND GAMBLING

THE LATE CHIEF-JUSTICE RUSSELL.—“Street betting is a most undesirable practice. A state of things exists which, if it can be stopped, ought to be stopped.”

Mr. Justice WILLS.—“When I first came upon the Bench I used to think drink was the most fruitful cause of crime, but it is now a question whether the unlimited facilities for illegitimate speculation on the part of people who have no means of embarking on it are not a more prevalent source of mischief and crime even than drink.”

Mr. Justice HAWKINS.—“I know nothing more likely to ruin a young and inexperienced man than the system of betting which goes on around us.”

Mr. Justice GRANTHAM.—“Gambling with bookmakers is the cause of more crime and misery than anything else in the land.”

Mr. Justice DARLING.—“No one could attend the Civil and Criminal Courts without knowing that many persons spent a much larger amount of time in betting than they devoted to their own business.”

Mr. HORACE SMITH (London Stipendiary Magistrate).—“Nearly every case of embezzlement I try has resulted from betting, and then to pay their losses they rob their employers.”

Alderman SUTTON (Newcastle Magistrate).—“The working men of the north of England put money on horses, and when they lose take their employers’ property.”

CHAIRMAN OF MAGISTRATES (Seacome Bank embezzlement case).—“The whole secret of the wrongdoing seems to be in the systematic agency employed all over the country to tempt men from the path of rectitude and virtue.”

Mr. BROS (London Stipendiary Magistrate).—“Betting is generally the downfall of clerks and servants who are charged with embezzlement.”

CORONER FOR MID-SURREY.—“The poor lad, like many thousands of others, was led away by the fallacious idea that he was going to make money by backing horses. Men earning fifteen or twenty shillings a week cannot afford to lose sixpence in betting.”

CHIEF-CONSTABLE OF SOUTHAMPTON.—“Street betting is a disgrace to the town. One man is making £1000 a year by it.”

BIRMINGHAM OFFICIAL RECEIVER.—“Half of the bankruptcies which come before me are due to gambling.”

General WAVELL.—“I have been speaking to an officer, who says it is perfectly piteous to see the way our young soldiers, drummer boys, trumpeters, and others rush off to get the halfpenny newspapers, not to ascertain how their comrades are faring, but simply to get the betting odds and nothing else.”

BRADFORD SCHOOL BOARD RESOLUTION.—“The attention of the Board having been called to the general prevalence of betting and gambling, and the appalling evils arising therefrom, it is hereby resolved that the teachers be requested to take every opportunity to point out to the scholars the injurious effect of the vice.”

Mr. CURTIS BENNETT (Marylebone Police Court).—“I am convinced from my experience as a Magistrate that nothing is so productive of crime among young people as street betting. It is an evil far worse than drunkenness, and I agree with Mr. Justice Wills that it is the greatest curse of this country.”

CHAIRMAN OF CROYDON BENCH.—“It seems a very good paying game. I think the Government, as soon as they have time, will have to take into consideration whether the law should not be altered.” These remarks were called forth by a bookmaker who had been summoned, producing a handful of sovereigns, and suggesting that it would save time for him to pay the fine at once without the evidence being heard.

LUTON TOWN COUNCILLORS:—

Alderman OAKLEY, J.P.—“The Watch Committee reports show that
betting is much on the increase. It is even affecting school
children.”

Alderman DILLINGHAN.—“It breaks up many homes and leads people
to rob their employers. It is the forerunner of drunkenness.”

THE DEPUTY MAYOR.—“It is a grave temptation.”

Mr. WARREN.—“It is bringing a great calamity on the land. It is
one of the biggest evils England has to contend with. The young
people in Luton are led away to an alarming extent.”

Alderman Sir J. RENALS.—“Street betting has become an intolerable nuisance in the city.”

LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE (Lord ALVERSTONE).—“Sport never ought to be of necessity associated with gambling or betting. Those who had to do with the administration of the law knew that there was nothing in their great towns—and he was afraid in the smaller ones too—that brought more people in the humbler walks of life misery and ruin than the betting agents.”

BISHOP OF LIVERPOOL (Dr. CHAVASSE).—“He called upon them, in the name of their Master Christ, to rise up and fight this awful foe of gambling and betting, lest they ate the heart out of the Church and nation, and a just God punished them with a righteous retribution.”

RECORDER OF BATH (Mr. H. C. FOLKARD).—“He was afraid that the pernicious practice of betting and gambling was becoming very prevalent throughout the country. Many gave way to the evil who were in good situations and positions of trust. The bookmakers were a great evil.”

Lord CHARLES BERESFORD.—“The worst of all vices. On board a ship it is particularly pestilent. Its practice has destroyed many fine characters, and has been the means of causing unbounded misery to innocent and deserving persons.”

Sir GEORGE WHITE (of Ladysmith).—“I know the evil effects of gambling. Society in which gambling is promoted fails in all the higher aims. Instead of its members being drawn into real friendship, they generally dislike and distrust each other.”

Admiral Sir H. H. RAWSON.—“I have no hesitation in saying that next to drunkenness I think gambling is one of the worst and most dangerous of the vices. I have always set my face against it, as I have seen three or four cases where it has led to most terrible consequences. It becomes a regular mania and an absorbing business.”

Admiral SWINTON HOLLAND.—“It is ruining some of our finest English sports, specially football.”

PRINCE LOUIS OF BATTENBERG.—“As regards a man-of-war, there is one aspect which is not always borne in view. Two men of different service rank gambling together; the senior loses money to the junior, perhaps more than he can pay at once. Think of the effect on discipline.”

Mr. J. G. BUTCHER, M.P.—“I am disposed to think (though I have no accurate information upon the subject) that the practice of betting and gambling prevails amongst larger sections of the community than in former times. If that be so, I regard it as a national calamity. Once the practice is begun it is exceedingly difficult for those who engage in it to limit their losses to such sums as they can easily afford to lose. The best forms of sport—such as cricket, football, and even horse-racing—can, in my judgment, be most fully enjoyed without staking money on the result.”

Mr. RICHARD BELL, M.P. (Secretary Amalgamated Society Railway Servants).—“There is nothing, to my mind, which is so damning to the progress of the working classes as the gambling which is now practised in every town in England. This is not, unfortunately, confined to horse-racing, but it has now spread to football, cricket, and almost everything else. During the period of prosperity, when a large number of workers are earning good wages, it is regrettable to think that they do not take care of the few extra shillings they then receive, but indulge so freely in drinking and gambling, so that when they are meeting with a little depression they are entirely at the mercy of the employers, and have to put up with circumstances which they otherwise would not.”

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.—“I heartily wish you success in your effort to stay the progress of this terrible plague, which is bringing misery and ruin upon thousands of our fellow-countrymen.”

Mr. Justice RIDLEY.—“The Gaming Act, though designed to prevent betting, has not brought about that result.”

COMMON SERJEANT OF LONDON.—“Gambling in hopes of realising large profits by chance, then when they lost instead of winning they were impelled to reimburse themselves by dishonesty.”

Mr. Justice BUCKNILL.—“This betting curse, which is being carried on in a shocking manner, has got to be put down with a severe hand, and, so far as I am concerned, I will do so to the utmost of my power.”

JOHN HAWKE (Hon. Sec. National Anti-Gambling League).—“Gambling is becoming a worse evil and a more serious cause of poverty than drink.”

Rt. Hon. Sir HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN.—“I long ago formed the opinion that betting and gambling come next to drink (and doubt even if they come below it) in the measure of the curse they bring upon society.”

The late G. F. WATTS.—“I look across our English world and see clearly and distinctly the two vices which, more than anything else, are obstructing the wheels of progress: drinking and gambling. They are apparent to the least observant of men. You cannot take up a paper or walk through the streets of a city, without realising the awful ruin which these two evils are working in the world. But if this is the general agreement of mankind, why is there no concentration of national energy on the subject? Think how great a revolution would be wrought in English character and in English health if legislation set itself sternly to the task of preventing drunkenness and gambling. Just those two things! Is it not possible for political parties to sink their party differences, and to combine to fight against these two root causes of national degeneration and national unrest? Surely, surely!”

A NOTE ON PEDESTRIANISM

The following notes may prove interesting, as showing how
attempts are made to corrupt one of the best and healthiest of
all sports.

MR. CHARLES SOUCH says:—“I am now groundsman for the Cheetham Cricket Ground, Cheetham, Manchester, and I reside near the ground. I was for several years groundsman for the Manchester Athletic Club, Fallowfield.

“I have taken a prominent part in sports and athletic meetings all over the country for the past twenty-three years, and am still running. I have fifty-five medals, watches, clocks, cups, etc., etc., which I have won to any number.

“In 1892 I won the Northern Cross-country 10-mile Championship. I ran second to Parry in 1888 in the National Challengeship. I could fill pages of races I have taken part in and athletic meetings I have attended, but you want my experience of the honesty or otherwise of persons competing and taking part in these sports. Well, my opinion is, and I may say it is perfectly plain to be seen by any one who likes to look, that wherever there are betting men and bookmakers at athletic meetings then the running is dishonest. It is true that I have attended amateur athletic sports in a small way where absolutely no betting was done; then every person competing tried his very best, but this is the exception.

“On one occasion, at a small meeting near Coventry, I was on the scratch at a half-mile hurdle race. I was giving 100 yards limit. Just prior to the race starting, a man—one of the competitors—came to me and asked me to stand down,—meaning for me not to win,—and said he would make it all right for me. I refused, and meant to try and win, as I may say I always did. This was done in order to allow a certain man to win, and the man who asked was in league with a bookmaker. During the race, and when at the second hurdle, the man I have just referred to was in front of me. Whilst jumping the hurdle he purposely tumbled in front of me and fetched me to the ground. He detained me a little, and the result was his man got first and I was second. This was a flagrant case, and I complained to the officials, but nothing came of it.

“In 1889, on Whit-Monday, I went to Wrexham and took part in several events at a meeting there, and in the three miles scratch race, when I had run about the half distance, a bookmaker came on to the course and caught hold of me; I wrestled with him and got away; I ultimately won the race in spite of this obstruction. Nothing was done to this man, although he was known.

“I have known in my time any number of men who called themselves amateurs and who regularly attended athletic meetings, and after having won their ‘heats’ absolutely made no attempt to win the finals. Some of these men I have known to be kept by bookmakers and never did any work, but attended these meetings and worked in collusion with the bookmakers.

“I have often been stopped in the middle of a race by other runners stepping in front of me, causing me to go round them.

“I could go on recounting similar experiences, but there is a sameness about them all. There is not one quarter of the so-called amateur athletes who try to win, and what I say is quite plain to be seen by any one.

“Another common practice is when the runners are leaving the dressing-tent to hear whispers that so-and-so is going to try and so-and-so is not trying, and in many instances, to my own knowledge, the thing is arranged before they leave the tent.

“During the time of a meeting certain men who have entered as runners can be seen leaving the tent just as the runners are turning out and go to the bookmakers, giving the tip as to who is to try and who is not. Finally, my opinion—and, as I have already said, I have had twenty-three years’ experience—is that the whole system is rotten. The same system obtains in connection with cycle racing, only more so. I would add, however, that if you clear the ground of betting men and bookmakers then you will have more honest sport; as it is at present it is absolutely dishonest. I have been afraid after a race to meet some of these people, and usually got out of the way as soon as possible. As a matter of fact, on one occasion when going for my prizes some fellow—no doubt a bookie—struck me from the crowd a violent blow on the eye, making it black, simply because I had refused to be bought. I have been offered sums of money times and times beyond number to sell myself to them, but I always declined. Perhaps if I had lent myself to that practice I would have had more money now than I have.”

TIPSTERS AND TIPSTERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS

LORD DURHAM, speaking at the Gimcrack Club Dinner in York on Friday December 9, 1904, drew attention to the evil of the tipster in terms which caused quite a commotion in the sporting press of the country. He said that “representations were made to clerks of courses that they should saddle themselves with impracticable duties, and race-course managers were instructed how to conduct their meetings by people who had not the slightest knowledge of race-courses, and paid no consideration to the material factors that in many cases hampered their action. He knew that some people paid very little attention to what sporting writers said, but there were thousands of people who were unable to judge independently, and if they believed what they read would gain a false impression of the Turf, and of the habits and characters of its supporters. His object in mentioning this matter was twofold. One was to warn the racing public not to pay too much attention to those writers, and the other was to suggest to such sporting newspapers that professed to uphold the morality of the Turf—and he mentioned the _Sportsman_, the _Sporting Life_, and the _Sporting Chronicle_, which he challenged to prove their good intentions—a very desirable reform, and that was simply to refuse to publish what was known as tipsters’ advertisements, those scoundrels who exercised a most pernicious influence upon the Turf. The representatives of the _Sportsman_, the _Sporting Life_, and the _Sporting Chronicle_ were examined upon this very question before the House of Lords’ Committee, and every member of that Committee knew very well that the members of the Jockey Club and the owners and trainers all expressed their utmost detestation of these tipsters. They knew that there was not a trainer in England who could not tell them what a curse these tipsters and touts were amongst their stable lads. They attempted to suborn them and to bribe them to betray stable secrets. What were stable secrets after all? He considered that they were merely the fulfilment of his duty on the part of a trainer, whose business and desire was to keep his employers informed as to the progress and the wellbeing of their property committed to his care. Outsiders had no more right to try to obtain by illicit means information on these matters than a burglar had to break into a house and steal property. If these sporting newspapers denied that these tipsters obtained information by improper means he thought they would be on the horns of a dilemma. If they did not obtain this information by corrupt means he should like these sporting papers to explain why they accepted money from tipsters for advertisements which professedly did claim to obtain this information.

“The alpha and omega of the tipster’s trade was misrepresentation. It was to their interests to say that all trainers were disloyal to their owners, and that jockeys pulled their horses. A friend of his this year out of curiosity subscribed to one of the most notorious of these tipsters. He wrote to say that he was not satisfied with the result, that he had expected some more reliable and exclusive information for his money, that he could not go on subscribing for such bad tips. The man replied with a long rigmarole to the effect that the horses had been fancied and backed by their owners, but that they raced most peculiarly, and added, ‘but what could they do when the jockeys who rode them would not let them show their true form.’ This tipster advertised largely; he had hundreds and probably thousands of clients, and if he had written in a similar strain to many of these foolish creatures, was it not easy to understand why small owners and trainers were made out to be rogues. I am sure,” said Lord Durham with emphasis, “there is not an honest man on the turf who will not agree that these tipsters and their circulars should be suppressed. I would commend the example of the _Truth_ newspaper, which for some years has most zealously denounced some of the most notorious of these wretches. I am certain I have made a speech which will not be very highly eulogised by the sporting press, but if I have on my side some of those honourable and straightforward sporting writers to whom I have alluded as being too few in number to counteract the evil of the majority, I will bear with equanimity any adverse criticism” (_Yorkshire Herald_, December 10, 1904).

The following extracts from _Truth_, February 11, 1904, will serve to emphasise the accuracy of Lord Durham’s observations:—

_Turf Tipsters, Betting Agents, and System-mongers_

Whether one agrees or not with Lord Beaconsfield’s uncompromising condemnation of the Turf as a vast engine of national demoralisation, it is impossible to deny that the racing world provides an exceptionally fertile field for the practice of fraud and trickery that is akin to fraud. Nowhere else do knaves prey upon fools so easily, so safely, and so profitably. Take first the case of the tipsters. It is well within the mark to say that nine-tenths of these gentry live by lying. If they did not tell lies they could not sell their tips. Many of them circulate absolutely fictitious lists of winners that they have found, and practically all of them make pretences as to the sources of their information and the infallibility of their prophecies that they know to be false. If their judgment or prevision enabled them to foresee the results of races with the consistency that they claim, it stands to reason that they would not be offering to sell tips to all and sundry when, however small their capital at starting, they might be piling up a fortune by backing horses for themselves. But this obvious consideration never crosses the mind of the gullish herd of backers. No story of his successes that a tipster puts forward is too steep for them, and as fast as one lot of dupes is disillusioned he gets another. The following is a list of some of the false prophets of the Turf whom I have pilloried during the past twelve months:—

E. W. BESTON, Birmingham.—During the flat-racing season, which
is also the principal flat-catching season, this individual
issues a weekly paper called the _Midland Referee_, nominally
priced at sixpence, but sent out gratuitously, in which
vituperative attacks upon rival tipsters are mingled with
extravagant puffs of “Dan Bruce,” “Miss Flossie Beresford,”
“Percy Macdonald,” “James Brown,” “Reginald Vernon,” “Walter
Hooley,” “George Leslie,” “George Graham,” “E. Allsopp,”
“Hugh Owen,” “George Westwood,” etc. All these are aliases
under which Beston himself carries on business as a tipster
from a number of accommodation addresses in Birmingham and
the neighbourhood. He bamboozles people into buying his tips
not only through the medium of the _Midland Referee_, but
by means of advertisements in his various aliases in many
English and Irish newspapers, and by extensive distribution of
circulars through the post. Not long since I gave a case in
which a greenhorn paid Beston as “Flossie Beresford” £3 for
twenty sixpenny telegrams containing forty predictions, of
which only four came off! It is unnecessary to cite examples
of the unblushing mendacity of this Protean rascal, or to
describe in detail the artful dodges that he practises,
but one ramp that he carried out last October is worthy of
notice. Besides the _Midland Referee_, Beston publishes the
_Winning Guide_ and other rags which he represents as sporting
journals. In October, some days before the Cesarewitch was
run, advertisements appeared announcing that a specimen copy
of the _Secret Special_, containing a “certainty” for that
handicap, would be sent free to any applicant. The copies so
supplied were dated the Monday before the Cesarewitch, but were
not posted in Birmingham till the following Wednesday evening,
three or four hours after the race had been run. It is easy
to prophesy after the event, and these copies of the _Secret
Special_ named the outsider which won the Cesarewitch. But
Beston knows his public, and no doubt many mugs, too obtuse to
see that this wonderful “tip” had been printed when the race
was over, were bagged as subscribers to the _Secret Special_—a
mere tipster’s circular—at 5s. a week.

FRED COBB, 6 Ludgate Arcade, E.C.—Styles himself the “manager”
of a diminutive tipster’s publication called the _Peerless
Special_, for which subscriptions are invited at the rate of
5s. a copy, or £5: 5s. for the racing season. On at least one
occasion last season he circulated specimen copies which,
though dated before, were printed after an important race,
thereby enabling him to give the name of the winner. When he
really does “tip” prior to a race Cobb is less successful. In
one number of the _Peerless Special_ he gave fourteen horses,
and among the whole lot there was not a solitary winner.

MACDONALD, 14 Whitcomb Street, Pall Mall.—Publishes a small
four-page tipster’s sheet entitled the _Turf Pioneer_, besides
supplying “guarantee wires” and “invincible daily telegrams.”
One number of the _Turf Pioneer_ named six horses for races
that week. Five of them never started; the sixth was beaten.

FRED RICKABY, 45 Regent Square, Brighton.—Nine losers out
of ten selections was this prophet’s record one week;
nevertheless, he at once issued a circular in quest of fresh
customers, claiming that he had given seven winners and only
three losers.

“R. ORMONDE AND CO.,” 14 New Street, Birmingham.—Represent
themselves as “part owners of several useful horses,” and
specially circularise such persons as the “head boots” at
hotels.

CHARLES ROBINSON, Smith Street, Epsom.—Refers in his circulars
to that “estimable journal, _Truth_,” but, needless to say,
does not mention my warnings against Charles Robinson.

ARTHUR MACCALL, Archdale House, Marlborough Road, St. John’s
Wood.—Offers to return the money paid by any one dissatisfied
with his tips. Having paid 20s. for five wires, all “wrong
’uns,” a victim asked for the return of that sum. MacCall
replied by sending a circular bragging of his “march of
triumph,” and offering more wires at the same price!

“V. VEE,” Morion House, Newmarket.—Pretends to be an owner of
race-horses. There is reason to believe that “V. Vee” is an
alias of the above-mentioned Arthur MacCall.

“JOHN KINGFIELD,” otherwise “Frank Foreman,” the Post Office,
——.—Through the supineness of the Postmaster-General, this
travelling tipster is allowed to use the Post Office in
different towns where races are being held as an accommodation
address.

M. B. PIZZEY, Heath Villa, Ascot.—This tipster formerly owned
a number of race-horses, but owing to exposures in _Truth_ the
Jockey Club forced him to give up his ownership under a threat
of being “warned off” the Turf. Now an ordinary touting tipster.

“ARTHUR MORDAUNT,” Oak Villa, Ascot.—Pizzey under another name.

“CAPTAIN” W. GOUGH, Chavey Down, Bracknell, Berks.—Supposed to
be connected with Pizzey.

—— KEEBLE, H.M. Prison, Wormwood Scrubbs.—Now serving six
months’ hard labour for fraudulently offering tips in the
name of Mr. W. H. Schwind, an owner. Another rascal last year
perpetrated a similar swindle by assuming the name of Mr.
Sievier.

HOBDAY, 3 Bridge Avenue Mansions, Hammersmith.—An ornament
of the profession who, having backed his own tips and lost,
pleaded the Gaming Act when the confiding bookmaker sued him.

J. ALEXANDER, 5 New Turnstile, W.C.—A trickster pretending that
he works “for a gentleman who has made a fortune out of the
Turf.”

H. SINCLAIR, _The Excelsior_.—Sends out under this title a tiny
sheet containing “tips” of races run two or three hour’s before
it was posted, the object being to secure subscribers for a
“daily wire service.”

ARTHUR CRADDOCK, 16 Air Street, Piccadilly.—Distributes tips
by circular unsolicited, and when he chances to name a winner
forwards another circular demanding “remuneration.”

H. HIBBERT, Florinda Villa, Stevenage Road, Fulham.

L. RIVERS, 1 Conway Cottages, Lower Station Road, Newmarket.

J. J. KIRK, Southwick, and 115 Queen’s Road, Brighton.

MANSER, 123 Holloway Road, London.

Old-fashioned race-course welshing is, I believe, not quite so prevalent as it used to be. The up-to-date welsher adopts a less hazardous plan of campaign. Instead of running the gauntlet of an angry mob on the race-course, he does his swindling more sedately in an office, where he is out of the reach of his victims. Calling himself a commission agent or a Turf accountant, he advertises in the Press or sends out circulars inviting backers to open accounts with him. When they lose he takes their money; when they win he refuses to pay up. I cannot say that I have any sympathy for the greenhorns who are plundered by these bandits of the Turf. There are plenty of bookmakers who carry on their business in a perfectly honest and straightforward manner. But a man is not necessarily one of this class because he sends out a speciously-worded circular from an office in the West End or elsewhere; and if people will be so stupid as to open betting accounts on the strength of such circulars, knowing nothing of the party with whom they are dealing beyond what he has himself told them, it seems to me that they need the lesson they are pretty certain to receive. The following are circularising betting agents who have come under my notice during the past year:—

JOHN FENWICK AND CO., 167 Piccadilly.—A defaulter.

G. H. CHARDSON, 25 Wellington Street, Strand.—A defaulter.

CHARLES KITTELL, 21 Copthall Avenue, E.C.—A defaulter.

FLOYD MCDERMOTT AND SCOTT, 58 Gillett Row, Thornton
Heath.—Defaulters.

S. RUSSELL.—A welsher whose address is frequently changed.
Describes himself in his circulars as “member of Tattersall’s
Ring.”

GEORGE SILKE, 3 James Street, Haymarket.—A defaulter.
Represents himself as a member of Tattersall’s, which is untrue.

“MALLARD AND CO.” and “GEORGE SHAW,” 10 Dawes Street,
S.W.—Names used by a swindler whose only known address is a
small shop where letters are taken in for him.

EDGAR AND CO., 24 Trevor Square, Knightsbridge.—Sharps whose
impudent method of “doing” a customer out of a considerable sum
of money I exposed last October.

HARRY WILLIAMS, Piccadilly Circus Mansions, 67a Shaftesbury
Avenue, W.—Upon being asked to pay an account a week after the
settling day, Williams refused to pay at all, on the ground
that an application for the money was an “impertinence.”

ALEC A. HARRIS AND CO., Agra, Gresham Road, Staines.—This
is seemingly an alias chosen to induce incautious backers
to believe that they are dealing with Alex. Harris, a
well-known and highly-respected bookmaker. Needless to say,
Mr. Alex. Harris is not in any way connected with this shady
starting-price office at Staines.

C. B. RAE, 12 Duke Street, S.W.—Before he blossomed forth as a
touting bookmaker this individual, whose real name is Sydney
Reed, practised as a solicitor and was implicated in a cruel
fraud.

ROBERT ADAMSON, Disraeli Gardens, Putney.—A harpy who tries
to bribe club servants into furnishing him with the names of
likely gulls.

J. GORDON YOUNGLY, Bedford Hotel Chambers, Covent
Garden.—States in his circulars that “your name as a sportsman”
has been given to him by “Mr. T. Forrester, 21 London Street,
E.C.” This is an accommodation address, and “Mr. T. Forrester”
is apparently J. Gordon Youngly under another name.

C. BENNETT, King William Street, E.C.—Professes to have Army
officers and City merchants for his clients, but specially
circularises “the coachman” at country houses.

With an infantile ingenuousness which is little short of downright idiocy, people are found ready not only to credit the existence of infallible systems of betting, but to hand over their cash without the least security to any stranger undertaking to “invest” it in the working of such a system. Most of the gentry whose prospectuses promise fabulous profits upon “investments” of this kind are much too astute to attempt to work any system of betting. They simply put the money in their pockets, and in due course inform the investor that owing to an unexampled run of bad luck the system has failed:—

A. JACKSON AND CO., The Hague, Holland.—Invites people to
trust him with money for investment upon any one of a series
of “systems” explained in his prospectus. If the system chosen
happens to show a profit for a few days, Jackson declines
to return the capital or pay over the winnings, sticking to
the money till it has been (as he alleges) lost. One mug
sent Jackson £100, and in the first week won (on paper) £56.
Ignoring his orders to stop, Jackson went on working (or
pretending to work) the system for another fortnight, by which
time the £156 had all disappeared. An action was then brought
and Jackson pleaded the Gaming Act.

BEVAN, SON, AND THOMPSON, Delft, Holland.—Promoters of turf
sweepstakes, and suspected of being identical with the
above-mentioned Jackson.

BROWN, BELL, AND CO., 18 Featherstone Buildings, W.C.—Ordinary
system-mongering sharps.

C. WOOD, 148 Old Street, E.C.—Advertises in the daily papers
that “£5 invested pays £1 weekly,” and offers shares in a
syndicate for backing first favourites. The syndicate’s capital
is always lost, and Wood goes on his way rejoicing at the
gullibility of the public.

J. L. AUCKLAND, 132 Kilmorie Road, Crofton Park.—By way of
variation upon the more familiar first favourite system, this
scoundrel pretends to use his dupes’ money in backing “the last
horse quoted” in the betting returns published in the press the
day after a race. A transparent fraud, as in nine races out of
ten it is impossible for anybody to know beforehand which of
several outsiders starting at the same price will be “the last
horse quoted” in the betting returns next day.

FOSTER, NASH, AND CO., 37 Graveney Road, London, S.W.—Another
swindler practising precisely the same trick as J. L. Auckland.

The following are proprietors of illegal racing lotteries whose operations have been noticed in _Truth_:—

DORMICE AND CO., Middelburg, Holland.—The alias of D.
Mackenzie, proprietor of _Sporting Luck_. Runs racing
sweepstakes in connection with which grave doubts have arisen
as to the genuineness of the alleged distribution of the
principal prizes.

J. H. ADAMS, Middelburg.—In the same line of business as
Dormice and Co.

VII

BETTING STATISTICS[16]

Monday, October 3, 1904—Nottingham.

Tuesday, October 4, 1904—Nottingham.

Wednesday, October 5, 1904—Leicester.

Thursday, October 6, 1904—Leicester.

Friday, October 7, 1904—Kempton Park.

Saturday, October 8, 1904—Kempton Park.

TOTALS—OCTOBER 3 TO OCTOBER 8, 1904.

Gain. Loss.
Monday £2 10 0 £3 0 0
Tuesday 5 0 0
Wednesday 2 0 0
Thursday 3 0 0
Friday 0 5 8½ 4 0 0
Saturday 6 0 0 3 0 0
----------- -------
£8 15 8½ £20 0 0

Loss £20 0 0
Gain 8 15 8½
---------
Total Loss £11 4 3½
=========

_Note._—In the above sporting tips twelve horses were
_non-starters_. Had the bets been one shilling each instead
of one pound, the loss would have been 11s., a sum obviously
beyond the resources of a working man.

These results were given in the _Daily News_, and cover the flat-racing season from March 23 to November 28, 1903:—

+--------------------+-------+------+---------+----------+
| | | | Total | £1 |
| Paper. | Lost. | Won. | Winning | Fixed |
| | | | Odds. | Stake. |
+--------------------+-------+------+---------+----------+
| Daily Express | 670 | 299 | 678·93 | Won £8 |
| Jockey | 696 | 243 | 687·86 | Lost 9 |
| Racehorse | 566 | 240 | 555·52 | ” 11 |
| Chilton’s Guide | 357 | 132 | 341·16 | ” 16 |
| Morning Leader | 690 | 309 | 667·93 | ” 22 |
| Gale’s | 639 | 231 | 501·85 | ” 37 |
| Sportsman | 738 | 285 | 679·02 | ” 59 |
| Daily Mail | 642 | 278 | 574·19 | ” 68 |
| Racing World | 696 | 275 | 626·19 | ” 70 |
| Standard | 872 | 313 | 781·22 | ” 91 |
| Star | 750 | 317 | 635·36 | ” 114 |
| Sporting Chronicle | 785 | 299 | 669·68 | ” 115 |
| Diamond Special | 482 | 169 | 365·83 | ” 116 |
| Daily Sport | 895 | 293 | 768·20 | ” 127 |
| Advertiser | 724 | 259 | 589·36 | ” 135 |
| Sporting World | 886 | 303 | 747·44 | ” 139 |
| Sporting Life | 1327 | 411 | 1179·25 | ” 147 |
| Telegraph | 928 | 345 | 724·67 | ” 203 |
+--------------------+-------+------+---------+----------+

The following are taken from a day’s selections—January 7, 1905—and show how the tips for hurdle-racing are even more unreliable than those for flat-racing:—

GATWICK MEETING (Six Races).

London Star { 6 selections
(Capt. Coe’s Specials) { —all wrong.

Middleham Opinion { 3 selections (one “best thing”)
(Mentor) { —all wrong.

The Jockey { 5 selections (one “special”)
{ —all wrong.

Racehorse (Admiral) { 1 selection (“one horse nap”)
{ —wrong.

Early Bird’s Finals { 6 selections (one “good,” one “selected”)
{ —all wrong.

Sun Dawn’s Finals { 6 selections (one “good”)
{ —1 right (_not_ the “good”).

Form’s Finals { 6 selections
{ —2 right.

Presto’s Double { Double selection for two races
{ —wrong.

Sunday Chronicl. { 4 selections
(Galliard) { —all wrong.

Sunrise’s Finals { 6 selections
{ —all wrong.

Victor’s Finals { 6 selections (one “nap,” one “good”)
{ —1 right (neither “nap” nor “good”).

Yorkshire Herald { 6 selections (one “starred”)
(Yorkshireman) { —all wrong.

Yorkshire Press { 6 selections (one “special”)
(Ivanhoe) { —2 right (_not_ the “special”).

Result { 6 right.
{ 57 wrong.

There are many examples of the inaccuracy of sporting tips in the evidence of the Select Committee on Betting. The best are given below:—

REV. J. W. HORSLEY’S EVIDENCE

(_a_) Manchester: out of 40 selected winners, not a single one
was right.

(_b_) Seven sporting papers gave 79 horses: in 74 cases their
predictions were wrong.

(_c_) Case of the _Standard_, which selected 179 horses for 148
races: 155 were wrong, and 24 right.

(_d_) In 7 races the chief sporting papers gave in one week 45
horses, of which 40 were wrong; again, they gave 47 horses, of
which only 1 was right.

(_e_) In one month the chief sporting papers gave 898 horses
for 156 races, out of which 777 lost.—_Vide_ p. 183 of Report.

THE DUKE OF PORTLAND AND TIPSTERS

The Duke of Portland sent £7: 14s. to thirteen sporting
prophets. Four of these sent him 35 losers and 1 winner.—_Vide_
p. 186 of Report.

VIII

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