The big horse races every year offer great
temptations.
While I was working in St. Louis, a case came under my observation that
will readily illustrate the perversity of human nature. In a large
office not so very far away, there was working a friend of mine, who did
nothing but copy race reports and C. N. D.'s all day. On the day the
great Kentucky Derby was to be run, the wire was cut through from the
track in Louisville to a big pool room in this city.
Now the chief operator in this place was a scaly sort of a cuss--in
fact, it was said that he had done time in the past for some
skullduggery--and when the horses went to the post, he stood by the
switchboard and deliberately cut the pool room wire, so the report
didn't go through. He copied the report himself, knew what horse had
won, and then sent a message to a henchman of his, who was an operator
and had an instrument secreted in his room near the pool room. This chap
went quickly into the pool room and made wagers right and left. A rank
outsider, a twenty to one shot, won the race, and after the confederate
had signified that he was ready, the chief sent the report through as if
it had come from the track.
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