The whole transaction didn't take over two
minutes and the "bookies" were hit for about $30,000, which Mr. Chief
and his side pardner divided between them.
A little while later the suspicions of the bookmakers became aroused,
complaints were made, an investigation followed, and one fine day when
matters were becoming pretty warm, the recalcitrant chief disappeared.
His confederate confessed to the whole scheme and the jig was up. The
chief was afterwards apprehended and sent up for seven years, but he
held on to his boodle.
For the first month of my stay in St. Louis, my life was as uneventful
as a May day, but at the end of that time a man came on the New York end
of our quad that was enough to make a man drink. The men working
together on a wire like this should always be harmonious, because the
business is so heavy there is no time for any war of words. However,
operators are like all other men, and scraps are not uncommon. Generally
they take place at long range, and no one is hurt thereby. Some men have
an unhappy faculty of incurring the hatred of every person over a wire,
while personally they may be princes of good fellows.
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