AldermanOakley, J.P.—“The Watch Committee reports show that betting is much on the increase. It is even affecting school children.”AldermanDillinghan.—“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.”
AldermanOakley, J.P.—“The Watch Committee reports show that betting is much on the increase. It is even affecting school children.”
AldermanDillinghan.—“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 SirJ. Renals.—“Street betting has become an intolerable nuisance in the city.”
Lord Chief-Justice(LordAlverstone).—“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 riseup 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.”
LordCharles 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.”
SirGeorge 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 SirH. 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.”
AdmiralSwinton 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. JusticeRidley.—“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. JusticeBucknill.—“This betting curse, which is being carried on in a shocking manner, has got to beput 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. SirHenry 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 lateG. 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!”
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 Souchsays:—“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; thenevery 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, butthere 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.”
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 theSportsman, theSporting Life, and theSporting 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 theSportsman, theSporting Life, and theSporting Chroniclewere 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 thatthe 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 theTruthnewspaper, 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 fromTruth, February 11, 1904, will serve to emphasise the accuracy of Lord Durham’s observations:—
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 theMidland 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 theMidland 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 detailthe artful dodges that he practises, but one ramp that he carried out last October is worthy of notice. Besides theMidland Referee, Beston publishes theWinning Guideand 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 theSecret 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 theSecret Specialnamed 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 theSecret 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 thePeerless 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 thePeerless Specialhe 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 theTurf Pioneer, besides supplying “guarantee wires” and “invincible daily telegrams.” One number of theTurf Pioneernamed 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.—Representthemselves 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 inTruththe 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.
E. W. Beston, Birmingham.—During the flat-racing season, which is also the principal flat-catching season, this individual issues a weekly paper called theMidland 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 theMidland 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 detailthe artful dodges that he practises, but one ramp that he carried out last October is worthy of notice. Besides theMidland Referee, Beston publishes theWinning Guideand 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 theSecret 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 theSecret Specialnamed 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 theSecret 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 thePeerless 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 thePeerless Specialhe 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 theTurf Pioneer, besides supplying “guarantee wires” and “invincible daily telegrams.” One number of theTurf Pioneernamed 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.—Representthemselves 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 inTruththe 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 arecircularising 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.
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 dailypapers 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.
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 dailypapers 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 inTruth:—
Dormice and Co., Middelburg, Holland.—The alias of D. Mackenzie, proprietor ofSporting 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.
Dormice and Co., Middelburg, Holland.—The alias of D. Mackenzie, proprietor ofSporting 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.
TOTALS—October 3 to October 8, 1904.
Note.—In the above sporting tips twelve horses werenon-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 theDaily News, and cover the flat-racing season from March 23 to November 28, 1903:—
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).
There are many examples of the inaccuracy of sporting tips in the evidence of the Select Committee on Betting. The best are given below:—