INVISIBLE INK RUSE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 13

INVISIBLE INK RUSE

Ingenious “Racket” Tried On Bookmakers | AUCKLAND VICTIMS By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Muy 15. Mtiuy ingenious ruses have been perpetrated on bookmakers in Hie past but tlie latest is unusual, inasmuch as it introduces the use of invisible ink. The method was to write the name of a horse to be backed in a race liot yet run ami on the blank space above to write in invisible ink the names of horses which had won races already run. By the next day Hie invisible ink had “come up,” so that it was as black as the ordinary ink lower down. It was Thursday of last week, the opening day of the Eginont winter meeting, when a backer walked into the office of a bookmaker and presented a slip of paper on which was written “£2 Le Grand.” The time was about 3 pan., and Le Grand was a runner in the Tawhitl Handicap, the concluding event. At the time Hie backer entered the office three races bad been decided. There was nothing in the transaction to raise suspicion, but let Hie bookmaker now tell tlie story. “I get hundreds o_f slips on a race day and I put them all into a tin,” he said. “The following morning the banker came in to collect. He collected £34 from my clerk instead of, as I later found out, £B. He had some other bets and was entitled to £B. That morning my clerk informed me flint he had made a terrible mistake and bad paid out £34 instead of £.B. About this time I received a ring from another bookmaker, who told me that a similar trick had been played on him. This man actually discovered the ink becoming visible. He saw it appearing on the slip in front of him.” A visit was paid to the other bookmaker. “Yes, I know quite a bit about invisible ink,” he said with a smile. "The man, whom I do not know, made a number of wagers with me on Thursday. Two of them were genuine and the other three were ‘crook.’ Altogether he put £5 on with me. He came tn during the afternoon after three races bad been decided and banded me a slip on which were the words ‘2O/Orac.’ About 4 p.m., not being very busy, I started to go .hrough my betting slips. I was just going to lire this one back in Hie tin when I saw somethink that startled me. For a moment I could hardly believe my own eyes. Immediately above the words ‘2O/Orac’ and the man’s betting name I could see the ink coming lift, My wife and I watched the slip for two hours and by 6 pan. the words ‘2O/- Contact, all up Flammarion funds,’ were quite clear. That night we went to Hie pictures ami left the betting slip on the table. When wo returned home the writing on the toil of the slip was just as black as the words ‘2O/- Orac’ which were on the slip when it was handed to me.”