TURF SENSATIONS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3145, 27 November 1922, Page 8

TURF SENSATIONS.

jU_ (Sydney Sun Home Correspondent.) ien Just imagine in between drinks on our courses; a murder or two; a punter , s t forced to disgorge his ill-gotten gains n g at the point of the revolver; a book--j) maker actually compelled to forfeit jj 0 portion of hisi well-merited earnings, l(j_ without hope of recompense; a, beastly i cc gang of blackguards' armed with reIs t volvers, razors, hammers, and other nk g«ntle "persuaders," carrying; out their be- persuasive business almost under the onj eyes of the mighty minions of law and order. Imagine bookmakers doing their deer Jightful and remunerativei business tig; guarded by a gang of strong men and lis reformed! toughs, recruited from the ew ranks of the; Bookmakers and Backers' ch .Racecourse Protection Association, of Imagine depositing your modest halfell a-erown each way under the glaring at and suspicious eyes of a professional body-protector. These things have hapay pened on English racecourses, "d Ugh! The mental' picture is almost all enough to make one forsake for ever is the glamor of the turf, and take up a of* safer, if less exciting, pastime Jake cro■aJ chet or ludo. No wonder strong men ed have taken to knitting jumpers and °d growing roses. . f r However, it should be mentioned, n ■ X P case imagination ohases the mental picture into blood-curdling scenes of mor!S tal combat and mob rule, that the "'- meetings in England resemble in no--01 wise the wicked scenes of the Wold |° and Woolly West, which the stimula- "* tive cinema, has created. Steve Dono- - 1" ghue and Frank Bullock do not go to j._ the post armed cap-a-pie, nor does • X I Carslake bestride his steed with a ie weighty life-preserver sticking out of n his left-hand pocket. Nt ou - can g0 to a race meeting for , w years m England without seeing a _ corpse, a revolver, or even a raizor; st but you will be unlucky, jjj At the present there are: -four gangs of desperadoes flourishing ?m |t i; London,, who glean a very lucrative ts harvest from the courses nearer the rv metropolis. There are other gangs n ,d the provinces, notably the "hammer" 0 _ sa"S- ln Birmingham; but it is the as London Sangs whose operations, intenis sihed during the past two years, have y. been Prominently before the public. e. Their methods are similar. Intimidatum is the main spring. They mark ]s out their prey, perhaps a, bookmaker or a Lucky punter. They sidle up to lt their victim. "Give us a tenner." thev 0 . demand. If the bookmaker is unat- "- t\i\ x WISC ' ho ni]l <liagorge. rt ol tile gang are in the lieighbor)C Jiood, and a refusal would mean that the moeny would be taken by force. r) _ 1 unters are not always approached on , v the course, but once marked down they , n are rarely allowed to escape. 'l'he attack is usually made the same £0 night, very often in an. hotel. Half a, «! dozen members of ithe gang approach )s their victim. There is no attempt at subterfuge or concealment, no terror of "" the consequences. They simply demand '■' the nionoy, and if it is' not forthcoming, , they shoot, hit with the hammer, or . -slash with the razor, just as their pretty fancy'takes them. , Perhaps the most striking thing v about the. gangs is their utter indifference to consequence, and their cool defiance of the police. [ r Jlecently, at Paddington Station they attacked several persons on the Bath y race-tram; at Brighton a member of '! the Bookmakers' Protection Society was " across the face, the wounds ne- ° cessitating 14 stitches. The Tottenham affair last month, 0 .when 12 members of the gang attacked two of another, ended in six arrests. e But before the police arrived shots were fired and revolvers, life preservers and 11 hammers were used in the melee; and ® a curious weapon shaped like a waiting sticlc, but which was in reality a- revolver and stiletto combined, was discovered in the roadway. One of the r men attacked, stated that he was a, vieY tim of a, previous razor attack by a race 1 gang, and as a result had to have 62 ■ stitches in his leg. "Regular carved *>' up I was," he told the amazed Magistrate.. Members of the rival gangs also bad * a discussion in a hotel iii Cray's Inn road. It was a rather lucid little j* drama. "One gang was in the hotel," said a witness describing the affair. "When the other entered, they drew their reb volvers and steadily retreated into a. j 1 corner near the bar. Suddenly the new arrivals whipped out their revolvers and r both sides commenced tiring." The wit- ' ness' narrative is a bit fragmentary after that, as he told the Magistrate that he lost no time "in doing a get." But, apparently a regular revolver duel | ensude. Unfortunately their aim was like their morals, bad and shaky, and though several were wounded, the majority escaped. According to the Daily Mail members of the Jockey Club are taking, a very serious view of the continued and increasing activities of the racecourse pests, and a prominent member of the club told the Daily Mail that the Jockey Club would not hesitate, for one moment to shut down racing for a period, provided no other methods were successful. The gangs pay particular attention to the race trains, and the position recently became so dangerous that all who 1 could' afford to do so travelled by road. The Bookmakers and Backers' Protection Association was formed about--12 months ago. according to the secretary, from "men who were acquainted with the blackmailers, ruffians, and bad characters who frequented the racecourses." Unfortunately the. "protectors" are not all as pure as the lily, and some of them, under threat of withdrawing their protection 1 , are said to do a little bit of "blackmailing on their own." The formation of the association followed hard on the heels of fatal attacks at Sandown, and later at Salisbury, last year. Not a great deal has been heard of the racecourse activities of the gangs lately. Whether it is because half of them are in prison awaiting trial, while many others are nursing revolver and razor wounds, is not known. It may be because the police activities have been "gingered" up. It may also be that fear of further molestation keeps most of the victims silent. Of course, people will ask how can such terrible events happen in lawabiding old England. What about the police. But, after all, you can't blame the "bobbies." They are not armed, and a truncheon is a pretty miserable weapon of offence or defence against the weapons in the gangs' armory. Perhaps when bookmakers are all registered, police armed, and racecourse gangs controlled, racing in England will more closely resemble the comparatively quiet and well-behaved Australian meetings. But that would mean more orderly crowds, people kept off the course between races, eheapjacks and professional tipsters not admitted. No. the picture is depressing. We will end up being too respectable. Let us have our tun. but without corpses or thugs.