INVISIBLE INK

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 141, 16 May 1936, Page 6

INVISIBLE INK

RUSE AT AUCKLAND. BOOKMAKERS’ STORY. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, May 15. Many ingenious ruses have been perpetrated on bookmakers in the past but the latest is umisual, inasmuch as it introduces the use of invisible ink. The method was to write the name of a horse to be bucked in a race not yet run and on the blank space above to write in invisible ink the names of horses which had won races already run. By the next day the invisible' ink had “come tip,” so that it was as black as the ordinary ink lower down. It was Thursday of last week, the opening day of the Egmont 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 p.in., and Le Grand was a runner in the Tawhiti Handicap, the concluding event. At the time the backer entered the' office three races had been decided.

There was nothing in the trnnsactioi to raise suspicion, but let the bookmaker now tell the story.

“I get hundreds of slips on a race day and I put them all into a tin,” he said. “The following morning the backer came in to collect. Tie collected £34 from my clerk instead of, as I later found out. He had some other l>ets and was entitled to £B. That morning my clerk informed me that lie had made a terrible mistake, and had 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 ■« isible. 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,” lie 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 in during the afternoon after three races had been decided and handed me a slip on which were the words ‘2os Orac.’ About 4 p.m., nor being very busy, 1 started to go through mV betting slips. I was jltst going to fire this one back in the tin when I saw something that startled me. For a moment I could hardly believe my own eves. Immediaeiy above the words Orac’ and the man’s betting name I could see the ink coming up. My wife and I watched the slip tor two* limits and by 6 p.m. the words ‘2os Contact, all up Flammarion funds,’ were quite clear. That night we went to the pictures and left the betting slip on the table. When we returned home the writing on the top of the slip was j list as black as the words ‘2os Orac’ which were on the slip when it was handed to me.