RESURRECTION OF THE GUESSER

NZ Truth, Issue 416, 14 June 1913, Page 6

RESURRECTION OF THE GUESSER

"Clean Sport" has an Experience What are the Police Doing? Thus '''Clean Sport" (Cliristt church) :— The passing of the Gaming Act, and the subsequent abolij tion of the bookmaker, gave every promise of proving one of the greatest boons ever conferred on the sporting public, as the large army of "guessers," "tick-tackers," and other social pests were, obliged to get work. I would like to warn the unwary L sports who attend "race meetings that THE GENUS GUES&ER ds far from extinct, myself and a friend: having encountered one of the "tribe" at a recent race meeting. The modus operandi of these nefarious gentry, as. far as I can learn, is nearly the same m every case of victimisation. Shortly after the first race, a welldressed and affable persona-go fastened on to ns with the tenacity of a debt collector. He informed' us that he had a "moral" for every race, and was m possession of some very valuable inside information; m. fact, he was . putting money on for some of the "heads," and that the best thing we could do would, be ;to put out modest investments along with the stable money. See! Being only poor, frail mortals, with a desire to "get rich quick," we could not resist . THE PERSUASIVE ELOQUENCE of our newly-found turf adviser. Investment No. 1 gave Bell, (that was his name) £2 apiece to put on Slowcoach, along with the s table-money. Result: Left at the post, caught the tapes m his mouth.. Bell was quite upset over it. Investment No. 2 got jammed bn the rails and couldn't get through. Investment No. 3 started off on the wrong leg and his

I jockey was frightened to bustle the horse, as he might cross his legs : and fall. Of course, Bell understood ; these things; we didn't. Bell cursed i and swore like a bullock driver over : the hard luck we had. j Bell 'gave us a breather over the ; fourth race, although he told us ho ; was looking for us every ijvhore. Myself and friend had talked things over m the meantime, and came • to the conclusion that a very strong odor of "dead whale" was making itself manifest m connection With Bell's racing information. By the time the last race came around, Bell had evidently made up his mind to make a- final assault on our pocket-books, and, rushing up breathless with excitement, he told us that we would get all our money back, as the last race was a "ready," and all he wanted was £10 to jsquare the only remaining jockey who was hot m the "joke.". My friend then asked Bell quite innocently what sort of a man was Chief Detective Bishop m., appearance; Bell never waited to explain, HE DISAPPEARED IMMEDIATELY. There is no doubt that we were a pair of absolute "mugs," and cannot expect any sympathy, but/at the same time, 1 contend that a fjreat deal of responsibility rests upon the shoulders of the police and,- racecourse detectives for allowing individuals of Hell's description to gain access to the various enclosures for the express purpose o f victimising unsophisticated sports.