THE VULTURES OF THE TURF.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 528, 7 January 1882, Page 2

THE VULTURES OF THE TURF.

Never did the ready-money bookmaker, so-called, flourish more extensively, and never were his surroundings —ialways bad —so repulsive as at the present time. The ex-pugilist, the thief of every degree, the very scum of ths populace, are drawn to our racecourses by the ready money betting, on which they thrive, and which they find an easy mode of getting a good living without doing hard work. The start in life as a ticket-snatcher—for so the stealer of betting-tickets is now known—leads on, until he bets upon his own account as a welsher, and, by a lucky coup, he is enabled to make a show of payment, when he becomes the ready-money bookmaker, and a made man. It is a well known fact that one of the most prominent of these gentry, who now bets to hundreds of pounds, was, until a comparatively recent date, in the habit of holding levees of ticket-snatchers of an evening aftjer the day’s racing, to receive the winning tickets that had been stolen, making the thieves an allowance out of th'j: plunder. It was no unusual thing at to see a dozen or more oflthese fellows waiting at the door of thliir employer to negotiate for the tickets that had been stolen during the day. Profitable in those times, the business receiving no check, it has now grown to enormous proportions, and the ready-money man apes respectability, and generally has a carriage and a pair of horses to convey him to and from the racecourse.— World.