LONG ODDS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3249, 30 November 1881, Page 5

LONG ODDS.

An incident occurred at the last York races which should act as a warning to those who are ever ready to accept the long odds offered by a certain class of " professional sportsmen" to be found at all our race meetings. It appears that a body of these bookmakers resolved upon a coup d'etat, and carried ifc out in a style which will long be remembered. They laid long odds, received the half-sovereigns and half-crowns of a large body of people, but when the time for settling arrived, each possessed himself of a heavy cudgel from a sackful brought ready for the purpose by a confederate, and then they all marched off the racecourse together in something like military formation, and paying not the slightest heed to the threats and appeals of those with whom they had made bets, and to whom, of course, they were under heavy pecuniary obligations. Outsiders laughed as they saw the welshers march away, followed by an excited crowd, and were not surprised at hearing that the latter were kept in awe by the determined attitude of the swindlers, and the sight of the weapons with which they had armed themselves.