MODERN BETTING ILLUSTRATED, ETC. 199 



that " Mr. Blank " ( "the famous plunger" of the 

 period) " had another series of fortune-yielding 

 innings yesterday, having landed over sixteen 

 hundred pounds on the day's racing." 



Such good fortune is, however, phenomenal 

 and seldom lasts long ; besides, no one takes 

 the trouble to chronicle the many bad days 

 which Mr. Blank is fated to encounter, the 

 outcome of which leads, as a matter of course, to 

 the usual finale. Beginning on the plan of 

 dealing for ready money dealings only, the 

 plunger ultimately does a large business on the 

 usual credit terms of settlement every Monday, 

 and in the course of a few months the racing 

 public learn that the great man has come to 

 grief, and is offering a composition of five 

 shillings in the pound, in order to lighten his 

 liabilities. So it is in time with all who tread 

 the same path, even with those of them who 

 come from the other side of the Atlantic to break 

 the English betting ring, and who for a season 

 look as if they would prove successful. 



Many schemes are resorted to by the bigger 

 class of betting men to obtain information. 

 Jockeys are pumped, trainers are interviewed, 

 stablemen are bribed with the view of enabling 

 the plunger to land a big bet or two at every 

 meeting. There are men, of course, who would 

 scorn to take a vulgar money bribe, but who 

 do not scruple to receive a case or two of cham- 

 pagne, or a ten-gallon cask of whisky, nor are 

 they very angry when some energetic person 

 sends their wife a diamond ring or their daughter 

 a gold watch. Upon one occasion while visiting 

 a training establishment, the writer was struck 



