2 04 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



against credit and in favour of ready money 

 are so obvious and so strong as not to require 

 voluminous illustration. It is quite certain that 

 if a man were required to table his five, ten, or 

 twenty sovereigns every time he made a bet, 

 betting would speedily diminish, and far less 

 would then be heard of "turf iniquities" and 

 crimes of the turf. When, for instance, a man 

 has betted for a week at Epsom, Ascot, or 

 Newmarket, and fortune has gone against him, 

 he will stick at nothing in order to be able to 

 settle his account, as he may have interests at 

 stake which demand imperatively that Monday 

 shall see his account in process of liquidation. 

 A man would not perhaps deliberately forge or 

 steal to obtain a sum with which to make a 

 ready money bet, but there are circumstances 

 in which he would do so in order to settle his 

 account when he has been betting on what is 

 called "the nod" (credit). 



The following is a case in point. A few 

 years ago a man lost a heavy sum. He knew 

 well that on the following Monday he miLst 

 pay or a fine bet he had of ^5,000 to ^50 

 would be at once scratched ; the horse backed 

 having in the interval become a great favourite 

 for the race. In such case to settle was im- 

 perative, and a settlement was accomplished ; 

 how the sum necessary to pay what was due 

 was obtained was never made public, but it 

 became known to several persons that a robbery 

 of jewels, of a suspicious kind, took place at 

 that gentleman's residence on the Saturday 

 night following the decision of the race. A 



