206 TALES OF THE TURK. 



passed and taken for admission during a rush. Many a 

 five-dollar losing French-pool ticket does duty for its 

 buyer at the gate during a rush. The only safe-guard 

 for making this swindling a minimum item is to employ 

 intelligent men, and with intelligence that quality more 

 essential and possibly more rare, honesty. The entire 

 ticket and pass system of any organization is a source of 

 vexation and susceptible of great improvement. So here 

 is a chance for some genius to immortalize himself by 

 making it perfect. 



Track Hobbies. 



It is admitted that every man, and especially every 

 horseman, has a hobby — they drive their horses, but ride 

 their hobbies — some insist that this particular color or 

 that particular form is essential to a good horse, while 

 there are thousands who hold exactly opposite opinions. 

 Splan's hobby is to let some one else be second ; my hobby 

 is a kite-shaped track. I'll give an instance of Splan's 

 hobby first, then have a say about the merits of mine. 



I rather infer, from what I hear, that it was to "do" 

 the childlike Jack Feek with his good mare Kitefoot, and . 

 secure first, second and third moneys for the trinity, 

 Hickok-Splan-Crawford, with Arab, J. Q. and Charlie 

 Hilton, that the combination was originally conceived and 

 formed, and they had honest "Jack-in-the-box" that was 

 tight and hot, sure enough. It was conceded that Arab 

 could win all the races on his merits, but Splan quietly 

 "sized him up" and at Rochester (August 21, 1887) con- 

 cluded that J. Q. was "about due." Keeping his own 

 counsel, he simply laid the poison around convenient for 

 the nibbling of all the pool-box rats, including his part- 

 ners in the tripartite alliance. Hickok won the first heat 



