n this place was a scaly sort of a cuss--in
fact, it was said that he had done time in the past for some
skullduggery--and when the horses went to the post, he stood by the
switchboard and deliberately cut the pool room wire, so the report
didn't go through. He copied the report himself, knew what horse had
won, and then sent a message to a henchman of his, who was an operator
and had an instrument secreted in his room near the pool room. This chap
went quickly into the pool room and made wagers right and left. A rank
outsider, a twenty to one shot, won the race, and after the confederate
had signified that he was ready, the chief sent the report through as if
it had come from the track. The whole transaction didn't take over two
minutes and the "bookies" were hit for about $30,000, which Mr. Chief
and his side pardner divided between them.

A little while later the suspicions of the bookmakers became aroused,
complaints were made, an investigation followed, and one fine day when
matters were becoming pretty warm, the recalcitrant chief disappeared.
His confederate confessed to the whole scheme and the jig was up. The
chief was afterwards apprehended and sent up for seven years, but he
held on to his boodle.

For the first month of my stay in St. Louis, my life was as uneventful
as a May day, but at the end of that time a man came on the New York end
of our quad that was enough to make a man drink. The men working
together on a wire like this should always be harmonious, because the
business is so heavy there is no time for any war of words. However,
operators are like all other men, and scraps are not uncommon. Generally
they take place at long range, and no one is hurt thereby. Some men have
an unhappy faculty of incurring the hatred of every person over a wire,
while personally they may be princes of good fellows. The man referred
to above, signed "SY," and he had about as much judgment as a two year
old kid. It didn't make any difference to him whether the weather was
clear or muggy, no matter whether the wire was weak or strong, he'd
pound along like a cyclone. Remonstrance availed nothing, and one night
when he was cutting up some of his monkeyshines, I became very warm
under the collar and told him in language more expressive than elegant,
just what I thought of him, threatening to have our wire chief have him
fired off the wire. He answered:

"Oh! you go to blazes, you big ham. You're too fresh anyway."

The