



Produced by Roger Frank, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.

                                   BY
                           CLARENCE L. CULLEN

                               AUTHOR OF
                        "Tales OF THE EX-TANKS."

                        G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
                               PUBLISHERS
                                NEW YORK

                    _Copyright, 1898-1899-1900, By_
              THE SUN PRINTING AND PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION.

                         _Copyright, 1900, By_
                       G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY.

                                  ----




CONTENTS


    INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
    THIS WIRETAPPER WAS COLOR-BLIND.
    "WHOOPING" A RACE-HORSE UNDER THE WIRE.
    JUST LIKE FINDING MONEY.
    THIS SON OF FONSO WAS OF NO ACCOUNT.
    HARD-LUCK WAIL OF AN OLD-TIME TRAINER.
    STORY OF AN "ALMOST" COMBINATION.
    "RED" DONNELLY'S STREAK OF LUCK.
    AND "RED BEAK JIM" TOOK THE TIP.
    THE GAME OF RUNNING "RINGERS."
    EXPERIENCES OF A VERDANT BOOKMAKER.
    THE MAN WHO KNEW ALL ABOUT TOUTS.
    A "COPPER-LINED CINCH" THAT DID GO THROUGH.
    HE "COPPERED" HIS WIFE'S "HUNCHES."
    A RACE HORSE THAT PAID A CHURCH DEBT.
    A SEEDY SPORT'S STRING OF HORSES.
    THIS TELEGRAM WAS SIGNED JUST "BUB."
    STORY OF A FAMOUS PAT HAND.
    GREAT LUCK AT AN INOPPORTUNE TIME.
    CARD-PLAYING ON OCEAN STEAMERS.
    THIS DOG KNEW THE GAME OF POKER.
    WIND-UP OF A TRAIN GAME OF POKER.
    QUEER PACIFIC COAST POKER.
    THE PROPER TIME TO GET "COLD FEET."
    CATO WAS JUST BOUND TO PLAY POKER.
    FINISH OF AN EDUCATED RED MAN.
    THE UNCERTAIN GAME OF STUD POKER.
    THIS MAN WON TOO OFTEN.
    THE NERVE OF GAMBLERS AT CRITICAL MOMENTS.
    THE INSIDIOUS GAME OF SQUEEZE-SPINDLE.

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INTRODUCTORY NOTE.


To the man who, at any period of his days, has been bitten by that
ferocious and fever-producing insect colloquially known as the "horse
bug," and likewise to the man whose nervous system has been racked by
the depredations of the "poker microbe," these tales of the turf and of
the green cloth are sympathetically dedicated. The thoroughbred running
horse is a peculiar animal. While he is often beaten, the very wisest
veterans of the turf have a favorite maxim to the effect that "The
ponies can't be beat"--meaning the thoroughbred racers; which sounds
paradoxical enough. Poker, too, is a mystifying affair, in that all men
who play it appear, from their own statements, to lose at it
persistently and perennially. There is surely something weird and
uncanny about a game that numbers only losers among its devotees.
However, poker-players are addicted to persiflage. The genuine,
dyed-in-the-wool, blown-in-the-bottle pokerist rarely acknowledges that
he is ahead of the game--until the day after.

These stories, which were originally printed in the columns of the New
York _Sun_, belong largely to the eminent domain of strict truthfulness.
If they do not serve to show that the "horse bug" and the "poker
microbe" are good things to steer clear of, they will by no means have
failed of their purpose; for the writer had nothing didactic in view in
setting them down as he heard them.

                                                _Clarence Louis Cullen_.

_New York_, _Sept. 1, 1900._




THIS WIRETAPPER WAS COLOR-BLIND.


    _And His Visual Infirmity Cost Him $15,000 and His Reputation._

"I went down to New Orleans a couple of months ago to get a young fellow
who was pretty badly wanted in my town for a two-months' campaign of
highly successful check-kiting last summer," said a Pittsburg detective
who dropped into New York on a hunt last week. "I got him all right, and
he's now doing his three years. I found him to be a pretty decent sort
of a young geezer, although a born crook. I don't remember ever having
had such an entertaining traveling mate as he was on the trip up from
New Orleans. Before we started I asked him if he was going to be good or
if it would be necessary for me to put the bracelets on