Each of the Big Three had a spy system. We had a full-time spy, and when he would go to Ford he would rent an Olds so they would think GM was spying on them. We built a U-shaped wall adjacent to our building so nobody could see in. It was made of telephone poles. We called it The Fort. But there was a house in Highland Park with a third story on it, and we found out that GM was renting that house. Another incident: I was working on a concept car, full-size, and they decided not to do it, and I threw the drawing in the trash. I got a call later from a friend at Ford who said "Bill, we've got your drawing here." They were buying our trash.

The scheme of tapping race wires and returning a false winner is not by any means the most up-to-date method of affecting the poolrooms. In fact, it is regarded nowadays as crude, risky and uncertain. There are other methods more elaborate, but less dangerous, by which, it is said, eight or ten men have cleared between $75,000 and $100,000 a year out of the poolrooms for the past few years. It is a game upon which even the law would find difficulty in laying its hands.

At this season of the year certain men meet in New York, the leader of whom is known as Big Al, to formulate plans for the season. A week later these men will have scattered over the country, North and South. They begin by spotting poolrooms and “clocking” them to ascertain the exact time between the start of a race and the cessation of betting. They also take note of the windows of the poolrooms, and the availability of securing rooms on the opposite side of the street.

An important essential to the plan is the establishment of a central telephone office. This central office is connected with a telephone overlooking the racetrack, from where a view of the finish can be obtained. Now suppose that the conspirators have planned to fleece half a dozen poolrooms in New York on a certain race. Each one of these poolrooms has a window opening on the street, on the opposite side of which Big Al's contingent has hired a flat or a room or a real estate office, or whatever they may choose to call it. These rooms or offices are fitted with telephones.

On the race programme each horse is given a certain number. Previous to the race to be beaten Long Jack, who next to Big Al is the most prominent in the gang, takes up a position in the infield from which he can command a clear view of the race. At a window of the house outside the track where the telephone is worked stands one of the men with a powerful field glass watching Long Jack. Another man sits at the telephone connecting with the central office.

At the central office are two telephone men, one at the race track wire and the other at the wires connecting with perhaps three “real estate" offices opposite the poolrooms to be fleeced.

In the real estate offices men are at the phones and also at the windows. In the poolroom about the time the race is to be run a harmless looking young man takes his stand near the window, where he can be seen from the street. Thus the entire gang is set up and ready for business.

The horses get away from the post. Long Jack never moves his eyes from them, and the man outside the ground never takes his eyes from Long Jack. Half a furlong from the finish Long Jack, with his wonderful gift of race reading, knows just how the race is going to finish. He looks over at the telephone house and raises his left hand with his glasses high in the air. The man at the window without losing an instant, says, "Left hand up.” “Left hand up” runs along the wire from the track to the gang’s central office. “Left hand up” races along the wires to the real estate offices.

There the operators call out the signal to the man on watch, who raises his left hand in the air. The man at the poolroom window rushes over to the poolroom man and bets all that he can get down on the horse which by this time has won. Only an instant is required to make the bet. A few seconds later by the telegraph route comes the customary “They’re off!” followed by the usual calling of the race to the finish.

Labels: Entertainment

¶ 3:37 PM