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copyright by Cornell University
Library 1994.Race Track Infamy;
OR,
Do Gamblers Own New York
State ?
By
ANTHONY COMSTOCK
A Scathing Exposure of How the Constitution
of New York State is Flagrantly
Violated by Common Gamblers
1904
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR
140-142 Nassau Street
New York
1)Copyright, 1904,
By Anthony Comstock
THEEDDYPRRSS
N LV YO ILKPREFACE
This little book sets before the public plain and ungarnished
facts. It tears away the mask, and reveals the utter disregard of
officials and legislators to their official oath, which requires them
to support the Constitution of the State of New York.
First, it emphasizes the apathy and indifference of good
people and of the religious press to a monstrous evil in our midst,
while at the same time it shows the selfish one-sidedness of the
secular press. It gives a brief outline of wholesome legislation,
supported by decisions of the higher courts, in the interest of
public morals and good order. It shows the demoralized condi-
tions of the community when The New York Society for the Sup-
pression of Vice first assailed the curse of bookmaking and pool
gambling, and the results for good achieved by that Society.
It presents the laxity of the courts, in failing to impose restrictive
penalties upon convicted common gamblers, and the monkeying
with legislation in their behalf. It gives facts concerning the
enactment of and the outrages under the “Ives Pool Bill,” and the
Saxton Pool Law, legalizing gambling upon race tracks and at
county fairs.
This was followed by amendments to the Constitution, ab-
solutely prohibiting all gambling of every sort in the State.
Then comes the climax, when the legislature of 1895 legal-
ized the violation of the Constitution, and repealed or sus-
pended existing laws in the interest of common gamblers, per-
mitting them to flagrantly violate the Constitution of the State
without any criminal penalty therefor.
The exposure of the “Percy-Gray” bills, passed in 1895, is
sufficient to command the attention and arouse the indignation of
every law abiding citizen. The outrage is so brazen, so infamous,
that every man who cast his vote to allow common gamblers upon
every race track in the State to trample under foot the Constitu-
tion, should be branded with shame and disgrace.
Read this book carefully through, and then say whether the
Governor of this State, or the legislature can allow these out-
rages against the Constitution and higher interests of the State
to continue to exist, under their oaths, to preserve unsullied the
Constitution of the State.	The Author.
3THE CONSTITUTION OF NEW
YORK STATE FLAGRANTLY
VIOLATED BY COMMON
GAMBLERS
The above statement is alarmingly true.
An organized band of common gamblers are constantly and
flagrantly violating both the spirit and letter of the Constitution
of the State of New York.
AND THERE IS NO REMEDY UNDER EXISTING LAWS
The public conscience is asleep. Public sentiment is dead.
Greed for gain runs rampant. Religious papers are as dumb and
silent as oysters. Secular papers are emphatic and loud spoken
against other forms of gambling existing outside of the race
tracks throughout the State; but upon race courses where the
worst forms of pernicious and seductive gambling exists in viola-
tion of the express provisions of the Constitution to the contrary,
the vast majority of the secular papers of the State of New York
not only enters no protest on behalf of the Constitution, but lend
their tacit consent and approval in contravention of public mor-
als ; and for pay, constantly advertises the evil.
Pulpit guns, in the main, are spiked by the indifference of
professing Christian men. It is extremely unpopular to attack
this form of race track immorality and dishonesty. Judges who
administer our laws, often by their personal presence upon the
race tracks, countenance these outrages upon the Constitution.
In some instances in the past, those who are appointed to positions
of high trust and importance have been known to place their bets
with race track gamblers in the hope of winning from the gam-
bling fraternity.
WOMEN GAMBLE
Women in fashionable attire frequent the race tracks in order
to bet with common gamblers. It is no uncommon sight to see
the gambler or his tout obsequiously waiting beside the carriage
5of society women, to accommodate this spirit to gamble—this
getting of another’s money without rendering any fair equivalent
for it.
PUBLIC OFFICIALS SUBSERVIENT
Public officials, including the Chief Executive of the State,
members of the legislature, police commissioners, judges, pros-
ecuting attorneys, peace officers, sheriffs, marshals, mayors of
cities, know of this trampling under foot of the Constitution by
an organized gang of professional gamblers. They do not sim-
ply wink at the offense, but allow it to exist and thrive in utter
disregard of the best interests of society, while it increases in
boldness and destructiveness. Industrious Habits, Common Hon-
esty, Fair Dealing and Public Morals are fast being undermined.
The greed for gain rules the day regardless of individual
rights. The spirit of honesty and fair dealing between individ-
uals is giving way to robbery by trick and device.
We are fast drifting, with criminal indifference, into the
vortex of vice. This State is harboring a gang of disorderly
persons and common gamblers, who are constantly augment-
ing in numbers, power, influence and strength; and who, unless
soon checked, will eventually overthrow every safeguard to so-
ciety.
By money dishonestly obtained, the gambling fraternity
seem to own or control some of our courts and public officials.
They are able to elect men to the legislature to do their bidding.
Every attempt, since 1895, to effect a change in any Section of
Chapter IX of the Penal Code, which relates to gambling (which
embodies Sections 343 to 351, inclusive), so as to enforce the pro-
visions of the Constitution, has met with stubborn resistance.
Every attempt to amend any Section of the Code relating to gam-
bling, is zealously watched to prevent any clause being added
that in any manner would effect this most iniquitous business.
IT ENTERS POLITICS
As a political question, and from a standpoint of party poli-
tics by either party, this subject must not be ventilated.
All efforts to enact laws to enforce the Constitution have
been and must be quietly smothered by persons sworn to pre-
serve the Constitution, whose highest duty it is to protect Public
Morals and Preserve the Public Peace.
6Odium and ridicule are hurled at any effort looking to the
enforcement of the Constitution prohibiting gambling upon the
race courses in the State of New York.
THE HIGHER INTERESTS JEOPARDIZED.
We are growing up a class of men and women (for women
have their poolrooms, bucket shops, gambling parlors and speak-
easy's) who are a menace to peace, good order and morals. Many
wealthy men, who, because of their money, lay claim to social
preference, are secretly backing these race track gamblers and
touts for what they can make out of this unlawful business;
using the spurious plea of “improving the breed of horses" as
an apology for their connection with this highly disreputable
business.
WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THESE OUTRAGES
Primarily the majority of the legislature of 1895, and the
then Governor of the Empire State, who permitted the present
nondescript laws to be enacted, so that, illogical as it may sound,
professional and common gamblers may legally violate the Con-
stitution of the State, without any risk of punishment therefor.
Notwithstanding the will of the majority of the people of
the State of New York, as expressed at the election in 1894 (when
Governor Morton and many members of the legislature of 1895
were elected), in the adoption of amendments to the Constitution,
“prohibiting all forms of gambling;” and in defiance of the sol-
emn duty imposed by the Constitution and by their official oaths,
the majority of that legislature voted for and enacted a law
making it a felony for any person, within the State of New York,
to carry on the business of book-making, pool-selling, recording
and registering of bets and wagers, or receiving money bet or
wagered upon any horse race, human race, or “event in the
future uncertain," outside of any board fence enclosure about a
race track; and at the same time, it enacted laws to prohibit any
criminal penalty from being enforced upon any resident or non-
resident professional gambler or tout, who commits any or all of
these felonious acts upon a race track.
For instance, if a tax payer and resident of the State of New
York stands upon his own property, adjoining a race track, with
his back against the outside of an inch board fence enclosing said
7track, and duplicates the transactions and words of the non-resi-
dent professional gambler and common thief, who is book-making,
pool-selling and gambling with his back against the inside of the
same board, he is a Felon, and liable to two years' imprisonment
and a fine of $1,000; while the non-resident common gambler
upon the inside of the same board fence, incurs no risk; except,
that the man who bets with him may by Civil Suit, recover his
money back, provided the bettor can secure a judgment against
the outlaw and the judgment can be collected.
No grand jury may indict; no district attorney prosecute; no
citizen appear before a committing magistrate and cause a crim-
inal proceeding to be instituted. No criminal process can be
employed to abate this nuisance or enforce the provisions of the
Constitution.
So impressed was the Governor at that time with the wisdom
(?) of such vicious and discriminating legislation in the interests
of professional gamblers, that he denied a hearing to the friends
of public morals who opposed this iniquitous measure, reversed
the policy of his proclamation and signed disgraceful bills, in utter
contempt of the Constitution.
WHOLESOME GAMBLING LAWS
It will be of especial interest at this point to consider the
character of the laws existing prior to and at that time, and what
had been done under them prior to the amendment of the Con-
stitution, to crush this gigantic curse of race track gambling.
The first specific enactment in New York State against “bets
and wagers" upon horse racing was passed in 1821. It declared
unlawful:
“All wagers, bets or stakes, made to depend upon any
lot or chance, or unknown or contingent event whatever;
and that all contracts for or on account of any money or
property or thing in action, so wagered, bet or staked, shall
be void."
This law was amended in 1830, and its scope enlarged in
the interest of public morals.
The Court of Appeals in 1849 construed this statute as fol-
lows:
“It is the intent of the Statute to prohibit every species
of wager or bet."
Ruckman vs. Pitcher, N. Y. 392.
8The laws of New York were codified in 1882. Section 351
of the Penal Code, in very comprehensive terms, forbade:
I.	“The keeping of any room, tenement or place with books,
apparatus or paraphernalia for recording or registering bets or
wagersor,
II.	“The recording or registering of any bet or wager, or
selling of poolsor,
III.	“Allowing a room to be so used.”
Another section forbade any person to aid, assist or abet in
any violation of this section.
The penalty was not to exceed one year’s imprisonment and
$1,000 fine; the crime ranking as a misdemeanor.
RACE TRACK GAMBLERS OPEN UP UNDER POLICE
PROTECTION
When the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
first attacked common gamblers at Coney Island we found one
hundred gambling booths, each about six feet square, opened upon
a single race track at Coney Island. These booths had been
erected under the personal supervision of the superintendent of
police, a boss carpenter of that place. Each booth was rented by
a boss gambler, who paid the managers of the race course $100
per day, rent for the privilege of occupying it during racing hours
in the afternoon. At these booths there were from two to four
employees. The boss or his manager would stand in front calling
out the odds and urging persons to “step right up and place your
bets.” The cashier received the money and paid the winning
bets. The sheet writer recorded the bets, while another fellow
wrote the odds on a card and gave it to the player as his voucher
for money bet.
The occupants of each booth must make, in addition to the
rent of $100 per afternoon, additional incidental expenses, aver-
aging about $25 per afternoon. Twelve thousand five hundred
dollars per afternoon, each day, was required to be taken from
the “dear public” to pay the gamblers’ expenses or first costs.
POLICE PROTECTION
Uniformed policemen, subordinates of the boss-carpenter-
superintendent of police (later of Sing Sing), preserved order
9for the gamblers, while they committed breaches of the peace,
and maintained a common law nuisance in public.
Many of the boss gamblers who enjoyed this monopoly priv-
ilege of pool gambling and book-making upon the race track, also
run gambling houses in the city, where faro, roulette, red and
black, hazard and other banking games were openly carried on.
Sixteen of these common gamblers, the chief of police and seven
of his subordinates, had been arrested (as will appear further on)
upon the complaints of the fearless agents of the Society for the
Suppression of Vice.
The gamblers’ craft was in danger. They sought relief at the
hands of the legislature.
INFAMOUS IVES POOL BILL
In 1887 the legislature of New York passed a law, at the
demand of race track gamblers, commonly known and character-
ized as the “Infamous Ives’ Pool Bill.” This statute suspended
the operations of the Penal Code which prohibited pool selling
and bookmaking upon the race tracks of the State, and allowed
these crimes upon race courses between the 15th day of May and
the 15th day of October of each year, for a period of thirty days
upon each track. This act made it a misdemeanor for any person
to engage in pool-selling at any time or place other than upon a
race track. Gamblers had no fear of misdemeanor laws. The
business kept right on. The courts accommodated the few who
were convicted with a small fine—seldom imprisonment—a sort
of judicial apology for the law’s interference with their nefarious
traffic. The plan was to give race track gamblers (many of whom
were notorious non-resident gamblers) a monopoly; and force
people who desired to gamble to go to them upon the race track
in order to place their bets, precisely the same as does the enforce-
ment of the present law against city pool rooms. Managers of
race tracks took advantage of this monopoly law and charged an
extra entrance fee of $1.00 for admission into the gambler’s quar-
ters—the betting ring—thus adding greatly to their ill-gotten
gains.
For a time this business was badly demoralized, outside of
the race courses.
10EVASION OF LAW
Then came attempts to evade the law as “Commission men,”
by persons gambling outside of the race track.
City pool gamblers essayed to do business at the “same old
stand,” and by the usual bookmakers’ methods, by charging an
extra five cents as a commission upon each bet made, under the
pretext of sending the money to the race track, to be placed there
with some legalized gambler at track odds.
In opposition to the city gambling-hells, were also opened
“commission offices” by race track gamblers in New York and
Brooklyn, where money could be deposited under pretext of tak-
ing the same to the race track to be bet at post odds.
Gamblers ruled the town. They controlled police officials
and prosecuting attorneys; defied law abiding citizens; outraged
the law, and scoffed at public morals.
The legalized common gamblers went from race course to
race course repeating their offenses. The managers of these
different courses arranged their meetings so as not to conflict in
dates, so that each course might have the benefit of these profes-
sional common gamblers to help “improve the breed of horses.”
The gamblers’ odds tempted men to larceny, forgery, de-
falcation and embezzlements. Forgers and thieves pooled their
ill-gotten gains with professional gamblers, who received all that
was brought to them without regard to whom the money be-
longed, making no inquiry as to how the bettor came in posses-
sion of it.
The managers of the race courses received a clean bill of
health to this money from professional gamblers and complacently
took their share of these ill-gotten gains, without asking any
questions.
The horses ran. The people stole. The gambler scooped in
the money. And the managers were enriched; while wives
and children in homes which had been wrecked by these dishonest
contrivances, mourned in silence, and starved because their live-
lihood had been wasted by treachery and dishonesty.
Defalcations, embezzlements, breaches of trust, larcenies, for-
geries and other felonies—the natural harvest of this accursed
business—broke out upon every side. Business men became
alarmed, because of these glaring temtpations to dishonesty to
which their employees were subjected.
iiEFFORTS TO ENFORCE THE LAW
Frequent and urgent appeals were made to The New York
Society for the Suppression of Vice, to enforce the laws. Com-
mittees of prominent men came to the office of this Society from
Saratoga, Long Island City, Brooklyn and New York, asking for
help to suppress these atrocious crimes.
Prior to the enactment of the “Infamous Ives’ PoolLaw,”
the gamblers had been greatly embarrassed by the heroic and un-
flinching efforts of The New York Society for the Suppression
of Vice. They could not control that Organization. Its Presi-
dent, the late and beloved Samuel Colgate, and its Board of Man-
agers, consisting of brave, patriotic and faithful men, could not
be bought or frightened into doing the gambler’s bidding. The
gamblers not only realized this, but the law abiding citizens of
these plague stricken counties of New York, Kings, Queens and
Saratoga also recognized it, and appealed to this Organization to
enforce the Penal Code prohibiting these offenses.
A number of the more notorious pool gamblers of that day,
“Big” Mike Murray, “Jim” Kelly, “Bill” Lovell and others of
like ilk were arrested in New York City and brought into the
courts upon the complaints of the agents of this Society, and
convicted. The potent power of the gambling fraternity asserted
itself by keeping their cases away from the grand jury and higher
courts, and had them brought into the Special Sessions Court,
where these boss gamblers pleaded guilty at the morning session,
and were each fined $50.00. The absurdity of fining a man $50
who secures thousands of dollars a day from the gullible public,
by dishonest means, and calling, such a bagatelle for him to pay,
punishment, is manifest.
It encourages and fosters crimes to simply fine gamblers.
A small percentage of the money acquired dishonestly is
thus given up to the people of the State. With assurances of
such penalties, other persons are tempted to venture.
No number of arrests will ever seriously check gambling, if
they are to be followed by money penalty only. These very cases
are illustrative of the baneful policy of imposing small fines on
such dishonest schemes for getting money.
The afternoon of the same day these boss gamblers who had
been convicted in Special Session Court in New York City,
12in the morning, upon their plea of “guilty,” and scores
of their touts and associates, went to Coney Island and
opened up boldly for business under the protection of uniformed
police officers and private detectives. The agents of The New
York Society for the Suppression of Vice followed them, secured
the evidence, and again swore out warrants in Brooklyn to have
them arrested.
The common gamblers were notified in some mysterious man-
ner by some one in the district attorney’s office, in Brooklyn, and
the next day, at an hour in the morning when it would not inter-
fere with their unlawful business of the afternoon, appeared in
the district attorney’s office and gave bail. That afternoon, after
giving bail, they resumed their business at “the same old stand.”
Again the agents of the New York Society for the Suppression
of Vice secured evidence and warrants for the arrest of a number
of these boss gamblers.
These warrants were placed in the hands of Sheriff Sedg-
wick. Word came from the chief of police at Gravesend, to the
effect that he was in charge of matters at Coney Island—monarch
of all he surveyed—“and that if any one attempted to enter his
bailiwick to serve warrants, there would be blood-shed.” The
sheriff being the chief peace officer of the county, and a man of
nerve, appointed a number of deputy sheriffs, including the agents
of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and made his descent
upon the gambling fraternity, arresting the chief of police, seven
police officers, and sixteen gamblers, against whom the agents of
this Society had secured warrants.
The Penal Code makes it an offense for any person to aid,
assist and abet these gambling crimes. The police aided and
abetted the gamblers by keeping the bettors in line, while the
gamblers fleeced the public. In other words, professional game-
sters openly violated the law under police protection.
Another provision of the Code required all sheriffs, police-
men and peace officers to arrest all persons found violating these
laws, under the penalty of Misdemeanor for not so doing.
LONG ISLAND CITY GAMBLERS RAIDED
After these raids in New York and Kings counties a Com-
mittee of Citizens from Queens county, headed by Mr. Theo.
Schultz, of Astoria, appealed to the Society for the Suppression of
13Vice to enforce the law against some of these same gamblers who
were doing an extensive business at Long Island City, opposite
the Long Island City Ferry. Evidence was secured against four
principal places. Complaints and warrants were secretly drawn
in the office of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, upon
which to apprehend these offenders. The agents of the Society
for the Suppression of Vice learned that one of the police justices
of that city was a patron and frequenter of one of these gambling
hells. The agent in charge would not stultify himself by going
to one of these gambling dens to call out a justice to sign his
warrants to raid the justices’ friends. Instead an appeal was
made to Hon. Jasper Gilbert, of the Supreme Court, who was
about to hold a Term of Oyer and Terminer Court at Long Island
City. Hiring a body guard of twenty sturdy men in New York
City, with four hacks to transport them, the Chief Special Agent
of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in charge, crossed at
Greenpoint, went thence to the Court House, arriving at the
recess hour. Justice Gilbert issued the warrants in the privacy
of his chambers, and four headquarters of the gambling frater-
nity were successfully raided, and several truck loads of gambling
paraphernalia seized, and sixteen common gamblers arrested.
The police and local authorities were in with the gamblers.
MAYOR GLEASON’S OFFICE INVADED
In raiding one of these places where pool gambling occupied
the first floor, and faro, roulette and other banking games occu-
pied the upper floor, by accident we entered the wrong door and
found ourselves in Mayor Gleason’s private office, adjoining the
faro bank. We pursued fleeing gamblers through his office, out
upon the roof of an extension, where we captured the gambling
paraphernalia which they were trying to get away with.
The sheriff, when Justice Gilbert handed him these warrants
to execute, declared he had no men to spare, as they were all re-
quired in court. The Chief Special Agent of the Society for the
Suppression of Vice, who was ready for the occasion, handed
him twenty-one blank commissions, which he had previously pre-
pared for him to sign, saying “I have twenty men and myself
ready to be deputized to execute these warants. Here are com-
missions all ready for you to signature.”
The coroner, back of whose saloon the notorious establish-
14ment of Kelly and Bliss was run (entrance through the coroner’s
saloon), undertook to forcibly prevent our entrance, and after-
wards had the Chief Special Agent in charge arrested upon a
false and trumped up charge. The grand jury in Long Island
City, in the court presided over by Justice Gilbert, the same week
indicted, upon the complaint of the Chief Special Agent, sixteen
gamblers, the coroner, the justice who issued the warrant for the
Agent’s arrest, the police officer who arrested him, and the law-
yer who advised his arrest.
SARATOGA GAMBLERS RAIDED
Then came the Macedonian appeal from leading citizens of
Saratoga, “Come over and help us.” The gamblers were thor-
oughly mad. They sent word to the office of the Society for the
Suppression of Vice, that if the Chief Special Agent came to Sara-
toga and attempted to enforce the law there, that “Your blood will
be spilled upon the street and your body sent home in a box.” Un-
der the authority of the unanimous vote of the Board of Managers
of the Society, comforted and sustained by the promises of God’s
word, and by the blessing of God upon the efforts of the Chief
Special Agent of this Society, twenty-four gamblers were ar-
rested ; thirty gambling places were raided, or closed, at Saratoga,
and not a hair upon the Agents’ heads was injured. Public sen-
timent had to be first aroused, however, by a public meeting,
which was held in the Baptist Church, Saratoga, presided over
by Rev. Herrick Johnson, D.D., of Chicago, and addressed by
the late Rev. Joseph Cook and other distinguished men.
THE GAMBLERS’ CRAFT IN DANGER
These faithful efforts of the Society for the Suppression of
Vice began to be felt and appreciated. The gambler’s craft was
in danger. Something must be done by them. Then the gamblers
asserted their powerful influence over the legislature, to whom
they appealed for relief.
That body, at its next session, conceived and brought forth
the so-called “Infamous Ives’ Pool Law.” This law, while it ex-
isted, served as a potent plea for defendants in all subsequent
proceedings brought under it in court.
“What,” says the counsel for the defendant, “will you gen-
tlemen of the jury convict my client Tor doing an act outside of a
15race track that is authorized and endorsed by the legislature, if
done inside of a racing enclosure ?”
As a natural sequence, such a plea often caused the jury to
disagree or acquit, no matter how positive the evidence.
THE SAXTON POOL LAW
City pool rooms continued to exist and multiply.
If a gambler was convicted, the courts imposed an apologetic
fine of nominal amount, under a misdemeanor law.
As an offset and remedy, Senator Saxton later introduced a
bill known as the “Saxton Pool Law,” making it a felony to carry
on book-making, pool-selling, or keep a place for such purposes
outside of a race track, under a fixed penalty of imprisonment for
not less than one year, nor more than two years, and one thou-
sand dollars fine for each offense.”
This law, with its fixed minimum penalty of not less than
one year, served to close nearly one thousand gambling places
outside of race tracks throughout the State, without a single ar-
rest. The fraternity would not stand for the business if State’s
prison stared them in the face. The courts may well take a hint
from this in meting out penalty. Imprisonment will stop the
curse. A fine encourages it. The latter is a license which all
are willing to pay; for it means a continuation of their lucrative
business upon a paying basis.
The adverse effect of this bill was to condense pool gambling
upon race courses. Here it thrived unmolested.
THE CONSTITUTION AMENDED
In 1894-95, the people arose in their wrath and smote this
monster between the eyes. Business men breathed freer, women
and children who had been beggared through this dread scourge,
took hope. By a majority of more than ninety thousand, the
people of the State of New York amended the Constitution, put-
ting “Book-making, Pool-selling and Gambling in all its forms,”
under the same ban, as had lotteries been under since 1844; for-
bidding the legislature to “authorize or permit any of these of-
fenses*? in the future, and requiring it to enact laws to “Prevent
offenses against any of the provisions of this section ”
The following is Section X, Article I of the Constitution of
the State upon this subject, as it now exists: The words in italics
16being the amendments of 1895, and the balance as the Section
has read since 1844:
“Section 10. Nor shall any lottery, or the sale of lottery
tickets, pool-selling, book-making,'or any other kind of gam-
bling hereafter be authorized or allowed within this State,
and the Legislature shall pass appropriate laws to prevent
offenses against any of the provisions of this Section.”
In accordance with his duty, Governor Levi P. Morton issued
his Proclamation, upon the assembling of the newly elected leg-
islature, January 1, 1895, calling upon it to enact laws to enforce
these new amendments, to-wit: to enact appropriate laws to pre-
vent pool-selling, book-making or any other forms of gambling.
POLICE POWER
Gambling being against public morals, comes within the Po-
lice Power of the State.
Speaking of the police power the Supreme Court of the
United States says:
“No Legislature may bargain away the Public Health,
nor the Public Morals.
“The Government is organized with a view to their
preservation, and cannot divest itself of the power to provide
for them.”
“For this purpose the largest legislative discretion is al-
lowed, and the discretion cannot be parted with any more
than the power itself.”
J. B. Stone, et al., vs. Miss 11 Otto. P. 818.
Again says this high court :—
“If the Public Safety or the Public Morals require the
discontinuance of any manufacture or traffic, the Legislature
may provide for its discontinuance, notwithstanding indi-
viduals or corporations may thereby suffer in obedience.
“Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the
extent and boundaries of the Police Power, and however
difficult it may be to arrive at a satisfactory definition of it,
there seems to be no doubt that it extends to the protection
of the lives, health and property of the citizen, and to the
preservation of Good Order and Public Morals.”
Beer Co. vs. Mass. 97 U. S. R. 33.
Here we have the fullest authority for prohibitive legislation,
against the demoralization of Pool Gambling in all its forms.
17The duty of that legislature was (and of every legislature is)
doubly imperative under the Constitution and the Police Power.
A start was made in the right direction by the Governor who
issued his Proclamation, and by Assemblyman Wild who intro-
duced a bill in the Assembly at Albany, N. Y., to carry out the
requirements of the Constitution.
SUBSERVIENT LEGISLATURE
This bill, in its original form, if passed, would have accom-
plished this object.
Then the gamblers, who could not control the Constitutional
Convention, which had been held prior to the Annual Election
in November, 1894; who were powerless before the awakened
public sentiment at the ballot box, where they were net able to
influence votes sufficient to defeat these amendments showed
their power over the szvorn representatives of the people.
PERCY-GRAY MONSTROSITIES
Three other bills were introduced at the gamblers’ bidding
in their interest. These bills bore upon their face the imprint of
having been drawn by a sharp, shrewd, cunning lawyer; one who
was familiar with the decisions of the courts and the technical
terms which stood in their way, and who conceived a monstrosity
of legislation, designed to authorize (as illogical at is may sound)
a ziolation of the Constitution of the State of New York in a
legal manner.
By a majority vote of over ninety thousand, these amendments
had been engrafted into the Constitution at the previous election.
Upon the same platform, at the same election, the Governor and
the new members of the legislature had been elected to office.
One of the highest duties, and one that is especially emphasized
in the oath which the Governor and every Senator and Assem-
blyman has to take, is to preserve and enforce the Constitution.
OATH OF GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATORS
OATH OF OFFICE
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Con-
stitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State
of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of
18according to the best of
the office of
my ability/'
How well the Governor and majority of that body obeyed
the Constitution, and the will of the people, and observed their
oath of office, let the following facts illustrate. It is either failure
to obey oath, or evidence of very feeble ability.
The new amendments to the Constitution had neutralized
and made void the “Infamous Ives’ Pool Law” and its subsequent
amendments, by declaring against and prohibiting all forms of
gambling. Lo! the unscrupulous race track gamblers had met
their Waterloo. Not so. Like “Br’er Rabbit he lay low.” A
small trifle like the Constitution of the Empire State did not
stand in the way or disturb them so long as members of the leg-
islature could be controlled by them. Three gambling bills were
introduced subsequent to the Wild Bill, in the Assembly, known
as the “Percy-Gray Bills.” They are now Chapters 570, 571 and
573 of the Laws of 1895.
The Wild Bill was Percy-Grayed, and is Chapter 572.
THE COMMITTEE ON CODES KNEW THE PURPORT
OF THESE BILLS
At the hearing before the Committee on Codes in the Assem-
bly one of the gentlemen from Rochester argued in their favor
that, “unless frequenters of race courses were allowed to bet upon
the races, there would not be interest enough to draw the people
in numbers to the races, and consequently it would not pay to
race horses.”
Mr. John M. Browers, counsel for the Coney Island Jockey
Club, appeared on behalf of these bills, and presented the follow-
ing items as showing the expenses of his club during the thirty
days’ racing allowed by law in 1894:
“Paid for prizes, premiums, purses and expenses in
1894.......................................... $236,625
“Paid the State for Taxes.......................... 27,000
Total payments................................ $263,625”
Then, in order to show the necessity of betting upon race
courses, he presented that his club, while they had paid out the
large sum named above, had received, and I quote his words,
“But $240,000 from book-making and pool-selling privileges.”
19He sought to impress the Committee with the idea that his club
had run for thirty days in 1894 at a loss of $23,625.
In answer to these arguments, on behalf of a permit for
common gamblers to over ride the Constitution, the representa-
tives of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, made reply be-
fore the Committees in Assembly and Senate. He presented, first
of all, the demands of the Constitution.
He punctured Mr. Brower’s bubble, by showing that instead
of this Club having run thirty days in 1894 at a loss of $23,625,
that according to Mr. Brower’s own figures, they had made a
profit of $9,212.50 per day, and accordingly a total profit for the
thirty days of $276,375.
For instance, the Ives’ Pool Law required race track mana-
gers to pay over to the State five per cent, of the gross receipts.
This $27,000 was but five per cent, of their gross receipts, to wit:
$540,000. The cunning, and, in part, truthful statement that there
had been received “but $240,000 from book-making and pool-sell-
ing privileges,” meant that was the sum received as ground rent
from the gamblers, for their booths, near the grand stand in the
race course.
Then he urged the demoralizing effects of Maintaining a
Common Law Nuisance, clinching his arguments with facts and
figures that were unanswerable, from a standpoint of peace, morals
and good order.
The common law principle was urged in vain, as follows:
“A Common Gambling house is Per Se, a Common Nui-
sance, as it tends to draw together idle and evil-disposed per-
sons to corrupt their Morals, and ruin their fortunes, being
the same reasons, given in the Case of Houses of Common
Prostitution.”	(King vs. Rogers et al.)
“In the United States, the established rule is, that the
keeping of a Common Gambling House is indictable at Com-
mon Law, on account of its evil influences on Public morals.”
1 Bish. Crim. Law, 504.
Why harbor and shield disorderly persons ?
Section 889 of the Code of Criminal Procedure declares as
disorderly persons:
“Keepers of Bawdy houses, or houses for the resort of
prostitutes, drunkards, tipplers, gamesters, persons who have
no visible profession or calling by which to maintain them-
selves, but who do so for the most part by gaming ”
20Every principle of Common law is outraged by these disor-
derly gamesters upon the race courses of our State.
We also presented the following facts to the Committees in
the Senate and Assembly, as arguments against legalizing these
crimes:
“Seeley, of the Shoe & Leather Bank, embezzled $354,-
ooo. He is in State’s Prison. His family disgraced. His
accomplice committed suicide. Gambling the cause.
“H. G. Butt, Cashier for clothing house, Broadway,
New York City, embezzled $16,000. Lost on race track.
“Ten Banks in New York City, during 1893 and 1894,
lost $1,106,260 by defaulters and thieves. Main cause, gam-
bling.
“A woman, after losing all her money betting on the
races, pawned her jewels, and last of all, attempted suicide.
“A former Cashier of the New York Post Office, com-
mitted suicide, after defalcations caused by betting upon the
races had been discovered.
“Zell, Treasurer of Lehigh & Wilkesbarre Coal Co., ad-
mits stealing $100,000. Cursed by gambling.
“More than three million dollars was taken dishonestly
by defaulters, embezzlers, forgers and thieves in one year,
the great bulk of which went to the common gamblers upon
the race tracks.”
It was efforts in vain to plead facts, morals or claims of Con-
stitution before that legislature.
The representatives of the people were expected and re-
quired by the gambling fraternity to rebuke the people who had
voted to amend the Constitution. They were also required to
enact a monstrosity of law, and thereby secure the gamblers’ de-
liverance from the injunction which the Constitution laid against
their nefarious traffic.
The Constitution, as amended, made all laws absolute against
pool gambling and book-making, whether on or off a race track.
Existing laws allowed racing for “purses, prizes, and pre-
miums;” but not for bets, wagers or stakes or money bet.
The Supreme Court in affirming the judgment of conviction
in the appealed cases of People vs. James E. Kelly and eleven
other gamblers, convicted upon the complaints of the Agents of
the Society for the Suppression of Vice, in Kings County, had
said:
“A corporation may give premiums or prizes to be won
21by superiority in speed or endurance, when it is incorporated
for that purpose.”
People vs. J. E. Kelly, et al., 3 N. Y. Crim. R. 274.
The Court of Appeals had defined a “bet or wager” and “stake”
as follows:
“A bet or wager is ordinarily an agreement between two
or more, that a sum of money, or some valuable thing, in con-
tributing which, all agreeing that part shall become the prop-
erty of one or some of them, on the happening in the future
of an event at the present uncertain, and the stake is the
money or thing thus put upon the chance.”
Harris vs. White, 81 N. Y. 539.
Again, this court has held:
“The words ‘bets or wagers' are not similar in meaning
to the words, ‘prizes, premiums or purses.' ”
Ruckman vs. Pitcher, 1 N. Y. 192.
The first Percy Gray bill introduced by the gamblers con-
tained nineteen sections. The third section of this bill was the
Pivotal Section. It added the words “Stakes” to the words
“purses, prizes and premiums” to be raced for.
The design was to make it lawful to race horses for “the
money bet ” and to override the rulings of the higher courts that
betting was gambling and illegal.
These decisions of the Court of Appeals must be legislated
out of existence, so that the lower courts may not apply them to
race track gambling. Hence the effort to make it lawful to race
for money bet, to wit., “Stakes.”
THE LAWS DISSECTED
The first of the three Percy-Gray Bills to be approved by
Governor Morton, in its first section, allows any five persons to
become a Corporation by “making and filing a certificate, in-
cluding a statement as to whether it proposes to exercise the par-
ticular power conferred by Section III of this Act”
Section III authorizes racing for purses, prizes, premiums
and stakes (money bet).
Section VI requires any Association of five or more persons
“desiring to obtain the benefits of the provisions of Section III,”
to apply for a license to the State Racing Association. After re-
ceiving this license, they are henceforth subject to the rules and
regulations of the Jockey Club.
22Section VIII extends to “Trotting Associations, County Fairs
or other Fair Associations, the “privilege conferred by Section
inr
Sections IX, X and XI require gamblers to advertise them-
selves virtuous before starting in to violate the Constitution.
Under these three Legal Absurdities (Sec. IX, X and XI) it
is first required before they can gamble under Section III, that
there shall be posted a placard, with a notice upon it, to the effect
that “pool-selling, book-making, or any other kind of gambling is
prohibited/' A lie upon its face. A subterfuge of the basest
order.
Secondly, This placard must also contain a copy of Section
351 of the Penal Code, which makes pool-selling, book-making,
betting and receiving money bet, a felony outside of a race track.
Section X enacted a third farce. It authorized the managers
of race tracks to appoint special policemen to enforce the law,
which provides no penalty against gamblers violating the Consti-
tution upon the race courses. These policemen are subject only to
the will of the managers, to be dismissed by them if they dare to
interfere with the managers' source of income, to wit, pool-gam-
bling or book-making.
Section XIX of this enactment by “The Gamblers' Own,"
repealed four sections of the then existing laws.
The Wild Bill, first introduced in obedience to Governor
Morton's proclamation, proposed in dead earnest to amend Sec-
tion 351 of the Penal Code. Under it the selling of pools, record-
ing or registering of bets or wagers, receiving money bet or to
be bet, or the using, keeping or allowing to be usd any room,
place, device or paraphernalia for any of these purposes, were
each declared a felony, with a maximum penalty of imprisonment
of five years and a fine of $2,000.
This would have indeed enforced the new amendments to the
Constitution.
ROTTEN POLITICS
This legislature had to make a show of virtue to fool the
people. Accordingly the Wild bill was advanced, but with a tail
to it. Everything was working smoothly for the gamblers. The
public supposed their representatives were carrying out the man-
date of the people, when “an African was discovered in the wood-
23pile.” The Wild bill was to come in third best. They put the
Percy-Gray Bill through first.
They doctored Section 343, Penal Code, for second place.
Then they Percy-Grayed the Wild Bill—third place—so as
to absolutely protect gambling from legal interference, upon the
race courses of the State.
This they did by adding after the felony penalty in the
Wild Bill, the words, “except when another penalty is provided by
law ” Hence, the necessity of having the Percy-Gray Bill signed
first, in order of these bills, by Governor Morton.
Section XVII of the Percy-Gray Bill conserved the gam-
blers’ interests. It undid the Felony penalty of the Wild Bill,
and provided an exclusive penalty, as follows:
“Section XVII. Any person who upon any race course
authorized or entitled to the benefit of this Act, shall make or
record, directly or indirectly, any bet, or wager on the result
of any trial or Contest, of speed or power of endurance, of
horses, taking place upon such race course, shall forfeit the
value of any money or property so wagered, received or held
by him, to be recovered in a Civil Action by the persons with
whom such wager so made, or by whom such money or
property is deposited.”
Then is evolved the “wise discretion” of the Legislature in
enacting appropriate laws to suppress all forms of gambling.
It displayed the “best ability” of each legislator who voted
under his oath for these infamous bills. This Section concludes:
“This penalty is exclusive of all other penalties pre-
scribed by Law for the Acts in this Section specified.”'
This nullified all existing laws, as far as applying to
GAMBLING UPON RACE COURSES.
As the law now stands, a person sitting astride an inch
board fence enclosing a Race Course, who sells a pool with his
right hand to a person upon the outside of this inch board, and
with his left hand duplicates the transaction with another person
upon the inside of the same board, is on his right side a felon,
while his left side is sound on the Constitution.
STILL ANOTHER FARCE
Under existing laws, there is a wise provision of the Penal
Code, which holds the Principal responsible for the acts of his
employees and subordinates.
24Another wise provision of the Penal Code makes all who
“aid, assist or abet” in a crime a principal.
Under these sections of the Penal Code, which apply to all
other crimes in the State, the managers who receive over $9,200
per day profit, the boss gamblers, and the owners who permit
these offenses could be arrested, indicted and convicted as prin-
cipal offenders.
The interests of these managers of race courses must be es-
pecially conserved—these rich men protected at all hazards.
Another farce cannot make this legislation, or those who voted
for it, much more ridiculous. So Section XI provides, after the
placard be posted, a copy of Section 351 be hung up, a policeman
be appointed, then no matter what is done in flagrant violation of
the Constitution and Penal Code.
Section XI. “No Trustee, Director or Officer of said
Corporation shall be personally liable to the imposition of
any fine, or to prosecution, or in any manner held liable for
any violation, by any person other than himself, of the pro-
visions of law with reference to pool-selling, book-making or
other gambling, unless knowingly permitted by him.”
The sweeping protection to race track betting by common
gamblers, disorderly persons and managers in the remaining por-
tion of Section XI caps the climax, to wit.:
“Nor shall the Maintenance of such Race Course, nor
the holding or conducting of races thereon pursuant to the
provisions of this Act, be construed or held to be violations of
any of the provisions of Chapter IX of Title X, of the Penal
Code, or of the provisions of any Penal Statute not contained
in said Chapter.”
Section XVII cuts out all other penalties for violation of
this act.
Sections 343 and 344 in Chapter IX of the Penal Code for-
bids the keeping of any room, place or apparatus for gambling in
any form. They also covered race track gamblers. To insure
race track managers and race track common gamblers against
any possibility of punishment, under these Sections, and to pre-
vent interference with their nefarious business, by any grand
jury, police officer, sheriff, or peace officer, the whole enforcement
of the so-called penalty enacted under all and every other law,
was annulled by Section XVII. No grand jury can indict. The
people themselves cannot institute proceedings. No citizen may
25enter complaint, unless he has himself bet money with the gam-
bler, and then only by civil action.
It can only be enforced by one gambler against anoth-
er GAMBLER, IN A CIVIL COURT, BY CIVIL SUIT.
Thus the majority of the legislature of 1895 proved their
“best ability" to respect their oath and preserve the Constitution.
ANOTHER FARCE
One of the Percy-Gray Bills amended Section 343, Penal
Code. This provided a misdemeanor penalty for “Keeping gam-
ing and betting establishment.” This was Chapter 571, and hav-
ing been signed immediately after 570, fixed a penalty of one
year’s imprisonment or a fine of $500, or both.”
The Wild Bill, as originally drawn, coming in third in order
of approval by the Governor, would have annulled Section XVII
of this Bill, as well as Chapter 571.
Accordingly, to re-enforce the iniquitous farce of Section
XVII, and to remove the penalty of Chapter 571, the Wild Bill,
which amended Section 351 of the Penal Code, was Percy-
Grayed. After declaring certain acts a felony, it was amended
so as to nullify the law upon the Race Course, as follows:
“When an exclusive penalty is provided by law for an
act hereby prohibited, the permitting or the use of premises
for the doing of the act in such case shall not be deemed a
violation hereof, or of Section 343 of this Code ”
After these iniquitous measures had passed both Houses of
the legislature, the hopes of the people centered in the Governor.
They said “Gamblers surely cannot control him or his oath. Had
he not issued his Proclamation ?” Appeals were made to him, for
a hearing against these bills becoming law. It was peremptorily
refused. He would allow no one to be heard before him in oppo-
sition to these laws, to override the Constitution. May 3, 1895,
a letter was sent to the Governor by the Society for the Suppres-
sion of Vice, exposing the infamies of this legislation. His at-
tention was called to the open violation of laws before the adop-
tion of this amendment to the Constitution; to the large number
of defalcations, embezzlements, forgeries and larcenies, arising
from the scourge of race track gambling. It was of no avail. He
turned a deaf ear to all appeals against this scourge.
26PERCY-GRAY-MORTON QUARTETTE
May 9, 1895, he signed the four bills following in order of
their numbers, so as not to disturb the gamblers’ sequence.
First, The Percy-Gray, or Gamblers’ Own Bill, is Chapter
570-
Second, The Bill to amend 343 of the Penal Code is 571.
Third, The Wild Bill is Chapter 572; amending 351, Percy-
Grayed so as not to allow it to apply to common law nuisances or
to common gamblers upon a race track.
Fourth, The other bill to extend all the rights and privileges
of gambling under Section III of Chapter 570 to trotting, State
and County Fair Associations, is Chapter 573.
In signing these bills, the Governor proclaimed his monu-
mental weakness and inconsistency. Since then, upon the Race
Courses of the State, professional gamblers have waxed rich and
arrogant. In one year more than $3,000,000 was reported by the
newspapers as having been embezzled or stolen from banking and
business institutions and lost at gambling in this State.
To-day hundreds of professional gamblers maintain com-
mon law nuisances upon the race courses of the State. The de-
moralization following from this accursed business is felt upon
every side. Crimes are on the increase. Business Institutions
are honey-combed by dishonest employees and wrecked. Homes
are destroyed. Women and children are beggared. The stand-
ards of honesty and fair dealing are trailed in the dust. The
safeguards of society are thrown down and the bulwarks of the
Constitution are wilfully ignored.
The words of the eminent jurist, Judge Catron, whose decis-
ions delivered from the highest court of this nation, have com-
manded universal respect, may well be considered at this point.
In delivering an opinion for the highest court in Tennessee in the
celebrated case of the State of Tennessee vs. Smith and Lane,
Judge Catron said:
“Gaming in every and any shape lays itself at the root
of industrious habits.
“Gaming is a general evil; leads to vicious inclinations;
destruction of morals; abandonment of industry and employ-
ment ; the loss of control and self respect.”
Again he says:
“Like all other passions which agitate the great mass of
the community, it lies dormant until once aroused; and then,
27with the contagion and fury of a pestilence, it sweeps morals,
motives to honest pursuits and industry into the vortex of
vice; unhinges the principles of religion and common hon-
esty ; the mind becomes ungovernable, and is destroyed to all
useful purposes; chances of successful gambling alone are
looked to for prosperity in life, even for the means of daily
subsistence. Trembling anxiety for success in lotteries, at
the faro bank, etc., exclude all other thoughts.”
State of Tenn. vs. Smith & Lane, 2 Yer. 272.
A forcible object lesson, taken from the Morning Sun of
September 11, 1900, concerning an excursion of State Senator
Timothy D. Sullivan, guarded by uniformed policemen, is most
conclusive as to the evil of gambling. This was the annual out-
ing to College Point. Says the Sun:
“The Grand Republic carried almost four thousand
Sullivanites to the picnic grounds, and fully two thousand
more drifted in by train and ferry boat in the course of the
day. Those who went on the boat got action of the liveliest
kind before they got to College Point. About one hundred
gamblers had taken possession of the decks, and their layouts
were everywhere to be seen. * * The play began at once.
* * There was a crowd around every layout. Among those
on the boat were at least two hundred members of the Po-
lice Department, but no arrests were made.”
After reaching the grove, breakfast was served, and the
gamblers’ outfits were placed in position. The article then says:
“There were exactly 105 different gambling stands and
thirty different kinds of games. The big wheels of fortune
which were nailed against the trees, got most of the business.
One of these wheels was fully ten feet in diameter, and was
made in the most expensive fashion. Around it were five
tables, making room for about a hundred men to play the
game at once. It was the old game of red and black, with
numbers and a star thrown in. There were fully twenty
smaller games in operation, and their backers made a for-
tune. The gambling went on incessantly all day long. The
grove was full of uniformed policemen. Many of these dof-
fed their coats and took a hand in the games. This was a
sight to be seen at a Sullivan picnic and nowhere else.”
The administration of all laws against gambling is well nigh
demoralized. The inequality of laws against common gamblers,
guilty ofi a crime graded as a felony, is so absurd, that it outrages
every sense of honor and fair dealing.
28The logical conclusion is that the Legislature never intended
the provisions of the Constitution to be enforced.
The injustice of separating a crime of the grade of a Felony
by a hemlock board seven-eighths of an inch thick, making a tax-
payer who records his own bet upon his own property a felon,
while a common gambler from another State standing seven-
eighths of an inch from this tax-payer may openly carry on book-
making and pool-selling in defiance of the Common-law, which
declares such acts done in a public place, a nuisance; in violation
of the Constitution which in a most pronounced manner, forbids
it; and in the face of a law making such acts within the State a
felony; as well as against peace, good order and public morals,
is an outrage to all sense of justice and fair dealing, and abhorent
to the administration of laws made for the protection of public
interests.
If millionaire horsemen cannot afford to keep fast horses
without surrendering morals, peace and good order in the com-
munity to common gamblers, then let every race track be closed,
and a contribution taken up among the starving victims in homes
wrecked by this terrible scourge of race track gambling, for the
benefit of these poor millionaires.
Would you see the harvest? Then watch the newspapers,
which advertise gamblers’ odds and racing business upon one
page, while scattered through the other pages are frequent ac-
counts of men rendered dishonest through the temptation of race
track gamblers; or visit the Criminal Courts and see young clerks,
young married men and men from the higher walks in life, stand-
ing at the bar of justice charged with forgery, larceny, defalca-
tion and other crimes growing out of the debasing and accursed
business of gambling upon horse racing; or visit the homes of
squalor and want; or of reputable families where the shadow of
a defaulter or thief lies athwart the threshold; or see the group
of sad faced, heart-broken wives, mothers and sisters occupying
the back seats in the Court room, while some loved one is being
tried for crimes bom of this temptation. All these will help one
realize the horrors of this vice.
Because this is a prolific source of wealth to managers of
race courses, who use common gamblers to gather their chestnuts
out of the blazing furnaces of defalcation, embezzlement and
larceny, is no reason why the veil should not be drawn aside, and
29the people be allowed to see the mockery of a business which ex-
ists in violation of the fundamental principal of all good govern-
ment, to wit., “a person shall not be deprived of his property with-
out a just and fair equivalent for it.”
Why should unscrupulous men tempt our young men to dis-
honesty? Why should men skilled in trick and device, parade
their gambling odds before the Public, tempting men to dishones-
ty and crime.
Upon what principle of right, or of security to the govern-
ment should the Constitution of the Empire State be set aside,
or trampled under foot, by this small army of common gamblers,
who infest our race courses ? Little do these men care how their
patrons secured the large or small sums of money bet. “Bring
money and deposit it with us. No questions asked,” seems to be
the gamblers’ motto.
A BRAZEN MOCKERY OF THE CONSTITUTION AND
JUSTICE
For a brief period, between the adoption of the Constitution,
November, 1894, and the 9th day of May, 1895, the Statutes of
the State of New York enforced the Constitution.
The provisions of Sections numbered 343 to 351 of the Penal
Code were operative, and bowed in deference to the Constitution,
with wholesome restraints upon all forms of gambling, up till the
time the Governor signed Chapter 570.
May 9, 1895, Governor Morton wiped out all penalties upon
race track gambling by signing Chapter 570. For an instant, while
Governor Levi P. Morton was dipping his pen in ink, after hav-
ing signed Chapter 571, there was a Misdemeanor penalty against
race track gambling. As soon as the ink he had dipped up could
be spread upon Chapter 572, that last feeble hope was slain.
ROTTEN POLITICS PLAYED INTO THE HANDS OF
DISORDERLY PERSONS AND COMMON
GAMBLERS
With two strokes of his pen, Governor Morton wiped out of
existence every remedy against the evil upon the race tracks of
the State, when he signed Chapter 570 and 572, laws of 1895,
and made it possible for the whole horde of disorderly persons
30and common gamblers to conduct their nefarious business upon
the race tracks throughout the State in absolute contravention of
the Constitution (which he was sworn to enforce) to the con-
trary.
Public meetings had been held, and a committee had been ap-
pointed to protest to the Governor against this monstrous outrage
provided by pending legislation, and then awaiting his signature.
The agent of The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice,
united with others to appear before the Governor, with our pro-
test against these bills. We were not permitted to be heard.
The gamblers demands must be obeyed. The common law which
declared gambling in public places an indictable nuisance must be
nullified. Statutes which had been enacted in the interest of
public morals and good order must be blotted out, so far as ap-
plying to those common gamblers who had for so many years
defied existing laws, and bred disorders and crimes in the com-
munity. And so the penalities provided under common law, and
under the Penal Code (Sections 343 to 351, inclusive) must be
overthrown. Chapters 570 and 572 contained the jokers. They
capped the climax. They removed all restraint under existing
laws. They practically said to the common gambler upon the
race track, “you must not violate the Constitution, nor commit any
of the acts prohibited by it; but if you do, no harm shall come
to you; for no criminal law shall apply to your misdeeds.,,
Was ever such supine indifference to official oath or to the
higher interests of a commonwealth.
Now, after eight years’ growth of this curse thus inflicted
upon the community, what have we ? A condition of affairs truly
alarming. The newspapers contain daily accounts of the efforts
of our valiant commissioner of police, Mr. McAdoo, to dislodge
the pool gamblers in New York City. The executive committee
of the Western Union Telegraph Company have had their eyes
opened, and have withdrawn the facilities which for years has
placed city common gamblers in close touch with the arrogant
common gamblers of the race courses. The newspapers freely sus-
tain the efforts against gamblers outside of race tracks, and at
the same time publish extras announcing the racing odds, betting
and results of gambling upon the race tracks.
The inequality of the laws against race track gamblers who
do business under the Percy-Gray-Mortonized Constitutional pro-
31tection, and those whom the Percy-Gray-Morton combine branded
as felons for imitating their brother common gamblers outside
of the race tracks, has aroused such a feeling of inequality and
injustice that the administration of laws against gambling are
well nigh paralyzed. One of our best and noblest of judges said,
a short time ago to the writer, “that it is evident the legislature
never intended to have this law enforced.”
FINAL RESULTS
The administration of law in the city plays into the hands of
race track gamblers.
To sum it all up in a word, and “what have we?”
Suppose Commisisoner McAdoo closes every pool room in
the city, and the Western Union Telegraph Co. and all the Tel-
ephone Companies closes all their avenues of communication be-
tween race track and city gamblers. Suppose the learned and
zealous district attorneys of New York and Brooklyn prosecute
to conviction; and the courts imposes the full penalty of the law
in every case. What is the result?
Answer. These all play into the hands of an unscrupulous
monopoly, and advance the money profits of a horde of common
gamblers who are flagrantly violating the Constitution of New
York upon the race courses throughout the State.
How the race track common gamblers, disorderly persons
and their touts must have hustled of late to prepare for an en-
larged business! The closing of city pool rooms means a con-
densation of this nefarious business into the hands of the rogues,
whom the Percy-Gray-Morton combine have provided with means
to violate the Constitution of this State, without any risk of ar-
rest or criminal prosecution.
Why has not the Governor of the State taken action against
this crying evil.. Crimes are breaking out upon every side. Many
a mercantile house has found stock missing because of the secret
thievings of employees tempted to dishonesty by betting on horse
racing. Our young men are being sucked down into this vortex
of crime and dishonesty. The newspapers all over the State are
alive with reports of gambling results, odds, bets, etc.* at the race
tracks.
Any person who has read the newspapers of the day, during
32the racing season cannot fail to know that gambling is openly-
maintained upon every race course in the State.
Governor Odell was notified of these outrages upon the Con-
stitution, while the legislature was in session; and was appealed to
to take action to secure proper respect for and obedience to the
requirements of the Constitution of the Empire State, as the fol-
lowing letter will show.
LETTER TO GOV. ODELL
The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice has done
its part throughout. February 4, 1904, it sent the following letter,
which speaks for itself, to wit.:
140-142 Nassau St., New York City, Feb. 4, ’04.
To the Governor, Albany, N. Y.:
Sir—
I have the honor to call your attention to a most shameful
and disgraceful condition of affairs within the State of New York,
whereby the Constitution of this State is openly, flagrantly and
continuously violated by professional gamblers. There is no law
to enforce the provisions of the Constitution against gambling
upon the race tracks of the State.
During the racing season in the State of New York, book-
makers and gamesters in the most open and flagrant manner,
make and record bets upon the race tracks, and do an open busi-
ness amounting to thousands of dollars each afternoon. All in
violation of the prohibition of the Constitution to the contrary.
At the time the Constitution was amended, prohibiting “all
forms of gambling,” it also provided that the Legislature of the
State should enact laws to enforce the provisions of these amend-
ments.
A greater mockery of justice never was perpetrated than the
enactment of these present laws, which encourages and permits the
violation of 'these amendments to the Constitution.
Seven Sections of law were either repealed or so modified as
to be inoperative upon the race track. Since that time there has
been little or no check upon the open and flagrant violations of law
and Constitution by professional gamblers (some resident and
some non-resident of this State), wherever racing has taken place
upon the race tracks in the State.
An examination of existing laws will show Your Excellency
that there is no penalty that can be imposed against a gambler
violating the Constitution of this State upon the race track, by
any process of law, whereby a Grand Jury may indict and a petty
Jury convict.
33The only penalty provided is, that an individual bettor may
recover money bet, by Civil suit brought against the gambler who
received his money; but for the act of recording and making these
bets, and keeping paraphernalia for carrying on this business,
there is no penalty that can be enforced by the courts, other than
as aforesaid.
Common gamblers, whether resident or non-resident of this
State, may upon the inside of an inch board fence, carry on the
business of book-making and pool-selling with immunity from
punishment, while any citizen of the State owning property ad-
joining a race track, if he shall duplicate by word or deed the trans-
actions of the common gambler upon the outside of said inch
board fence, is declared a Common Gambler and a Felon, and liable
to immediate arrest, and upon conviction, to two years imprison-
ment and a fine. This monstrous law the criminal courts cannot
enforce against common gamblers upon the race tracks.
One of the most eminent judges in General Sessions Court
recently imposed a fine of $25 each upon a number of pool gam-
blers, who had pleaded guilty to violating this law in the City of
New York, outside of a race track. He is reported in the news-
papers as having said that “the legislature never intended this
law to be enforced. Otherwise they would not have imposed a
severe penalty for doing an act on one side of an inch board fence,
with no penalty for doing the same thing upon the other side of
said fence.”
Now, I submit that it is imperative that the legislature now
in session should remove this disgraceful monstrosity from the
Statute books of the State, and enact a law that shall enforce the
provisions of the Constitution against “all forms of gambling,”
as the Constitution requires them to do.
Under the provisions of this monstrous law, pool gambling
and bookmaking is not only carried on extensively outside of race
tracks throughout the State, during what is known as the racing
season in this State; but are also carried on and maintained
throughout the year, upon races or race tracks outside of the State.
So absurd and unjust are the provisions of this Statute, that
the courts will not impose a penalty adequate to punish the offense,
nor one that will deter others from like offenses.
Thousands of women and children are being beggared; busi-
ness houses are being wrecked, young men are being tempted to
crimes of forgery, larceny and embezzlements because of the al-
lurements held out by this worst species of gambling. Common
gamblers are enriching themselves off of the frailties and misfor-
tunes of those whom they tempt and rob by this system of betting
and gambling. The conducting of gambling upon the race tracks,
violates the common law as well as the Constitution of the State
by permitting gambling in public places.
34I kept a record one year of the embezzlements and defalca-
tions arising from gambling as reported in the newspapers, and it
amounted to over three million of dollars a year.
Surely a business that produces such demoralization ; that
fosters crimes where they exist, and creates them where they do
not exist, can receive no consideration at the hands of the Chief
Executive of the Empire State.
Does not the fact that the Constitution of the State is openly
and constantly violated appeal to the oaths of every official charged
with its enforcement and protection ?
The indifference of officials to this wholesale violation of the
Constitution is breeding utmost contempt for the laws, by the
criminal classes.
Again, grand juries are loath to indict. Petty juries often
fail to convict with positive evidence of guilt before them. After
conviction the judges feel this Jaw to be so unjust and infamous
that they will not (and have not in the majority of cases) im-
posed any penalty, but a nominal fine.
The counsel for defendants plead that the legislature never
intended this law to be enforced, and ridicule legislation that makes
it a felony for a resident tax-payer upon his own property to do
on one side of a board fence that which a non-resident common
gambler may do upon the other side of said inch board fence upon
the race track, in violation of the Constitution.
The enforcement of the present law, against common gam-
blers outside of a race track’s pine board fence, is to give the com-
mon gamblers inside the pine board fence, a monopoly of this
demoralizing business.
I therefore respectfully ask that you will issue a Proclama-
tion calling upon the present legislature to enact suitable laws
to enforce the provisions of the Constitution, prohibiting all
forms of gambling within the limits of the State of New York.
I have the honor to remain,
Very respectfully yours,
Anthony Comstock, Secretary.
WHAT IS THE REMEDY
Remove the ulcer. Cut it out root and branch. Stop viola-
tions of Constitution by common gamblers everywhere.
Let the Governor at once call a special session of the
legislature and strike out of Chapter 570 the words:
“This penalty is exclusive of all other penalties prescribed
by law for the Acts in this Section specifiedand the words, “ex-
cept when another penalty is provided by law,” in Section 351.
35This is all that is required to make all of Chapter IX, Penal
Code, applicable to this gambling scourge. This is the key to the
situation. The so-called penalty now existing under Chapter 570,
laws of 1895, is that “any individual bettor may recover his money
by civil suit” from the common gambler with whom he has bet.
What a disgraceful farce it is, when the light is turned on!
Can the Governor or any self-respecting citizen consent or permit
it to longer exist?
The Grand Jury in and for the Parish of Orleans and New
Orleans, La., on May 18th, 1902, indicted the officials of that city,
including the mayor and board of aldermen, for permitting slot
machines to be run in opposition to the law.
The same Grand Jury also filed a presentment severely criti-
cising the district attorney, sheriff, mayor, council, and all other
district, parish and municipal officers for failing to enforce the
Sunday law against the saloons.
Their presentment contained the following words, which
may well be considered in connection with the onslaught that is
being made upon the Constitution of this State by professional
gamblers, with the knowledge of public officials.
The presentment against the New Orleans officials closed as
follows:
“Your Honor, we submit that this is indefensible, an
outrage upon civilization, and by all the laws of decency
should be stamped out. If the law officers refrain from com-
plying with their oaths of office, then we shall call upon the
law-abiding citizens of the community to rise in their might
and put down such an outrage, even if it takes impeachment
proceedings and replacing of officers.”
The question is, how long shall this continue?
Pastors of churches, editors of religious papers, patriots,
Christian men and women, law abiding citizens, voters, law mak-
ers and public officials, what are you going to do about it?
The criminal indifference of the Legislature and Governor
in failing to attack this evil is a disgrace to our State. The utter
indifference on the part of the public to the outrages upon the
Constitution, is only to be explained by the ignorance, or the
moral cowardice of the people.
Has the greed for gain paralyzed the manhood of this com-
monwealth ? Have we as a State lost all self respect ? Are we as a
36commonwealth willing to be branded as the “gamblers own?”
or so lost to shame, that we sit quiet while the higher interests of
the great Empire State—Public Peace, Public Morals, and Good
Order are destroyed by that slick, light-fingered, conscienceless
horde of disorderly persons and common gamblers who daily and
openly trample under foot the bulwark of the State—its Consti-
tution ?
Law abiding citizens, it is up to you to act. What are you
GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Anthony Comstock.
37