Good point screaming. A week after Barney Curley pulled off his great Yellow Sam coup at Bellewstown in 1975 he phoned his father, who had read all about it in the papers. The first thing his father said was, " Did you get paid? ".
Of course most bookmakers have suffered at the hands of bad payers. Many say they would be quite well-off if everyone had paid-up. It should also be said that bookmakers are often owed money by their fellow bookmakers who often never settle in full. Dougie Goldstein was a case in point. He walked out of one Ascot meeting owing, it was said, six figures to his bookmaker colleagues. He never returned to a racecourse again. It left a lot of those books in distress. It was said his aircraft seating business also went under.

Personally I would never criticize racecourse bookmakers because after attending around 2,000 meeting over many years and having probably around 6,000 to 8,000 bets I have never had a single dispute. In fact I was called back twice for walking away before I had received full payment - once from a Ladbrokes pitch and again from Linda at the Sam Harris firm. I almost once had a query. I always go in the Silver Ring at Royal Ascot to avoid the crush. I went up to the bookmaker to draw after a good winner only to be told I hadn`t had the bet. Before I could question him he said, "Hang on, let me check". He played the tape and sure enough there was my bet being called. My strike rate is about a third, so after over 2,000 successful transactions, not one complaint. Amazing really.

The only really serious complaint I can recall was over the Corporal Clinger - Chester Barnes dispute at Haydock Park some years ago. Owner Steph Stephano entrusted Chester Barnes to put his £1,000 bet on for him. He put the bet on with Len da Costa. The horse won and on handing his ticket over, Barnes was told he`d had a hundred on, not a thousand. The dispute went to Tattersall`s for arbitration. Len da Costa offered to settle for half the bet before the hearing but was rebuffed. The Tribunal found in Chester Barnes`s favour. I don`t quite know what went on there. Myself and my racing friends have had a great many bets with Len da Costa over the years with not one problem. Something went seriously wrong there. Of course it could never happen now with the receipts. Personally I`d go back to the old tickets - I still miss them.

Henry the seventh
do you remember rails bookmaker terry myers I think he was fron Wolverhampton  think he went to live in oz left a good few  quid owed to punters.
regards
Ronnie.

... Just realized I got at least one thing wrong there - Heathcote's adventure on the rails actually extended into the 1990s. He then returned to England for a while a few years later, laying horses alongside John Pegley.

From an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about Wayne's brother Robbie Heathcote, a trainer in Australia, and how the latter got started:

Enter brother Wayne Heathcote, owner, punter and knockabout, funded by his uncanny judgment of New Guinea art. "Wayne had horses with Tommy and Ernie Smith," Heathcote said. "He also raced Quick Ransom who was fourth in the Melbourne Cup. Wayne actually was financing a couple of bookies in England. A lot of them had no money. Wayne came along and, being a gambler, put the money up. I used to go along during my non-travel times and make sure they were honest."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/horseracing/former-tour-guide-avoids-racing-pitfalls/2009/07/09/1246732422449.html?page=2

Thanks Captain_F. Ronnie, I knew Terry Myers had moved to Australia a few years ago but never realized he owed money to punters. Presumably he is still out there.
That`s all very interesting screaming. I`ve always thought that was Desert Orchid`s best ever performance.
I remember Terry Barfoot well - very busy sort, but I didn`t know too much about Wayne Heathcote, and didn`t know about the John Pegley connection. The last time I spoke to John was about 10 years ago when he was doing an antique stall business with his wife. Nice chap. Anyone who got into the Tribal Art business at the right time and knew what they were doing will have done well. It`s a tough business infested by forgers and fakers - all art and antiques is - as soon as an artist or type/genre of art lifts off in value, the fakers get to work; there are workshops all over the world. In China they will have, say, 20 good artists in a large room. One who is good at the priming who will then pass it to the next artist who is good at the background, then to the one who is good at figures, to the one who is good at faces, then to eyes, hair, hands etc until at the end it is a very good likeness to the work of a top class artist. The picture is then specially treated to look the right age and an old frame will be found for it.

Of course there were/are also the lone master forgers, such as: Tony Tetro, John Myatt, Eric Hebborn, Shaun Greenhalgh, Wolfgang Beltracchi, Hans Van Meegeren, Elmyr de Hory, Konrad Kujau etc. More recently Carter/Drew of Truro have been caught out.
People seemed to have been fascinated by the TV programme Fake or Fortune with Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould concerning `Sleepers`: paintings waiting to be discovered or verified as being by a great artist, but so far not recognised as such. A couple of years ago a small picture of Hercules at Bonhams was estimated at £3,000, but, after a lot of frantic bidding, was sold for £254,500. The buyer and other bidders obviously thought it was by a very important artist. However, after having it cleaned he realised it was no such thing so he put it back into an auction, where it made just £23,000. Bearing in mind the commission charged to the buyer is 25% + 20% VAT on that commission and then commission 15% + VAT is charged on selling the item, the loss on this picture speculation was around £300,000. The underbidder must still be sweating over that one.

henry

Leslie is still alive and aged 97, He moved from Garforth to a little village near Wetherby,I think his son married one off sir Robert Ogden's daughters

One of the other tickets, Gilibrand from Blackpool was run by 2 brothers who have both sadly since passed away.

Another ticket T and F, sadly they tried to take JP and Coolmore on and there was only one way that was going.

Len Da Costa "Win n Win n Place".

the coat
gillibrand used to bet in running without watching the race.
regards
Ronnie.
he used to bet on the photo typical prices
2/1 dead heat
4/7 short  head
4/6 head
4/5 neck

Thanks Ronnie,as a young man between 1987 and 1999 I spent most of my miss spent youth doing as many race courses as possible (I eventually got round them all), admiring the ducking and diving that was going on in the betting rings, hence I kept all my losing tickets, as I appreciated at the time that this particular art of legging would not last forever. I've got a box full of these losing tickets, I've left them in my will to the Horse Racing museum in Newmarket. They will probably chuck them in the bin

Fairly sure I have. I'll have a look.

Ronnie, no photo on my Morry Peter ticket, although I found some with photos on. I also came across a John Peglet who was mentioned in this post.

Tom Divall was a policeman who served in the London Metropolitan Force for over 30 years - two thirds of it spent in the latter part of the long Victorian era and the other third in the Edwardian era and just beyond. Dodgy "goings-on" in the horserace betting world and other sharp practices were not unfamiliar to him. During his time in the Met. he came across many scams, some of which he explained in his memoirs.
"The `invisible ink` trick was another brainwave on the part of its originators. At around 2.15pm a rogue would write on a slip of paper in invisible ink, "£5 each way Blue Post", which had already won the 2.00 race; on the same slip of paper he would write, in ordinary ink, "£5 each way Plazel", in the 3.00 race, and then hand the slip to the bookmaker. Then about an hour or so after he had placed the bet, Blue Post, the winner of the 2.00 would suddenly appear on the slip. At the time of accepting the bet the bookmaker would only have seen Plazel on the piece of paper. The rogue knew he would always win - he only ever placed a bet when the bookmaker was at his busiest and so much less likely to examine the slip thoroughly as he took it. This artful fraud went on for a long time and I am sorry to say that scores of honest bookmakers were taken in by it".

"There was a gang of sharpers living in the Elephant and Castle district who were exceedingly clever in catching legal and illicit bookmakers. Their chief was a man with long wavy hair, fair whiskers and a moustache; he used to visit a hairdresser every morning to be got-up, scented and made perfect. His appearance, manners and conversation were those of a perfect gentleman, but his methods of tricking and robbing his dupes were really marvellous: if ever there was a wolf in sheep`s clothing, he was the one.
The hairdresser would carry on his business at a house in Sumner Street, Southwark; just opposite was a vacant piece of land, and a shop adjoining it, and on the side of that shop was an advertising billboard poster boarding. The hairdresser was very interested in horseracing and made a book on the quiet.

"A little before 3.00pm one afternoon, the chief of the gang, accompanied by a pal, walked into the shop and sat down in a big armchair opposite a large looking-glass in which he could see the boarding opposite clearly reflected. This man, while being shaved, kept the barber in constant talk about horseracing, sport and other topical subjects. This went on for a few minutes, and then at about 3.10, turning to his pal, asked him if he was in a hurry. Getting a negative reply, he told the barber he would have his hair trimmed. About 3.15 he called out to his friend to hand him the newspaper. He began looking through the field of the already-run 3.00 race and suddenly exclaimed:" well I`m blessed, I quite forgot the time; I had promised my brother to put £5 each way on a horse for him, and I was going to have the same for myself, but perhaps it won`t win as it`s a bit of an outsider - I think it has no chance".
The barber then said to him, "as you were in here before three o` clock and could not possibly know the winner of that race, I`ll take it for you". The man then handed the £20 bet to the hairdresser: the horse won at 100/6.
A confederate of the two men had obtained the result by telephone just after it had been run and ran quickly to the billboard opposite the shop and wrote out the result of that race so that his friends inside the shop, who were busy keeping the barber in conversation and distracting him, could see the winner reflected in the large mirror on the wall. He then pasted a poster over it to cover up the evidence and so the victim had no idea that he had been dishonestly fleeced. The next day the grand gentleman and his pal walked in and collected the money".

Before looking at his second-career, that of on-course security, there was an unpleasant non-racing episode which may be of interest to some. Tom Divall had been newly promoted and transferred to `H`, or Whitechapel Division, whose base was at Leman Street. One of the men under his command was a young constable named PC Thompson. This officer is believed to be the only policeman to have witnessed "Jack the Ripper" in the act of carrying out one of his evil deeds, in what was to be his last gruesome murder.
"One dark night PC Thompson was patrolling Royal Mint Street when he turned right into a small road leading to Chamber Street. Under the darkened railway arch by Swallow Gardens he saw what looked like a man holding a bag. The man spotted him and ran off. PC Thompson immediately gave chase but tripped over something at about the point where the man had been standing. Turning his Bull`s Eye lamp on it he was horrified to see the body of a woman who`s throat had been slit from ear to ear and the torso mutilated - disembowelled.
He blew several blasts on his whistle and two nightwatchmen and a PC Leeson soon arrived on the seen to find the gruesome sight and young PC Thompson in a dazed and shocked state of mind. He was helped back to the station, where he said, " Now I shall never die a natural death".

Some while later PC Thompson was patrolling Commercial Road well after midnight when he came upon an altercation between two noisy groups of people at a coffee stall. He took action and dispersed them. One group became rowdy and abusive again. PC Thompson once more took action and tried to break them up and get them to move on, but a scuffle broke out. During a struggle with a man named Barnet Abrahams, PC Thompson was stabbed in the neck. He was able to blow his whistle and a constable William Harding quickly arrived on the scene. Thompson had been stabbed through the jugular vein and bled to death very quickly.
Barnet Abrahams of Newark Street, Whitechapel was arrested and charged with murder. At the trial he was defended by one of Britain`s top defence lawyers, Charles F Gill, who succeeded in getting the charge reduced to manslaughter. Abraham`s pleaded guilty and said, "I did do it; it was an unlucky minute; may his soul rest in peace". He was sentenced to 20 years penal servitude.
So PC Thompson`s doom-laden foreboding at the station that night about never dying a natural death, came to pass".

The name of the Ripper`s victim was Frances Coles. She had been born into a poor family at Crucifix Lane, Bermondsey. Tom Divall had asked the `H` Division surgeon to keep the severity of her injuries a close secret so as not to cause panic in the area and to lessen the distress already wrought on her ageing father who was in the Bermondsey Workhouse.
Frances Coles had for 8 years, up until her death, been a common (street) prostitute, living, for the most part, in common lodgings (doss houses) in and around the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts.

"The Ripper murders gave us no end of worry and anxiety. They caused the greatest sensation throughout the civilised world, and, I think, frightened the general public more than any other crimes yet known. The death of each victim was evidently instantaneous, and the way the bodies were dissected showed a very skillful knowledge of anatomy on the part of the murderer. In each instance the body was disembowelled, and it is the opinion of both experts and police that the deeds were those of a lunatic.
We have never found any trace of this man, or of any trace of his; nor have we been able to ascertain definitely the end of him.
The much lamented and late Assistant Commissioner, Sir Melville MacNachten, received some information that the murderer had gone to America and died in a lunatic asylum there. This may be correct, for after this news, nothing was ever heard of any similar crime being committed".

So far some of the cranks belonging to the various Jack the Ripper societies have managed to narrow the culprit responsible down to just 8 suspects.......after only 125 years of "evidence" and investigations. They call themselves "Ripperologists" and their science,"Ripperology" and always refer to him as "Jack", as if he is some great mate of theirs. There are even Ripper magazines and for the more macabre-minded, `Ripper Tours`.

When his police career was ended by stomach ulcers in 1913, Tom Divall became a security official at racecourses run and administered by Messrs. Pratt & Co. He was granted a licence by Messrs. Weatherby`s, so enabling him to begin his employment on the racecourses.
"The worst side of racing is that it attracts undesirables. There was one gang termed "The Lightening Bookmakers", consisting of four men, all very smartly clothed. They would enter the betting ring, and, while two of them watched the officials, the other two would take up a position in a clear space between two well-known bookmakers and, while the aforesaid officials were busily engaged, would jump up and offer two points above the market odds. The punters, especially strangers, would make a rush in order to get the longer odds to their bets. In a few minutes these two supposed bookmakers succeeded in gathering a heap of money and then off they would bolt.
This sort of thing did not last long however for as soon as I started at Hurst Park races I went to work and arrested a lot of these rascals".

"When at Ascot one day I noticed two men standing up in Tattersall`s ring making a book - they had taken a few small bets. Going to them I examined their betting book and found they had layed an outsider, on which, had it won, they would have to pay out £100. I asked them to turn out their pockets, and, on their doing so, they produced £4 and a few coppers - the money they had taken from their bets. I asked them how they were going to pay their client if the outsider won. I determined to make a Test Case of it, and so I charged them under the Vagrancy Act. The two offenders were brought up before Sir Charteris Byron and he sentenced them to three calendar months Hard Labour.
The result of this finding worked wonders on similar rascals, and for some time afterwards we had much less trouble with them.

Only one other instance happened to my knowledge and that was 3 years subsequently at Nottingham races. I noticed a strange bookmaker; I then went towards him and was just going to challenge him, but, before I could say a word, another man rushed up and forced a handful of £1 Treasury notes into his hand. Taking them, he payed out after the race. I then turned him out of the ring - his confederate had been just in time to prevent his arrest. This showed the effect the Ascot conviction had on this class of men".

"Owing to the strictness of the rules at some race meetings, forbidding stools, umbrellas etc I was absolutely detested by some bookmakers because I always carried out my orders to the letter without fear or favour.
Once I stood at the entrance at Kempton Park and stopped all those with stools from coming in. After having taken away about 20, a bookie tried to pass with his; he told me that lots of people took stools into the ring. While this was going on, another of the gentry came through with his stool and I told him what the regulations were. He turned purple with rage and called me all the names not in the English Dictionary. When I was about to take the stool he banged it on the ground. Although I passed that man about 20 times a day at various race meetings, he would not speak, but put on the most hideous grimaces whenever I approached him. I really felt sorry for him as he was a very good-looking chap, and it seemed a pity he should distort such a countenance in order to annoy me".

The racecourse gangs, as most people will know, were a prevalent force during most of the inter-war period. There were lots of different gangs, mostly from the big towns and cities, often at war with one another for control of the most lucrative areas and businesses. There were some very powerful gang leaders and they eventually gained control and were joined by some of their smaller former rivals. Eventually it became a North/South divide, with Billy Kimber and his Brummagem gang from Birmingham controlling the Midlands and North; he had confederates in the Leeds and Uttoxeter gangs. Kimber had also allies in London so that he could get a foothold on the Southern racecourses by force. His chief allies were the Elephant and Castle Mob controlled by Charles McDonald and his brother; the Camden Town gang headed by George Sage; the Finsbury Park Boys, controlled by Freddie Gilbert.
One group of renegade Brummies began to prey on Jewish bookmakers from London`s East End, who turned to local underworld boss, Edward Emmanuel, who in turn recruited the Italian Sabini gang for protection.

The eldest of six sons from the "Little Italy" quarter of Clerkenwell, London, Darby Sabini was the leader of the feared Sabini racecourse gang. He was into pretty much everything illegal and was a leading figure in the London criminal underworld during the first third of the twentieth century.
The Sabini`s were joined by the feared Alf White and his King`s Cross gang and Alf Solomon`s Yiddishers, who often fought it out with other London gangs.

If a bookmaker wanted a pitch in the South he had to pay the Sabinis; pay for the tissue prices; pay for the chalk to write the odds; pay for the bucket boys to come round with a sponge to wipe the slate clean after each race.
The bookmakers of course could do all these things themselves, but they weren`t allowed to : it was all part of the `service`.
It was the same in the Midlands and North, except they paid Billy Kimber.

"Some low Birmingham Blackguards, full of liquor, visited the cheap rings at various meetings and blackmailed and terrified a small number of East End bookmakers working there. If the latter did not shell-out they were cruelly assaulted and badly damaged. Gang leader Darby Sabini took up the cudgels on their behalf, but he was attacked. The Sabini`s formed a gang of London Italians and East End Jews. The hatred of the London men towards the Birmingham ones was most bitter and fierce. At Alexandra Park the former suddenly visited the Silver Ring and violently assaulted everyone from the opposition they could find. The Sabini`s were eventually cleared out of the Silver Ring. As soon as they had departed, the Birmingham gang were then cleared out and told to take the train back to their Midland City".

"In order to take their revenge on the Sabinis, the Brummagem`s unexpectedly arrived at Bath in a Charabanc. They entered into the two shilling ring and mauled any East End Jews they could find there. It appeared that any news of their arrival had preceded them, because several of the Jews came to me for assistance and I put them in a temporary safe place.
The sufferings of these gangs during their feuds and strife was awful, both for them and those who witnessed them. I saw all of the injuries, both in and out of hospital".

In June 1921, an incident occurred which led to open warfare between the two main factions. A former Birmingham gang member was spotted boarding a train for Plumpton races and was set-upon and badly beaten and razor-slashed. He was taken to Guys hospital in an unconcious condition. The Birmingham gang, who had entered into a truce with the Leeds gang decided to head South and take revenge. They were also furious that the Epsom Downs betting pitches and booths were now in the hands of the London gangs: they prepared to strike on the last day of the meeting.
Forty of them turned up in a coach and cars and they were well tooled-up. They learnt that the London gang would be returning via the Ewell route. The one important thing the Birmingham gang forgot was to tell the Leeds Gang of their intentions. The Brummies were the first to leave the course and feigned a breakdown. When the Leeds gang arrived the Brummies piled into them with hatchets, hammers, chisels and knives - strike first then ask questions later. This of course caused terrible injuries; not only that but the Birmingham mob, unbeknown to them at the time, had beaten up their allies. They quickly made their getaway, but the police were on their tails and caught up with them at Kingston were 28 arrests were made.
On 27th June, 1921, 23 men were given custodial sentences - the wounded were dealt with after their recovery and release from hospital.

"I 1922 George Sage was followed and shot; he lay at deaths door for almost four months. Billy Kimber was badly beaten and shot in cold blood at King`s Cross and given up for dead.
Just to show what generous and brave fellows Sage and Kimber were, they would not give any evidence against their antagonists and stated that they would sooner die than send those men to prison. Honour among Thieves!"

...................to be continued

Very good read Henry and the other contributors,thanks for sharing.

From a list of the 20 most numerous crimes recorded in one year in Tom Divall`s Division, these were the top 3 offences:-
1. Various Larceny......171 offences
2. Street Betting.......63
3. Pickpocketing........46
Keeping and conducting a betting and gaming house was in 6th place with 18 offences
Bottom was Sacrilege, with just one offence, thank God

"On one occasion at Kempton in 1923, a very fast filly, Mumtaz Mahal, belonging to H H the Aga Khan, was a very hot favourite in a race; the second favourite was Arcade at 10/1. However, Harry B. was shouting 16/1 Arcade. I thought to myself he must have layed the favourite heavy to offer such a long price Arcade.
Shortly after there was a loud shout that the favourite was beaten and then Arcade`s number went into the board. In a very few minutes I was surrounded by people who had backed the winner. Harry B., as they said, had hopped it. I at once went to his pitch, and he had; all that was there was his book. Of course a lot of nasty things were said and I told all his punters they need not trouble as every penny would be paid. I took all their names and addresses and tickets.

After racing I returned home and within half-an-hour along came his nibs with his clerk. He made all sorts of excuses; thinking the favourite could not be beaten he took a liberty with it and had not sufficient money to pay out. I said "you scamp! the next time you bet in my ring I`ll chain you to the railings with a padlock". The next day every punter was paid in full, and afterwards he said, " you won`t call me a welcher will you? I`d hate to be called that. You see I`m a perfect gentleman every time". Now dear reader, what do you think of him? What a lad! This gentleman has given up going racing; he is with a good wife, in a business and doing well, I`m pleased to say".

In Tom Divall`s police days in the East End of London it was customary for a new constable to have to face up to a local thug and beat him in a one-to-one fist fight in order to gain respect among his colleagues. "My fellow men were brave as lions" he wrote.
Although plenty of new recruits were from the towns and cities, the most popular targets for recruiting were British and Irishmen from the countryside, in particular, from an agricultural background: they were considered strong, healthy, had a solid constitution and were amenable to discipline; unlike many of their counterparts from the big cities who were often undernourished and suffered from the constant smoke and smog in wintertime that used to roll in and affect their lungs, throats and sinuses, as well as the diseases and infections which used to regularly sweep through the slums, often leaving the victims permanently weakened.

He came from just such an agricultural background, in rural Sussex, never went to school and started work at 8 years of age. When attending the interview he explained his lack of an education. One of the first things the Local Inspector asked of him was, "Can you fight?". The answer was in the affirmative and he was taken on at 15 shillings a week, rising to £1 for a 48 hour week on shifts. He had to stay in uniform out of hours in case of a sudden call-out and was often required to sleep at the station.

J H Hayes (House of Commons) wrote of him in 1929: "Tom Divall would bring hands up in amazement these days, but one has to remember the times of which he writes, which are considerably pre-war. The book should be all the more acceptable because it is shorn of all the polish and treatment the journalist friend gives to people`s reminiscences. Tom Divall discloses the type of earnest, public-serving officer who not only risked his own skin, but often-times his reputation in order that his job might be well done. He became a policeman in rather a crude manner; he worked his way through the jungle in a crude, determined way, in spite of his handicaps. He was known to both colleagues and crooks as one who could be relied upon to do a good turn to a deserving case, no matter how black the background".
His work of course was extremely varied and below are five non-racing cases which may be of interest to some.

" Deptford was the rowdiest district in London, with hundreds of Surrey Commercial and other dock labourers inhabiting it. The foreign cattle market was in full swing and thousands of men were employed in this work, in addition to seamen and drovers of the various ships bringing the animals from America and other countries. The latter class of men consisted of the roughs of New York, Chicago etc.
These men, on their arrival at Deptford were paid-ff and often had to wait two or three weeks, and sometimes longer, before they could find a ship to take them back. They would hang about and generally get mad drunk: their great object was then to attack the police.

A man named Bob Williams, a New York champion boxer, used to engage the men in America to be in charge of the cattle transit. He was a huge, burly brute and a bully of the worst kind. He got angry with constable Charlie Ashby one Saturday night. They agreed to go down to the sheep market to settle their differences. On their return, the American bruiser had a black eye and badly swollen nose, proving he`d had the worst of the encounter.
The duties of the constable at the gate were both arduous and risky. He had to be continuously opening and shutting the gates and this was dangerous work when letting through cattle just landed from the ships on which they had been badly knocked about. Some of these were mad with pain and would rush at the man and try to gore him. They also had to be prevented from getting out onto the streets where much damage would be done to the pedestrians. Thus, that post required plucky and steady men".

"The `White Slave Trade` was very rampant in the East End of London and the awful inhuman manner in which some of those poor Jewish girls were treated was almost beyond description. I will not, for certain reasons, go into details of these horrible offences beyond stating that I saw one poor pretty girl after she had returned to Whitechapel with her face much disfigured, deeply scarred with teeth bites. My staff and I set about these unmerciful villains who procured them, got them heavily sentenced, and then completely smashed them up.
The most gratifying result of one arrest was that we obtained a satisfactory result of a Test Case as to Juristiction and it will be a matter of impossibility for a repetition of this very serious offence.
I was very highly commended by the Jewish Protection Society and Jewish Press for the active part I took in capturing these villains".

"I spite of worrying my readers, I will relate this case. A quarrel had occurred between two men at a public house in Spitalfields; one of them was injured so badly that he was taken to the London Hospital. I was called there that night and the House Surgeon told me that the patient had been deeply stabbed in the heart and was bloodless. The doctor suggested the infusion of animal blood. After stitching up the heart, the man, in a little while, was able to come out and give evidence against his attacker, who was convicted at the Old Bailey, although the man himself was one of the worst criminals living".

" A poor woman was going through Orange Street shortly before midnight one Saturday when she was attacked by several men who robbed her of her week`s groceries and provisions: she received a dangerous kick in the abdomen which caused her immense pain for a long while; it also had the after effect of shortening one leg. When she had sufficiently recovered I tried to obtain from her a description of the attackers, but she could describe only one.
After enquiries I traced a man living in a lodging house in Gravel Lane. At 3 O` clock in the morning I arrested him, and, later confronted by the woman, she positively identified him. The judge, in sentencing him, explained the situation and the gravity of his actions. He was given a long period of penal servitude and 25 lashes with the Cat.
I saw this man on completion of his sentence and he told me the pain he had endured from the flogging would keep him from ever committing another assault.
This proved to me that flogging has a most deterrent effect on brutal criminals".

"Of all the most cruel and unmerciful blackguards, the horse thieves were the worst. The treatment of those poor, dumb animals must have been terrible for anyone to witness. If a horse was lame in one leg they would injure the other leg opposite so that the lameness would not be so conspicuous as the one leg only. Should they steal a fat carthorse they drove a long nail into the quick of its foot, which caused intense agony and made it lame, thus avoiding suspicion from the slaughterer to whom they sold it for human consumption.

They file down old horses` teeth to make them appear younger, ram pieces of sponge up their noses to prevent them showing symptoms of a cold and use other disgusting methods unfit for publication. We always had great worry and trouble in capturing these villains, but all those we did get were very severely punished".

William Bebbington was born in Manchester in 1878. He spent 25 years in the British Army, fought in four major battles of the Boer War - he was at the Siege of Ladysmith with Baden-Powell - served in the Great War and then onto India in the jungles of Assam. He was tall, strongly built with a moustache and wore a raincoat and bowler hat. Dennis Hoey played Inspector Lestrade in the old early forties Sherlock Holmes films. He was almost a ringer for Bebbington. The main difference is that the latter was smart, whereas the bumbling Lestrade couldn`t catch a cold, never mind a murderer.
Bebbington took up his job as senior racecourse detective in the South and Midlands in 1925. He almost at once uncovered a racket involving staff managers, ring officials and gatemen, concerning the selling of pitches, trafficking in complimentary tickets and "pass-out" checks on a vast scale. If an honest ring inspector wanted to take action to stamp it out he was sacked; similarly, if a gateman was unco-operative, he soon found his services were no longer required. Two of those staff managers died not long after being exposed.......one left £40,000 in his Will, the other, £27,000 - an awful lot of money in the mid 1920`s. This delving deeply into the  inner workings of the horseracing machine did not go down too well with the Jockey Club.

William Bebbington was warned by journalist Geoffrey Gilbey of the Jockey Club`s resistance to change. He wrote that when the Jockey Club brought anything new into racing, some of the older members seemed thoroughly ashamed of themselves and felt they had let their forefathers down. He suggested that they were so resistant to change that if the Jockey Club had been at the War Office during the Great War "We should have been sent to fight with bows and arrows".
A body of 60 ring inspectors and a band of security men, mostly ex CID, Army and ex Army personnel, under Major GP Wymer had been recruited to help break the racecourse gangs and keep-out other undesirables. Earlier, the bookmakers had formed their own protective organisation, the BPA.

An early target for removal was the card sharps who were quickly ejected "neck and crop". Pickpockets infested the racecourses, sometimes working in pairs or more; often they could deftly remove watch and chain or wallet without the owner having the slightest idea of what was going on under his nose. They never worried about getting caught; a "Carpet" (3 month sentence was considered all part of the risk).
Sometimes, however, they would use very crude methods, such as pushing over a bookmakers joint; in the melee, one of them would grab the satchel and bolt. Another favourite with them was to shout out the name of a horse, together with the stake and price to a bookmaker, then disappear. Of course they would not hand over any money. If the horse won, the man would be back to collect. If the bookie refused to pay, he and others would create such a scene that he would often be paid. Of course, if the horse lost, he never came back.

Another favourite with them was to target punters. They would watch for a punter who had won a sizeable amount and was paid in cash and observe whereabouts on him he would lodge the cash. One of the gang would then drop a lighted cigarette down the back of his shirt. The punter would then start to shout and wriggle around. A bunch of "helpers" standing conveniently close by, would straight away pull up his shirt and jacket and extract the cigarette, while one of them relieved the man of his winnings. It was all done so quickly that before the victim could thank his helpers, they were gone, together with his cash.

Racegoers were sometimes relieved of their money/possessions even before they reached the racecourse by cardsharps, pickpockets etc. At one time it used to be fashionable to wear a tiepin with a jewel to crown it - the more expensive the jewel, the more status it conferred on its owner. Gents wore these prestigious statement tiepins proudly as they journeyed 1st Class to the racecourses.
In those days when a train entered a tunnel, everything went very dark, until the train emerged at the other end. This is where a rogue called "Diamond D1ck Fisher" would strike. He was known as the "Master Cannon" among his friends.

He would walk through the carriage with a cunning eye, picking out the juiciest jewel. Then, as the train approached the tunnel he would make for his prey. As soon as all was complete darkness, then utilizing his razor-sharp front tooth, he would bend down, and with the greatest skill, bite off the jewel from the tiepin without causing the slightest disturbance to its previous owner, and then he was gone.
One day that razor-sharp tooth snapped off. A friend who was there with him when it happened said that "Diamond D1ck" broke down and cried.

Despite all the extra security, there was still the clashes between the racecourse gangs. There was a big clash at Yarmouth one day in 1925. A London gang from the Walworth Road district allied themselves with a violent Northern gang from Leeds and Mexborough. Their target was the Italian-Jewish gang who they saw as moving in on their own territory. The latter took a beating as iron bars and large spanners were liberally employed. The police had been forewarned and came out in force. However, such was the antagonism between the the two rivals that they spilled over into the three shilling ring and the assaults continued. The Jewish-Italians had the best of it this time and the casualties mounted. The wounded were collected and those who tried to get away were rounded up and put in cells until a date for sentencing could be arranged.
They all eventually appeared at Court, with heavily bloodstained bandages around their head and hands and were given severe sentences.

.....................to be continued

Excellent read thanks

I believe at some point on this thread Pony Racing at Northolt was mentioned. Here is a video from the track in 1932 which I'm sure many on here will find interesting.

                        https://ru-clip.com/video/hom0fUsKQ7A/pony-racing-1932.html

Dorothy Paget Video.


https://ru-clip.com/video/xjwQ8oZ3fMY/dorothy-paget-the-eccentric-queen-of-the-sport-of-kings.html

Thanks for putting those up sparrow. Very entertaining. A poster called KPF also kindly put up some Northolt Park video clips on 25th October. Sobering thought that all those people there are long dead and gone. The lady drawing that load of cash looked as though she was going to enjoy it. The notes were a good size back then. It must have felt as though you had something in your pocket. I hope all those pickpockets back then never helped spend it. I`ll put something up on Northolt and pony racing in a few weeks time. To think Hyperion was not far off being eligible to run in pony races. Now there would have been something to plunder some bookie`s money with on his racecourse debut. Ken "Window" Payne once explained how to fix an excess inch or so.
I`ll put something up on pony racing in a few weeks time.

Henry, About 20 years ago I was told that Bobby Warren was the man to see if you wanted a pitch at the Arab horse race meetings, he must have been a old man by then, but I suppose old habits die hard.

Oh dear clayfield that was a real slip at the beginning of the post. If he`s still alive and gets to see that he will probably razor me.lol

Slightly off topic a story related to me by one of the "gang" involved

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-dec-12-1966-1500000-art-robbery-on-dulwich-gallery-the-worlds-biggest-69425488.html

Three young " jack the lads " from Islington cased the museum and on December 12th 1966 carried out the worlds biggest art theft.

Breaking into the museum was fairly easy , however the car they used for their getaway stalled about half a mile from the museum. It was in fact a very foggy night . The car had no automatic starter and required a hand crank to start it.Frantically swinging the crank a police car with bells ringing was heard approaching. Through the fog it appeared and roared past them on its way to the museum .

Our young " masterminds " took their loot to Sollie The Fence the next day. By now the news of the theft was headlines on all media outlets. Sollie , being somewhat wiser than our trio, declined to handle what was now the  hottest property in the world .

The lads attempted to find a "buyer" but failed and so after 5 days "arranged" to return the paintings which were left behind some dustbins.

And so ended "The greatest art theft of all time"

Anyone care to value their loot at todays prices . ?????