THE TELEGRAPH AND THE TURF.

THE race-horse was once a favourite symbol of rapidity; now, even Pegasus is outstripped; and the achievement of Flying Childers, who went over the four-mile course at Newmarket in six minutes and forty-eight seconds, or at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour, is thrown into the shade. The result of every meet is known in town, and at Tattersall's, almost before the last horse and jockey are at the goal; thus superseding the fleet posters and pigeons that conveyed the intelligence by the old regime. Well must our readers remember the crowded Strandway, and the rush of race-result-bearing couriers over Waterloo bridge, for publication in the evening newspapers. Now, the news comes silently as a dream, without either pigeon, horseflesh, or spur; and arrives, in real earnest, before either the horse or its rider, the pigeon or its dispatch, the train or its intelligence, are started!

It was not to be supposed that the advantages of the exclusive obtainment of intelligence on such topics by its possessor would for a moment be overlooked by the turfites; and accordingly, we have to relate a few instances of the manœuvres of the sporting fraternity, which redound much to their ingenuity, but very slightly to their credit. We should, however, premise, that the railway companies whose telegraphs were then (for it was before the general system of the Electric Telegraph Company was anything like completed) connected with Newmarket, Doncaster, Slough, and Ascot, resolved, and very fairly, not to permit

the result of a race to be made known by telegraph, though we are afraid this rule was in some instances broken by the payment of a handsome feeexcepting by the ordinary methods, either of pigeon, passenger, or post-horses. The consequence was, that the "knowing ones" resorted to a variety of ruses, one of which, in sporting phraseology, would probably be calledNO GO!

It was the grand Cup Day at Doncaster.

A knowing turfite rushed precipitately into the telegraph station at Shoreditch, just about that witching time when it might be supposed that the race was just either lost or won. With a full fore-knowledge that there was a prohibition against using the telegraph for his purpose, the turfite thus apostrophized the keeper of the telegraph: "Hang it! I'm heartily glad you're here, for I'm in a most awful fix. A friend I left at Doncaster, first thing this morning, not being able to let me have it when I left him, has promised to transmit by the next train a very valuable parcel, to be placed in one of the first-class carriages. Will you be kind enough to inquire for me the number of the carriage it is placed in, so that on the arrival of the train I may have no difficulty, as every moment is of consequence, in at once finding it there." So far so good; but the clerk was too cunning for his customer, and explained to him that the object was rather too transparent for him to be gulled; and our disappointed turfite was compelled to retire, "grinning horrible a

ghastly smile" at the miscarriage of his manœuvre. The fact was, as is known to all sportsmen, the horses when placed are numbered: of course, the number to be returned by the correspondent in concert at Doncaster, to the inquiry of the telegraph, would have been the number of the "winning horse," the consignment of the parcel being the means to a cunningly devised end. Added to this, the turfite was informed, to his unutterable anguish, that the carriages on the Eastern Counties, by which route the intelligence could then only come round by Rugby and Blisworth, and so on from Peterborough, were not numbered, though the carriages on other lines were.

A GREAT GO.

Fortune, however, favours the brave. A clerk on another occasion met with a redoubtable defeat. It

was the Derby day. An enterprising individual entered the office at Shoreditch in great agitation, saying he had left his luggage and a shawl behind him, and wished them to be sent on instanter, that he might take the north train at night. The request was one of an everyday description, and there seemed such truthfulness about it, that the telegraph clerk was taken off his guard, and he sent on the required message, which was thus answered by an accomplice at the other end: "Your luggage and tartan will be safe by the next train." This was enough-the ruse had succeeded, our worthy had won, and he, doubtless, made the best use of his information, by betting bravely and clearing

largely, upon the strength of information some hours in advance of all London besides. Of course, had the winning horse been any other colour, it would have been your "pink" shawl, or your "yellow" shawl, is all right. The information thus gained by a ruse for a shilling was, probably, productive of many pounds.

THE NEWS SENT TOPSY-TURVY.

WHILE there are many who will enjoy the cunning and acuteness that dictated the manœuvre we are about to mention, there are others who will think that it is an artifice which is hardly fair, and that ought not to be permitted or repeated, as it tends to make the telegraph, which should be the consecrated agent of truth,- —an instrument of treachery and deception. A well-known sporting contributor to the morning newspapers having engaged, for a high price, to obtain possession by telegraph of the result of a race, arranged with his correspondent at the other end, that in sending up the result the first horse should be put last, and the last first. The list was accordingly transposed, and thus transmitted. This, whether maliciously or not, was communicated to the crowd without, and the false intelligence flew like wildfire through town; until, on comparing notes with the authentic announcements in the windows of the offices of Bell's Life in London and the Sunday Times, the sporting public asserted that the telegraph must have transmitted the result TOPSY-TURVY.

The result of the last St. Leger at Doncaster was known in Birmingham within half an hour of its close at Doncaster. It was announced by bills posted at the gates of the telegraph station, so that the intelligence might be public, and no undue advantage given, though the betting fraternity offered large bribes for an exclusive possession of the result.

GO A-HEAD GOVERNMENT DESPATCHES. DURING the late troubles in Philadelphia, sealed despatches were sent by express from the Mayor of Philadelphia to the President of the United States. On the arrival of the express at Baltimore, the purport of the despatches transpired; and while the express train was in preparation for Washington, the intelligence was sent to that city by telegraph, accompanied by an order from the president of the railway company to prevent the Washington luggage train from leaving until the express should arrive. The order was given "like lightning," and complied with. The express had a clear track; and the President and the cabinet, who were in council, had notice both of the fact that an express was on its way with important despatches for them, and also of the nature of them; so that when the express arrived, the answer was in readiness for the messenger.

The American telegraph, invented by Professor Morse, has been the means of conveying much important information, and appears to be far more cos