WHEN HARDMOUTH WON
Sporting Times, Saturday 27 November 1909
WHEN HARDMOUTH WON.
from the “Sydney Bulletin.”
Snooker was accountant at the Bobalong branch of the Financial Bank, and Spradkins was manager. Bobalong had five churches and five banks, when one of each would have been sufficient, and the consequence was that the five managers had a good deal of spare time on their hands, most of which spare time was put in either at the billiard-room or the parlour of the Royal Hotel.
As Spradkins was most of his time at the Royal, saturating his kidneys with alcohol, Snooker was practically “boss” of the local branch of the Financial, except when it came to any large transaction. Snooker didn’t drink; that is to say, he did not soak and saturate, though he occasionally absorbed; but he had another weakness. He had the strange idea that people in Australia breed and train and feed horses at great expense, and run those horses at race meetings for the amusement and profit of the public.
Snooker was not by any means the only person who managed to get hold of this foolish idea. Snooker liked to back his fancy, and of course it kept him poor. Still he was better off than the manager, who was fooling away his health as well as his money.
But the usual thing happened. Snooker got a run of bad luck; found that the owners and trainers and jockeys and bookies wore really all living on the game and that he, as a punter, was merely contributing out of his small salary to the regular support and maintenance of the owners, trainers, &c.
It was only just after the half-yearly balance, when all was square, and Snooker was very little short in the petty cash, that he heard of a “real good thing” which only needed the investment of a “tenner” to bring in a “century.” This £100 would not only square him up but leave him a balance of £50 to enable him to continue his weekly contributions towards the support of horse-owners, jockeys, &c.
He “borrowed” the tenner on Thursday and “wired” the wager to Sydney, where the race was to be run on Saturday. On Friday morning he received notice stating that he was temporarily placed in charge of the bank, Mr. Spradkins having been suspended, and an inspector would reach Bobalong in time to investigate accounts on Monday morning. There was poor Snooker with his fate depending upon whether Hardmouth won the Armstrong Handicap. If the horse won he was saved; if it were beaten on the post his defalcations would be discovered, and, though they were small, comparatively speaking, he would certainly be dismissed in disgrace even if he were not criminally prosecuted.