Double Trouble

Nearly $400,000,000 was bet at the 70-odd U. S. race tracks last year. Antigambling crusades, carried on by U. S.

churchmen, merchants, welfare societies and reform groups, have not done much to batter down this figure. On the contrary, the forces of reform received a stiff jolt last week--at the hands of Mrs. Robert Dwyer, wife of a Washington police-court clerk, and her friend Helen O'Brien, a bookkeeper.

Strictly amateur punters. Mrs. Dwyer and Miss O'Brien had gone to the Bowie race track outside Washington, had chipped in $1 apiece to place a bet on the daily double, selecting No. 1 (a long shot named Charles F.) for the first race and No. 9 (a longer shot named James Boy) for the second race--just because they liked the number 19.

When Charles F. came home in front, winner for the first time in his career, Mrs.

Dwyer and Miss O'Brien were among the few spectators who shrieked with glee.

Then when James Boy, a seven-year-old, suddenly zoomed from last place to win by half a length, the two Washington women rushed hysterically to the cashier's window.

There they discovered that they were the only holders of the winning combination, were handed a check for $6,754.50 for their $2 investment. Reporters quickly realized that only one parimutuel payoff in U. S. turf history had been larger: $7,205 won by a Jersey City truck driver at Miami's Tropical Park three years ago.

While quick-thinking Police Clerk Dwyer announced to Washington newshawks that his newly famed wife had placed the bet for an undisclosed friend to whom she had to turn over her winnings, the two women went into hiding to avoid salesmen and reporters.

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