A cautionary tale from the pages of The Salford City Reporter, October 1922 when Mary Hartley appeared at Salford Magistrates Court charged with unlawfully using her house in Florin Street, Pendleton for the purpose of betting. Alongside her in the dock were, Edward Routledge 18, John McDermott 52, and William Jewson 18 charged with making bets, all the Defendants pleaded guilty. The case which "aroused tremendous interest" was headed by Mr H Tomson who was prosecuting for the police, he told the court that the house had been under observation for the period, 6th until 13th September when they saw numerous visitors to the house and under cover policemen laid bets with Mary Hartley. On the 6th of September the police witnessed some 40 men, women and children enter the house via the back door, after the police constables made their bets, suspicions were aroused and they were followed by a man believed to have been a "tout" who kept them under observation for over 90 minutes. The police returned the next day and witnessed a further 50 people enter and make bets, again they went in and placed bets with Mary Hartley, presumably different policemen, this carried on for a further six days and a decision was made to raid the premises, led by Inspector Hulmes, Sergeant Lamb and several constables. They found Mary in the kitchen speaking to William Jewson, he told police that he had gone there to place a bet on for another man, Inspector Hulmes informed Mary that he had a search warrant, she took a purse from her pocket which contained 14 shilling, six pence and betting slips relating to that days racing and informed he had no need to search the house as she had sent all the betting slips down to the pitch, some time ago. They did carry out a search and found £56 11s 2d, two large paying out sheets, four smaller one's, several handicap books all relating to horse racing, sporting newspaper and betting slips. Mr Tomson then told the court that with the number of people observed visiting the house he expected to have found more betting slips but had reason to believe what Mary had said was true also the police had the name of a man with his names on betting slips who was connected in this business...presumably a legal bookie who had a licence to operate on the track. The Clerk of the Court asked him if these people in the dock were covered by a bookmaker who is behind the scenes?, he was told that this was true and he would foot the bill and was not uncommon. Mr Flint for the Defence said that was mere inference and there was no evidence in court to show there was anybody else involved and if the man mentioned was involved he should be involved for aiding and abetting, and as for the money found in the house, Mary was the Treasure of several "nick nack" clubs, and that she had bills to prove that £36 of the money was for footwear, also she was the Secretary of a saving clubs, but it was only in the past weeks she had been taking bets in her back yard. Getting into his stride he told the Magistrate that the raid took place at the busiest time in a bookmakers business yet the police only found 14 shillings and a few betting slips, yes they found other money but this could be explained by the number of people visiting her house to make daily contributions to their club money and as long as horse racing continues people will make a small wager he added for good measure...he is good isn't he? The Chairman of the Bench no doubt, tied up in knots by Mr Flint's eloquent defence decided to hand out the sentences to the Defendants. The three men were all fined 20 shillings. Reserving his anger for Mary he told her that he had to administer the law as it stands and fined her £25 on each of the six summonses she was charged with, a staggering £150 in all, he added that she alone would have to pay the fine, but would be allowed time to pay. That fine was aimed directly at the mysterious unnamed bookmaker and was meant to act as a deterrent for anybody who was considering stepping into her shoes. My Grandfather, William Moran was a turf accountant in Salford and would work on courses throughout the country and his wife, Elizabeth my Grandmother often told ms stories about back street betting and her house in Regent Square, Salford was used for this purpose and often houses would be "rented out" as a front for months at a time with the understanding if they were caught you never named the bookie and he would pay your fine, plus they got a cut off the takings. The Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 finally legalized off-course betting Photo: Florin Street.
