Oldfield and the Turf Plunger

The is a small item published in the Indianapolis Star August 28, 1908. It reports on one of Barney Oldfield's typical match races staged on his barnstorming tours. In this case his challenger is a betting man by the name of John J. Ryan also known as a "turf plunger," slang for someone who bets heavily on horse races. The announcement is of a match race between Oldfield and Ryan scheduled for September 12 and 13 at a race track called Latonia near Cincinnati. Ryan had been involved in a fatal accident at some point not long before this article was published. The incident cast doubt on the race coming off and whether it did or not is not clear to me as I have no evidence of it.