FROM THE "STAR" SPORTS EDITION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 129, 30 May 1908, Page 7

FROM THE "STAR" SPORTS EDITION.

CURIOUS WAGERS. A RECORD OF FREAKS, FUN, AND FOLLY. The "Man in the Iron Mask," who' is attempting to walk round the world fur a wager of £20,000, has probably set himself a harder task than any of his globe-trotting predecessors. One of the conditions of the wager is that he is not to reveal his identity throughout the whole journey, hence the black iron mask which conceals his visage. He pushes a perambulator, which he has filled with photographs and pamphlets, which he sells on his way. In order to win the wager he has to touch every county in England, to visit Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and to call at twenty countries. He is to buy a postage stamp at every to-.vn passed" through on the journey. And, to crown all, among other conditions of this most remarkable wager, he has to find a wife' on the road. The conditions to which Marius Bernstarf Schroder—a former seeker after globe-trotting notoriety—had to conform, were, in one respect at least, perhaps harder than even the foregoing. He had to wear handcuffs for twenty-two hours out of every twenty-four, and to earn sufficient money to pay his expenses during the two hours daily of manual freedom. A remarkable feat was accomplished by Anton Haushan, an Austrian, who, for a wager of £450, walked 2000 miles in 250 days, pushing a perambulator containing his wife and child, and earning the family living by lectures and the sale of postcards. A still more enterprising Belgian actually set himself the task of walking round the world backwards; while a youthful American, called Veno Churchill, undertook to girdle the globe in a year and eight months, starting with five cents in his pocket and returning with 2000 dollars. FEATS OF STRENGTH. Time was when feats similar to the foregoing were amazingly popular —walking feats, feats of athletic skill, strength, and endurance; feats, also, that were often ridiculously silly and harebrained, and on the result of which considerable sums of money usually depended. In the reckless, hard-drinking days of the eighteenth century, for instance, a»" kinds of wagers were made, and thou-1 sands of pounds often changed hands over the merest trifle. Nevertheless, gome feats were accomplished in those days that can bear very favourable comparison with those of the present. The most celebrated pedestrian of the early years of the century was Captain Robert Barclay, one of the earliest advocates of something like scientific training. He won his first wager when he was only 17 by walking six miles within the hour on the Croydon-road.. Five years afterwards this hardy young Scot bet Mr. Fletcher £5000 that he would go 90 miles on foot in 21i successive hours. He began at midnight. at Ayton, on the to Hull, which was well lighted by lamps, and -walked a mile out and back, until he finished his tusk at twenty-two minutes past eight in the evening, with over an hour, to spare. Gentlemen of the Stock Exchange would not think much of that nowadays, but in 1801 it was a fine feat for a youth of two-and-twenty; and when Barclay was 30, weighing just under 13 stone, he did considerably better, covering 1000 miles in 1000 consecutive hours on grass that had been cut and rolled. WALKING FEAT IN EVENING DR^SS. As an instance of unprepared aid genuine strength, Sir Andrew Leiti Hay's wager with Lord Kennedy will always stand high, for Sir Andrew bet £2500 that he would get first to Inverness from Black Hall, in KAncardineshire, where a large party of sportsmen were met having dinner with Mr. Farquharson. At nine that very night, in evening dress, with thin shoes and silk stockings, Lord Kennedy, accompanied by Captain Ross, struck straight across the Grampians. It rained till morning. At six the following morning they reached Inverness four hours before Sir Andrew, who had taken the coach-road, by way of Huntly and Elgin. In Scotland feats of muscular strength used to he particularly popular. The lifting of heavy weights, the wrestling of strong men together, the tearing ot packs of cards, the splitting of wood by the hand, all these tricks excited interest. On one occasion enormous interest was produced by the wager of a man called MacGregor, a painter, of Kelso, that he would fell a bullock with three blows of his fist. He was reputed to be a strong man, although of slender build, but few thought the feat possible of fulfilment. When the day came there were thousands to witness the trial of strength, and enthusiasm knew no bounds when the animal fell at the second blow of his fist. NATURE WONDERS. To the casual observer the performance of Mr Reed, of Westdean, near Chichester, must have seemed to partake very much of the marvellous. In the year ISOS that gentleman undertook, for a wager of £50, to find out of a flock of two hundred ewes the lambs belonging to each, and we arc told that he coniDletely succeeded to the satisfacof all present. The lambs were kept quite apart from the ewes while the selection was being made. As may be expected, a large number of bets depended upon the result. Another extraordinary feat was that performed by a shoemaker. This individual undertook, for a wager, of course, to manufacture from a given calf a pair of boots within t-.venty-four hours of the animal's death. Early in the morning of the appointed day a calf was killed in the presence of numerous witnesses. The Bkin was at the tanner's shortly afterwards; it was properly tanned, and turned over to the doughty son of St Crispin that very evening, and next morning it appeared in the shape of a pair of boots, which were worn by the mas who owned the calf that had carried the skin the day before. THE RIVALRY OF FOOLS. An amusing and ridiculous wager was once decided in Yorkshire between two men as to which should assume the more singular and original character. One of them appeared decorated with five pound notes and postal orders on his coat and waistcoat, a row of notes and a purse of gold round his hat, a gold watch and chain found each ankle, i and » pow- .«t*cli9d te bis back con,- J

:taining the. wordsWJohn Bull, the.nullionaire."" ' "" *.''.' ' ' ; ':'• The other'.man'was dressed as a woman on one side, with a silk stocking" and slipper, and one. half of his. face painted. The other half of his body resembled a negro in a man's dress, with a boot, and spur. Each having .succeeded in making a fool of himself, -the wager was, curiously enough, won by the man who had made so grotesque a display of his wealth. RECKLESS WASTE OF LIFE. "Vieuxtemps, the famous violinist, used to tell a strange story of a wager wttlch he averred he had really witnessed whilst on a visit to London. One day, as he was walking across London Bridge, a poor wretch jumped up on the parapet and leapt down into rthe river. There was at once a rush of eager spectators, and a voice shouted — "I'll bet he drowns!" "Two to one he'll swim ashore!" "Done!" I Meanwhile, Vieuxtemps fiad hastened to get a boat, and was rowing with a waterman to the rescue of the unhappy creature. As they reached him there was a cry— "Leave him alone —there is a bet on!" The waterman, thinking that the man was swimming for a wager, did not take any further attempt to save him, and the drowning man sank to rise no more. On another occasion a man dropped down at the door of a famous London club, and was immediately carried into the house. Was he dead or not? Betting commenced, and the odds were taken for and against. Some, who had staked hundreds on the man being dead, protested when their opponents desired to bleed the unconscious object of these wagers. To use a lance, they argued, would affect the fairness of the bet. And thus the solitary chance of the man perhaps regaining consciousness, and life again was frittered away in this vapid and foolish manner. So much for the "good old days!"