Anecdotes of Sport and Sportsmen.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 8, 28 June 1887, Page 4

Anecdotes of Sport and Sportsmen.

[Licensed Victuallers' Gazette.] Though gratitude is a somewhat scarce commodity in this world, a man occasionally reaps the reward of a kindly action in'an unexpected manner. A certain Captain Osborne, having laid all he possessed, and more to boot, upon Running Rein, found himself after that famous Derby day a ruined man. Two mornings afterwards, as he was walking down Regent Street, seriously debating with himself whether he should not go to his rooms, put a pistol to his head, pay his debt to Nature, and let the other creditors look after themselves, a boy accosted him, thrust a note into his hand and disappeared. It was such a dirty scrawl that the Captain was about to throw it away, when the name signed struck his attention, and he read as follows :— “ Honnerd Sur, —You once did me and my missus a good turn, and I vant to do you the same. Runnin’ Rein is a himposter, and he von’t get the Derby stakes. I noes all. Buy all the bets you kan on Orlando and you’ll make a fortin’; but no more at present from your humble servant, A. Simmonds, formerly your helper at Crick.” The Captain, after a moment’s thought, recollected that he had once had a helper of that name in his stables, and had given him a fiver to get the bailiffs out of his house. Thinking there might be something in the tip, he Started off for Tattersall’s and there he heard whispers that determined him to act upon it. Not losing an hour, he bought up all the Orlando bets he could get hold of—people being ready to part with them for a song, for anything could get, and no doubt wonderjn ’ how any man could be such a mug a 5 to take them at any price. Every reader remember the story of the Running ' Tein fraud, most notorious of turf scanC^ 8 ’ * low horse was proved to a four-year-old, and Orlando, who -had come in second, was declared’ the winder. Well, the upshot was that instead of blowing his brains out. Captain Oskorne pocketed £l B,OOO ; and you may J>e sure he did not forget his faithful servant, who was made comfortable for life.

In the days of the Regency sparring exhibitions between lords were almost as common as they are now between Bill Brown and Joe White. Lord Mexborough and Fletcher Norton were at one time Jackson’s favourite pupils, and so nearly matched that a challenge was given and accepted between the two to try which was the better man. Such a sensation was created by this event that on the afternoon on which it was to come off, Rotton Row was literally deserted by the male sex. Jackson's Rooms, in Bond-street, were crammed like a Drury Lane gallery on a Boxing night, while the passages, and even the stairs, were crowded with perspiring swells unable to get admission, for it was regarded as a match of the House of Lords against the House of Commons. Both the combatants were light-weights, and splendid boxers, and for a long time victory hung in the balance, for while Mexborough was quicker at the out fighting, Norton was the stronger in the rally ; but strength prevailed at last and my lord was knocked clean over the benches, and amidst the tremendous cheers of the Commons Norton was proclaimed the victor. Grantly Berkely tells us in his memoirs that after a dinner at Crockford's the tables would be frequently be put aside and the room converted into an arena, wherein Tom Spring and Owen Swift, and other famous boxers of the day, would amuse the company with a display of their science. At other times the room would be temporarily turned into a cockpit, and a main would be fought by candle light. We cull the following from an old newspaper : —“On Friday, the 21st inst. (1759), as Mr Cuthbert Lambert, youngest eon of an eminent physician of Newcastle, was riding along Sandyfordstone lane, his mare took fright, and, running to the bridge, leaped on the battlement, B|ft high, and from thence made a spring to one side of the burn below, which measures 45ft and is 36ft perpendicular. What is most astonishing, and, indeed, remarkably providential, the young gentleman kept close to his seat from the top to the bottom, and escaped with his life. The mare died almost directly, and on examining the body it was found that all the joints of the back were displaced by the fall.”