SOME LUCKY PEOPLE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4606, 6 October 1934, Page 6

SOME LUCKY PEOPLE

THE 1000 TO 1 CHANCES. Some persons refuse to believe that there is such a thing as luck. They declare that good or bad "luck" is due to circumstances, or is the logical result of some past action. It may be taken for .granted that in 999 instances out of every 1000 this is so, but there are times at which neither circumstances nor logic has any say (writes H. Harvey Day in the Melbourne Argus). For instance, two diggers in the Lichtenburgh district, Transvaal, recently found themselves out of work and in possession of a combined capital of only ninepence. They were discussing the least painful method of committing suicide, when simultaneously they saw what seemed to be a piece of quartz. On further examination it proved to be a diamond of the finest water, and when weighed it was found to be 200 carats. Neither of the miners was unusually gifted, industrious, or singularly deserving of such good fortune, so, after reviewing the incident from every angle, the discovery can be attributed to nothing but luck. A curious story concerns Mrs. Stacey H. Miller, of Newark, New Jersey. She went into a restaurant and ordered an oyster cocktail, costing fifty cents (about 2s). While sipping it, she left something hard in her mouth. She then found to her delight that it was a large pearl worth more than 500 dollars (about £100). Why fortune should have selected her from the many thousands of other inhabitants of that city will always remain a mystery.

Seniiment Wins. But Mrs. Miller was scarcely as lucky as Mr. John Tray, a petty officer in his Majesty's Navy. Mr. Tray went to London on shore leave and paid a visit to the White City. He was not a betting man, but, seeing a dog named Bosun, he decided to back it for a shilling, purely for sentimental reasons. He won at excellent odds, and, being wise, he determined to bet no more. Later in the evening, however, another dog named Mainsail was running, so he placed all his winnings on the animal. Curiously enough it won. He then backed four other winning dogs, all with nautical names. He had no experience of dog "form," this being his first visit to the White City. Eventually he left the grou'nd with £248 in his pocket, a larger sum than his wages for a whole year. Whatever mathematicians and professors of logic may say, Mr. Tray put it down to luck. One of the world's luckiest men must surely be Captain J. H. Hedley, for, although many have come through the fiercest battles unscathed, no one has ever had quite the same experience as this airman.' While flying over Belgium in February, 1918, Captain Hedley was acting as observer and machine-gunner .in a fighting areoplane. Because of a misunderstanding the pilot put the plane into a nose dive so quickly that Hedley was thrown out of the cockpit. He fell 300 feet, suddenly landing on the tail of his plane as it came out of the dive. The chances that such an incident will happen again are extremely remote. A classic example of good luck concerns General Sir Claude Martin, who was stationed at Lucknow. A man of keen intellect and high principle, it was his desire to found a college on English lines in that city. But except for his military pay, which was not very great, he had few assets. In India at that period cock fighting was in great vogue, so when the local nabob heard of General Martin's ambition he offered to give his place as a school building if a bird could be found to defeat his fighting cock. The general bought a rooster from the nearest market and pitted it against the nabob's bird, hoping that a miracle would happen. When it seemed that the general's bird would be killed, the nabob's cock fell dead! That is how the Martiniere Colleges at Calcutta and Lucknow came to be founded.

Luck, of course, is sometimes termed coincidence. A man named Freitas arrived in England from Africa. It was imperative that he should see a Mr. Wells, who lived in Birmingham, the following day. Unfortunately, he had mislaid the address. He made his way to the Midlands, hoping, with the assistance of the police, to get into touch with his man. But when he stepped out at New Street station, Birmingham the first man he set eyes upon was Mr. Wells. He had just missed a train to Wolverhampton. It was fortunate that they met, for they completed a deal which, if delayed for eight hours, would have meant a loss of many thousands of pounds to both.

World's Unluckiest Sailor. There is bad as well as good luck. Errol Mathews bore the reputation of being the unluckiest sailor afloat, and his superstitious companions dubbed him "Bad Luck Jimmy." He was not only an excellent seaman,

but also a first-class navigator. Every boat he boarded, however, was lost or met with some sort of disaster. He had survived 15 shipwrecks, three fires, and on ten occasions his boat had been quarantined. There were also other mishaps, such as mutinies and strikes. The owners decided to give him a "shore berth," for no one would go to sea with him. On his first day ashore a crane under which he had had been standing crashed to the ground, killing and maiming all his companions.

Surprise is seldom expressed when good or bad luck overtakes gamblers at Monte Carlo. But a man often "thanks his luck stars" for losing. This happened to an Irishman who arrived at the casino with a small sum of money. He ended up at what is known as the "suicide table," presumably because it is the one on which the last few francs are staked. After losing his last franc he staggered into the grounds, pulled a revolver from his pocket, and fired. At that moment he stumbled, and instead of killing him the shot merely knocked him unconscious. Casino officials rushed up and gazed with horror at what they thought was the corpse. "Dear me," exclaimed one, "we must have no suicides here! And above all, no suicides following losses at the tables." "Put some money in his pockets," added another. The Irishman's pockets were crammed with thousand-franc notes, and the officials left to make arrangements for the funeral. When they returned the man had recovered and returned to the tables where he was staking their money and winning handsomely. Eventually be broke the bank.