REMARKABLE WAGERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13048, 13 December 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

REMARKABLE WAGERS.

STRANGE PERFORMANCES. It is a fact, regrettable perhaps, but none the less impossible to. escape from, that no tendency is so deeply rooted in the nature of a good half of mankind as that of betting. People will always find something to bet abouteven soldiers in the desert will have a " main" of scorpions. Even the prisoners under the Reign of Terror gambled on their chances of life under the shadow of the guillotine. Wagers must have had their origin very far back in the childhood of the world. Probably like most luxuries of civilisation, they had their birth in the East, and came to Europe, to reach their most frantic height of daring under the extravagant and licentious rule of the later Emperors. Excessive gambling has generally been a concomitant of laxity of general morality, and was therefore to be expected to be the fashion in the later 17th and 18th centuries, right on through the days of the Regency. The stories told of the rate of play during the palmy days of Beau Brummcll are remarkable. . hkuaimeli. as gamester.. : Brummell was a very lucky gambler at j first; but unfortunately. 'ike most gamblers-, he was not content with his winnings, which amounted on one occasion to twenty thousand pounds, but by continued play at high stake with much wealthier men than himself he lost eventually not only his winnings, but his own patrimony. Watier's, at the corner of Bolton-street, was the great gaming-place of the day; •though in all the. clubs, such a White's and Brooke's, high play was always the vogue. Ten thousand pounds changed hands at a sitting at ecarte; fifteen hundred was the price of a lost rubber of whist. A story told of Brummell is admirably illustrative of the grip which the gambling fever has over its votaries. After a relentless run of ill-luck, in which the relics of the Beau's fortune had gone down, his friend Pcmberton Mills overheard him saying that he wished someone would bind him never to play again. "I will," said Mills, and taking out a ten-pound note he offered it to Brummell, on condition that lie should forfeit a thousand if he played at White's within a month from that evening. Alas! a fortnight after saw him again at the "'board oil green cloth," still another example of dicers' oaths, made to be broken. DESPERATE PLAYERS. The desperation with which gamesters adhere to their failing is, indeed, proverbial, and unlike most proverbial!ties, there is plenty of evidence to be adduced in support of ; t. Many tales are told of men who staked all their worldly goods upon cards or dice, -and having'nothing else left proceeded to wager -their very lives. ■ '•.' '■■;''; , A certain famous gamester named Richard Bourchier once was driven so mad by his continued ill-luck' that he bought 'a twopenny cord, borrowed twenty pounds, and resolved, if he lost the one, to hang himself with the other. Fortune, however, was kind to him, and, having won a. considerable sum, he handed the cord to the loser, with the remark: " Having now, sir, no occasion,for this implement myself, it is at your service with all my heart!" Another individual, a prize-fighter, named Skelton, lost his money and his clothes, and then, playing stark naked, lost his life. With the assistance of the winner he then hanged himself on a. lamp-post. A passing watchman, however, spoiled the climax by cutting" Skelton down, and on recovering consciousness he only reproached his rescuer for having prevented the payment of a debt of honour.

WITTY WAGERS. A notorious card and billiard sharper, by name Lookup, once " bested" Lord Chesterfield in rather an amusing fashion. He challenged him to play at billiards, Lookup to wear a patch over one eye, Chesterfield to give five points in a game of twenty-one up. His continued ill-suc-cess caused Lord Chesterfield to exclaim that Lookup played as well with one eye as with two. "I don't wonder at it, my lord," responded the other coolly, "I have only seen out of one eye these ten ears." Royal gamblers have occasionally drawn upon themselves amusing pieces of courtly insolence; such as the apt remark of Rochester to the Merry Monarch, when the latter cried out, holding a remarkably good hand. "I could bet my soul to an orange on this game." ' "If your Majesty will lay odds, I will take them," replied Rochester. Such days are, however, gone for ever, with their high drinking and high play, their duels and ridiculous fopperies; and however much we may hear of the abominations of bridge, there is no doubt that the modern counts in hundreds where his gay ancestor did in thousands. Of quite a different type from the wagers of the gaming-table are sporting bets pure and simple, in which the bet is more in the nature of a. challenge to the performance of some avowedly difficult exploit. Such wagers have been the occasion at times of some remarkable, and often very foolish, performances of skill and bravado. AN AMERICAN FEAT. It is only to be expected that America should lead the way as regards curious wagers, and it is 'from the West that most of our remarkable modern betting yarns come. One characteristic example may serve as a type of the whole. American Presidential elections provide an excitement and a nucleus for wagers quite unknown to humdrum England, .where one cannot taste the peculiar pleasure of staking one's best hat on the success of one's " fancy" for the position of head of the State. Sometimes such wagers have turned out to be quite serious affairs, as in the case of a Now Yorker who had to accomplish an extraordinary feat in consequence of having backed Bryan for the Presidency of .1896. The bet was 5000 dollars; and in default of payment the loser was to ride a donkey from New York to San Francisco within one year from election day (November 3, 1896). This was what Bryan's backer, Mr. R. Pitcher Woodward, undertook to do. The conditions were that he should start without a penny in his pocket and should work his way to his destination. He might accept presents (not in money) or hospitality, but not beg. Finally he was to wear a frock-coat, top-hat, and spectacles, and the donkey was to wear spectacles, too"! Mr. Woodward completed his adventurous journey in 340 days, having travelled over 4000 miles, including the Great Salt Desert. He had eleven donkeys from start to finish, wore out ten pairs of boots, and about 100 donkey shoes! Such was a typical American wager, and a senseless enough performance most people will think