ANECDOTES OF SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 25

ANECDOTES OF SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

(.Licensed Victuallers' Gazette.) If any one had ever reason to look back and thank his stars for losing his road it was Mr Hill, who from being boots at a Manchester hotel, rose to the highest position on the Turf as a commissioner — a man, in short, who made his ten thousand-pound book regularly on every big event during the year/ In his young days, having heard of the success some had met with who went — figuratively — a bit beyond their own doorsteps to lay out their money, he attended Doncaster to see the Cup run for one year, and without much trouble got rid of all hia brass except about five shillings, which, though not enough to pay his fare by coach back to Manchester, was still enough to take him there by more humble conveyances, namely, the waggon and walking. While on Shanks' pony, by which he meant to go as far as Thurlestone, he missed nis road just after he had crossed the Dearn River, and on stopping at a small cottage to inquire his way, noticed a window in which a square had been stopped up with the manuscript copy of an old ballad in order to keep out the draughts while the pane next to it had been strengthened by pasting on it a £20 Bank of England note. The aged couple to whom the cottage belonged did not know the value of the piece of paper they had used for so common a puipose, in fact, they could neither read nor write, and so Hill had little difficulty in buying " the picture," found months before on the highroads, for half-a-crown. Again in funds, he, like Whittington, "turned" back on his footsteps, invested part of his windfall on the next day's, events, was fortunate in that and on other days as well, clearing altogethar over eighty pounds. To his credit be it said — although we expect that it was as much for fear of spoiling his luck as from honesty — he repaid the old folks the twenty pounds, to, as maj be easily imagined, their great joy when they found themselves the possessors of a sum so much beyond even their wildest dreams of opulence. Hill's advance on the way to wealth was now soon secured, and the man who had been " Boots at the Swan " became the leading bookmaker of his time, Lord George Bentinck being one of his many clients. No man is wholly bad. The worst amongst us will at times show that there is " some remnant of the angel " still in his nature. Bourchier, a notorious gambler of Queen Anne's time, early in his career lost all that he possessed at the gaming table. Borrowing twenty pounds of a friend, he went back to the scene of his misfortunes, but before entering the house bought a twopenny cord, which he put in his pocket, determined that if fortune still declared against him, incontinently to hang himself. All went well, however, and he succeeded in stripping, in that single night, his former opponent, a young gentleman who had just come in to his patrimony, not only of his previous winnings, but of the whole of his fortune. Then he pulled the cord out of. his pocket and. handed it to him,

" I had intended this for my own neck had I lost," he said ; " but it is now at your service if you are so disposed." Sometime afterwards he met the young man, who was reduced from affluence to the depths of poverty. Wanting a decoy at the time, Bourchier made certain proposals to him. "I know," hesaid, "you have lived very well and are acquainted with many gentlemen; now, I'll give you a note for 200 guineas, which you may go and receive presently and get into company with them; then when I appear, you shall introduce me and propose cards. While we are playing you must lay wagers on their side, and lose, so that they may not suspect anything, and the money shall be returned to you, and a share of what I make ; by this means you will be able to live in better style than ever you did before." Such a proposal was a terrible temptation to a man who had not food to eat ; but after considering it over he told Bourchier that, knowing what he had suffered l himself, he could not consent to bring such suffering upon his friends. " I would far rather resort to the cord you once offered me," he said, turning away. The gambler, who had never yet> spared man, was so struck by what appeared to him an almost superhuman heroism that he took him by the hand and said, "By heaven you shall never do that! From this time forth I will allow you a hundred a year for your necessities, and ask nothing in return for it." And he kept his word. A laughable case of turning the tables is the following : — A notorious blackleg and gambler of the olden times, named Bob Weedon, once offered for a considerable bet to go down into the vaults of St. Margaret's Westminster, at the witching hour and bring away a skull. He and his companions with whom he had laid the wager spent the evening at a tavern in Kingstreet, where the others were to wait his return from his ghastly expedition. It was an age of superstition when ghosts were universally believed in ; but B.ob was an exception to the rule and believed nothing supernatural. He had bribed the sexton during the day to leave the church door open, but though he did not object to take the bribe, the man of graves, experiencing a twinge of conscience, resolved to frighten away the sacrilegious wretch before he could accomplish his purpose, and to achieve this hid himself away in the vaults. Carrying a dark lantern Bob descended into the charnel house, and after groping about for a minute found a skull. " Lay down that; it is my grandfather's," said the sexton in a hollow voice. Spite of his scepticism Bob was rather startled and dropped it, but, recovering, took up another. "Lay down that skull; it is my father's," said the voice again. More uncomfortable than ever Bob's fingers again opened, but the next moment clutched another. "Put that down, for it is mine," said a voice in his ear* " I'm hanged if I do," answeredi Bob, "or I shall lose my wager," and up the stone steps he rushed, and once again in the open au* dashed along the street, entered the inn, and in another moment, breathless and prespiring, stood among his fellows. "There's the skull," he cried, "but by jingo the fellow who owns it is at my heels, and says he'll sup with us." A yell of horror burst from the company, who had been working themselves up to a nervous pitch of excitement. They made a rush for the door, fell over one another, tumbled down stairs and took to fight, while Bob sat down and ate up the supper and drank the wine that had been provided for all, and next day claimed his wager. Our fathers and grandfathers must certainly have been a more easy-going and bettertempered race than their descendants to judge from the practical jokes to which they submitted. A friend of the Marquis of Watcrford, whil^ that eccentric nobleman was living upon his Irish estates, had been boasting of a magnificent coal-black horse he had just purchased . " I don't believe you could find a white hair in him if you gave a guinea for it," he cried enthusiastically. " You must trot him over aud let me see him," said the Marquis. A day or two afterwards, while standing at one of the windows, he saw the gentleman coming up the carriage-drive in a spanking new dark-green gig drawn by a high-stepping, glossy black steed. Giving orders to a servant to show the visitor into the morning-room, his lordship disappeared. It was about twenty minutes before he came back. " I thought you were going to bring the black horse for me to see him," were the first words he uttered upon entering the room. "So I have," was the reply. " Nonsense ; there is no black horse in the stable ; I have just come from there ; the one you drove in is white, ho is the gig ; rather curious taste that." " Nothing of the kind ; you have made some mistake." " I'll bet you fifty pounds your horse and gig are white." "'Done," said the owner eagerly. " You shall see for yourself ; I have just ordered him, gig and all, to be brought round." The Marquis went to the window and gave a signal, and the next moment there was slowly driven past a white trap drawn by a white horse — white as paint could make them. It very nearly ended in a duel, but as the pigment used for the gee-gee was only mixed with water it was easily washed off, and no harm done ; the quarrel blew over, and the two made a night on't. We do not think the perpetrator of sttch a trick would get off quite so easily nowadays. The visit of our Australian cousifis has certainly brought cricket to the fore among the sports of the present year, and the question naturally suggests itself, are we falling behind our old form in athletic sports, or have the •olonials advanced to a point we have never attained? We will not commit ourselves to an opinion ; as anecdote-monger our business is rather with the past than the present. Among the old heroes of the cricket field, that famous all-round sportsman, Squire Osbaldeston, claims a prominent place. "He was a hard, slashing hitter," says a writer on the game, "but was mostly noted for his tremendous long paced bowling." It was all but as fast as that of George Brown, sen.; indeed, there was scarcely any difference in the speed, always requiring two long-stops. He was great at single wicket, and in 1814 was one of three of M.C.C v. the Players of England, in which he scored 12 0, and bowled all the Players at each innings. 1816 was a great cricket year for the Squire, as for Sussex against Epsom he scored 34 and 0, and bowled seven wickets ; for Old Etonians v. the Gentlemen of England he scored 29 ; for Epsom v. Hampshire he made 16 and bowled 5 wickets ; and for M.O.C, against Middlessex, with Robinson given, he played the two great innings of 112 and 68 ; and so great was the cricket fame that he at that period had attained that, in a match at Lord's of M.C.C. v. Prince's Plain Club, Mr Osbaldeston was especially barred from the M.C.C. Eleven. His greatest feat, perhaps, was scoring 106 and 16 for Sussex in the match of that county against Epsom (1817). It 1 was altogether a memorable contest : 1074 runs were scored, and three triple-figure innings — i.e., the Squire's 186, and on the same side, Lambert's 107 (not out), and 157 — a most astounding batting feat. Captain Ross said of him that he was only inferior as a cricketer to Lord Frederick Beauclerc, Mr Ward, and Hayward Budd. He once played for £50 a-side against the two best players of Nottingham, Henry JBentley went

down to Lord's to stand umpire, and on the evening before the match, went to see the Nottingham men practise in the King's Meadow, but Tommy Brewster would not allow him, saying, " What we know in Nottingham we keep to ourselves." When the match came off, the Nottingham players were unable to get the Squire out, and after scoring 84 runs he gave up his bat. He then bowled them out, they scoring only 17 runs in their four innings. After the match was over, Bentley said to Brewster, " Well, Tommy, whatyou know at Nottingham you certainly keep to yourselves, for I am sura we have seen nothing of it." The following score will best tell how the Squire acquitted himself :—: — Mr Osbaldeston (gave up his bat)... 84 The Two of Nottingham. H. Hopkins, b Osbaldeston... 11 b Osbaldeston... 3 J. Dennis, b Osbaldeston... 1 b Osbaldeston.,. 2 Total ... 12 Total ... 5 Freemasonry has always been a Royal Institution, but it is not generally known that the Odd Fellows can claim an equal honour. Near thejjsouth end of Grosvenor-row, Chelsea, was a small public-house called the Feathers, in which a Lodge of Odd Fellows held its meetings. On one occasion, when a new member was being initiated into the mysteries of the fellowship, into the room burst two persons, whose intrusion threw the whole assembly into confnsion. The indignant Odd ones were about to fall en masse upon the intruders, and kick and cuff their sacriligeous persons, when the secretary recognised one of them to be no less a personage than His Royal Highness Prince George of' Wales, who in company with Colonel Hanger, had just returned, very drunk, from Ascot. It was then proposed that the Prince and his friend Should become members of the order — a proposal to which they readily assented, they were initiated there and then, and the Prince was made chairman for the night. Never before had there been such a glorification within the walls of that lodge: they were indeed an odd looking lot when they turned out of the Feathersthatnight. The chair in which he sat, ornamented in consequence with the triple plume is— or atleast was up to recent years— in the parlour of, a modern tavern in Grosvenorstreet West, over it hung a coarsely painted portrait of the Prince in the robes of the order. The two roysterers were returning from that very race in which the Colonel won £3000, for which sum he had backed Shark against Leviathan. Neither wealth nor good fortune, however, could stand against Hanger's extravagance. In one winter, dress clothes alone cost him £900, and for a ball dress he paid £180. One day, when dining at Carlton House the host asked him why he was so thoughtful. " I have been reflecting, sire," was the reply, " on the lofty independence, of my present situation. I have compromised with my creditors, paid iry washerwoman, and have 3s 6d left for the pleasures and necessities of life." He once invited the Regent to dine with him. Unfortunately, a day or two before, a heavy loss uppn the Turf swept away all his resources, creditors closed his account, and he could not raise money anywhere. When the day arrived, an officer of the Royal household according to etiquette, called upon the Colonel to see that all was ready for the Royal guest, and found the host with his shirt sleeves turned up, attended by a dirty scullion, dilligently basting ,a leg of mutton that was turning on the spit before the fire, while several tankards of foaming ale stood upon the sideboard, this being all the entertainment he could muster. Upon receiving the report the Prince did not put in an appearance. Almack's ! What a host of pleasant memories would the mere mention of the name of this celebrated club have aroused in the minds of the fashionables of a past generation !— of balls and routs, for the high waists and high coat collars worn by the lords, «as well as of higher headdresses and long skirts indulged in by the ladies; while running through all, like golden threads, would be remembrances of the immense sums of money lost and won in Almack's at play. Almack, a Scotchman, was a large adventurer in clubs, having formed both the Thatched House Club and Brook's before he "struck ile " and acquired fame and fortune by erecting the noble building close to the St. James' Theatre, best known to the present generation as Willis's Rooms. When these bore the title of Almack's, the admission to them was a privilege for which the highest in the land competed, and thought it an honour to have bestowed upon them — in fact, the entree to Almack's was in itself a passport to the highest society in London. Some rather high jinks, however, were carried on here, as might only be expected in an age not overburthened with virtue, if ladened with a code of honour which held human life as being of less value than a dicer's oath. A satirist, writing in 1773, says: "No censure reaches them at Almack's ball. Virtue, religion — they're above them all." Three years earlier Horace Walpole writes to Mann : " The gaming at Almack's which has taken the pas of Whites', is worthy ' the decline of our empire. The young men of the age lose ten, fifteen, twenty thousand pounds of an evening there. Lord Stavordale, not yet over one-and-twenty, lost £11,000 there recently, but reversedit at one great hand at hazard. He swore a great oath : ' Now, if I had been playiny deep, I might have won millions.' His cousin, Charles Fox, shines equally here and in the House of Commons." Almack's was opened February 20 1765, and was advertised to have been built with hot bricks and boiling water, for what reason it is difficult to understand, unless to account for the damp ceilings, but the Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden, was there. A few days after this ceremony Gilly Williams, in a letter to Selwyn, says : " There is now open here, in three very elegant new built rooms, a ten-guinea subscription, for which you have a ball and supper once a week for twelve weeks. You may imagine by the sum the company is chosen. . . . The men's tickets are not transferable, so if the ladies do not like us, they have no opportunity of changing us. ... Our female Almacks flourish beyond description. Almack's Scotch face ,in a bag-wig, waiting at supper, would divert you, as would his lady, in a sack, making tea and curtseying to the duchesses." It was a club of both sexes, which first met at a tavern to enjoy themselves, the members subsequently, according to Mrs Boscawen, going to Almack's, in order "to satisfy Lady Pembroke's scruples." As the ladies nominated and selected the gentlemen to be admitted, and vice versa, no lady could exclude a lady, or a gentleman a gentleman. Yet for all that Ladies Rochford, Harrington, and Holderness were blackballed, as also the Duchess of Bedford, while Lord March (Old Q.) and Brook Boothby were blackballed by the dames, to their immense astonishment. Captain Gronow, writing in 1814, speaks of "the importance attached to getting admission to Almack's, the seventh heaven of the fashionable world. Of the 300 officers of the Foot Guards hot more than half a dozen were honoured with vouchers of admission to this exclusive temple of the beau, monde, the gates of which are guarded by lady patronesses, whose smiles or frowns consign men and women to happiness or despair. . . . The fair ladies

■who ruled supreme over this little dancing and gossiping world issued a solemn proclamation that no gentleman should appear at the assemblies without being dressed in knee-breeches, white cravat, and chapeau bras. On one occasion, the Duke of Wellington was about to ascend the staircase of the ball-room dressed in black trousers, when the vigilant, Mr Willis, the guardian of the establishment, stepped forward and said: 'Your Grace cannot be admitted in trousers,' whereupon the Duke who had equal respect for orders and regulations, walked quietly away." Much has been written about systems at racing, and all are more or less pooh-poohed by fools who have no mind of their own, or decision to. stick to anything for more than an hour. A man with no intelligence is good at nothing, and, therefore, that individual can make himself certain of one thing, that racing will soon ruin him. One of the few systems we hold to bo good is in supporting the favourites in every race, and doubling when a loss occurs ; beginning each day afresh, whatever may be the result previously, with an investment of, say, £5, or according to the amount of the bank, which should be never less than £200. As an example, let us take "black" Ascot, where backers of public form would have come off second best, and we find that the following is the result of our plan : — Win. Lose. Tuesday £80 0 0 — Wednesday 72 0 0 — Thursday ... ... 40 0 0 — Friday — £2i 10 0 192 0 0 •.— 24 10 0 — Profit ... £167 10 0 never more than £150 on an unlucky run being required. We think we hear people who read the above say, " But sometimes there are two or three favourites?" Such may be the case, if the opening and closing of the betting at times are considered ; but our plan is to wait until the market has finally settled down before investing.