JEM BLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 25

JEM BLAND.

(Licensed Victuallers' Gazette.) Chief among these "dark" bipeds may be counted the once famous bookmaker,, Jem Bland. As to 'who he was or where he originally came from nobody could give any accurate information. He was frequently questioned in a chaffing sort of fashion upon the point, but "Facetious Jemmy," as he was called, could chaff back with anyone, and those who took him on usually got worsted in the encounter of wits. Most probably he was a stable-boy irt-.m'B early days ; but the first authentic biographical information we can obtain is to the effect that in 1819 he and his brother Joe kept a very humble sort of livery stable in Wardowc street. He was at this time about 30. Some say that previous to that time..he was » coachman. Very probably

he was ; bat certainly three or four yeats earlier than the date just given, and before " farmer" George had vacated the throne in favour of his scapegrace heir, Jemmy Bland was as well known upon every course within a certain distance of London as were the grand stands ; and Jemmy was certainly a noticeable figure. A sporting writer has likened him to a highwayman, and certainly in costume he bore some resemblance to those heroes— but not in figure, for he was short and loose and flabby, rotund without firmness; his cheeks were white and flat, something ci the Chadband style ; his nose was long, his ' lips were almost perpetually wreathed by a sarcastic, self-satisfied smile. His unvarying dress was a bell-shaped, curly-brimmed, white beaver hat, that: .seldom knew a brush, a cutaway coat with large brass buttons, a huge double-breasted "wafst'coat) very long, with flapped pockets, white cord breeohes with a Brobdignagian bunch of , seals hanging from the fobs, and top-boots, and you have Jemmy in his habit as he lived : keen, hard, remorseless, a man who would have Sold His Own Father over a horse race and put his foot upon the necks of a whole generation if it had been to his interest and he had had the power to do so. Among his other gifts he had a most powerful vocal organ, which in shouting the odds would .drown all smaller voices like the blare of a speaking .trumpet. There was not a move on the board that the artful old sinner did not calculate upon. He always settled in town. " You know," he used to say, " the axletree of » carriage might break, or a leader might bolt — there's all sorts o' haccidents on the road ; and what ; ud be the use o' the money to a man if to broke, .bis nefik ?-r-why, it 'ud be better in my pocket. There's always a point or two in coaching up a couple o' hundred miles," aud then he would wink diabolically, very much suggesting that he would not have scrupled to play the highwayman in truth, and send to kingdom come anyone who had won largely of him. He always went for his " ex's," as ha called them, by laying a pony or 50 both ways on a match. " Pick good men and you are sure to draw the man you win of, and so get breeched for the journey 1 home. Your tceditor you come Captain Parry over, or if difficult to manage give him a tenner on account." Jemmy was totally uneducated; he could not even sign a cheque until late in life, and then, as may be imagined, it was a most hieroglyphieal scrawl. But, like bo many other illiterate men, the want of book learning had tended to sharpen his faculties in other directions. He never entered a bet, for the simple reason that he was unable to do so ; but he had a prodigious memory, and could carry in his head every transaction, however large or ' complicated it might be, and when he got home would have all the day's business written down by an amanuensis, but only for the sake of reference in case of dispute, as he was never known to forget or make a mistake. When the first Mrs Bland died Jemmy took on a buxom housekeeper of about 30. Scandalous people said that their relations were a little closer than are supposed to exist between master and servant. At all events the lady was His Confidential Secretary, registered all his bets, opened ail his letters, and answered them, and was consequently acquainted with all his business transactions. During Jemmy's frequent absences from home a gay young blackleg, one of a gang, insinuated himself into the housekeeper's good graces. Captivating as the lady's charms might have been, and excellent as was the old port that was liberally supplied from the master's cellars, young Romeo had an ulterior objeot in view, and that was to get hold of Jemmy's secrets. That the lady should give her lover a quiet tip by which he might put a few pounds in his pocket— of coarse he told her he only went in for a little flutter occasionally— -was the most natural thiag in the world, and you may be sure the young gentleman put the information to the best account. It was not long before Jemmy discovered that some of his most artful schemes and calculations were being traversed. Certain of these were known only to himself and his lady secretary, and it did not take Mr Bland long to entertain a shrewd suspicion as to where the treachery lay, nor, as soon as the suspicion dawned, to take active measures to test its truth. Very quickly he discovered the intrigue that wa« being carried on in his absence, and recognised the gentleman who had " leaped into his place " as one of a gang of his most determined enemies. There was nothing of Othello about the old bookmaker. As he possessed neither honour nor affection he could not be wounded upon either point. But he determined to have a deadly revenge— not with sword, pistol, or cudgel— and opportunity favoured > his purpose. A big race was coming on, to which it was generally believed Jemmy held the key and could name the winner. Two days before it came off he dictated several letters to his associates, which were written as usual by his lady amanuensis, telling them to back a certain horse to any amount ; but he had previously warned these people to take no notice of the communication, having given them the real tip beforehand. As usual the lady betrayed the confidence to her lover, who went on his way rejoicing, and made known to the gang his great discovery. The consequence was that "the stalking horse " was backed to a large amount, Jemmy secretly laying against him. The gang had put all they possessed upon the tip and wore ruined. On the night of the race Jemmy went home, and after a few very strong words simply kicked the false Delilah into the street, throwing her goods and chattels after her. When she went to her lover she met with an equally warm reception, as he was firmly convinced that she had purposely sold him. So between two stools the treacherous jade came to the ground as she deserved. Jemmy could never even think of this story without chuckling with delight over the manner in which he had Countermined the Enemy and made a big profit by it. Although known as a man who was honest only as far as his own interest went, but not a step further, Jem Bland wasa favourite even with the best class of sporting men, or at least he was tolerantly and familiarly treated by them ; but Facetious Jemraj was an oddity, a wit in his way, and bad a number of droll Bayings that amused the Corinthians ; his English was of the most eccentric character, and he never expressed approbation without adding that it was such as he "never corned anigh." At times he even threw a humorous element into his bets; one of these is well known — when he entered the betting room at the Salutation at Doncaster, where all the business was at that time transacted, on the night before the Leger of 1822, and offered " a hundred to a walking-stick against Theodore," a horse against whom the enormous odds of £500 to £5 had been taken on the Saturday previous. Wyvile, who had been paid a bonus by Pet-re, the owner, to take his betting book off his hands, accepted the curious wager. But Jemmy burned his fingers that time, for John Jackson, the jock, succeeded in bringing in this rankest of outsiders a winner, very much to Mr Petre's disgust. Yet more eccentric was a bet he made with Mr Ferguson, the owner of Antonio, who was entered for the St. Leger of 1819, tbat he could not whistle when the horses were nearing the winning post. " One hundred '

r jiounds even. you don't do it," said Jemmy. ' " Done," said the other, and just as the horses i were starting began to whistle lustily. " Nay, i nay, thou must only whistle when I tell thee," said the bookmaker. Just as Antonio dashed by with Wrangler at his girth, and a neck-to-neck race began, Jemmy cried out, "Now whistle." But not a sound would come from the owner's parched lips. The Leger of 1825 was a grand one for the old " leg," as he won £30,000 over Lord Scarborough's Tarrare.. The horse before the race stood at 25 to 1, and nobody believed he had, a ghost of a chance. The favourite, Sultan, however, had, broken down so utterly on the Saturday previous during exercise that' he could hardly be got back to his stables at Belle Vue. Tremendous was the consternation among the many who had backed him, and it was a case of The Devil Take the Hindmost in the endeavour to save something out of the wreck. There were no trains, much less electric telegraphs, in those days, so there was a general hiring of chaises and a bribing of post-boys to get every ounce out of their horses in the way of speed to reach Sheffield and Nottingham and other great betting quarters before the news could reach them, to do a little hedging. There was a general belief that " the ring " had got at the favourite, and Facetious Jemmy was among the number strongly suspected, especially as he reaped such a splendid harvest by his defeat. Eight years afterwards everybody gave Bland credit for being concerned in another notorious Turf fraud on. the St. Leger. Plenipo, who had won the Derby of 1834, was a hot favourite for "the Sellinger" of that year; and, indeed, it was everywhere acknowledged that nothing could beat him. Up to two days before the race he was all that his most ardent hackees could desire ; but when, on the eventful day, be came to the post, he looked as wretched as an overworked cab horse. Yet bo overweening was public confidence that he started at 5 to 4— -and was nowhere in the race. That Flenipo had been hocussed there was not the shadow of a doubt. But by whom? Ugly rumours were circulated against the owner himself, and it was said that he and the old " top-booted highwayman" shared the swag between them. But this was never proved, and Plenipo's breakdown remains to this day one of the unsolved mysteries of the Turf. But even artful Jammy found his Nemesis at last, and one that could ! overmatch him in craft. The Duke of Cleveland, " Slippery Billy " — himself as big a leg as any of them— had registered a vow that: he would one day break the Ring ; and he kept, his word. Jemmy lost £80,000 over Shillelagh. It did not break him ; neither did it oblige him to give up his handsome mansion in Piccadilly, which he had taken on the strength of the Plenipo swindle, but he was seldom seen upon the Turf again. Nevertheless, he contrived to live in peace and comfort until long past his sixtieth year, and we will guarantee that to the end of his life he never experienced a twinge of conscience touching his many rogueries. He took lago's and the Quaker's advice, "Put money in thy purse," said ," mine ancieafc." " Make money,'.' said Broad Brim, " honestly, if thou canst, but make money."