KNOCKING- OUT A BOOKMAKER.

Otago Witness, Volume 25, Issue 2321, 25 August 1898, Page 36

KNOCKING- OUT A BOOKMAKER.

The Broken Hill Miner pays that an interesting sidelight has been thrown on turf matters on the Barrier by the falling out ol a bookmaker and a jockey. The bookmaker suggested and t'ao jockey ? greed that the •latter at a recent race meeting should pull tiis mount for the con&ideration ol £1 and a suit of clothes. T !'e iockey duly pulled, and of the backer.-. . V at, pai licuiar hor.-.e some wondcrsd and tome f,u,pectcd, but the matter would in all probability have been forgotten by this time had the' bookmaker fulfilled his contract. Ho gave tbe jockey the cash, but jibbed at the suit, •which was to be of the best material and most fashionable cut. Tbo two men met in Argent street one night in front of the Grand Hotel, and there and then the jockey unburdened himself of his latent opinion concerning the bookmaker. A largo

and curious crowd gathered, and when the dispute waxed warm they were soon in possession of the facts of the case. The jockey v,as small but plucky, and he challenged to instant combat the bookmaker, whom, with lordly indifference to the beam in his onto eye, he accused of cheating, and " 'aving 'mi for his suit." The bookmaker accepted the challenge, and a round was fought, at the bock of a handy hotel. Being afraid of publicity, however, it was arranged that an armistice should be declared and the contest continued at Round Hill. Thither the combatants and their friends adjourned in a csb next morning. No time was lost, and both parties sailed in with " the ray/ uns." Both went out lor gore, and Marquis of Queensberry rulea were laid aside. Aftor five stubborn rounds the jockey triumphed, and the bookmaker returned to town with his face unevenly distributed and a collection of dolicatcly-shaded tints about his eyes. He is not satisfied, however, and other desperate deeds of valour are talked of. Since the publication of the foregoing, the jockey in question has a&sured the Miner that he did not agree to pull his mount for £1 and a suit of clothes. He says he agreed to pull the horde, but no consideration was mentioned. The bor&e did not wih. The jockey says he knocked out his man in two rounds instead of the five mentioned.