A DRAMATIC SCENE,

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11231, 21 March 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

A DRAMATIC SCENE,

SALE OF MILITARY RELICS. ' chesapeakelTensign and j balaclava bugle. LONDON, Feb. 1. Stirring scenes were witnessed at Messrs Debenham and Stovr's auction room, when, at the resumed sale of; the contents of the late Mr T. G. Middle- ' brook's museum, the famous Chesapeake ensign and th e bugle* that sounded tho (l Balaclava charge were bought on behalf : of a wealthy American collector. The great crowd^of patriotic Englishmen which, packed the sale room to its i; utmost limits and thronged, the stairway and the King street pavementsj in hope- : less endeavors to see the relics sold, were , , filled with bitter disappointment when i [ the news leaked otit that American doli lars, represented in bids of £850 for tho [ ensign and £300 for the bugle, had ; secured the historic treasures for a; foreigner. .-■>.. The disappointment was the keener be- \ i cause at, : first it was generally thought r that England had bought both the tro- ! phies. When the truth about the flag I became known, however, somebody in r the crowd shouted, ''They have purchased with gold what he had to /buy , r with blood !" Long before the ensign Was offered v i, the room was so densely packed that it. i; I was almost impossible, to breathe. There . was a fair sprinkling of Americans in . the crowd, and at the last moment seve- | i ral well-known West End dealers shoul- . . dercd their way just inside the door. , ■ .They had come to bid, and they soon realised that they; would have at least one earnest rival, for Mr Guy Laking, ; the Kiiig's Armourer,, had managed to i > take up a position in the room just bej -fore. ■ -■;,■ ■ •...' •■'.<' " .'■. ■ ■'...''■'.■'. •' ' . } I : : THE OLD COLORS. ' r Suddenly a- hush fell on the eager ' throng,, and by standing on tiptoe- and - craning the neck it was just possible to see fix)in the end of the, room that an ' attendant Was holding aloft the idttered, .! ' soiled, faded colors of the old Chesal peake. '"• \' . ;-\ ;,'':.'' ,| ' The auctioneer .inadb /the usual histori- » cal preamble, and if any one present did, ' not. know .it before they knew then- liow : in 1813. Captain 'Broke of the British fril gate: Shannon, with thirty-eight guns, 1 ;compelled Captain Lawrence, of the Amo. rican frigate Chesapeake, with ■ fifty ', guns, to strike his colors and surrender * his ship after a fifteen minutes' fight. in Boston Bay. , .. Mr Partridgo, of St., James' 'street, < opened the bidding, and caused a burst of - laughter'as he drawled out in< a feigned ' Yankee voice," l guess I'll give £20. for ■ it."- ■ . .-. < (- ■■ '■ ■ " ■' " ; '■. :] ■ '-.. ■■; i Two • minutes later *Ir Partridge, : as- ' sisted by M*> Guy Laking, M,r "Thomas, of Kin rr street, and Mr, Arthur Ellis, ; of Old Bond street,, had jumped, the price ; ' to £280. •■:•.. To everybody's regret Mr Guy Laking ceased bidding at' £250.' It was not kqown whether he had been bidding- for . •His Majesty or for the country, but the ' spectators were confident that if he seem ; red the flag it would: not leave -British soil. • Brisk bids of £10 by the three dealers so'on carried the price to £400, a figure which was greeted- with loud cheers. But "I 1 the higher the price reached the faster : beckme the bidding. Bids of £50 were ; now the order, and every bid . was the | signal for enthusiastic applause. ! STIRRING DUEL, ' |j Theksale^e'camVa- duel " between Mr ■! Partridge and Mr Ellis, and in less than * a minute from the time £400- was bid trie., flag was knocked down, amid intense ; excitement arid rounds of .cheering, to Mr Partridge for the sum of £850. "Name! Name !" was cried in-- every part of the room. "Which side of tho Atlantic " yelled one excited mail from ; a far comer. ' ,-\ Then it was that some unknown per- ■ son, evidently taking only ; ..Mr-, Partridge's nationality into consideration, shouted, at .the top of hisf voice: "This 1 , side!" Deafening "Hurrahs !" which; j would have drowned the sound of Cap- • tain 1 Broke's guns ran rpund the room. - l It was not- till the truth gradually ; [ spread, on Mr Partridge's' own authority, that the flag was to go to New- | York after all that the excited throng , found their cheers of triumph had been , too premature. . [■ Mr Artliur Ellis was keenly disappointed. He had, in «• sense, /lo tight Britain's battle for the Chesapeake' s col- . ors over again, and lost the day. He told a press representative, that he Had bid j on behalf of a patriotic Englishman, 3 whose purse was not a very long qne, , j and, in bidding up to £800, had on hia j own authority increased by JB2OO tho I limit given him. : Mr Partridge Would say no more than x that he had bought the ensign for a [ wealthy American; but it was freely rul mored in the room that Mr Vanderbilb, was the purchaser. -The Americans pre* I sent never raised a cheer, but their beam- ■_ } ing faces displayed their satisfaction. r And America's triumph did not end ' with the recovery^ of the ensign, ior Mr Partridge and Mr Ellis fought another 1 duel over the bugle on which Trumpet--3 Major Joy sounded the order for the : t Balaclava charge. They had the field . 5 to themselves 'all through, and their / L clients were the same as. for the .ensign/ :■'.. ■ BUGLE FOR £300'. t Bidding started at £100, and in. three ; minutes had reached £270. A paoise of 3 a few seconds, arid Mr Partridge shouted' ■ "Threb. hundred pounds." There' was - no response from Mr Ellis, but the aucr tioneer was loth to let the hammer fall, 2 for Messrs Debenham and- Storr hatl themselves sold the bugle to Mr'Middlo. i brook for 75 guineas only ten years pre- > viously. i But £300 was the limit, and Mr Partl ridge secured the prize. There was 5 little cheering' at his second victory, but J the, pent-up feelings of the , hundreds i of disappointed people found a striking i outlet outsideV the saleroom; • Mr Partridge summoned a cab' in s .which to take away his trophies. As an :• atteudant was carrying, the bugle to the \ cabman old soldier hi the' throng on.' the . pavement asked to be allowed to Eoiind s it. ■■■■■•. ...-_■ 5 . Leave was ; given and the man, taking i. the bugle, sounded the "Charge !" The i effect .was wonderful. The clear, stir- ! ring notes of the .order rang out tlu-ough' King street above the din of the traffic, s the shouts of the crowd; the clamor of- . i Covent Garden market, just as they must - have rung above the din' of battle when I the "Death-or-Glory. Boys" spurred into J the smoke reek of the Russuiii guns. . Arid when the last note died away I thunders of cheers rolled up = from the J multitude — cheers which diet not ceuse 1 until tho cab and its precious contents disappeared from the scene.