The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-20 00:00:00

SPORTING NOTES.

The Liverpool Meeting was not much of a success, as
the fields on the first day were the smallest ever remem-
bered, and the competitors were of such an indifferent stamp
that their performances need but few words of comment.
The twenty horses weighted for the Sefton Handicap only
produced two runners—Cerintha and Don't Come Late,
and as the former was weighted only 81b heavier than Mr.
Hodgman's filly, Lord Stamford had it all his own way.
This match was succeeded by a walk over on the part of
Barchettina for the Sefton Stakes, as the King of Utopia
declined to contend for it. The Selling Stakes on the
straight half mile was keenly contested by Confidence
and 'Virginia, the latter of whom, had she come a litt.9.
so3ner, would have won, as Lord Westmoreland's
horse only beat her by a short head. The
Bentinck Testimonial could not help falling to Johnny
Armstrong, when only opposed by such wretches as Mis-
fortune and Flower Safety. On the Cup day, the course
presented a very animated appearance, and whatever short-
comings the racing was subject to, there was certainly little
perceptible falling off in the company assembled. True
Heart in the opening race, the Welter Cup, effected the

iverthrow of The Cutler, who inflicted a severe cut on his
backers, as they laid 2 to 1 on him, and Practitioner prat.
tised after the same fashion in the Mersey Stakes, whose
defeat by Persuasion was another extraordinary turn up
after his recent brilliant achievement at Worcester. The
Cup brought to the post a more numerous field than was
generally anticipated. There was nothing much to find fault
with in the condition of any of the competitors, though some
considered Victor to be on the "big" side, while others
thought The Knave and Joey Jones too fine drawn. Mr.
Hodgman's horse was, perhaps, not quite/up to the mark,
but the others were as fit as training could make them, and
that there was nothing amiss with The Knave was 'moved
by his clever victory; but if Oak Apple had not met with an
accident I have no doubt he would have turned the tables
on Mr. Merry's horse. Stamford, as usual, attracted a
most aristocratic attendance, bur the meeting was not
served by being brought forward a week, as, independent
of Liverpool and Abingdon using up several of the horses
engaged, it clashed directly with Hungerford and Ponte-
fract, which divided the Ring, and, of course, lessened the
attendance. The meetings for this week are Notting.
ham, Winchester, Southampton, Knutsford, Cambridge,
and Aldershott, and as all, except Knutsford, are
within a morning's ride of the metropolis they will
afford a good opportunity for an " outing " in this delight-
ful weather, when the heat of town has become almost un-
bearable. Nottingham takes place on Tuesday and Wed-
nesday, and Mr. Bradfield bag seldom brought out a better
bill of fare, as there are 18 races on the list for the two days,
nearly all of which have filled in a manner that shows how
popular the meeting on " merrie Sherwood" has become.
Of the nine items set for decision on the first day six are
closed, the principal of which is the Nottinghamshire
Handicap. It secured a fair acceptance, all things con-
sidered, as 23 horses remain in, with a likelihood
of some ten reaching the starting post, to be
selected from Prince Plausible, Doefoot, Dulcibella, Flir-
tation, Pilot, Bandage, Brighton, Liston, Blithfield,
Airedale, Joco, Luna, Jack's Alive, and Middlewatch.
Brighton bas been backed within the last few days, but I
doubt his ability to beat either Flirtation or Blithfield over
the distance, and from what I saw of the latter at Liverpool
last week it ought to be a very near thing between him and
Flirtation, Garotter ought to win the Robin Hood Stakes;
Bertha or Tippler the Bradgate Handicap; Light or The
Clown the Buney Park Stakes, and Garotter the Raiford
Abbey Stakes. The Hampshire Stakes, run at Winchester,
will be won by either Gardener or Earl of Surrey, and the
Grange Park Stakes by Hengist.

A FRESII MAN.

Miss M. E. BRADDON AND THE YORKSHIRE PUB-
LISHER.—At the Hull Bankruptcy Court, yester-
day, a bookseller and publisher, named Charles Robinson
Empson, formerly of Beverley, and now of Hull, applied
for his discharge from custody. The bankrupt's debts
amount to £276 18s. 71d.; and in the course of his exami-
nation it transpired that, in the
year 1860, he engaged
Miss M. E. Braddon, the popular authoress of " Lady
Audley's Secret" and "Aurora Floyd," 'to write a novel
'the introductionsunder
for him, to be entitled " Three Times Dead, or the Secret
of the Heath." Miss Braddon was at this time an
and
were delivered
. to
played
iCts
su Queen's
I 1: Theatre,
She
wroteilu Hull,
actress
the
ot fh Me
ot hue
pp:bill:0o rco ioTa
Be si3O
nasn. d
This several
brought
o notice, and
while she was staying. at. Beverley Parksshe '•
published
occasional poems, which induced Mr. EmPs°ll'er to write him a
the bank-
rupt, to enter into an agreement with h
"Three was Times Dead"
novel. Miss Braddon's first
,i great literary effort," and 1
although '
sensa-
tional, and above £2OO was expended t was highly
in getting it out, the
work proved a failure, and to this
attributed his bankruptcy,
been in London, and whit; Since 1860 Miss Braddon has
achieved is matter of success her literary efforts have
said if Miss Braddonc notoriety.—Mr. Judge Baines
could surely afford to had. made £B,OOO out of her works she
first work, and who assist the man who had published her
doing so.—Mr. Ern had become. bankrupt partly through
from psou said he had not the slightest ex-
pectationsMissd 0 Braddon. The cause of the failure of
" Three Times D
attempted t ea
was that London publishers invari-
ablyo crush works published in the provinces.
—There being no
opposition to the bankrupt, he was
allowed to pass his examination, and an order of discharge
was granted.

EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERY.—On the 16th May
last the premises known as the Gaer, near Newport,
Monmouthshire, were burglariously entered, and the will
of the then recently deceased owner, Mr. Thomas Powell,
an eminent colliery proprietor in South Wales,several shares
in local works, and other documents, were stolen. A reward
of £lOO was offered for the recovery of the will, but without
effect, till last week, when a mysteriously worded commu-
nication was received from an anonymous correspondent,
stating that if a lady of the Powell family would attend at
a certain gate on the Gaer property, and there hold a con-
ference with the writer, the missing will and other docu-
ments should be restored intact, on payment of the promised
reward. An interview accordingly took place between a
supposed lady and the anonymous correspondent ; but £125
were demanded as the price for the restoration of the will,
and that sum being refused the conference terminated. A
second arrangement was made by letter for a meeting on
Monday night, but this also went off unsatisfactorily. A
th xd arrangement was mule for 'Wednesday night, but in
this the services of the police were engaged, and it resulted
in the capture of a young man, named Edward Gill, aged
IS, son of a picture-frame maker of Newport, after a des-
perate struggle with Sergeant Hale, of the county consta-
bulary. On searching the ground where the encounter took
place on Thursday morning the whole of the missing pro-
perty which had been so mysteriously stolen from the Gaer
was discovered. Gill was taken before the magistrates on
Thursday, when some prelimitlary evidence was adduced,
and the prisoner was remanded till this day.

FIRS_—In the course of Saturday and yesterchy
fires broke out at the private residence of Mr. E.
Highfield, 12, Holloway-place, Holloway-road ; on the pre-
mises of Yr. R. Filewood, tanner, Great Russell-street,
Bermondsey; at the stabling under the wool warehouses in
high-street, Aldgate, belonging to Messrs. Chaplin and
Home, the railway contractors; at 1, Bell-alley, Long -
alley, Moorfields ; on the premises occupied by Mr. Marks,
a cabinetmaker, 25, City-road; and in a range of farm
buildings belonging to Mr. J. Durdin, at Hayes-commou,
three miles from Beddington, in Kent. In none of these cases
were the flames extinguished until serious damage had been
d one.