The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-06-30

work on earth is ended, rest calmly and serenely in
the bosom of the Beloved, the Sovereign Son Of God.
Selected.
THE GREAT BILLIARD MATCH AT DETRoIT.-As
the game of billiards has become a fashionable and
highly respectable amusement, numbering in this
city alone many thousand votaries, who are more or
less proficient in, and as it is perhaps the most grace
full and bealthful of all popular sports, combining a
gentle and varied exercise of the muscles with scien-
t6c and mental interest, we think it worth while to
report at length the particulars of the great match
played last night at Detroit.
The rival players were Michael Phelan, of this city.
and John Seereiter, of Detroit. Phelan has long been
the most skillful player in the country, and In all
the matches that he has played has come of con-
querer. He is now engaged in the manufacture OF
billiard tables in company with O'Conner & Collen-
der, under patents for improvements of his invention,
and has almost retired from the field as a professional
player. His great excellence in the game does not
consist so much in the bri.liancy of his shots, although
he has made some of the most astonishing on record,
as in the perfect GOODNESS with which he plays, and
in his ability to leave the balls, as it is termed /. e..
to leave them after one count in such a position rs to
secure another count for himself, or, when he cannot
count, to leave them in an awkward state for his
adversary. " fnesse is, of course. half the game;
but the imperthrable confidence with which he con-
tinues his play, under all circumstances, adverse or
propitious, is what gives him his superiority. Most
players are thrown of their balance when continually
unsuccessful, but Phelan plays always with equal
precision and irmness.
John Seereiter is n German, and though n young
man, is already the most famous player in the West.
He played a match lately with a celebrated player,
in Detroit, and won. His runs or counts are often
remarkable-higher we believe, than any Phean
ever made. But it is doubtful whether he has the
steadiness of nerve which characterizes the other.
The present match was made some weeks since,
and is played. we regret to say, for a purse of ten
thousand dollars. At the same time, outside bets,
among the classes of people who allow themselves to
engage in gambling, we have little doubt, to five
times that amount, have been wagered. A special
hall was prepare5 in Detroit for the exhihifion and
several hundred tickets issued. at five dollars each,
for the admission Of spectators. In the center of the
room, the table of O'Conner & Collender's make, with
Phelan's combination cushions" was placed. The
space allotted to the table and players was twenty-six
feet by thirty-two, which gave the players n space of
ten feet in the clear. at each end and side. From the
edge of this space-surrounded by a railway plat
form was raised to the height Of about four and u
half feet, and extending to the walls
On the inclined plane were about seven hundred
arm chairs for the spectators, which were held in
their places by parallel pieces Of wood fastened TO il,
separated from each other about twenty-five inches.
The chairs were so arranged that each of their oc-
cupants was able to note the progress of the game
without difficulty.
As previously announced, Phelan won by 9e points.
During the playing, there were three large runs
made as follows Phelan, 159, and 123 Seereiter,
159.-N. Y. Post.
a RAT IrEM-That Sc one-half the world doesn't
know how the other half lives'' is an old saving,
of whose truth we were never more convinced than
Ou hiO dnOnE liz bpIONc-
ments Of West Philadelp hia, we encountered an odd
looking genius with a cage upon his back, containing
a dozen or two of ~plethoric and fullgrown rats. They
were the fruits of a nights labor at the stables of the
West Philadelphia Railroad Company. The rat
catcher informed us that he is the proprietor of a pit
in which regular exhibitions of rat-6ghting are given
three times n week. The average consumption Of
rats in this pit is about lao per week. The catcher
knows all the spots in the city where rats are most
abundant, and there are his traps regularly set on
every night in the year. His best results are obtained
at the breweries, the livery stables, and around the
old and dilapidated quarters of the city.
He boards every foreign ship Immediately upon
her arrival, and during the first night generally
captures every rat that finds a harbor among its
timbers. Sometimes as many as o hundred are
caught on a single night from one vessel. The visit
of the rat-catcher on board a newly arrived ship is
generally met with a hearty welcome; the sailors-if
they remain on board-entering into the sport with
all the gusto OF so many school boys on a chipmonk
hum
The mode of catching the rats is by means of a
patent trap Of a large size and most ingenious con-
struction. 1t was invented by q convict in the
ONO penifeniiary. 1t is an oblong tox, open at both
ends, and baited with roasted cheese, sprinkled with
oil OF carraway. Mr.. Rat smells the delicious bait
and walks in. As he does 90 he treads upon a slid
ing trap; this let's him down into a grated apartment.
and then resumes its former position to accommodate
the next customer. A trap Of this kind is made at
each end of the box. One rat having entered, the
box is soon filed, and when the exulting rat-catcher
visits his trap, he is almost certain of having n
satisfactory spoil.
When the stock on hand becomes Urge, our rat
catcher deposits the surplus in a suitable receptacle,
ready for use when wanted. Sometimes he has ON
hand a thousand at a time. They are fed, meanwhile.
upon dead pigs or whatever offal of the sort NAV be
procurable, and the speed with which they will con-
vert such a carcase into a polished skeleton. should
be seen to be fully understood.
Frequently, an order is received from New York
for a supply of good. lively rats" regardless Of
price. and in such case the rat catcher often finds il
more profitable to brego the engagements of his own
pit, and forward his game elsewhere. Our informant
assures us that he received $50 a week or two aro
for an equal number OF rats, and that the purchaser
never expended monsy with less reluctance than in
perfecting the bargain What renders the matter the
more noteworthy isfhat the entire City rats referred
to were taken on aGjngly night. in . culvert in the
xeffe.
RELIGros AT Hoxk-" Let them learn FIRST, . SAYS
Paul, "to show piety At home" Religion begins in