Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1872-12-14
Wagers.
CyrtOsiffes Of BesHng-SOfsse SfO-
ries Of fhe Olaen Tnse-'asec-


wages have been called fools argu
ments, but they are the resort of Eng
iish-speakihg people everywhere for
the settlement of all tOrcible questions.
In the olden times, in England, "bet-
ting" was the rule of lire, as the litera-
ture of the last century and the coun
try before show. Sir Robert WalpOle
bet with Mr.. Pulteny a gninea, that he
had not misquoted Horace III Parlia-
ment. The Clerk of the House declar
ed Pulten, right upon which Sir Ro-
bert threw the guinea across the House
to be picked up by his opponent, with
the remark that it was the first public
money he had touched for a long time.
The headquarters OF betters were at
Whites. WalpOle writes: "One OF
the youths at Whites has committed
a murder, and intends to repeat it. He
betted 1900 guineas that man could
live twelve hours under water; hired a |
desperate fellow, sunk him in ship
by way of experiment, and both ship
and man have not appeared since. An
other man and ship are to be tried for
their liyes.v Many bets were made on
health and longevity. A writer refer
ring to this, says that those who wOnld
be gamers by the death OF a person on
whom wager is land, swatch all the
stages OF his illness, and are rs impa-
tient for his death as the undertaken
who expects to have the care of funer
al /; while the other side are very sOlic-
itous about his recovery, and send
every hour to know how he does, and
take as much care of him as clergy
mans wife does of her husband, who
has no other fortune than his living.
remember man with the constitu-
ton of porter, upon whose life very
great odds were laid but when the
person he was pitted against was ex-
pected to die every week, this man
shot himself through the head, and
the knowing ones were taken ill.,"
Lord Mountfore aud Sir John Bland
staked twenty g',ineas aside upon the
lives of two noted men, the former
backing Beau Nash to Outlve COlley
Cibber. The comedian died in 1907,
at the age of Sc, and the beau in 176l,
at the age of 81; but, before the first
event came about, both the wagerers
bad committed suicide. At the house
of Sir Mark Sykes, the conversation
turned upon the dangers to which
BOnaparte was expnsed, and the host
offered to take a hundred euineas
from any one of the company, and pay
back "a guinea day as long as Bona
parte lived. The Rev. b. Gilbert ac-
cepted the offer, and paid down his
hundred gtineas. For three yenrs he
received his guinea a day regularly
enough, then the baronet grew tired
of his had bargain, End refused to con-
time his payments. The clergyman
brought an action to compel Sir Mark
to fulfill the agreement. The court
decided that as the wager created an
undue interest in the preservation of
the life Of public enemy, and, on the
other hand, held out an inducement TO
plot his assassination, it tended to pro-
duce public mischief, aud was there
fore Illegal.
Wagers have sometimes proved fatal
to the unconscious subjects of them.
Cir Thomas Hoste, of Aston, riding
home from tie hunting field with
some friends extOlled his cooks pune
t,iaIitv in such extravagant fashion
that he was badgere,l into risking con-
siderable sum upon it. Unluckiiy, for
the first time, the cook WAS behind
time with the dinner. Enraged at the
jeers of his visitors, the irate Sir Thorn
as made for the kitchen. took up a
cleaver lying too readily, and with one
blow killed his unhappy servant.
elm September, 1885," says the An
nual Register, "a young Irish gentle
man, for very considerable wager,
set out on MONDAY. the 22d instant, to
walk to Constantinople and back again
in one year land in June of the follow
ing year, Mr.. WhalIey arrived about
this time in Dublin from his journey
to the Holy Land, considerably W thin
twelve months. The wager lai / on the
performance of that expedition was
100000. Buck Whalley was Dublin
macaroni, whose appearance IN swal-
low-talled blue coat, gay waistcOat,
buckskin breeches and top boots,
created no little astOnishment at Jeru-
salem. He was taken for a mailman
and, thanks to that belief and a stout
shelalagh, went on his way unmolest-
ed, and was enabled to return home to
claim his winnings, and he was hence.
forth dubbed Jerusalem Whalley.r
Some years ago London waterman
wagered that he and his dog would
jump from the centre arch of West
minister bridge and land at Lambeth
together. He leaped from the bridge,
and the dog followed suit, but taking
it into head that his master was drown
ing, the faithful fellow dragged him
willy-nilly to shore, and by his well.
intentioned blunder lost the water.
man hiS uagar An ;p,n,do,.t ,,,.oa