The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-07-10


However, before anything unpleasant oc-
CURED, an unexpected something turned
up. 1t came in the person of my friend Mr..
James o. Hooligan.
Jimmy GHooligan was q boisterous Irish
man, very well known in the Bohemia of
London at that tine. He was a middle-aged
man, of somewhat handsome appearance,
and carrying himself with a military air.
| lie possessed glib tongue, an amazing
| fund of anecdote, had musical voice and
ear and all the social advantages of one
| who has kissed the Stone of Barney. Need
add that Jimmy was extremely popular
with both the ladies and gentlemen of his
acquaintance?
| He got his living in one of those mysteri-
Gus ways common to Bohemia. Sometimes
he sat as a model in the studios of such art
lists as could afford the luxury. In thi;
way he may have earned a good deal al
times-for models are often very we'll paid
and he has figured i'll many a character on
| the walls of Burlington House.
Jimmy seemed to be known by everybody.
| He hung about the newspaper offices, par
teularly those of a sporting character. He
was admitted behind the scenes of theaters.
| He was on the free-list of every music hall.
He knew every prominent member OF ''the
| fancy" and the p. r., and all over London
| he was hailed as a cherished friend by pub
| licans and bar-maids.
These characteristics threw romantic
halo over Jimmy, TO my young and some
what verdant mind. Moreover, he was the
| life aud soul Of every party he got among,
| though rather vulgar, coarse and disreputa-
| BILE soul, 1t must be admitted. But he was a
| frequent visitor to the studios of Camden
| Town, and was quite one of our free-and-
| easy fraternity.
| 1t was the Monday morning before the
Derby, that race, as every one knows, being
run upon Wednesday. l was sitting in
my studio at work, knocking off one OF those
thin experiments in color which took but a
day to complete, and upen which "uncle''
would advance me 10 shillings or q ponnd,
half OF that being profit or earnings to me,
| the balance covering cost of canvas. colors
| and frame. In the midst of my work there
entered to me the O'Hooligan.
Evidently there was something in the
wind; Jimmy's entrance was dramatically
impressive. Cautiously projecting his head
through the half-opened doorway he asked:
| Are We aloue?'
into the room, like snake. holding the door
as closely IS was compatible with the pas
sage of his body. Once inside, he quickly
closed the door. and locked il; then he turned
/ ed and faced me, standing still, with his
back against the door, and summoning into
| his face look of intense excitement. He
seemed to be laboring under the presstsse OF
some tremendous secret, which was struggl-
| ing TO force its way out of him.
| Suddenly he crossed the room toward me
| with long, slow strides, and on tiptoe, hold
ing up warning finger the while, and lit
orally cleaning on me with fixed, meaning
| eyes. Laying his hands on my shoulders he
whispered hoarsely:
Our fortunes made.
| Then he stood back and eyed me.
"Oh, indeed" l said, for knew Jimmy.
Another straight tip, snppose?'
Another he shrieked. 1.-THE straight
| tip, me bhoyl The straightest that liver
| there! eighties to wan! hundred to wan
and sartin as the fate av sinnersr'
struggled desperately against the conta-
| gion of Jimmy's manner, for knew by ex-
| perience what it all meant. said:
| Look here, old man, I've had about
enough of your tips They never come off
! you knowr'
"Ah, pow, see here! You've been playin'
at bettin'-no more. / gave ye tips, I'll:
true, and they didn't come off. That's part
! ly the reason why Pm givin' We this, tc
make up for thin others. I'm in airnest
this tmer'
| He was, apparently. His eyes were dane
ing and glittering in his head, his hands
demonstrating, and his whole person indi
catlve of eagerness. He could hardly speak
so strong was his agitation. began to fee
| the excitement extending to myself, and
knew that was destined to give way to it
| See now he continued. ''Pve sur
prised wan av the deadest saycrets av the
Turf, wan av the biggest things that's ivyeI
been. tell We we could make our~-Jrlune:
if we'd only enough to put.oss.--Sft's a plan
that's just goin' tomake This Derby the most
| astoundin' wan liver runi
No! 1t don't matther how | got it.
can { ten even you that. But sid to me-
| self, ye've got to keep this thing dark
| There's just wan chum ye're goin' TO take
in wild yer. Him and you's goin' in ON this
thing, an goin' to do the biggest shtroke
| thst liver yell git the chance of yer whole
| lives! I've put on livery blessed penny I'm
| worth, an here | am, me bhoyr'
1t was no use trying to keep calm. Hi;
excitement mastered me, and l felt that
| come veal or woe, had to do as he wished
/ He went on:
| ss"Whisper noB-it's solemn sacred say
cret between US two, remember that! Did ye
| liver hear av the Makeshift Colt? No; We
didn't, nor nobody else. But tell ye, that's
the horse that's goin' to win this years Der.
by.
80, ye needn't look at the lists; he's moi
in the bettin' at all-not yet, anyway.
| They've held that coult back, an kept m as
dark's the back of Hades An now, thin
as is in the saycret, they're goin' round TAX
in the odds on the quiet.
/ There's no enc knows word av it out.
| side the stable, barrin' me an you. The
bookmakers'l II just give amy odds at all
about the horse; they don't know his name
| yit, event.
And so on, and so on, till, after an hour:
talk | was as completely persuadedsas any
1 Arrl1 rxfoh rt1I1 oI lie
| tirely to the fever of which o. Hooligan was
the present exponent. ] soon saw that hi
was thoroughly in earnest himself, and il
| was not long before / was as mad on the
subject as he. / saw that had got means
at last, for relieving myself of my Difficult
ties, providing myself with &C tual capita
and for ma king my marriage with Lucy al
| immediate possibility
''Sell livery blessed sticki Sweep out th,
whole bag o tricks Pawn the coat aft ye
backl An crack the bilin' on to the Make
shift Coltr' was Jimmy's advice.
found, ON inquiry. that bad, curiously
enough, drawn ''the field' in big sweep
stakes at the Brush and Palette. As The
Makeshift Colt was name unknown 10 thu
lists, it had not been put among those
drawn, and consequently it belonged to me
as holder of ''the feld' ticket.
''Tha's yours, thin, anyway" said Jim.
my, referring TO the sweep. l accepted thi:
drawing, for my own part, as an omen Of
success. was thoroughly with Jimmy now
had little enough money; but quickly
sold or pawned every available article that
owned, even going so far as TO raise
money upon the few bits of furniture ant
studio effects that | had. | made up
purse of about 40 sovereigns, which really
| represented every stick or rag in my possess
ion, except what stood upright in.
Then my Irish monitor and myself pro
coded to visit certain book-makers. A re
mark that the first of them made to us wa
substantially repeated by the rest.
''Never heard Of your fancy till this morn
| ing. Gave hundred against him to one OF
two parties that came to bet on him. Hao
| to look up the "Guide'' to see If there wa.
such horse at all. Eut can't give quite thu
long price again. Make it eighties to on'
for YOU"
put on $50 at these odds, and / asc
"placed'' the colt at fifteen to one, putin,
on 81 in that way. Jimmy was enrsptured
for if the colt carried off the event l should
win 60, 500-a mint of money in orr eyes
he himself had put on all he could raise
how much exacly do not know.
OTIS foine time we'll be having pres
ently,' he said. "Won't the BOYS oper