Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-06
Description of the Gorgeous Process
sion and the Contests of
Speed Which Followed.
CRICKET AND BASE BALL GOSSIP
Mitchell Is Willing to Meet Sullivan but
BE Strongly Advises the Latter
not to Fight Again.
ANEW VERSION OF THE POKER STORY.
The Quarters Of the Famous Pelican Club are Disap-
pointing to the Stranger


CORRESPONDENCE OF THE pIsPAToH.l
LONDON, June 21.-Sporting reviewers
have always plenty OF subjects to deal with
in England. A half energetic writer need
never have any desrth of matters to deal
with. Horse racing, of course, is the great
thing among Englishmen in summer time,
judging by the space devoted to it by the
sporting press. Pages of newspapers are
given up to the description and details of
the various race meetings. This week is
one of the prominent weeks of the season, it
being the Royal Ascot week. Americans
who have never been at Ascot during the
summer races have no idea OF the surround
ings. 1t would seem impossible to convey
to readers anything Ikea correct notion of
the scenes by written account, and most
certainly no American should visit London
without going down to Ascot if the races
are going on at the latter place.
The races Ghere are under royal patronage,
and that means that almost all the leading
aristocrats in the land are there. was one
OF the big crowd of spectators Yesterday, and
what was to be seen was well worth seeing.
The crowd was not extremely large, but roy-
atty was we'll represented. According 10 GUS
tom the meeting was opened by the roval
procession, and this was a very imposing
sight. 1t was about Ito o'clock when the
attractive procession in semi-stste appeared
on the new mile course. The people formed
themselves into a hnman lane through
which the cortege passed amid pleasant
greetings. 1t was headed BY Lord Coventry,
who is Master of the Buckhounds which Office
1 am told, is an absolute sinecure. He was
adorned in green coat. Beside him was Mr.
Overton the Queens head gamekeeper
in he yUh ha
wears this week alone of all the year.
The first carriage contained the Prince and
Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess
of Edinburgh; the second the Duke of Clarence
and Avondale his two sisters and the Duke of
Cambridge. A long line of dukes, lords and
knights followed. The carriages passed into
the royal incOsure Free if not far, from the
'madding crowd" There could ret a good
look at the royal representatives The inte
Of Wales was the cynosurs of all eyes, ,hile her
royal husband came in for good share of
gapeseed. He looked just harmless and in
noceut as ever. The Princess wore a dress of a
new shade, between lavender And slate. The
dresses generally on the royal stand we're gor-
geous in the extreme. But there was person
age there who attracted more attention than
all the princes put together. l refer Sir
Charles Russell, the famous Irish member of
Parliament and lawyer He and Lord Church
i'll were ia company and probably nobody en-
ioyed the close finishes better than Sir Charles.
He Is q real sport. and am told does not hesi-
tate to put up the cash on more events tnan
horse racing.
About the Racing.
The racing was good as English racing gener-
ally 10. There were or two big surprises,
one of them being the easy defeat of surefoor,
the horse that was backed so heavily for the
Derby and didn't win it. The big event of the
day was the Ascot Stakes, which was won by
the favorite, Lo,d Lorne. A gentleman who
claimed to know all about every race on the
card took considerable trouble in trying to con-
vince me that Lily Of Lumlev couldn't win. 1
became convinced of that fact to the extent of
a few shillings, but Lily couldn't get nearer
than third place. The race was a good one.
There were eight starters and Lord Lorne just
got home in time as Harheur an outsider,
passed him a stride beyond the post Lord
1orne won the same race last year. The dis
tance is about two miles, and yesterdays win
ner carried III pounds. The time was minutes
81 3-5 seconds. The value Of the stakes was
about 81 0o0-
The English. however pay little or no atten-
tion to time. Everything goes on the perform
ance of horse against horse The B1tishers
are excellent judges of horsefesh. and are not
slow to select good horse. have just referred
TO Surefoot, and it is safe to say that he has no
chance to win the St Leger. He has turned
out to be a rank disappointment. j was
claimed that he lest the Derby because he was
NOT ridden correctly. Instead of allowing him
his head to GO in the front at once his jockey
kept him back, and he attempted to bite the
other horses. When he was required to go TO
the front he would not IL was, therefore,
S-year-olds when they met again. Tuesdays |
race. however, was different and he still lost
He led well into the stretch, but when Alloway
and Blue Green challenged him, he refused to |
make effort There a very large amount |
of maney lost over him. One thing worthy of |
note at the races was the lack OF enthusiasm |
compared with what we see at an American
race track. Still the Britishers make things
pretty lively, and are good bettors when they
have the money.
The Cricket Plnyers.
I am aware that there is not much interest TO
Americans in talking about cricket affairs, but
think have an exceptional feature to deal
with this week. The other day l visited the
Oval and saw part of the match between the
South of England and the Australians. The
latter did not perform well by any means, but
] don't intend to comment on the merits or de-
merits of the play. We have time and time
again had comparisons made between cricket
and base ball and after all the arguing AID
talking Engllshmen generally claim cricket to
be the only game and Americans hold a similar
opinion regarding base ball. Now l took
thoroughly impartial view Of the matter at the
Oval As the contest proceeded, to the best Jf
my ability, j compared it in all respects with
base ball and i came to the conclusion that
base ball Is certainly better adapted for the
masses as a national game than Is cricket.
Now, don't intend just now to go into de-
tails on the matter, but certainly l am prepared
TO defend my position if it is assailed. That
cricket will never be a leading game through
out the United States am certain, simply be-
cause il does not contain the elements that the
Americans must have True, there many
good features in cricket, but the very features
that would be attractive to Americans are not
present az all. noticed one thing IN the matcn
! have referred to which enables me to make
something of a comparison. DR.. w. 9. Grace,
the champion was playing and he was point
or what IN baseball D2rlance might be called an
infield player. Now, DR.. Grace is very
cOrpuient man. almost as much SO as
our genial officer Fowler, who stands at Wood
street and Fifth avenue. Well, what claim is
that DR.. Grace could not play an infield posi-
tiOn in baseball team because of his corpu-
lency, and yet he is ranked first class as a
cricket fielder. How is this? 1t must mean
that there is a better class OF fielding in base
ball or that the work is more difficult. 1 am
not exaggerating the case at all Take Ed
Williamson, for example. He too corpu-
lent to play only few weeks ago, and yet he
was only about half the size of DR.. Grace.
There is another matter IN this connection
with which / wish to deal 1t relates to anna
teurisn. In the cricket teams there are
numerous gentlemen who do nothing. dur
These gentlemen are classed as amateurs,
and are. therefore. supposed not to receive one
cent for their services. For instance take the
cases of Dr. Grace and W. W. Read. The
latter has no other means of living except by
receiving money for his playing. He has no
business nor has be any capital The Surrey
Club pays him EGO a year Ter being assistant
Secretary, but ii is certain that besice that he
receives money for playing at various places.
DR.. Grace j. hot a wealthy man, and can he
dupTO 70 neglect Dls all lot
nothing7 l contend that it would be better to
make no distinction at all At present there is
every encouragement to deceive and misrepre-
sent
English Baseball.
have only poor knowlsdge at present 90 to |
how the baseball war st home IL waging. All |
that guides us here in the latest movements OF |
the game at home are the results Of the games /
every day. But there will soon be plenty 20 in |
tcrest baseball admirers here. The champion |
ship season of the new league here opens on /
Saturday. have Just received a copy of the |
schedule. and il is a very crude affair as far as
y d n IA he fs mi i