The record-union., 1892-11-14
odd BETS OF HISTORY.
Money Staked on Several Very Queer
Issues.
C1eopatra's Wager With Antony and
How She Won It-A French CounIS
Fatal Though Victorious Ride.

How She Won It-A French CounIs
Fatal Though Victorious Ride.
History relates some curious wagers,
one of the most unique of which is that
told Of Egypt's queen, the beautiful Cleo
patra, with Mark Antony. The queen
invites her Roman lover to supper and
bets him that she will eat at one meal
sum equal to SOB, 643 30. Antony accepts
the invitation, but upon coming to the
table and Observing nothing extraordi-
nary upon it. begins to rally the Queen
upon the trugality of her repast. She
makes no reply, but detaches from her
ears two pearls of great value, one OF
which she throws into a liquor prepared
for the purpose, by which it is speedily
dissolved, and swallows it in the presence
of Munatlus Plaucus, the chosen arbiter
of the wager AS she is about to do the
same with the other pearl Plaucus
snatches it away from her and declares
that she has already won.
The celebrated wager of Asclepiades,
the physician, as related by the st. Louis
Pos Dispatch, was not less extravagant
He wagered against great fortune that
he never would be sick in his life. Be-
sides the money he had bet his reputa-
tion OF being the most famous physician
OF his time was at stake. lie won his
wager, for, in tact, it is recorded that he
never suffered IL single hour from illness
while he lived, having died from tall he
received III extreme old age.
A certain French count made wager
with duke for 10000 crowns that he
would 60 twice and back again from the
Porte ST. Denis to Chantilly i'll certain
time. He had his whole body tightly
bandaged round and leaden bullet III
his mouth to refresh him by keeping up
i supply of moisture. Relays OF horses
were disposed from space to space, and
every embarrassment prevented that
might in the least retard his progress.
The swittest horses only We're chosen. y
clock was attached to the Porte st. Denis
to mark the time.
WON HIS BET BUT DIED.
He set out with the speed OF an arrow,
and in a moment was out of sight,
Never did man cleave the air with such
rapldity. On arriving at each relay,
without alighting, he sprang from one
horse on to the other, and continued his
flight. He arrived at the Porte st. Denis,
having performed his four courses eight
cen minutes before the appointed time.
He said he was still able 10 go to Yer
sailles to bring the king tidings OF his
success. All bathed in perspiration, he
was put in a warm bed, and afterwards
died from the effects of his effort. This
nobleman, remarks the narrator of the
exploit, deserves no praise for having
run such race. All that can be said of
him is that he would have made the best
post-boy in the world.
One of the widest wagers ever made
was in Paris in l726, and caused the great
III
the courts. That year 1t was so rainy that
it seemed the tioodgates of heaven were
really opened. All the rivers overtlowed
their banks and commerce was terribly
affected. Some superstitious persons pre-
dicted a second deluge, and many were
greatly alarmed. A Partisan banker
named Bulliot, having remarked that it
had raineG excessively on st. Gervais'
Day, June 18th, persuaded himself that it
would rain for forty days continuously
thereafter, basing his opinion upon the
truth of the old proverb that If it rained
st. Gervais' day it will rain forty days
after"
Infatuated by his faith in this saying,
and being on that day in the Cafe de la
Regence, near the Palais Royal, he en-
tered into conversation with some per-
sons on the subject of the incessant inun-
dations which were destroying the hopes
of good harvest Bulliot observed that
there would be more cause for alarm if
the rains continued forty davs longer
and that he was ready to wager that this
misfortune was inevitable. His evil
prognosis was received with bad grace by
those present and he was asked upon
what authority he based his prediction.
81 am sure OF it," he confidently replied.
"Let anyone bet against me; [ am ready
to put down my stake" He then threw
some louis on the table to excite the
ond Hafu rho inpra1n1
wild talk was not considered at all by
many present, who refused to enter the
lists against him, but others, more in
terestei, and flattered by the hope of win
ming, put down stakes for the same
amount that he did. The money was de-
posted in the hands of the cottee-house
keeper and the wager registered thus:
If it rain, little or much, during forty
days from St. Gervais' day, Bulliot has
won; if it discontinues raining even for
one single day during the forty days,
Bulliot has lost.
THE WEATHER CLERK DESERTED HIM,
This wager irritated the cupidity of the
whole cafe, who were eager to appropri-
ate the louis in which Buliiot so
abounded, so that after having staked
against all who would bet against him,
and after having emptied every purse,
he demanded with sort of insult ii
there were any others ready to op-
pose him. Believing himself sure of
victory, he proposed to those who had
no money to stake their gold-headed
canes. gold snuff-boxes and other valu-
able jeweiry, which were duly appraised
and placed in the hands of the same de-
pository. He even consented that those
who had neither money nor jewels should
deposit their Holland shirts, against
which he also consigned their value in
money.
The contagion of this folly having
spread abroad, the next day brought re-
Inducements who put down their stakes
against Bulliot. But his money at last
becoming exhausted, he offered these
newcomers bills payable to the bearer,
or letters of exchange. As he stood
high in the commercial world and had
never failed to honor his engagements,
his proposition was accepted. the amount
of this last character of wager amounting
to 1000 crowns.
In spite of the proverb the rain ceased
before the forty days. Bulliot lost, and
the keeper of the stakes accordingly gave