Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-04-26
A NOVEL RACING MATCH.
Eobogganing Down . Run On Rocking
Horses to Decide n Wager.

Iobogganing Down . Run On Rocking
Horses to Decide a Wager.
There is no knowing what an Eng
Hshman Will not do to decide a bet.
Men have jumped across dining tables,
mounted upon untractable steeds-yea,
and ever kissed their own mothers-in-
LAWN order to settle a wager. In fine,
IL ought to be an established maxim
among as by this time that, given a GER
tain number of impc~sibilities and IN
equal number of young Englishmen,
those impossibilities will not long re-
main such, provided they be made the
subjects of bets.
One of those incidents which go a
long way toward iustifying the reputa-
tion which as a nation Of madmen we
have earned among foreigners occurred
at st. Moritz when, lin order TO settle
a bet,' Lord William Manners and the
Hon. lei. Gibson agreed to go down the
village run mounted on rocking
horses in place of ordinary toboggans.
A feature of the race was that both
competitors were ''attired in full hunt
ing kit and as elaborate preparations
had been made for the contest and ru-
NOR of the affair had been industriously
noised abroad the crowd which had as
sembied to witness it was both large
and distinguished.
The start was fixed for 10 O'Clock,
and shortly before that hour the shouts
of the spectators announced that the
horses were off. Unlike the custom in
toboggan races, both started az the same
time. In the first course Lord William
Manners led as far as a certain angle of
the run called Casper's Corners, from
the fact that a hotel of that name is
situated close by, but taking it rather
high Mr.. Gibson passed cleverly ON the
inside, which he maintained to the fin
ish," Lord William being summarily
dismissed from his fractions steed's
back some distance to the bad from the
winning post.
In the second course Lord William
Manners again had the advantage as far
as Casper's Corners, where Mr.. Gibson
again tried to pass him on the inside,
but being jockeyed by his opponent his
horse swung round and proceeded down
the run tail foremost, but leading. The
merriment of the spectators at this
stage of the proceedings may be more
easily imagined than described, nor did
it abate in the least when Mr.. Gibson,
dismounting, seized it unceremoniously
by the nose and turned it into the way
it should go.
Meanwhile Lord William Manners
had suffered disappointment a second
time, for in attempting to "take"-to
use a true hunting term-a particularly
awkward part of the run" called Bel
vedere Corner his horse refused to re-
spond to its riders exertions to get it
successfully over the obstacle, and horse
and jockey came down to the ground in
one tamultuous somersault together.
Lord Williams discontinue proved
to be Mr.. Gibson's opportunity. The
time and ground hat the former had
lost by his involuntary fight through
the air were never recovered. Mr.. Glib
son, with the position of his horse re-
versed and his legs thrust scientifically
in frcnt of him, rode easily and trium-
phantly forward and eventually reached
the winning post some seconds in adj
of his opponent. Alpine Post.