The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-01-29
SOME QUEER WAGERS.
Extraordinary Bets Made By All
Sorts OF Persona.



Betting il . human weakness by no
means confined to the wagering OF
money on sporting events In all ages,
says the New York World. it has been
common to settle points OF difference
by a wager or to accomplish great feats
under the penalty of the loss OF given
sum. There's a man down in Kentucky
who vowed never to cut. his beard until
Henry Clay was elected president. This
was really q VOW, but it was also bet.
The man bet against fate and fate won.
A rash young Harvard graduate recent
" went around the world without a
cent of money in his pockets when he
started. 1t was given out that he had
laid a wager of five thousand dollars
that he could make the trip without
money. It has since turned out that
ne was simply the agent of widely
advertised article. Election bets are
sometimes made which require the
loser to wheel the winner in a barrow
over a certain distance. A famous
Yale football player once laid wager
one sitting. He ate them. Bridge
jumpers have risked their lives for
wager. The old English law forced
bettors to pay their debts A remarka-
BILE action was brought in 1912 by Rev.
Mr.. Gilbert against Sir Mark M.
Sykes. The baronet at dinner party
in his own house, in the course OF a
conversation of the hazard to which
the life of Bonaparte was exposed,
offered, on receiving one hundred
guineas, to pay one guinea a day as long
as Napoleon should remain alive. Mr..
Gilbert closed with Sir Mark, and sent
the one hundred guineas, and the lat
ter continued to pay the one guinea
day for nearly three years. At last he
declined to pay any longer and an ac-
ton was brought to enforce the pay
ment. It was contended by the de-
fendant that he had been surprised into
the bet by the clergyman's hasty ac-
ceptance of it, and that the transaction
was an illegal one, seeing that MIR. Gil
bert, having beneficial interest in the
life of Bonaparte, might, in the event
of an invasion, use all his means for
the preservation of the life of an enemy
of his country. The jury Loyalty
brought in a verdict for the defend
ant.
Another queer wager is the one pop
ularly believed to have been won by
Sir Walter Raleigh from Queen Eliza
beth on the debatable question OF how
much smoke is contained in pound OF
tobacco. A pound of the article was
weighed, burned and weighed again in
ashes, and the question was held to be
satisfactorily settled by determining the
weight of the smoke as exactly that OF
the tobacco before being burned, minus
the ashes. The fact Of the ashes hav-
ing received an additional weight by
combination with the oxygen OF the at
mosphere was unthoueht of bv Eliza
beth and the knight. An amusing bet
for the small sum of fve shilliugs was
laid in 1906 in the castle yard, York,
between Thomas Hodgson and Samuel
Whitehead as to which should succeed
in assuming the most original charac
ter. Hodgson appeared decorated with
ten-yuinea, fve-guinea and guinea
notes all over his coat and walstcoa,
and a row of fve-guinea notes around
his hat, while to his back was fastened
the words "John Bull" Whitehead
appeared like a woman on one side
one-half of his face painted, one sill
stocking and slipper, while the othel
side represented a negro in mans dress
with boots and spurs. John Bull
won the wager.
A gentleman of the last century lalt
a wager to a great amount that n
could stand for whole day on Londo'
| bridge with tray full of sovereign
| fresh from the mint and be unable T.
find purchaser for them at penn.
| aniece. Not one was disposed OF
| Wapers have sometimes taken grin
form. 1t is creditably recorded that il
the last century wager was laid 10
one of party of gay revelers to ente
Westminster Abbey at the hour OF mid
night. He was to enter one OF tn
vaults beneath the abbey; in proof Q
| his having been there he was to stick
fork into a coffin which had been re
Gently deposited there. lie accom-
p]ished his object. and was returning !
triumph, when he felt himself SUDDEN
caught, and was so overpowered o
terror that he fell in swoon. III
companions not being able to aceoun
for his absence found him in this cond
ton. The fork which he had fastene
into the coffin had canght and pinne
his cloak and so occasioned lit OF tel
ror which nearly proved fatal
Sir John PalSington, called Lust
Pakineton, and by Queen Elizabet
"My temperance" laid a wager
thirty thousand pounds sterling
swim against three noble courtiel
from Westminster bridge to Greer
wich, but her majesty interposed
prevent any further procedure ON I'll
bet. A gentleman named Corbet,
distinguished family near Shrewsbur.
bet his. leg was the handsomest IN II
country or kingdom. and staked estate
worth eighty thousand pounds sterlin
ON the subject. He won the wager, an
a picture is still preserved in the famfi
mansion representing the process
: measuring the legs Of the different co
testants.
OF the queer recent wagers, one HI
Just come to light Of New York bus
I, ness man who made bet sixteen yea
!. ago that he would not look at hlmse
!. in . mirror Tor twenty years. He b
. n - <t>A h>nk vzyh{Nh hi