Washington sentinel., 1899-03-18
A Sleeps Coat at Sunrise. a Mans
Coat At Sunset.
Strand Magazine.

1t is no new thing for US to see
records established one day and
beaten the next, th top place now.
adays being no sooner reached by
one individual than challenged 0y
another. The record IN the manu-
fac ure of cloth, however, with
which this article deals, though Of
eighty-eIght years standing, has
never yet been eclipsed. The scene
Of this remar kable achievement in
the sar toria art is the village Of
Newberry. Berkshire, and it came
about in this way. Mr.. John Cox
eter, then we'll known cloth m an.
ufacturer. the owner OF Greenham
Mills, at the above named village,
remarked in the course OF cOuver.
sation one dav in the year 1871, TO
Sir John Throckmorton, Bart, Of
Newoury, $50 great are the I'M
provements IN machinery which
have lately introduced into my mill
that | believe in twentv.four hours
l could take the coat off your back.
reduce it to wool, and turn it back
into a coat again" " The proverb
saws, There's many a true word
spoken in jest" SO great an I'M
preston did Mr.. Coxeter's bolst
make upon the baronet. that
shortly afterwards he inquired Of
Mr.. 'Coxeter # It would really
be possible to make a coat from
Sleeps wool betw en- the sunrise
and the sunset o a summers day.
That gentleman, after carefully
calculating the time ofthe different
processes, replied that in his npin-
ion it could be done.
Not long after the above conver-
sation, which took place at din
ner party, Sir John Throckmorton
laid a wager OF : thousand guineas
that at O'clock in the evening OF
June IS, 1911, he would sit down
to dinner in a we'll woven. prop rly
made coat. the wool OF which
formed the heeces Of Sleeps backs
3; FIVE o'clock that same morning.
Such an achievement appearing
pra -tlcally impossible to his listen
ers, his bet was eagerly accepted.
Sir ] ohm entrusted the accomplish
ment OF the feat TO Mr.. Coxeter.
and shortly before FIVE o'clock on
the morning stated. the early rising
villagers Of Newbury were aston
ished to see their worthy squire.
accompanied bv his shepherd and
two sheep, journeyrng toward
Greenham Mills Promptly at five
o'clock operations commenced.
and no time was lost getting the
sheep shorn. All imple.
ments to be used were placed in
readiness on the field OF action, and
the smallest actual operations in
the making Of the coat were per-
formed between the hours men
toned. = The sheep being
shorn, the wool was washed, stub,
bed, roved, spun and woven. the
weaving being performed by Mr..
CoXeter, ir., who had been found
bv previous competition to be the
most expert workman.
The cloth thus manufactured was
next secured, fulled, tented. raised,
sheared, dyed and dressed, being
completed by four o'clock in the
afternoon, just eleven hours after
the arrival OF the two sheep in the
mill yard. In the meantime. the
news Of the wager had spread
abroad among the neighborin0
villages, bringing crowds ofpeoDle
eager to witless the conclusion OF
this extraordinary undertaking..
The cloth was now put into the
hands Of the tailor, Mr.. lanes
White, who had already got all
measurements ready during the
so that not a moment
should be lost; and he. together
with nine Of hts men, with needles
all threaded, at once started on it.
For the next two hours and quar-.
ter the tallors were busv cutting
out stitching, pressing. and sewing
on buttons, in fact, generally con.
verting the cloth into a "well
woven, properly made coat" and
at twenty minutes past six Mr..
CoXeter presented the coat to Sir
John Throckmorton, who put the |
garment on before an assemblape |
or over FIVE thousand people, and |
sat down to dinner with it on, to-
gether with forty gentlemen, al |
eight o'cl OK in the evening.