The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-03-16
SOME CURIOUS CONTESTS.
Events Arranged by SROrtsmen with
Lively Imaginntions.
From Casselrs Magazine.

Al the beginning Of last year an &C
count was published in one of the sport
ing papers of a foot ball match on bicy-
cles which took place near Wolverhamp-
ton. The attempt to revoutionize our
great winter game completely failed
owing to its many inherent impossible
tiles, but it was interesting as showing
a tendency of certain orders of mind
| There has always been a large number
! OF so-called sportsmen who are never
! content with recognized forms of sport
! They are perpetually on the lookout for
some bizarre contest. AS a general rule
the more ridiculous the conditions under
which such contests take place the better
they are pleased. Any one who cares to
! take the trouble TO look through the
! files of Bells Life" can find ample evil
dence of this for himself
odd Q"-the famous Duke of Queens
! berry-had an extraordinary fertile imag
ination for weird and novel contests.
| Passing a Wheelwrights shop one day,
! he noticed one of the workmen trundling
a big wheel into the yard. The man was
running at good pace, and it immedi-
ately occurred 20 "Old @" that here was
an opportunity for, in the words of the
modern penny weekly. an absolutely
rcvel competition. After some CONVEX
sation with the wheelwright he learned
that a man could probably run faster
with a wheel than without one the wheel
no doubt acting as a sort of pacemaker.
Having obtained this valuable piece of
information, the duke promptly arranged
match between the wheewright and
certain fieet-footed barber of Oxford
street, and offered a very substantial
prize to the winner The conditions
were that the wheelwright should trun-
die one of the back wheels of the dukes
carriage, while the barber, OF course
should run unincumbered. Just before
the match came off the duke made the
unpleasant discovery that his nominee
could only show his best turn of speed
with wheel a foot higher than that of
the dukes carriage. But "Old Q" wasn't
to be baffied by an obstacle of this kind
He had a sort of platform or dais a
foot high erected along the course where
the race was to be run. BY trundlng
the carriage wheel along the top of this
dais while he himself ran on the ground
beside 1t. the wheelwright was no longer
handicapped, and won the race easily.
The winner, by the way, must have been
something of an acrobat as well as a
Splinter to have balanced the wheel on
a narrow platform while travelling at full
speed.
All true golfers must have read with
pain an account of the dastardly attempt
which was made two years ago to tam
per with the sacred game In most
| reprthenslble spirit of levity two golfers,
| in July, 1898, arranged a match of which
| the conditions We're that one of them
should go around the links with the or
binary ball and clubs, while the other
should go round with a bow and arrow.
The superior driving powers of the bow
and arrow won the day. AS a putter
the bow proved contemptibly ineffect-
i've implement. but it amply compensated
for this inferiority by the certainty with
which it sent the arrow soaring over
the bunkers.
As lawn tennis players are not nearly
such a serious-minded race as golfers, 1t
is only to be expected that lawn tennis
should suffer where even golf cannot
escape. The writer remembers seeing
some ten years ago a weird contest be-
tween a most distinguished Irish lawn
tennis player and an opponent to whom
under ordinary circumstances he could
give enormous odds. On this occasion,
in lieu OF the usual odds, he undertook
TO play him with soda water bottle
instead of a racket. The match proved
infinitely more exciting to look at than
it appears on paper. The accuracy of
the wielder of the soda water bottle was
something extraordinary, and in the end
he won fairly easily. The experiment
was also interesting as showing the inn
possibility of handicapping a player of
the highest class and a fifth-rate per-
former. But though this match had
something to recommend it, the same
cannot be said of a ridiculous contest
which took place in the early days of
lawn tennis at Brighton. In this match
one of the players rode a pony which
was shod with leather shoes for the oc-
casion, ard is said to have appeared to
| take personal interest in the affair
/ while his opponent, a life guardsman
was errayed in the full panoply of the
uniform of that corps in heavy marching
order. They played the best of five sets,
and the mounted player won by three
sets to two, his opponent at the end be-
ing absolutely exhausted
A match which excited a considerable
! amount OF interest at the time was played
| forty years ago between John Roberts
| father of the present billiard champion
| and an amateur who was a very fair
player. Roberts played with an old UNI
brella instead of a cue, his opponent be-
ing equipped in the normal fashion. To
appreciate fully the difficulty OF Roberts
! task let any one try the experiment for
himself. He will be lucky IL he can make
the direction which he intends. OLD
Roberts, who. by the way, lost the UNI
| brella against cue match, had a great
| fancy for similar experiments. 1t is on
record that when he met "a very inferior
| player he would abjure the cue alto
! gcther and play with his nose.
AS an inventor OF absurd contests. che
late Sir John Ashley was almost as dis
/ tif guished as the Duke of Queensberry
! His great forte was arranging races be-
tween animals which nature had appar-
| emily made almost unsuitable for the
| purpose. When quartered at Windsor
| ne instituted the only race that ever
took place between chickens. This pecu-
/ liar contest came about in the following
way: While ON "a visit to a friend near
Windsor who kept hen rum Sir John
noticed how rapidly the chickens used to
| scurry to their mother when food was
thrown 10 her. Here was the germ of an
| idea for II good sporting match and at
mess a few nights afterward Sir John
Ashley eNpouuded to his brother officers
his plans for the great chicken race. He
| had bought from a farmer a hen and a
brood OF chickens. Each officer was 10
choose chicken and mark 1t with a
ribbon so thot he could easily recognize
| Il The chickens were To be placed about
nftN wards away from their moi her and