SPORTS OF OLD ON THE "COAST"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 140, 2 March 1918, Page 9

SPORTS OF OLD ON THE "COAST"

RECREATIONS OP GOLD RUSH-DAVS

AND SOME CHAMPIONS

(By "Sylvius.")

Tiwro were three of them. iSach man li.-id spent the bost of his days in what they collectively agreed was the bust, little corner ot - tho world—the Wost Coast in tho days of .the-gold rush (the late '6'o's. and the '7O's)j the days when men wtre men, and had to prove it in their daily lives before tiiey were accepted as such. West, Coasters' chivalry; West Coasters' honour; West Coasters' patriotism, they each and all agreed were virtues that made for the-highest type of manhood. That was agreed upon beforo the magnum.! sway of reminisconce began to their" joint and several tongues in a recent accidental.meeting. 'J'he tliroo—why should they not bo known.'' —were James Doyle (Chief City Inspector), Mr. ltobert M'Farlaml, or Wellington, and Mr, William Campbell, of tho Coast. ■ The visit of the latter—who arrived on the Coast, in 1807—to Wellington hud brought about tlie chance meeting. As-usual, the Interloper was there, and as the tongues wagged he realised that a pago of one phase of the history of the West Coast was being unfolded—tho phase of sport. Listen to the rough record ' spasmodically registered: — "Do you remember Slick Bourke?—a ; great fighter was Mick, with tho head : iind shoulders' of a Grctfk god. . . -. And little Tommy league?" "All, Tommy Teaguel Do I remember him ? For his, inches a peer-1 loss fighter, a champion from tho i crown of his head to his toes. What.

j action I . . . And George Bird!" j "George Bird," said Doyle, turning : to the Interloper, "was a man who, had ; ho been in his prim to-day, would be i tho champion middle-weight of the ', world. - Fourteen. «stun, all muscle, ■: perfectly proportioned, as active as a ' cat on his feet, and steely blue eyes. jA born fighter! Heigh-ho! . . . I'll noyer forgot the night Howe and Bburko : got to it ia tho Haw Haiv dance room m. tho Grey. They adjourned to tho paddock at the back of the Shakespeare dance hall. Bourke

was as savage as a bull, and ho got j George with one- of his mighty swings i and down he went, lie camo up again though, and again Bourko got him. For [ tho second time George came up..- The : third time Bourke , missed—that was tho ond of him I George got in one punch, and broke ono of Bourke's ribs! ( Bob Howe was a good man, too, alino runner, fighter, and wrestler." "Talking of Bob Howe reminds mo of Tommy Carton. I suppose he was tho greatest collar-aud-eioow wrestler over seen in New Zealand. So clean and quick and clever," "But when you talk of runners don't forgot Bob Hanjjer and i'at Twohill,

botli great runners and rivals. . . • Dear, •oh dear! Do you recollect when they were pitted to run five races against one- another for £200? It was the first time I had seen a runner , stripped to tho buff, running only in tights. 'Threes of .the races were to bo run on the Saturday, and two on the Monday. Each man won two races. And they wanted Pat to put off the deciding raco until a third day to got another gate. 'Not for a thousand pounds,' said Pat, 'I'll win to-day!' And win ho did ; . . bolted at the start and Hanger. never caught him. Ah,'a great athioto was Pat.- 1 wonder they never wrote him up when ho was burnt to death in the Wellington Hotel." ■ , "Jimmv Vauffhan, too—d'yo remember him?" asked Campbell. , "Do I not!" replied Doyle. "Didn't I beat him over tho half inilo, when they gave him appearaiico money to como to GrcyiiKiuth. Put it up to him in two-five." ■ "Then there was Teddy Webber!"

"Yes; but Teddy was not in the same class as Pat Twohill." "Do you mind when Pat ran Jimmy Vaughan?" . "Yes, I do. And it was said, that Dan Twohill, Pat's brother, who was holding ono end of the tape, pulled it towards Pat at tho finish, whilst Jimmy fell under it—a dead heat. Pat claimed tho race, hut Watty I.rwin wouldn't pay over tho stakes until ho wrote to the 'Australasian, , which replied that the tape was only an imaginary , lino to mark tho finish." "That's all wrong," said Doyle. "You must breast the tape at tho finish! ... Of course that is so. Don't I know! When Jimmy Wilkio rail Anderson, didn't Jimmy jump over the tape at tho finish and tho moucy was given to the second man?"

Doping the "Doc." "And don't forget Harry Dufty, the walker. ... Yes, and the 'Doctor' (Bowdler), who was knocked on the boad with a lemoiiadd Iwtib.

Dufty was walking tlio 'Doctor,' and in thoso days the backers of tho men used to follow their favourites round, cheering them up, and spraying them with water. .At tho quartei-milo the 'Puctov' was fifteen yards ahead, but Dufty said it was all right. At the half-mile tho 'Doc' had pulled out 50 yards, and at tho milo 100 yards. Then one of the gang who Wai backing Dufty got in amongst, tho 'Doctor's' i followers and said: 'It's all right, yer ! winnin' aisy, man!' And, pretending I to spray water on liiin from a leinouado bottle, hit him a clip with it, and out went tho 'Doc, , leaving Dufty to stToll homo an easy winner. Poor old j 'Doc.'—they used to call him Tills and Powder!'" "Talkuig about that sort of thing, I recall the day when Bob Howe ran a young fellow. They were both, I squared to lose, and you nover saw a funnier race iu your life. First, Bob ! went lame, and still couldn't get bo-! j hind hia man, who was lingering very I cleverly. Then lie shied off the course altogether, whilst the other man fainted dead away!" "I was in Otago where. Harkinstall I nnd Wagstaff were both squared to lose. They fell and loafed and did alt sorts of things. Then "Wasstaff bolted aoross a swamp hell-for-leather, and the crowd who had backed him. went after him, and forty or fifty of 'em got stuck in tho mud." "Harkinstall," said Doyle, "I Tβmember well. I met him m a 'pub' in Timaru, where he was challenging anyone in the world to jump him. I was no slouch of a jumper in those days, so I put one of them up to lay a tenner that someone in the house could tap him to death. When they wanted Harkinstall to put up his money he showed his wisdom. Ho wanted to know who the man was—'Trot him out • says he, 'and let's have a look at him! So they brought me into the room and told him my name was Doyle.. What, : Jimmy Doyle I , said he, looking me , over with the eyo of an expert 'thore s j nothin , . doiu , , , he said, '.you're too j good-lookin' and too young! i "It was in Dunedin. too, that I s»' . Geordio Holmes run against Johnny i Wise—thfi.ro were Johnny and Harry, : two brothers. Holmes won the iirst race, and fainted at the finish, ho another match was made, and again Geordie just won—and fainted. So u third match was' made, but '.signm Geordio won. Ho was too clever lor the Wise men." . "Bill Damms was a lioHy lighter ol thoso days. He came out mi tho «nmA ' ship with Dufty, and one day Dufty peeled off to fight him, so Bill retired; to his cabin and ciimo.oti deck with, his pants tucked up nnd wearing big: ugly, wooden clogs. 'What 'aro you; goin' to do with them?' said Dufty,,

referring; to his timber boots. 'A'm

.yoing to punch ihee's liead on! unt uioy wouldn't stand for it." "J),y'o mind Tom Milnor? •. • • "Aye, with the hole in his noso." "And Heapy?" "All, lleapy, a great, little man lor ins inches. lie was only live foot two, but I saw him jump-oft. standing jump wii.h weights. Pat Twohill only heat him by an inch, and Pat was a jumper. And Dolaneyl" "Dclancy was on the_ scratch with me in tho big handicap in Greymontli in '7U. I won it. Poor Delaney d'dn't score a point." That from Doyle.

"Von remember Stenhouse, Bob?" "Yos, ho won the handicap at lleefton two years after I did," replied M'Farland.

"1 ran Stonliouso," said Doyle, "with a man on his back, me to run a ]00, u;id he 50 yards—a popular kind of event in tlioso days. Old Dick Scddou Lacked me that day, but Stenhouso got a good start, and boat me. SnMou came at mo about it, and I told him to. get another match on for the following Saturday. This time I flew off with the trigger, and won comfortably! . . . Talk, about handicapping with ireights! I can remember when Striko ran Jack Harris, Jack with two bags of shot slung over his shoulders.

"Jack Harris," oxplaiued Doyle, "was fiie man who ran Hewitt for £1000 in Melbourne. Jack was then the champion sprinter of Australia, and Cuppin, tho theatrical manager, brought out three of the best from England: Frank ■ Hewitt, the sprinter; Albert Bird, the fniiious ten-miler, aud Topley, the ivalker. The race for tho £1000 was hold on the Melbourne Cricket Ground—best man out of five races. They had won two each, and in the final race Hewitt claimed a dead heat, and Harris a win! George Watson, who was the judge, went clean out of his way, and gave Hewitt a win. It was naid afterwards that he had backed Hewitt."

I "I remember/ , said Doyle, "a half j milo road race they ]ind at Hokitika. One of the competitors boarded the conch, caught up to tile leaders in tho race, quietly dropped off the back and cantered home an easy winner!" . ' "Do to.u 'remember 'Flower of Wheat'?" asked Campbell. "Who was be?" remarked the Interloper. ' " "■ii Flower of Wheat' was a big redheaded Irishman with a great big face like a Dutch clock—a face like a mirror hit with a hammer, all enlits and outs and sears. Always fiphting. He fought a Dutchman for eight hours onro on the boat." And so the talk floated on and on, in. and out round tho deeds of Jack Teytlon, the wrestler; Harry Dunn,-a better wrestler: Geordie Cohen, past master in the Cornish and collnr-and-elbow style; Jack Whelnn; "Cousin Jack" (who came from New .York armourod with medals); Tom Barton, Dinnie Duffy, TWehe, Bill Kettle. Jack Callaghan, Bob King, and others who have mostly rrosscd the Divide.