THE RACE-COURSE BRIDGE.

Evening Star, Issue 4044, 11 February 1876, Page 2

THE RACE-COURSE BRIDGE.

A Hp?cial meeting of the committee of the .Jockey Giub was held at the Umpire Hotel last ev-ning to investigate the alleged tampering with a rail of a budge leading on to the course! 1 here were present-Mas re Dowse (vke-presi-dem% in the chair), T. O'Donnell, H. Gourly, C. Moore, F. Meenan, A. Smith, S G.*Smitfu J. Beany, W. H. Taggart, J. M'Neill, ami James (secretary). The broken lail was produced and minutely examined by al present, the opipimi beingunanimoußly arrived at that although one end —looked at alone—appeared -to bear the narks of a tool, when the fractured parte were joined together it was clear that that the rail had not been severed by any instrument. The conviction on the minds o> a'l was that the breakage was simply an accident. The &EOBETARY Btated the object of tbe meeting, and Bad that the committee had inspected the place during »he dayand brought in the remaining part of the rail Ab showing the rotten state of the timber, he might state that in hf in* the rail from its pcsition it snipped in another place. The Chairman said the committee took the matter up after seeing the articles in the paper?, as such statements would affect the funds of the Club materially. Owners of horses in the other Provinces would not care to risk valuable hoißesdwn here if Buchthinvra were rep* rted to be going on. If the breaking of the bridge w re proved the diabolical act of anyone animated with the d sire of injuring M r Yernd's horses the Club were prepared to offer a large reward for the di-covery of the perpetrator; if, on the other hand, it was an accident, tbe statements of the newspapers must be emphatically contradicted. He would ask Mr Yeend to state his reasons for thinking the bridge had been tampered with. • Mr Yeend said tint the rail, after having been broken, had evidently been replaced, and the fracture had ma&ure placed over it as if to hide it If the ml had been broken by accident it would nr t have been laid again as a trap f. r other people. Immediately on Tris leg gni g through it he called Davis, th* man in cha-ge of ihe ground*, who agreed with him tbat vhe ra'l had evidently been intentionally cut, and remaked, exactly the way the typ rai s of the hurdles were cut through the mo:ning of the race." Anyone looking at that pece of quartering would come to the tame opinion as they did. The Chairman said Davis told him he had seen a man in the employment of Messrs Mjkr tin and Wats n the evening before trying to catch three or four of their horses, all of which were standing on the bridge at the same time. This might account for the breakage. Tee reporter of tbe 'Guardian' here expressed his decided opinion that one end of the rail bore marks of an instrument, and after a treat deal of strong language on the part of Mr loore, nearly all present one by one admitted that it looked very suspicious, that it bore plain marks of a tool being usel before or after the fracture, and that anyone seeing that end alone would think the rail liad been tampered with'. However, on jo ning the fractured parts they fitted so c'.osely that no tool could have been inserted. Oo thi* new phase of the matter, Mr Moobe withdrew his abusive remarks concerning the papers, and said he must entirely txonerate them from any blame for hasty action.

Mr Gourlby hotly objected tJ any noKee being t-keu of the Pr. as—he thought the Club was the injured party, not the Vvess. Mr A. Smith thought they ought to have too much dignity te add • ess the Press. After some drsult-ny argument, during which it was found that the roller was never taken in at the gate in question, the following moluton was cirritd unanimously :—"The corn"it'ee, Laving inspected the r«ii sa*d to have bsen ampared with, are unimimou*ly of opinion that tVo caiA rail lug not been tampered with, ' and that the break has occuire:! from accident; more r specially as it was proved that heavy draught hoism were driven en the bridfce pn the tvening before, for the puipose of oatoh. ingthem." y»w« 4 a letter was read from Will'iwn M<Kav aaV. mg theremoval of the dißqaaHßeation passed upon him for hi. riding o?the mSSNESS at theDtmedin meeting. He stated that a? to have a mount in the approaching Grand National Sj eeplech«e. and idded as I reason for .removing the disqu dificatioa that the mrre had unoe frequently baulked or run rvund hurdles at rice meetings with the belt r.ctera in the country on htr b ck. Ihe mater was adjourned till the next ■ meeting if the committee. Mv Bridgman was elected-a number of the Uub m return for h>s liberality in giving ihem all the tan ihey required for the training ground.