TWO CURIOUS BETS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 163, 19 July 1879, Page 2

TWO CURIOUS BETS.

For an eccentric wager, the strangest was one laid at the beginning of the present century. sum staked was only 55., but the interest was. very great when the terms of the bet were made public. It was a contest between two men as to which should in adopting the most singular and original costume. The rivals appeared in the cattle yard in York and submitted themselves to the jury who were to decide the question. One had Iris coat trimmed with bank notes. Ten guinea notes formed the labels and pockety flaps, and five guinea notes the waistcoat and collar band. His hat was trimmed with notes, he wore a purse full of gold coins as an ornament on the brim of it, while a paper was pinned to 'his back, with the words ' John Hull.' His rival seems to have si.own less we;illh, but more ingenuity. One half of his body was dressed like- a woman, with petticoat, a "

% silk sinking, and a slipper, his eh; rk || roughed and heightened with patches : |s tiie other half was that of a negro, M whooly-headed. black-chocked, booted, sg and with spur.*. I'lio ss. were won iiy '|f|m£e wearer of (he bank notes. There ''■ v have been a sympathy with the 3 n>;.n who could display so much ready >i rru-ne,. A& a tact, the ss. were awarded

t< ihv. o-ner of all the five pound notes. vli l ihai. case ingenuity and invention were made the subject of a bet, but in another case downright ugliness was the point to bo settled. George 11. had a master of the lie vols named Heidegger. His hideous-

ness amounted to a distinction. So much so that two young gentlemen were found prepared to advance the proposition that Heidegger was the ugliest

human being in England

was offered and was taken

The wager

London

was ransacked for native deformity, and some very remarkable specimens of uncoutlmess* and misproportion were discovered. At last in St. Giles' one

old woman was detected whose unsightli-

ness seemed to surpass anything that could have been believed. She and Heidegger were brought face to face, and the latter who 'was proud of his personal appearance, admitted that he had at length met his match. But it is the advantage of a contest on which a bet depends that there are plenty of persons interested and standing by to see fair play done. One of Heidegger's supporters remarked that the old woman owed much of her expression to her bonnet, and he suggested that, to make the contest perfectly fair, Heidegger should put on the bonnet too. The master of the Bevels assented, and so did those who backed the old woman's supporters. Heidegger accordingly appeared in the bonnet, and with the aid of that headdress looked so excruciatingly ugly that the bet could no longer be disputed. The master of

the revels triumphantly maintained his position of being the ugliest of His Majesty's subjects.—' Globe.'