Here it was that, seeing him turning over a quire of bank-notes, a
gentleman asked him what he was in want of, when he replied he was
looking for a little one. The inquirer said he could accommodate him,
and desired to know for what sum. Upon which he answered, a "fifty, or
something of that sort, just to set the caster." At this time it was
supposed he had seven or eight thousand pounds in his hand, but not
a note for less than a hundred. He always threw with great success,
and when he held the box, was seldom known to refuse throwing for any
sum that the company chose to set him; and when "out" was always as
liberal in setting the caster, and preventing a stagnation of trade
at the table. On the other hand, his large capital and good luck not
infrequently captured the last guinea of the bank.
It was O'Kelly's usual custom to carry a great number of bank-notes
in his waistcoat pocket, wisped up together with the greatest
indifference. Playing at a hazard-table at Windsor during the races, as
a standing better (every chair being full), a strange hand was observed
by those on the opposite side of the table, furtively drawing two notes
out of his pocket. The alarm was given, and the hand as instantaneously
withdrawn, the notes being left more than half out of the pocket. The
company were eager for the offender to be taken before a magistrate,
and many attempted to secure him for that purpose, but the Captain
very philosophically seizing the thief by the collar, merely kicked
him downstairs with the exultant exclamation that "'twas a sufficient
punishment to be deprived of the pleasure of keeping company with
jontlemen."
On one occasion, when at Newmarket, O'Kelly offered to bet a
considerable sum with a gentleman who knew nothing about the
redoubtable Irishman. The stranger, half suspecting that the challenge
came from one of the black-legged fraternity, begged to know what
security he would give for so large a sum, if he should lose, and
where his estates lay. "O! Begorra, my dear creature, I have the map
of them about me, and here it is, sure enough," said O'Kelly, pulling
out a pocket-book, and giving unequivocal proofs of his property, by
producing bank-notes far exceeding in value the amount of the wager.
Besides having been owner of the equine wonder Eclipse, old O'Kelly
was in his last years the possessor of a wonderful parrot said to have
been purchased at Bristol, where it had been bred--the only parrot of
this kind ever born in England. This extraordinary bird died at a great
age in the early years of the nineteenth century. It was of moderate
size, chiefly green in colour, with some grey and red, and spoke with a
clear and distinct articulation, and with so little inferiority to the
female human voice divine, that when its tones were heard outside in
the street, people would dispute as to whether the voice was that of a
woman or a parrot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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