Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 2 (of 3): Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-1740, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863Miles, Henry Downes
History
Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 2 (of 3): Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-1740, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863
Miles, Henry Downes
Boxing
About three o’clock in the afternoon, Hickman, with his backer and
Spring, in a barouche and four, with Shelton outside, drove rapidly
through the town, the Gas-light Man laughing and bowing, on being
recognised and cheered by the populace, till they alighted at the
Castle, Speen Hill. Here he was visited by numerous gentlemen, to all of
whom he declared his confidence of success, and that victory would crown
his efforts in a short time. After the bustle of the day was over, the
President of the Daffy Club took the chair at the Three Tuns, in the
Market Place, Newbury, which, as soon as the office had been given,
became the head quarters. Thither the swells and the sporting men
mustered round the holder of the stakes. It was a complete betting
stand, and numerous wagers were made on the coming event. In consequence
of the Newmarket people, with Mr. Gully and Mr. Bland at their head,
taking Neat, the odds fell on the Gas: a few persons who were funking a
little got off some of their money, but the principal part of the fancy
stood firm, and many of them laid it on thicker, although Mr. Gully, in
the most candid manner, declared his opinion, “that if a fine, young,
strong, fourteen stone man could not defeat a twelve stone boxer, then
there was no calculation on prize milling.” Tuesday morning, long before
the darkness had cleared off, presented a scene to the Johnny Raws, in
the numerous arrivals from London, most of them having been on the road
all night, with their peepers half open and their tits almost at a
stand-still. About ten o’clock Newbury presented an interesting
appearance. The inhabitants were all out of doors; the windows of the
houses crowded with females, anxiously waiting to witness the departure
of the fancy to the mill. Indeed it was a lively picture—barouches and
four, curricles, post-chaises, gigs, carts, stage coaches, wagons,
myriads of yokels on horseback, chawbacons scampering along the road,
Corinthians and bang-up lads tooling it along.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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