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 /?. v/
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 
 
 1906. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE WINNING POST (1906) LIMITED, 15, ESSEX STREET, 
 STRAND, LONDON, W.C.
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 WALBROOK & Co., LTD.. 1315, WHITEFKIARS STREET, 
 LONDON. E.C'.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. EARLY- DAYS 1 
 
 II. MY FIRST VOYAGE . . . . 11 
 
 III. CAPE COLONY 18 
 
 IV. THE KAFFIR WAR, 1877-8 24 
 V. MY DEBUT ON THE STAGE . . .37 
 
 VI. IN THE WiTNESS-BoX AT PLYMOUTH . 46 
 
 VII. INDIA . . "" ..... . . 49 
 
 VIII. HATCHETT'S TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO 62 
 
 IX. OLD HOSTELRIES 72 
 
 X. TURF UPS AND DOWNS ... 76 
 
 XI. AUSTRALIA ...... 83 
 
 XII. A TRIP HOME AND BACK . . . ' 90 
 
 XIII. UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS . . 97 
 
 XIV. ITEMS .... . .' . 107 
 
 XV. AN EPISODE 113 
 
 XVI. LONDON, 1887 . . .... 120 
 
 XVII. MY PRESENTATION 127 
 
 XVIII. MORNING WORK'. . . . .. 134 
 
 XIX. AUSTRALIA AGAIN . . . . .143 
 
 XX. MONTE CARLO . . . ._. . 156 
 
 XXI. 1891 167 
 
 XXII. THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY . . . 171 
 
 XXIII. SOME BIG BETS 179
 
 ii 
 
 COX TEXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER , PAGE 
 
 XXIV. THE PURCHASE OF SCEPTRE AND OTHERS 187 
 
 XXV. BOBSIE, LAVENGRO AND OTHERS . 198 
 
 XXVI. A CHANGE OF STABLES . . . .214 
 
 XXVII. SCEPTRE AND SOME OF HER EACES . 218 
 
 XXVIII. THE GRAND PRIX, ASCOT AND THE ST. 
 
 LEGER, 1902 .... 225 
 
 XXIX. SOME REMARKS CONCERNING SCEPTRE . 236 
 
 XXX. THE SALE OF SCEPTRE . . . 244 
 
 XXXI. SOME ANECDOTES 250 
 
 XXXII. SIEVIER v. DUKE . .260 
 
 XXXIII. THE HEARING OF THE CASE . . .268 
 
 XXXIV. "THE YOUNG MAN HORN" . . 284 
 
 XXXV. LEGAL ELASTICITY 297 
 
 XXXVI. CHALLENGE TO SIR JAMES DUKE . 306 
 
 XXXVII. THE SUMMING-UP 314 
 
 XXXVIII. THE SUMMING-UP (continued) . . 327 
 
 XXXIX. MR. JUSTICE GRANTHAM SUMMED UP . 337 
 
 XL. THE AFTERMATH .... 345 
 
 XLI. PERSECUTION 353
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 EARLY DAYS. 
 
 WAS born in a hansom cab, and have been going 
 on ever since. Making a premature entrance into 
 the world on the- 30th of May, 1860, it may fairly 
 be stated that the whole of my natal surroundings 
 were most unorthodox. 
 
 Before I dive into the depths of the adventurous 
 and travelled life I have led, I feel it would put 
 my readers more on a par with my friends to let 
 them know something of my progenitors. 
 
 My father was Robert Moore Sievier, the eldest son of 
 Robert William Sievier, a Fellow of the Royal Society and 
 the premier sculptor of his day. Besides exhibiting in the 
 Royal Academy, he had the honour of staying at Windsor 
 Castle, when he made a bust of the late Prince Consort, and 
 the "Court Circular" of this period reads as follows: "Mr. 
 Sievier, the sculptor, was honoured this morning by Prince 
 Albert with a sitting for a bust of His Royal Highness." 
 Amongst other works of art which he executed was a very
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 large marble statue of Lord Harcourt, now in St. George's 
 Chapel, Windsor, and it so happened that Lady Mary 
 Harcourt was godmother to all his daughters, my aunts. 
 
 A similar work, representing Sir William Jenner, is in 
 Gloucester Cathedral; a bust of Sir Thomas Lawrence, R.A., 
 is now in the Soane Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields ; a very 
 fine statue of Dibdin, the author of "Tom Bowling," to-day 
 adorns the library at Greenwich ; and other works are entailed 
 with the Chatsworth property, inherited by the present Duke 
 of Devonshire. 
 
 Having reached the zenith of his fame as a sculptor, my 
 grandfather turned his attention to science, and " Redgrave's 
 Dictionary of British Artists " and another volume called 
 " Men of the Reign " (Victoria) give a lengthy account of his 
 different successes and his extraordinary scientific and general 
 attainments. Authorities on science and telegraphy during 
 the early Victorian era refer to his name, and he is mentioned 
 by them as being one who successfully perfected telegraphy 
 up to the time in which he lived. He was a close friend of 
 the Lord Brougham, and took a plaster cast of his face to 
 save the time of sitting, and the bust is one of his best works. 
 I have in my possession a bust of my father executed by him. 
 
 It was because of his achievements in science in general, 
 and telegraphy in particular, that he was made a Fellow of 
 the Royal Society at a very early age, and at a time when 
 such honours were not conferred so lavishly as they are 
 to-day. He also received the Freedom of the City of London. 
 
 He married Anne Eliza Home, whose grandfather, Jacob 
 Wilkinson, was a member of Parliament. Her father died 
 soon after her birth, and her mother being killed while 
 hunting, she was made a ward in Chancery. The late Arch- 
 deacon Brymer was her cousin. 
 
 Of marvellous versatility, discarding art, no sooner did 
 he master one branch of science than he turned his attention 
 to another, or, by way of a change, to something of an 
 inventive nature, which had little or no connection with his.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 
 
 previous experiments. Amongst other things, he invented 
 a loom, which the late Jacob, John, and William Bright took 
 up ; but no sooner was this successful, than, after a long 
 course of experiments carried on in Belgium, he discovered 
 a new method of smelting iron, which produced great results, 
 both from a mechanical and economical point of view ; while 
 a few months later Mr. Brockton, when lecturing at the Royal 
 Institute upon indiarubber, the use of which was only under- 
 stood in those days to the extent of erasing pencil marks from 
 paper, concluded his discourse^ with the following words : 
 " For the perfecting of indiarubber and bringing its greater 
 use before the public, the machinery and solution were the 
 invention of Mr. Sievier, the sculptor." 
 
 A part of the notice of his obituary, which appeared in 
 the " Times " in 1865, and which I have before me at the 
 time of writing, runs as follows : " He (R. W. Sievier, F.R.S.) 
 also studied surgery and anatomy, and, as> if this were not 
 enough for an ever-active, enterprising mind, to mechanics 
 his talents were afterwards directed, and here his triumphs 
 were extraordinary. It would fill a volume to describe all his 
 achievements and projects some of the latter, it is feared, 
 may be lost from the absence of the mind in which they 
 originated," &c. He was the son of John Sievier, a solicitor 
 of the High Court who did not practise, but lived some 
 hundred years ago in Russell Square, which in those times 
 would be^ on a par with Berkeley Square of to-day. 
 
 My father, who was born in this house, was never engaged 
 in any business or profession, and died at the early age of 
 thirty-nine, when I was five years of age and my sister three, 
 leaving my mother in anything but affluent circumstance's. 
 My mother's maiden name was Alicia Maria Sutton, and she 
 was born at Fyfield Manor House, her father, Henry Stephen 
 Sutton, holding a commission in the service, and his only 
 brother was an officer in the navy. The rest of the particulars 
 of my family can be found at the Heralds' College. My 
 mother in her day was an excellent horsewoman, and the late
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Assheton Smith, Master of Foxhounds, bestowed upon her 
 the name of " His Diana." 
 
 If I have been somewhat lengthy in explaining these family 
 matters, I crave the indulgence of my readers on the ground 
 that there have been so many rumours and stories in connec- 
 tion with me that I feel it better, once and for all, to set at 
 rest the question of whence I came. 
 
 So here I am, just the ordinary individual, more or less 
 connected in the ordinary way ; and except for inheriting 
 my grandfather's volatile characteristics I am nothing out 
 of the common. The romances surrounding adventures, the 
 learning travel instils in us, the glorious uncertainty of sport, 
 the throes of racing, all these experiences are at anyone's 
 command, but it is the degree of success or failure attending 
 them which creates the interest or loses it. What success 
 or failure has been my share in perhaps one of the most 
 varied careers of any man alive to-day, I will leave my readers 
 to judge ; but I preface my autobiography by saying, that 
 except for one or two instances, which rather touch the heart 
 than the conscience, I would willingly live my time over again. 
 Taking my life from the standpoint of a man of the world 
 that Bohemian world which never encouraged angelic opinions 
 or the views of an extremist I feel I have no more to reproach 
 myself with than has any other ordinary sinner, while I may 
 at once say that if I were asked which I would sooner be, an 
 angel or a devil, from the accepted standpoint as understood 
 on this earth, I would at once declare myself a devil, for I 
 should then at least escape that greatest of all insidious evils 
 in man hypocrisy. The man who has no devil in him should 
 have been born a woman, just as much as a woman without 
 love should have been a statue Galatea reversed. 
 
 I do not wish to be in any way misunderstood, or to create 
 a false impression. It is not my intention to plead for any 
 one line of life, my own included, but what I wish to point 
 out is that as every man possessing an ounce of character 
 has his own code of honour, so has every man his own views
 
 ROBE&T STANMSH SIEVIER. 
 
 of right and wrong, from the particular ground upon which 
 fate has placed him to judge. By dissenters from the ordinary 
 usages of Bohemian life I have no doubt I should be pro- 
 nounced a very naughty boy, but some reminiscences are so 
 pleasant to me that if I have any regret in connection with 
 them it is that I have not been worse. 
 
 I merely make these observations, emphasising those facts 
 of my life which have gone to make up these convictions, that 
 I may better introduce myself, and that I may be thoroughly 
 understood in this, my endeavour faithfully to chronicle 
 episodes and experiences of my travels, without in any way 
 misleading my reader or attempting to pose as a saint in the 
 hope that when my autobiography, in the fulness of time, 
 fades into an obituary, my likeness may be transferred to 
 a stained glass window. I should resent any such proposal 
 as a malicious libel on myself. Such likenesses are invariably 
 unfaithful, and the colouring is shocking ! 
 
 I have already stated that on the death of my father, 
 when I was but five years old, my mother was left with 
 only my sister and myself as a legacy. She had very small 
 means, and my uncles on both sides all, save one, died early, 
 which left me the one bright male star in a firmament of 
 married and maiden aunts. Like Topsy, I grew, and puerile 
 inspirations increased as I sucked sweets. My mother was 
 an exceptional pianist, and had played duets with the late 
 Arabella Goddard at charity concerts. I believe my greatest 
 enjoyment, certainly my greatest solace, is to hear her play 
 to-day those pieces which redall my childhood. She* was a 
 most intimate friend of Miss Kate Loder, afterwards Lady 
 Thompson, a friendship which remained undisturbed until 
 that lady's recent decease, while the late Sir Henry Thompson 
 more than once defrayed my school bill, which I am only too 
 pleased to have this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging. 
 During the holidays, my aunts would meet and discuss what 
 was to become of me, but each had her own opinion, one 
 leaning to medicine, another inclining to the .law, while,
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 through a personal acquaintance with the late Admiral King- 
 Hall, my mother wanted to make me a sailor. The different 
 views and opinions of these good ladies, whose memories I 
 revere, were expressed with reasons pro and con., but an 
 agreement could never be come to among them, and the 
 diversity of views which existed at their first meeting lasted 
 until the climax, which I myself brought about. My good- 
 natured mother was the first to give way, and I must admit 
 that, fond as I am of our sailors, the sight of the horizon 
 day after day would not have satisfied my restless nature, 
 and a life on the ocean wave would soon have lost any 
 attraction for me, and drowned whatever ambition I might 
 have possessed in that direction. 
 
 Adverse circumstances affected my mother in their severest 
 sense, and these vicissitudes are the more acute when they 
 attack a lady reared in affluent surroundings, but of a 
 family which had slowly fallen into pecuniary decay, only to 
 become a derelict among many others, except in name and 
 blood. Inexperienced in the reverses of the world as my 
 mother was, and without the protection of a man, these 
 circumstances were the cause of my school being shifted more 
 than once, and thus early I was, as it were, a fledgling of 
 passage. Scylla and Charybdis instil no fears compared with 
 those which beset a loving, hopeful woman suddenly stranded 
 in the midst of adversity, her only anchorage two young 
 children, her haven the universe. As I write here to-day, 
 about to relate many hardships and reckless adventures which 
 I have gone through, I feel how much greater were my 
 mother's silent trials in those days, brought about by my 
 father's death, and borne by her with uncomplaining 
 resignation and patience. We 'men who have played our 
 parts in the wars of countries and of life, we who have 
 survived shipwreck and those storms manhood was born to 
 resist, can never fathom that inestimable, uncomplaining 
 nature of a good, brave woman whose thoughts are her only 
 confidant.
 
 ttOEEET STAN DISH SIEVIER. 
 
 Although but a youth, having been cast among those older 
 than myself, I was in many respects older than my actual 
 years. My holidays had been passed at different houses and 
 places, and at the age of sixteen I perhaps " knew " more 
 of the world and less of my studies than I should. 
 
 The first races I ever attended, or can recollect, were 
 those which were once held at West Drayton. Living at the 
 time at Tver, I used to fish the stream which skirted the race- 
 course, and one day, not altogether to my surprise, when 
 bent on the sober piscatorial sport, I heard that a race meet- 
 ing was about to take place so conveniently at hand. I 
 discarded my rod and line, hiding it in the rushes, and quickly 
 found myself one of the outside spectators. I frankly admit 
 that my first impressions, except for the infatuation I always 
 had for horses, were anything but favourable. I think even 
 the pedant would have pronounced me reasonably innocent 
 at this period, and for the first time in my life I saw before 
 me the most repugnant class of men, and in instances women, 
 I could possibly have imagined to exist. 
 
 My feelings were those of curiosity combined with disgust. 
 I was in their midst, not lost, not afraid, but no less in a 
 state of wonderment. The racecourse in those days was the 
 resort of all sorts and conditions of criminals, and I could 
 recognise in the majority of the faces which I looked on the 
 impress of crime. I saw one race, retraced my footsteps, and, 
 finding my rod, wended my way home to the sleepy village of 
 Iver. If anyone had then ventured to prophesy that I should 
 one day become a prominent owner of racehorses, and that 
 a mare such as Sceptre would carry my colours, I believe I 
 should have resented the statement with some warmth. 
 
 A few years passed, and with them the West Drayton 
 impressions. Staying in the vicinity of Ascot during the race 
 week, I felt once more a growing inclination to pay a visit 
 to a racecourse, and telling my aunt a story that I should like 
 to see Windsor Castle, I found myself stepping out not in 
 that direction ; on the contrary, my footsteps led me with
 
 8 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 all possible speed to the Royal Heath. I remember the 
 timidity with which I approached the course, for fear some- 
 one might recognise me ! I do not suppose there was a soul 
 present who would have known me if I had been paraded 
 before the whole company ! I found myself amongst the 
 coaches. By degrees, when I discovered there was no charge 
 made, I crossed the course, and the contrast was indeed 
 great. Again I found myself in a den of offensive-looking 
 characters, not so deplorable as those I had seen at West 
 Drayton, but, nevertheless a most repulsive mob. I quickly 
 retraced my steps towards the coaches, and saw Verneuil win 
 the Gold Cup, while to this day I carry in my mind's eye the 
 photograph of the man who welshed me. 
 
 By this time I had made some friends, whom, as they were 
 some years my senior, I naturally found most entertaining. 
 I had visited the old Pavilion Music Hall, when my dear, 
 good-natured mother believed I was attending a sick friend, 
 and the Alhambra and Pertoldi also had attractions for me. 
 I had once, or perhaps twice, slipped into the Duke's, and 
 had made the excursion to Cremorne. It was the latter place 
 which was to bring me to grief, and was to lay bare my 
 precocious conduct to my mother, not to mention the aunts. 
 It was the day of the Oxford and Cambridge boat-race, and, 
 as was customary, a fancy-dress ball was to take place at 
 Cremorne that evening. A friend of mine it always is a 
 friend who is the delinquent persuaded, or shall I say asked 
 me how I should like to accompany him to the ball that 
 evening. I felt paradise had opened its gates, and when he 
 added that I could go in fancy costume, and that he would 
 get me a dress, I felt he was quite the best fellow in the 
 world. I went with him to choose my costume. Always a 
 student of Shakespeare, I decided upon going as Hamlet! 
 Cremorne and Hamlet! What better double could be 
 suggested to a youth about to enter his sixteenth year! To 
 relate how I got into the costume, how I admired, with the 
 aid of a long cheval glass, my dress, and more particularly
 
 KOBEBT STANDISH S1EVIBR. 
 
 myself in it, would touch the conceit of the vain. The chic 
 red feather in the black bonnet, the sparkling buckles, the 
 sword hanging by my side there was nothing of the fretful 
 Dane about me. The too, too solid flesh had no desire to 
 melt, and Cremorne was reached by the aid of a hansom. 
 Hamlet! There was almost a little buzz of excitement among 
 the ladies at least, so I fancied. The ghost had no fears 
 for me, and all I saw before me was a bevy of Ophelias ! As 
 time went on I found my sword became a refractory nuisance ; 
 but things went merrily, ever so merrily. Time passed, as 
 time must, and it was not until eleven o'clock the next 
 morning that I began to realise the situation. Suffice it to 
 say that at midday Hamlet was being driven through Picca- 
 dilly in a hansom a part of the play Sir Henry Irving has 
 rigidly " cut," but one which I rehearsed with no small degree 
 of success and amusement. 
 
 The aunts met in solemn conclave. 
 
 I had made the acquaintance, which quickly ripened into 
 friendship, of Thomas Rodber Busby, who had left school and 
 was some three years my senior. Like myself, he was father- 
 less, a circumstance which doubtless linked us together with 
 a bond of natural sympathy. Busby was a good alL-round 
 fellow, well-known at the German Gymnasium as an athlete 
 of no mean standard, and though I was his superior at 
 billiards he towered above me in all other games except that 
 we were an equal match with the gloves. 
 
 About this time considerable recruiting was going on in 
 England for the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police of South 
 Africa, since absorbed in the Cape Mounted Rifles. The 
 advantages of joining this force were eulogistically described 
 in the Press, holding out a tempting bait, and rousing the 
 adventurous spirit of youth. One afternoon my friend Tom 
 Busby, after recounting, not without a tinge of romance, .tales 
 of the fortunes which had been made "across the blue sea," 
 concluded his observations by informing me he had that day 
 enlisted in the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, with
 
 10 THE A UTOBIOGBAPH Y OF 
 
 another acquaintance of ours, by the name of Bloxham. I 
 was bursting to go, too, and I believe this was the first time 
 in my life I ever felt envious of anybody. It was September 
 of 1876, and I was therefore sixteen years of age. Building 
 castles in the air, my youthful imagination lent itself to all 
 kinds of possibilities, and infused with the militant spirit, I 
 carried myself with a military bearing worthy of a captain in 
 the Guards. We discussed this and that, that and this, until 
 our imaginations painted an impregnable fortress surrounded 
 by adventure and romance worthy of Ouida herself to be 
 stormed and captured. They were due to sail within forty- 
 eight hours when Busby and I called on Bloxham. 
 
 Arriving at the house, we passed through the hall and 
 entered one of those small, dull, square back rooms to be 
 found in the majority of London houses, overlooking a strip 
 of garden or a back yard. The three of us discussed the situa- 
 tion, and I noticed in Bloxham anything but that esprit so 
 pronounced in Tom Busby, which I shared, and, as I have 
 stated, envied. At last Bloxham found the opening he had 
 evidently been waiting for, and asked Busby if he would think 
 very ill of him if he, by some means, did not go, though he 
 had already enlisted. At this moment his mother entered the 
 room, and her troubled features disclosed her feelings. 
 
 After paying our respects we all remained standing, and 
 a silence fell upon the dull little room. Mrs. Bloxham cast 
 her sad, moist eyes with one steadfast look at her son, and 
 turning to Busby, asked, " Is there no way out of this, Mr. 
 Busby; cannot something be done?" No one answered her 
 appeal, and her feelings overcoming her she burst into tears. 
 This was my opportunity. 
 
 "Your son need not go, Mrs. Bloxham." 
 
 "How? tell me how?" 
 
 "I will go in his place." 
 
 And I went.
 
 EGBERT STANDIS'H Si E VIE it. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MY FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 HE next morning I was an early caller at the offices 
 of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, in 
 Fenchurch Street. Busby and I had talked the 
 matter over, and had decided on what we con- 
 sidered the most expedient way of getting things 
 through satisfactorily, as we were due to sail from 
 Southampton the following day, which was at 
 least cutting it a little fine. I interviewed Mr. Fuller, 
 the manager, an old gentleman with a flowing grey 
 beard I, a young stripling of sixteen, my blood pulsating 
 for adventure, and my spirit bold, " e'en to the cannon's 
 mouth." I had screwed myself up to tell my first real 
 big lie. Seated in this old gentleman's office, I explained 
 that I had enlisted in the name of Bloxham, but that my real 
 name was Sievier. To my delight he congratulated me upon 
 coming to see him to set things right before sailing, crossed 
 out the name of Bloxham on the papers, substituting mine 
 in its place. In a second I felt quite at my ease, and if I 
 had uttered an untruth it was of such a nature that it did 
 no one any harm, and made at least one home happier 
 Bloxham's. We all have our own definitions of a lie ; mine is 
 that it is a false statement which does some one harm, but 
 where no ill is done, and good results, then it is no lie. Good 
 cannot come out of a lie, hence where good grows a lie could
 
 12 THE AUTOjBlOGEAPHY OJ* 
 
 not have been sown. Thus, from my own standpoint, I had a 
 clear conscience, and on September 22, 1876, I sailed on the 
 K.M.S. Anglian, of the Union Line, for the Cape of Good 
 Hope. This is the word we all foster in the early adventures 
 of life Hope. It tingled in me to the tips of my fingers ; my 
 thoughts were imbued with it, and my sight was spectacled 
 in its golden rim. 
 
 Among the men and youths of our party were all sorts and 
 conditions, and we boasted a son of a late Colonel of the 
 Guards, a clergyman's son who belied his breeding, an 
 Admiral's son ; those of shopkeepers and others, all more or 
 less respectable or disreputable, as you will. Whatever we 
 were, good-fellowship reigned, and we messed together 
 happily. The world and its cares were yonder, beyond the 
 horizon ; while the little floating world upon which we lived 
 had its full complement of all we wanted, and there was no 
 room for the petty worries of life on shore. 
 
 A sea voyage may be best described as a gliding indolence, 
 and as I write of those days of careless, thoughtless luxury 
 I can look back upon them as nothing else I feel I can appre- 
 ciate what a great asset is contentment. Sea-sick ? Bah ! 
 There was poetic rhythm in the motion ! Rough ? What so 
 exhilarating! Smooth? What so leisurely lazy! At sixteen, 
 healthy, strong, and vigorous, one is a philosopher then or 
 never. 
 
 In due course we reached that garden of the ocean called 
 Madeira. To the enthusiastic youth, it was looking from 
 Neptune's castle on a huge evergreen of many tints, rising 
 to the cloudless sky, encircled by a gold-tinged ring of 
 sand, encompassed by a liquid blue. A living lullaby. This 
 was my early impression of my first experience of travel. 
 As life runs on those impressions change. Novelty wears off 
 and gets tarnished. Our maiden experiences are invariably 
 of something we remember fondly, but time and use call for a 
 lot of garnishing and burnishing to keep up these traditions. 
 But I am digressing. The boatmen, as at all such ports of
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 13 
 
 call, flocked round our vessel with their wares, principally 
 fruit and the small filigree industries of the island. Its 
 principal imports are consumptives, and we brought a con- 
 signment of two. Making use of the few hours allotted to 
 passengers, we went ashore, visiting different places according 
 to our inclinations. Not one of our recruits paid homage to 
 the convent, a large white building standing prominently out 
 among the foliage half-way up the slope, though most, if not 
 all, became converts to the handsome, dark-eyed Portuguese 
 girls. 
 
 The time ashore was all too short, except to the man of 
 business, who cared for nothing except reaching his destina- 
 tion. Soon after noon we weighed anchor and sailed. We 
 crossed the line in traditional fashion, and that good old 
 rollicking fun prevailed which of late years has faded and 
 faded away, until, like many other good customs on shore, 
 it is. to-day almost forgotten, or only remembered in a luke- 
 warm spirit. There were concerts and dances, and conviviality 
 reigned supreme. At one of the former functions I sang 
 " John Peel " and recited, but those days are gone, and I wish 
 to give my friends the intimation that I am not now taking 
 any encores. 
 
 Nautical games were the order of the day, and " Nap " was 
 the ruling game of cards, a rubber of whist being much too 
 dry for us youngsters, it being a game we all then associated 
 with our dear old grandmothers, who played it in those days. 
 Zooks ! if those courtly old ladies of our childhood, in their 
 black brocades, crinolines, and long curls, could step down on 
 to this world and see the " Bridge " girl of the ladies' clubs 
 to-day, what a shock it would be for them ! 
 
 By the time we reached Cape Town we did not touch 
 at St. Helena my silver watch and telescope had gone in a 
 raffle, the latter being twice put up, I having won it myself 
 on the first occasion, and the proceeds, together with all my 
 cash and available assets, had been absorbed by " Napoleon," 
 which seemed hard lines on a British subject, considering w
 
 14 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 were so close to St. Helena ! I stood watching our approach 
 to the Cape of Good Hope without a coin of the realm to 
 call my own. Table Mountain, mantled in mist, loomed in the 
 distance, with the white houses of Cape Town sleeping at its 
 foot. Yet a feeling of confidence pervaded me. I was young, 
 my English birthright gave me a feeling of superiority as I 
 looked upon the shores of one of our colonies, and my state of 
 indigence caused me no anxiety. Our destination was East 
 London, but we had a few days to put in at Cape Town, for 
 the Anglian to unload cargo. 
 
 During the voyage Busby and I had chummed in with 
 two other recruits, named Gauntlet and Boxer. All we could 
 muster between us was four shillings and sixpence, not a 
 Johannesburg amount to keep four youngsters going for two 
 days ! Nevertheless, we set foot in the colony with hearts 
 as light as our pockets., and with the natural instincts of the 
 New Chum, made tracks for the best hotel, then called the 
 Royal. On arriving we entered the billiard-room with regal 
 demeanour, befitting the sign of the hostelry, and found a 
 game of pool was in progress. I was a fair billiard player, 
 and after holding a council of war it was decided that I should 
 enter the ranks of the players, armed with the four shillings 
 and sixpence and whatever skill I possessed. I felt a great 
 responsibility was placed upon me, and it has been in such 
 tight corners that I have buckled on my energy and nerve, which 
 have enabled me to preserve my presence of mind, and it has 
 not often deserted me. Failure to achieve my object meant so 
 much to my friends, apart from myself, that such a result never 
 seriously entered my mind, and I chose a cue from the rack 
 with a dogmatic decision which must have inspired confidence 
 in my three chums. The balls were rolled out of the basket, 
 and had I been a superstitious youngster I might have deemed 
 it a bad omen when I received the symbolic green as my 
 ball. Had it been prismatic, with kaleidoscope changes, it 
 would not have shaken my set determination. The three 
 privates sat on the leather seat, dressed in line, while the
 
 EOEEET STANDISH 8IEVIER. 15 
 
 juvenile general went to the "table to make his first stroke. 
 " Green on yellow, player in hand," cried the marker. I can 
 see myself again to-day, as plainly as though Father Time 
 had set back his annual clock to 1876 ; the billiard-room, its 
 oilcloth floor, everything is vivid before me. The position of 
 the yellow ball afforded the opportunity of a fine cut into the 
 end pocket. I made my stroke, and the yellow dropped. 
 It was a good stroke, followed by the expressed appreciation 
 of the onlookers, but there was still something more to follow. 
 My ball, the ominous green, rolled on, hung in the jaws o( 
 the bottom pocket, wobbled, and disappeared. I put a shilling 
 on the table to pay for the life I, or rather the green, had lost. 
 " It is half a crown a life," said the yellow. Nothing daunted, 
 I placed eighteen pence more on the table, which left me 
 capitalised to the extent of two shillings in all, remarking that 
 I understood it was a half-crown pool, not half-crown lives. 
 "No, sir," replied the marker, in his most urbane manner; 
 "the lives are half a crown, the pool is seven and six." I 
 slowly wended my way to where Busby, Boxer, and Gauntlet 
 were sitting, and quietly inquired of them if they could raise 
 sixpence more between them, as I had only two shillings 
 left should I unluckily lose the next life. They could not 
 collect it among them, even in coppers ! My turn to play 
 arrived, and my capital depended upon my hazard. I had 
 a fairly easy shot, which I accomplished successfully, and 
 taking two more lives and leaving myself reasonably safe, I 
 saw an expression of satisfaction, I might almost say of 
 jubilation, upon the faces of my three friends. 
 
 I believe I was as good a player then as I am now, which 
 is not saying much, but billiards in the Colonies in 1876 was 
 not what billiards is in England in 1906. I ultimately divided 
 the pool, and before the afternoon was over had netted some 
 6 odd, and we left the smoking-room of the Royal Hotel 
 merry men. We spent the evening at the theatre, then 
 managed by Captain Disney Roebuck, and after various 
 exploits, which I need not graphically describe, returned to the
 
 16 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 ship somewhat late, sleeping soundly in spite of the donkey 
 engines and shifting of cargo. I am afraid we knocked an 
 injudicious hole in the 6, and the following morning we 
 were not overburdened with loose cash. Deeming we had not 
 sufficient funds to carry us to the end of the evening in that 
 luxury which we had enjoyed the previous day, I proposed I 
 should go to the bank and cash a cheque, and my three 
 friends' curiosity was not appeased until I again led them 
 into the billiard-room of the Royal Hotel our bankers ! There 
 was a gentleman knocking the balls about, Mr. W. Stanley 
 Cook, who is a friend of mine to-day, and he asked me to 
 play a game of skittle-pool. I had never seen the game played, 
 nor do I believe it was known in England at the time, except 
 in rare instances. This venture, even to my sanguine nature, 
 appeared a little too risky, and so we agreed upon a game 
 of pyramids. We started playing at one shilling a ball, and, 
 I think, five shillings on the game. I am not quite certain of 
 the latter, but I am certain that we finished by playing l 
 a ball and 5 on the game, and that I received at the end of 
 the play an open cheque for 50 and 30 in gold. That night 
 four young men, due to sail the next morning to join the ranks 
 of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police as troopers, each 
 with 20 in his pocket, painted Cape Town red! Judging 
 from the coloured stars and blurs we saw the next morning 
 I am inclined to think we had done so effectually. 
 
 The weather was too rough to permit our landing at Port 
 Elizabeth, and on our arrival at East London we were taken 
 ashore in surf boats. The railway to King Williamstown, the 
 headquarters of the F.A.M.P., was not then completed, and 
 the greater part of the journey was accomplished by the aid 
 of a coach. As we got more inland, the country began to pall 
 on me. There was a monotonous sameness about it, an 
 uncared-for, God-forsaken plain of scrub, devoid of anything 
 restful to the eye, one long continuation of the same scene 
 in its front and rear aspect, not a barren patch different 
 to sleep for twenty miles was apparently to wake up in the
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 17 
 
 same place. Yet there was something which atoned for this 
 melancholy outlook there was a zest in this complete change 
 of scene, of country and of men the zest of youth and 
 adventure.
 
 18 
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CAPE COLONY. 
 
 T King William stown we reported ourselves, and 
 the unenviable life of a cavalry recruit, or its 
 Colonial equivalent, began. In England I had 
 hunted whenever, and on whatever, opportunity 
 had afforded, hence I passed the riding-school, 
 which was the open veldt, almost at once, and with 
 oniy forming two's and four's and skirmishing drill 
 to get through, I soon became proficient in these preliminaries, 
 and was one of the first batch to be sent up country, my 
 station being Grey Town. 
 
 Grey Town consisted of the barracks, which stood on 
 rising ground, overlooking the roadside hotel, opposite to 
 which was the Kaffir Store, which also supplied the men with 
 rations. Every man kept himself, receiving extra pay as 
 a consideration. 
 
 The work of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police 
 consisted in patrolling the country and keeping down native 
 raids, which were of frequent occurrence ; while sheep and 
 cattle stealing among the Kaffirs might be termed a religion, 
 and some of them were most devout in this respect. Rations 
 were carried for four days in saddle bags, without the aid 
 of a pack horse ; flour, tea, sugar, and biltong being the chief 
 provisions, as the fresh meat, which might be carried, always
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SlEriER. 19 
 
 ran out the first day. The patrol tents were little else but 
 full-sized sheets, with a small stick at either end and a rope 
 running along the top as supports. When pegged out, the 
 tent gave just enough room to crawl into. 
 
 Four days patrol in incessant rain was not a thing of joy, 
 but at that age, what did it matter? What the old hands 
 might have called work, the young ones were only too eager 
 to do, and adding to this the chances and risks which 
 surrounded all patrols, there was a charm about these excur- 
 sions which gave to them a ring of adventure. Beyond this, 
 there was little of interest in our everyday life, and after 
 being promoted to the distinguished rank of corporal, I was 
 transferred to Dordrecht, a township which played a very 
 prominent part in the recent war, and to which I shall refer 
 later on. Here I found the romance which I had built up 
 was beginning to fade. In fact, with nothing but an exchange 
 of courtesies with a Kaffir or a Dutch prisoner coming my 
 way, I was already getting a little sick of my position. Never- 
 theless, with the exception of the monotony which an active 
 nature feels so keenly, I was to all intents and purposes quite 
 contented. The barracks at Dordrecht were not quite what 
 one would style palatial, as they consisted solely of sod walls, 
 a thatched roof, which birds and rats had well gleaned, and 
 mother earth for a flooring. I had made a few friends in the 
 town, and with the magistrate and Dr. Foster, who was the 
 medical practitioner of the district, played pool every after- 
 noon at a small hotel just off what one might call the main 
 street, that is to say, the coach road. 
 
 It transpired that Dr. Foster had known my father in 
 England, and I spent a good deal of my time in his house ; 
 and having more than once expressed "the cooling of my 
 zeal " for further adventures under the auspices of the 
 Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, the warmth of his heart 
 extended to me, and by his influence I procured my discharge. 
 I was then seventeen years of age. I helped to dispense the 
 medicine with Dr. Foster, and with more confidence than
 
 20 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 experience I became his assistant. His dispensary was not 
 of a magnitude that could vie with Savory and Moore in Bond 
 Street ; in fact, Dordrecht all round was a very small place. 
 
 Compared with the arduous, if brief, work I had done in 
 the force, this fresh life was an indolent if not a luxurious 
 one ; but one day, whether I had learned my new profession 
 too quickly or not, it was only by a miracle that I escaped 
 being the cause- of a terrible tragedy in a Boer family. 
 
 In making up a prescription for a baby, in which was to 
 be mixed an ounce of sulphate of magnesia, I had, through 
 some stupid blunder, mixed an ounce of sulphate of zinc, and 
 the Boer had taken this away in his pocket, and was already 
 some six miles on his road home, when the mistake- began to 
 dawn upon me. What made my dilemma still greater, was 
 that the instructions on the bottle- were that the medicine was 
 to be taken at once. I upsaddled immediately, and rode out 
 in the direction of the man's farm, having nothing but a Kaffir 
 path to direct me the last three miles. What passed through 
 my mind as I urged on my horse, I won't say, except that if 
 ever man felt that he had made an egregious ass of himself, 
 I was that individual. 
 
 It is an everyday trite saying that the head of a house does 
 not want any children, or that he already has enough in the 
 family ; but once let the- intruder appear, and nothing is good 
 enough for him. Adding to this that the father of this 
 innocent little babe, for whom I had dispensed one ounce of 
 sulphate of zinc, was a man standing some 6ft Sin, and pro- 
 portionately built, it may be imagined that I had not quite 
 reached that happy state which I had pictured to myself when 
 leaving Southampton W T ater in September. 
 
 Men who have travelled, and whose destination has been 
 the end of an almost unknown path, will understand how, if 
 a man never hesitates and goes on instinctively as it were, 
 he seldom, if ever, loses his way. But let him once halt and 
 take a survey of his surroundings, and he will do nothing else 
 until he reaches some place anywhere, except the one he
 
 EGBERT STAN DISH SIEVIEE. 21 
 
 started for. I had not hesitated a second on this journey of 
 life and death; for, apart from the baby's life, there was 
 possibly my own thrown into the consideration, and reaching 
 the farm I dismounted, opened the door, and entered without 
 giving any other notice of my arrival. There was the mother 
 seated on a chair the hope of her life in her lap. The father 
 stood with the phial in his hand, and between them they 
 were trying to coax the child to swallow the dose. I was 
 just in time. I told the man the truth, and expected him 
 to tell me I was a fool. I was, but both of them thanked me 
 the woman with tears in her eyes, saying how " thoughtful " 
 it was that I had been so good as to arrive just in time ! I 
 have often wondered whether that babe I saved from the 
 result of my own error, ever shot any of my countrymen in 
 the recent Boer War, the district being one of the hotbeds of 
 Cape Colony, and only a little south of Aliwal North. 
 
 After this episode I concluded medicine was not my forte, 
 and, having explained the circumstances to Dr. Foster, 
 expressed the opinion that I thought I had better seek some 
 other occupation, so I left soon after with a few pounds in 
 my pocket, and started for the Free State. I could not afford 
 a passage by the mail cart, so I walked to Aliwal North, 
 where I picked up a Kaffir pony, and continued my journey. 
 There was no bridge across the Orange River in those days. 
 
 I had a letter of introduction to Dr. Bird, of Rouxville, and 
 was immediately impressed with the good nature and feelings 
 with which the English settler greeted all newcomers from the 
 old country. Both Dr. Bird and his wife extended to me 
 every hospitality, and though his practice was a small one, 
 and possibly did not bring in much more than was sufficient to 
 support life from day to day, everything his house could afford 
 was offered to me. 
 
 Whatever may have been the racial feelings of the Dutch 
 between twenty and thirty years ago, they were only too 
 anxious to imitate the English, more especially the women 
 folk ; and in Boer houses, where not one of them could speak
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 English, home papers containing young ladies' fashion plates 
 were to be found. 
 
 Dr. Bird one day asked me how I would like to accept a 
 position in the house of one of these Boer farmers named 
 Palm pronounced Polom to teach one of his sons and two 
 of his daughters English. I readily agreed, only too glad 
 to relieve my hospitable host of his incubus. I was not over- 
 burdened with luggage, and required no Saratoga trunk for 
 my belongings, the Kaffir pony being sufficient to carry me 
 " all in " to the farm, which was situated some six miles out 
 of Rouxville. 
 
 Imagine my astonishment when I arrived to find the house- 
 hold got up in their Sunday best ; the two daughters and son 
 that I was to teach grown up, the youngest of them about 
 twenty. 
 
 The amusement the situation caused me I have never 
 forgotten. The man was dressed in what I have always 
 dubbed " Cad's black," a kind of shiny cloth, while the young 
 ladies of the family had on creations of green velvet, embel- 
 lished with rabbit skins, in imitation of the fur they had seen 
 on dresses in the fashion plates which came from England. 
 
 The well-to-do Boer girls were nothing if they were not 
 dressed. Do not misunderstand me. Perhaps I should have 
 said overdressed with material, as one might describe the 
 evening gowned lady of to-day as underdressed but that is 
 immaterial. The dress of the latter is as charming as that of 
 the former was ponderous. 
 
 The younger sister was good looking and already spoke 
 a broken English, and was capable of reading easy words. I 
 had been there some two or three days when she explained 
 to me that what she wanted particularly to learn was the 
 English accent, and as she became more advanced, I found 
 the lessons I gave her more pleasant. The elder sister, prosy 
 and much older, soon gave up her studies, which afforded me 
 more time with the younger one, whom, I do not hesitate to 
 say, I began to like very much, which, in a tutor, perhaps, is
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEriER. 
 
 as big a mistake as sulphate of zinc for sulphate of magnesia 
 is in the dispensary. 
 
 The study soon developed into a rendezvous on the banks 
 of the Orange River, and finding the young lady a most apt 
 pupil, I can say, without fear of contradiction, that she was 
 thoroughly acquainted with English in a very short time. But 
 now the feud between the English and the Kaffirs broke, out, 
 and it was with great reluctance and shedding of family tears, 
 that I left the Boer family to retrace my steps to Dordrecht. 
 From thence I went further and reached Queenstown, the war 
 having then already broken out. I immediately presented 
 myself to the resident magistrate, Mr. Hemming, and made a 
 public proposal to him in the Court House, that Queenstown 
 should enroll volunteers for the front, and that he should 
 telegraph to the Minister at Cape Town for his sanction for 
 authority to carry my proposal into effect. 
 
 A more able and courteous gentleman I have never met 
 in all my travels, and he is to-day High Commissioner for 
 Grahamstown. The reply came agreeing to the proposal Mr. 
 Hemming had made, and a meeting was held the next day 
 in the town hall for the purpose. 
 
 Volunteers rolled up bravely, and in fair numbers, and it 
 was proposed by Mr. Hemming, taking into consideration the 
 experience I had had with the Frontier Armed and Mounted 
 Police, that I should hold a commission in the force as a 
 lieutenant, and this was publicly proposed and carried, I may 
 add without being egotistical, unanimously. 
 
 Being only seventeen years of age, I hardly felt that I 
 was a leader of men, and, in a short speech, I informed the 
 townspeople assembled that I considered an older man than 
 myself should accept the commission, and that I would be 
 only too willing to go to the front as a sergeant, in which 
 position I thought I could be of much more use. I formed a 
 corps of Queenstown Volunteers, and with Captain A. N. 
 Ella took them to the front, and we reached Ibeka the day after 
 the first shot had been fired,
 
 24 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 0V 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE KAFFIR WAR, 1877-8. 
 
 HIS war was brought upon us through the Kaffir 
 chief Kreli taking up arms against the friendly 
 Fingoes. 
 
 The latter tribe had, in previous campaigns, 
 always been loyal to the English, and in return for 
 these services we had pledged ourselves to assist 
 the Fingoes and protect them against all unlawful 
 acts. Hence when the dispute between these tribes reached 
 the culminating point, and the Kaffirs fired upon the Fingoes, 
 England was compelled to step into the breach. 
 
 This was only the forerunner of the Basuto and Zulu wars, 
 followed by the fight with the Boers at Majuba Hill, which 
 was so ingloriously succeeded by the craven submission of 
 Gladstone. 
 
 I need not hesitate to say that it was I who got the Queens- 
 town Volunteers together and supervised their equipment ; 
 and, unhampered by red tape, having only the main object 
 in view, I venture to assert that the expedition in the 
 despatch of our corps might well be held up as an example 
 compared with the late methods in which the Imperial 
 Yeomanry were scrambled out to South Africa in the last 
 Boer War; but as I shall have to deal with the Imperial 
 Yeomanry more fully as my autobiography progresses, I will 
 not break away from my present subject.
 
 110BEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 25 
 
 Leaving Queenstown early one morning the day and date 
 I cannot remember some armed with Snider carbines and 
 others with two-ringed Enfield-Snider rifles, \ve started on 
 active service in the same spirits as a boy returns from school 
 for his holidays. 
 
 Marching was one continual sing-song, for every man in 
 the troop assumed he had a voice, and each in turn did his 
 duty as a chorister. Their efforts varied from " The Elephant 
 Walked Around" to "God Save the Queen." 
 
 In our ranks was a man called Pink, who sang many of 
 George Leybourne's songs, and one of the choruses, stupid 
 though it may read in words, was siet to an air which gave 
 it an " all-round fillip." The words ran : 
 
 " My Maria's a fairy queen, 
 Such a fairy ne'er was seen. 
 Round she goes on her darling toes, 
 Round on her tootsy wootsies. 
 
 " She's the girl that I adore, 
 You should hear 'em cry 'encore.' 
 My love she's honest, although she's poor, 
 And she's all the world to me." 
 
 While another ran : 
 
 " Cerulia she was beautiful, Cerulia she was fair, 
 And she lived with her mother in Gooseberry Square. 
 She was my humpty-doodle-dee ; but oh ! alas ! she 
 Played snicky snacky snooky snum, 
 With a man in the Royal Artillery. 
 
 Hardly worth quoting to the present generation, but, 
 ridiculous as the verses are, they may bring back to not a 
 few, memories of the good old rollicking days now departed,
 
 26 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 killed by the lack of fun of the age in which we now live. 
 What has turned times so topsy-turvy in .the course of two 
 or three decades? I cannot suggest, unless it be the many 
 different responsibilities that women have taken upon their 
 shoulders, which have made them " independent " of man. 
 In my humble opinion, when woman becomes independent of 
 man, or man independent of woman, Nature is insulted, and 
 a crime against heaven is committed. 
 
 The Queenstown Volunteers were of the type of the time, 
 and composed mostly of English-born men. We were the first 
 volunteers in the field, and reached Ibeka just in time to 
 relieve the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, who were 
 in charge. The battle of Ibeka, where, as I have said, the 
 first shot was fired by the English, was of considerable 
 strategic importance to the Colony, for had the Kaffirs been 
 successful an unprotected country lay before them to raid and 
 plunder, apart from the incursions they could have made into 
 the small townships, which would have meant the wholesale 
 slaughter of every white in the place. 
 
 Ibeka consisted of a native store, a square house of about 
 four rooms, with corrugated iron roofing and mud floors, one 
 of the rooms being set aside as a shop or store. Drop this in 
 the midst of the scrub of a desolate-looking country, and you 
 have the picture, the Kaffirs coming from far and near to 
 purchase Avhat European merchandise they might require, 
 principally beads and tin pots. Surrounding the trader's 
 house was a mud wall, and this, with the waggons, made a 
 strong laager. 
 
 The first shot which had been fired the previous day was 
 the harbinger of the conflict which was to take place on the 
 morrow, and at the first sound of cannon, being aware that 
 two companies of police artillery were already on the scene 
 of action, I gave the order to trot, which was soon increased 
 into a gallop, without consulting my superior officer, Captain 
 A. N. Ella ; in fact, he rather obeyed my command, and 
 trotted and galloped with us. As we drew nearer, the firing
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 27 
 
 became more general, and reaching the summit of the high 
 land we saw before us, some mile ahead, the- Ibeka laager, 
 which was occupied by not more than 250 Frontier Armed and 
 Mounted Police, partly surrounded on two sides by the enemy, 
 with a third severely threatened. We halted for less than 
 a minute. The Kaffirs were within a hundred paces of two 
 sides of the mud walls, and their numbers might have been 
 estimated in thousands. 
 
 Our appearance diverted the attention of the besieging 
 enemy, and, first at a gallop, then at the charge, we made for 
 the side of the square which was open to us. This we gained 
 with only one man slightly wounded. In a second we dis- 
 mounted, and two out of every three of us, covered by the 
 mud wall, helped to defend the laager, without a thought of 
 anything except the work that lay before us. Each third man 
 held the horses. 
 
 There was no such thing as reporting ourselves to the 
 commanding officer ; nor did he even know who we were, 
 except that we 1 were whites. Each man threw himself under 
 the best cover of the wall he could find, and here the fighting 
 was fiercest. The friendly Fingoes inside the laager took 
 charge of the horses, which relieved the remaining third of 
 our troop, who immediately joined us, rifles in hand, and 
 plugged away. So near and so thick was the fight that when 
 the nine-pounder of the artillery was fired it made a lame 
 through the black mass, which was quickly closed up again 
 by the survivors, and be it said of them, the Kaffirs filled up 
 each gap cheering. 
 
 The battle had commenced about ten o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and the whites had retired slowly, until the engagement 
 reached the point I have described at the moment of our 
 arrival. 
 
 The overwhelming numbers more than once looked like 
 enveloping us, but there was just that hesitation in their final 
 rush which held them back. It lacked that fanatic and in- 
 flexible resolution characteristic of the North-Eastern African.
 
 28 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 From the elevation, looking down upon the mass of bronzed 
 shoulders, with not a blade of grass to be seen, the eye met 
 a scene almost incapable of description. 
 
 I do not know what feelings possess most men in the initial 
 flush of battle; but with me, so long as the battle of Ibeka 
 lasted, no thought was in my mind except the desire to kill. 
 Whether it was my youth (I was only seventeen), or what, 
 I cannot recall ; but whatever order had been given, there 
 is nothing on that day I would have hesitated to attempt 
 to carry out, nor a task that I would not have felt I could 
 have succeeded in performing. Now, in my maturer years, 
 I put those feelings down as the result of the free, open life 
 I had led, short though it had been at this period, and to 
 those escapades in which the young man of those days in- 
 dulged so freely. There was nothing subtle about the youth 
 of that period that, perhaps, was his sin. 
 
 Our opportune arrival was telling its tale, and the front 
 rank of the Kaffirs was already diminishing and retiring, while, 
 on the other hand, their rear rank was still pressing forward, 
 the result of want of discipline and command. Immediately 
 this weakness showed itself- we poured volley after volley 
 into them with marvellous effect, for they fell in such numbers 
 as to cause consternation among them, and at last they turned 
 and fled, while we, the Volunteers, comparatively fresh, 
 followed them ; but being wary of the hills and creeks and 
 their numbers, we did not inflict much damage upon our 
 flying enemy. 
 
 Retracing our steps with the setting sun, we met some of 
 the hospital corps, and I learned the police had lost seven 
 men in retiring on the laager earlier in the fight, and before 
 our arrival. The bodies had been mutilated in a manner too 
 fearful for words, too terrible for the ear, too disgusting to 
 the eye. 
 
 Some two hundred yards before me, huddled under a bush, 
 I saw the body of a man, and taking two men with me I went 
 towards the spot. There lay the poor fellow, with his feet
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 29 
 
 and hands hacked off, his eyes gouged out, his body hideously 
 mutilated. We threw it across my saddle, and a trooper 
 either side held it in position our blood boiling with horror 
 and hatred, we made our way towards the camp in silence. 
 
 The corpse I had brought into camp, unrecognised by me, 
 unrecognisable by man, except for the uniform he wore, was 
 one of my four Cape Town friends, Boxer, who had come out 
 with me on, the Anglian. 
 
 A few hours earlier I had felt I was hard enough to with- 
 stand anything that might happen in warfare; but on the 
 news being broken to me that the terribly mutilated corpse 
 was that of my friend Boxer, I am not ashamed to own that 
 a tear rolled down my cheek, and I felt how weak I really was. 
 
 The burial of our dead and those of the enemy required 
 a greater effort if possible greater courage than the fight 
 itself demanded, and long before all the bodies could be con- 
 signed to mother earth, the aasvogels hovered, lighted, and 
 fed upon the dead, adding to the horrors which a man must 
 go through without flinching, or he would be better back at 
 home at the fireside of his family. 
 
 If the truth is terrible to relate, the reader must remember 
 how much more terrible it is to experience. As the burial 
 party neared the corpses, the carrion rose with flapping wings, 
 bearing away gruesome lumps of flesh, or draggling entrails, 
 as it slowly made its flight. 
 
 So much for Ibeka, my first experience of an engagement. 
 
 Two days later Captain Ella sent me to fetch the rest of 
 our Volunteers, who were concentrating at Queenstown from 
 different outlying places, and taking a couple of Fingoes and 
 a trooper with me, I started to retrace my steps. Soon after 
 arriving at Queenstown, Mr. Hemming handed me the keys 
 of the magazine, and I was treated like a little Commander- 
 in-Chief of a garrison without any barracks, and, I might 
 add, without the jack-boots and spurs typical of the post 
 entrusted to me. 
 
 Naturally, I was besieged for news and by photographers !
 
 THE AUTOBIOOBAPHY OF 
 
 As the men came in, I imparted to them that crude know- 
 ledge of skirmishing which I had gained from the South 
 African Force, and which formed the extent of my military 
 acquirements. 
 
 Queenstown in those days was a pretty little place com- 
 pared with its sister townships, being well planted with trees, 
 and its octagon-shaped market-place reminded one to some 
 extent of our provincial towns at home. 
 
 About this time Captain Ella was transferred to the charge 
 of the commissariat, and Commandant Hay, a resident of 
 Queenstown, took over our contingent. The camp at Ibeka 
 was struck, and our troop was sent to a station called by 
 the Kaffirs the Bolo River. The place was a deserted mis- 
 sionary house, and I left Queenstown for the second time 
 with the remainder of the contingent to join them there. 
 
 On the march a rather funny episode happened towards 
 sundown. There is no twilight in this country ; the sun rather 
 falls than sets. We were marching along the edge of a preci- 
 pice I always kept on the high ground, having only an 
 advance guard of two when a fusillade suddenly burst out 
 in the valley below. We could see nothing, nor could we 
 descend. At this moment a trooper, by name Cherry, a man 
 of about fifty years of age, charged me with having brought 
 them by too dangerous a way, and said that if anything 
 happened, as he was a married man with a family at home, 
 I should be the first one shot! That would have been an 
 inglorious end to my career, and a risk which after those I 
 had run I did not feel justified in incurring. 
 
 I need scarcely say that there was not that military 
 discipline about us which would be looked for on the Horse 
 Guards' Parade, and knowing that a threat under such circum- 
 stances, and in those unsettled South African days, was not 
 always an idle one, I promptly knocked Trooper Cherry out 
 of the saddle, and a brother trooper was on top of him before 
 he had quite realised what had happened, and I made him 
 a prisoner. On reaching the summit, at a point which secured
 
 EOEEET 8TANDISH S1EVIER. 31 
 
 us from attack except on one side only, the way we had come, 
 we off-saddled, and every man slept under arms. I took 
 charge of the guard, keeping watch throughout the night. At 
 daybreak not a sound was to be heard nor any sign of the 
 enemy ; and, making a hasty meal of coffee and cookies (flour 
 mixed with water and fried in fat, the result being an omelette 
 of indiarubber), we renewed our march, and Trooper Cherry 
 having regained his confidence, his arms were restored to him, 
 and his insubordination was forgiven. 
 
 With the exception of this incident, we reached the Bolo 
 River without anything to record, and, reporting myself, I 
 handed over the troops to Commandant Hay. We were sur- 
 rounded by small groups of Kaffirs, and they appeared at 
 intervals, at a distance out of range, shouting uncompli- 
 mentary epithets into the camp ; and it is extraordinary 
 how they could make themselves distinctly heard at such a 
 distance. This is done by the echo and re-echo, through a 
 natural gift of pitching their voices at certain angles against 
 the hills. 
 
 Night alarms were continuous at the missionary station, 
 the Bolo River being nothing but a creek, the bed of which 
 consisted of large boulders, and like many another colonial 
 river it had no water, and therefore had to be vigilantly 
 guarded. 
 
 Some seven days after being stationed here, despatches 
 arrived with the news that the enemy was concentrating with 
 a view to attack Queenstown. There were no direct means 
 of communicating with that town to forewarn them. A 
 council was held, and it was suggested that the men should 
 be mustered and volunteers called for, but in a private con- 
 versation with Lieutenant Heinemann (who was subsequently 
 shot) and Lieutenant Tripp, it was arranged that I should 
 attempt to reach Queenstown with despatches. 
 
 Taking two horses, a couple of revolvers, and some fried 
 meat, I set out on my journey, a distance of some seventy-four 
 miles. Starting that night, I kept to the Kaffir path which
 
 32 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 had brought us from Ibeka, and alternately trippling and 
 cantering the South African tripple being a kind of ambling 
 trot I passed the late battle-field, now covered with the 
 silent graves. 
 
 At daybreak groups of three or four Kaffirs together were 
 here and there discernible on the different hill-tops, causing 
 me to change my course from time to time, my signposts 
 being the landmarks Nature had placed to guide its travellers. 
 These and determination were the compass for my course. 
 Leaving the path, I would get back to it, follow it for a 
 distance, then leave it again, always keeping in view some 
 kopje, hill, or tree as my guide. 
 
 Odd Kaffirs had followed me mounted on their ponies, but 
 I was better served with horseflesh. I changed horses more 
 than once, avoiding all bushes and anything that approached 
 the nature of cover. 
 
 I had got, as well as I could estimate, to within twenty 
 miles from Queenstown unmolested, though I had been 
 chased ; but here the Kaffirs were more concentrated. Every 
 kraal (a Kaffir homestead or village) I pas-sed was deserted. 
 As I rode on with the Kaffirs in front and on all sides, 
 I made full use of all possible cover and stuck to the 
 low ground. I now continually rode one horse, saving the 
 other for a final effort if necessary. It is difficult to write 
 of one's self under these circumstances and to recount facts 
 not that I do not remember them. Suffice it to say that I 
 reached Queenstown, riding bare-back, with three cartridges 
 in my revolver still undischarged, and delivered my papers 
 safely just inside twenty-four hours of my starting. 
 
 The town was already to some extent on the alert, and a 
 guard had been formed for night watch. On my arrival every 
 man was called out, and the women and children sought refuge 
 in the gaol. Planks were fastened from house to house, as 
 a mode of communication if necessary ; or, in the event ot the 
 building being fired, as a primitive means of passing from one 
 to the other. That night Queenstown was attacked, but,
 
 ROBERT STAND I SH SIEVIER. 33 
 
 being forewarned, was prepared, and in due course the attack 
 was repulsed. 
 
 All our men were good shots. In those days every man in 
 Africa could use his rifle with skill. How close the fight was 
 that night has been told by other pens, and I may conclude 
 this episode by saying, that I received later in life an illu- 
 minated address from the inhabitants, signed by many of the 
 leading men in the Colony, which I still have in my possession. 
 Before returning to the Bolo River, I took despatches to 
 Tyldens Post, then occupied by the 88th Regiment, the 
 Connaught Rangers, and on the road I shot two chickens and 
 a peacock, which we had in the officers' mess as a luxury that 
 evening. I remember Captain Mann, but the rest of the 
 names I cannot recall. To show the friendly feeling which 
 existed at the time, though I was a non-commissioned officer 
 of the volunteers, I was put up thai night in the officers' 
 quarters and messed with them up to the time of my returning 
 to Queenstown the next day. Red tape was not hung up in 
 the officers' mess of the 88th Regiment in those days. 
 
 I took part in several actions with the Queenstown Volun- 
 teers up to the capture of Kreli, the chief, which virtually 
 ended the Kaffir War of 1877-8. 
 
 That I do not recall all the adventures which I went 
 through during that campaign, the reader may, if he please, 
 attribute to my innate modesty ; but, from an anecdotal point 
 of view, I will mention a few incidents which may be 
 interesting. 
 
 In our contingent was a Boer with one arm, and a very 
 good fellow he was. He was an excellent shot, and lying on 
 his back would rest his rifle on his knees, and from this 
 peculiar position never missed his mark. The Enfield was 
 then sighted up to 1,650 yards. One day on the march, three 
 Kaffirs, standing on a ridge on the opposite side to where we 
 were marching a wide chasm yawned between us shouted 
 insulting epithets at the white men. This man jumped fro;n 
 his horse, and taking his sight at 1,650 yards took aim, f.-ed,
 
 34 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and one of the three Kaffirs standing on the edge toppled 
 over into the abyss below. 
 
 On another occasion, when marching through some scrub 
 with a scouting party, a shot was fired from some 300 yards 
 away and my horse fell under me, and though we searched 
 everywhere for the man we found nothing but his rifle, nor 
 was he ever seen by one of us. This is the more extraordinary 
 as the bush was very scattered, and only growing in bunches 
 here and there. 
 
 One of the most important events in my life occurred at 
 Dordrecht, as it was here I became possessed of my first 
 racehorse, named Snowdrop. I have since owned another of 
 the same name, recently dead. The South African Snowdrop 
 was a dun with black points, and it is seldom we see a racer 
 of that colour. She ran against a horse called Mail Train, at 
 the primitive races held there, and was beaten pretty easily, 
 and, there being only two runners, though last, I had 
 the consolation of getting second money, which, if I remember 
 rightly, was a fiver. Thus at an early age, apart from my 
 truant experiences at home, I took an early and active part 
 in racing, racehorses and ownership. 
 
 The impression this campaign left on me (and one which in 
 all my travels has not been modified) was the great resource 
 England had at her command in the sons of her colonies, and 
 in my subsequent travels these views have been confirmed. 
 
 The Colonial's life tends in every way to make better 
 fighting men of the untrained soldier, than is the case at 
 home. There is a vast country, and the life is, generally 
 speaking, that of a yeoman. Horses are cheap, and every man 
 rides. Game abounds, not as in England, but in the rough, 
 and lends itself rather to the sport of the rifle than of the 
 shot-gun ; in fact, although every man possesses the former, 
 the latter is not so frequently owned. Here you have every 
 practical accessory which is essential to make a fighting man, 
 whom we may call a mounted infantryman. The rest depends 
 upon the man himself when he sees his enemy in front of him ;
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 35 
 
 for pluck must be born in a man. With the average colonial 
 this is the case, but I do not for an instant believe that you 
 could bring him down to the red-tape rule of fighting which 
 exists only too strongly in our army of to-day. Ho is a natural 
 fighter or nothing, possessed of a commonsense and power of 
 experience of his own, the only difficulty being to get him to 
 ratreat or to understand the full value of the meaning of that 
 word, when defeat is imminent. 
 
 No sooner did the Kreli campaign subside than the Basuto 
 War fermented and hostilities broke out. My duties never 
 drew me into any particular episode in this campaign, and I 
 need not dwell upon it. 
 
 The Basuto War finished, and several hundred pounds 
 being due to me from the Government, I thought I would 
 return home, and making up my mind to do so, I received an 
 order on the. Standard Bank, signed by the Commander, 
 payable at Williams Town, for nearly 400, and drawing the 
 amount in gold I took a passage to England, only to be 
 wrecked off Robben Island, and with the exception of 70 
 odd which I had in my trousers when I reached shore, I 
 possessed nothing in the world. We had struck a reef, the 
 sea rushed into the engine-room, and the boilers exploding, 
 she foundered and sank in twenty minutes. What added to 
 the quick sinking of the Dunrobin Castle was the fact that her 
 cargo was one of steel rails. There I stood on the shores of 
 Robben Island with 70 in gold, a pair of trousers, and a 
 helmet with a bras>s spike in it. 
 
 With the dawn we represented a very unhappy family, 
 with the relief of a comic spectacle, some, men scarcely even 
 clothed to the extent that Adam is reported to have been, 
 while some of the ladies vied with Eve. Of all the men I was 
 the only one with a head covering, and that a white military 
 helmet surmounted by a brass .spike, making me look more 
 grotesque than ever. A single spur would have completed my 
 outfit as a buffoon. 
 
 A tug coming to our assistance, we reached Cape Town
 
 36 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 * - 
 
 safely. I paid a visit to my old haunt, the billiard room, but 
 the marker had gone to the front. Billiard balls in peace, 
 cannon balls in warfare must have been his motto. 
 
 Embarking on the next boat to England I retraced my 
 homeward course after some two-and-a-half years' stay in 
 South Africa, being now just about nineteen years of age, and 
 as the vessel ploughed onwards, naturally, although my mood 
 was never sentimental, I looked forward to reaching home ; 
 a term all travellers use with hope and satisfaction in lieu of 
 naming their country. It was not the household comforts I 
 looked forward to. There was no sweetheart attracting my 
 return. I had been reported in the " Times " and other news- 
 papers as having been shot through the jaw. There was no 
 cable between Madeira and South Africa in those years, and 
 I knew what anxiety my mother would be suffering. My view 
 in coming to England what hastened my desire was quite 
 possibly that one word "mother."
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 MY DEBUT ON THE STAGE. 
 
 HATEVER may have been my aspirations for 
 the Turf, they were not yet ready for develop- 
 ment, and having had a sort of furlough fling, 
 it began to dawn upon me that something 
 must be done. South Africa had made a man 
 of me ; it had given me a confidence which 
 has ever since stood me in good stead, never 
 once forsaking me, at times perhaps when others might have 
 sunk never to rise again. My experiences had taught 
 me that fearlessness was a great conqueror of danger, 
 while bravery tempered by sagacity and linked with determi- 
 nation, was the happy medium between foolhardiness and 
 cowardice. All half-hearted tactics had been swept away by 
 my exploits in Cape Colony. The open life and country, 
 the continual up and doing something, no matter what, had 
 imbued me with enthusiasm} had made me a Jack of all 
 trades-, a master of none, but not a failure in any. 
 
 You have now some idea of what I was at nineteen years 
 of age. The world was before me revolving on its axis every 
 twenty-four hours, while I revolved in and evolved from my 
 mind what step I should take to lead me to that golden future, 
 the feeding chamber of ambition. Ambitious? Of course I 
 was. Conceited ? Most certainly ; but asi a man, not as a 
 fop. I was conversant with French, African Dutch, and
 
 38 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Kaffir, but whatever commercial value these accomplishments 
 might have carried with them, I betrayed no symptoms of a 
 desire for a City life. In fact, at this time I scorned a City 
 man, a very narrow-minded position to take up, and one I 
 quickly disabused myself of. Yet how prone are we to be 
 prejudiced against men we do not know and things we do 
 not understand. My case exactly. During this period of 
 deliberation on the future I cannot express how keenly I 
 felt not having a father. I had to decide for myself. I 
 decided upon going on the stage. 
 
 I had represented Hamlet most successfully at the 'Varsity 
 fancy-dress ball at Cremorne! Why not again? Some day 
 perhaps at Drury Lane ? Who knows 1 After all, Hamlet was 
 hardly a maker of friends, and yet there is a touch of the 
 character about me. He hated sycophancy, he loathed eaves- 
 dropping the fate of Polonius was an example of this ! 
 Hamlet acted up to his convictions, but he was a wretched 
 lover, as any man must be who would send a woman to 
 a nunnery. Imagine a man of ordinary enlightenment and 
 intelligence sending a beautiful and graceful girl, as Ophelia 
 is always depicted, to a nunnery. However much I may 
 resemble Hamlet in some respects, I should incline to the 
 very opposite in relation to Ophelia. 
 
 Getting on the stage twenty-five years ago was not the 
 same thing as going on to-day. Hard grinding work was in 
 front of the young aspirant in those days, whereas now a 
 man is acclaimed an actor as if by magic. Is it on account 
 of there being more acting than sincerity in real life to-day? 
 Be this as it may, it is indisputable that the majority of 
 modern artists are by far better actors in everyday life than 
 they are behind the footlights. I remember one who essayed 
 my pet part of Hamlet. He " grew " more like Hamlet every 
 day and less like him every night, while there was another 
 who, believing he possessed a new reading of the part, played 
 Romeo with not even the ordinary private life matinee success, 
 for, his winsome wife being asked one day how she thought her
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 39 
 
 husband succeeded as Romeo, replied, " He is simply awful ; 
 he' can't play Romeo on or off ! " 
 
 I had played in several amateur performances, had been 
 a guest of the Savages, who in those days foregathered at 
 the Caledonian Hotel, and felt thoroughly fit and ready to 
 make my debut on the professional stage. Messrs. English 
 and Blackmore were the theatrical agents in those days, and 
 had offices in Garrick Street. I entered my name upon their 
 books, leaving my photograph behind. The first line of stage 
 business comes under the definition of " utility," and all 
 aspirants, of either sex, who have something in them beyond 
 mere hope, should begin their stage career at this, the first 
 rung of the Thespian ladder. There are amateurs who begin 
 higher up and end lower down ! They, like many others, 
 have had to learn that the art of acting is something more 
 than a pastime, or the mere matter of a retentive memory. 
 Endeavouring to imitate the- painter's art, these vainglorious 
 puppets can criticise their own daubs, but in attempting to 
 hold the mirror up to nature they cannot see themselves as 
 others see them. Egad ! if they could, and judged themselves 
 as they do their brother actors, how they would hiss ! 
 
 My name was entered in the agents' books (for a utility 
 part) as being disengaged (never having yet been engaged, 
 this was correct), and the answer came along quicker than 
 I had hoped. Mr. Blackmore was a gentleman I had great 
 respect for, and in those days gentlemen and theatrical agents 
 were not quite synonymous terms, for the plethora of agencies 
 then in existence had a distinct minimum of gentlemen at 
 their heads. Calling at the offices in Garrick Street in 
 response to Mr. Blackmore's letter, he showed me as much 
 courtesy as he would to a leading actor, and told me, much 
 to my satisfaction, that he could offer me an engagement 
 at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, as " utility man " for the 
 Autumn Stock Season, salary thirty-five shillings a week. 
 I jumped at it as a young barrister at his first brief, or as 
 a solicitor might swallow his first client at a gulp ! I was
 
 40 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 not exactly stage-struck, but I believe I walked with an air 
 of assumed importance, and reached even that reckless state 
 when I did not care a rap whether I had my hair cut or not. 
 
 Then came the all-important item the wardrobe. What, 
 aye, what, is an actor without his " props " ? Nature saved 
 me one expense I wanted no pads. It was not so much 
 what I could dispense with that was troubling me ; it was 
 the necessities, and how to get them. The make-up and 
 grease-paint were small items if one did not go in for the 
 complete box already fitted up one might say got up for 
 the simple-minded beginner! Tights, like unmentionables, 
 were indispensable. Wigs and such other " props " which 
 the stock actor was bound to possess to complete his ward- 
 robe, all had to be bought. Meyer and Mortimer, of Conduit 
 Street, though excellent tailors, did not supply this kind 
 of garments, and Truefitt's wigs were too expensive, even 
 though they might have been obtained on credit; but I fell 
 a victim to a pair of Hessians and of patent buckled shoes, 
 which I ordered at Gardner's, in Oxford Street, for which 
 I paid after I had left the stage. 
 
 Arriving at Dublin, I presented myself to Mr. Egerton, the 
 stage-manager of the Theatre Royal, who in due course intro- 
 duced me to the lessee-, Mr. Michael Gunn, one of the best- 
 natured and most straightforward men it has been my good 
 fortune to meet throughout the world. What has not happened 
 since then? Michael Gunn, afterwards partner with D'Oyly 
 Carte in building the Savoy Theatre and Hotel, has gone the 
 way we all must follow. The Theatre Royal has long since 
 been burnt down, and poor Egerton, a good fellow truly, 
 perished in the flames. A sad record. 
 
 The opening play was to be "Hamlet." Shades of 
 Cremorne! That hansom in Piccadilly at eleven in the 
 morning ! Barry Sullivan was announced. His company 
 consisted of his son and a few other principals, the " stock " 
 making up the padding. In culinary language, the real turtle 
 was coming along, the " stock " was the mock. I wondered
 
 BOBEBT STAN DISH SIEVIEB. 41 
 
 for what part I should be cast, but had not to wonder long, 
 that assigned to me being Barnardo. If this had been all I 
 should have felt I was being overpaid, for 35s. a week seemed 
 an outrageous salary for merely speaking a few words in the 
 dark, with the footlights, wings and flies not once full on, but 
 in other names I was cast for two more parts, both full of 
 cues, but without a line to speak. My histrionic abilities were 
 not exhausted here, but were further requisitioned. There 
 was to be a first piece, and, what was more important, I was 
 to play in it. It was one of the old-fashioned farces, and I 
 was cast for the servant. I attended rehearsal, and inquired 
 for my part. This rather annoyed the prompter. Let me 
 here mention that the old-fashioned prompter was, as a rule, 
 an irascible, dusty person, always wearing a stale shave and 
 a frayed collar (with a broken button-hole), which ticklingly 
 irritated his generally well-worn-out patience. His trousers 
 always appeared too long, and wrinkled at the ankle, while 
 his unpolished boots matched his sombre tall hat, which gave 
 one the idea it had had the moth in it at least a couple of 
 seasons back. His shirt? Well, I have described enough. 
 Standing by his little table, the rehearsal progressed. At last 
 my entrance was called, and again I asked for my part. 
 
 The little prompter answered with a venomous sting in his 
 tones : " Your part, sir your part is this when this gentle- 
 man says, ' I will ring for the servant,' you enter, and, placing 
 the things on the tray, exit with them as you came. I assume 
 you can do that 1 " I re-member my answer, and it has often 
 since been repeated to me. I replied : " Your assumption 
 does me honour. I trust I can aspire to it, but I cannot 
 answer your question off-hand. Permit me to rehearse it." 
 That dirty little prompter and I were friends from that 
 moment. 
 
 To show how the uninitiated may fall into a trap by betting, 
 I will here explain how I was nearly caught. When I knew 
 I was cast for the servant, I made a bet of five shillings with 
 an actor called Edward Major, who was our leading juvenile,
 
 42 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 and was cast to play in the first piece, that I would play two 
 speaking parts on the opening night. He knew I had not a 
 speaking part in the farce ; I thought I must have. Of course, 
 I had lost, but I can assure those who are behind the scenes 
 that there is as glorious an uncertainty on the stage as on the 
 Turf. 
 
 The night came. Teddy Major gave me the cue, and on I went. 
 Distracting the audience with some "business," he sidled 
 towards me with a sotto voce, " Eh, laddie you can leave the 
 dollar on the table, if you like." This was a cue I had not 
 heard at rehearsal, and before Teddy Major knew where he 
 was I looked him straight in the face, demanding, " Did you 
 say, sir, I was to give the cat the left milk, and the piece of 
 sugar to the canary 1 " The audience yelled. He was bursting 
 with laughter himself at my consummate- audacity, but he 
 replied, "Take away the tray and attend to your business." 
 " Business, sir, certainly," I replied, adding in similar sotto 
 voce, " I've won, and you can put the dollar on the .table if 
 you like," and spilling the milk all down my clothes, I 
 ejaculated, as I wiped it up with the napkin, " Poor puss, 
 poor puss," and again the audience roared. I had fairly 
 beaten Major, and handing me two half-crowns one was a 
 " property " one, in other words, there was no property in 
 it he said, as I reached the door with the tray, " James, you 
 have missed your profession ; you should have been an actor. 
 You can go now." "Thank you, sir; but I might say if you 
 joined the constabulary it would give you the only chance 
 of taking me up," and I made my exit amidst roars of 
 laughter. That Irish audience knew the farce from A to Z, 
 and followed our gag more keenly than the play itself. 
 
 My debut was an all-round success, except to Teddy 
 Major, who lost his bet. The part of Barnardo, making one 
 of the courtiers in the play scene, and helping to " fill up " the 
 last act, ended my first night's labours. On Wednesday and 
 Thursday we played "Macbeth," finishing the week with 
 "Richard III." a truly industrious programme! I played one
 
 EOBEBT STAN DISH SIEVIEE. 43 
 
 of the witches and another small part in "Macbeth." I was 
 cast for the Sergeant and another part in " Richard III." 
 Fame, glorious fame, had set her seal upon my powers in the 
 utility line, and in the theatre I believe I was looked upon by 
 my brother actors as possessing a chance of some day becom- 
 ing an actor like themselves. If my readers are acquainted 
 with the profession, they will appreciate this great compliment 
 tacitly paid to the utility beginner in the first week of his 
 career. Strange to say, my opportunity was to come the last 
 day of this very first week. On Saturday night, Catesby, a 
 most important part in the play of "Richard III.," was taken 
 suddenly ill, and could not put in an appearance. Catesby is 
 not what would be professionally termed a fat part ; on the 
 contrary, it is mostly entrances and exits in other words, he 
 puts in a lot of time at the wings. To illustrate the despair 
 the management was plunged into, Egerton came to me 
 asking if I would play Catesby. "Won't I! " was my reply, 
 with an eagerness which would have accepted the part of 
 Richard III. thrown in. "You will have to wing it," Egerton 
 remarked gravely ; " dress as soon as you can and go to Mr. 
 Sullivan." All stars were Mr. in the profession. To "wing" 
 a part meant that, not having studied it, or perhaps never 
 having rehearsed it, as was my case, one hung about the wings 
 studying as best one could between exits and entrances. Well, 
 I felt on the wing I was soaring in my profession. I soon 
 presented myself at Barry Sullivan's dressing-room, and at 
 an improvised rehearsal he put me through my business with 
 pedantic precision. He was quite of the old school, and 
 effervescent at that. Breezy, with a rolling voice, gathering as 
 it rolled, until it resembled a tempest at sea, but never 
 followed by a perfect calm, is the briefest description I can 
 give of Barry Sullivan on the stage. " Off " he was spic and 
 span, but never dissociated from the traits of his calling. He 
 patronised me at our quick rehearsal in the dressing-room ; in 
 fact, I believe when he looked in the mirror he patronised his 
 reflection ! He spoke with the automatic precision of the
 
 44 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 subsequently invented gramaphone indeed, I can think of no 
 living actor whose elocutionary powers would be better suited 
 to this instrument, for reproduction. He rounded his words 
 and, metaphorically, threw them off his chest like hot cakes, 
 and how the audience the Dublin audience especially ate 
 them! 
 
 The curtain rang up. I had two things in my favour I 
 was not nervous, and had plenty of confidence in myself. 
 Catesby that night was letter-perfect, thanks to the part 
 which he stuck in his cap, nor did he take a wrong cue or 
 give one, and his exits and entrances were measured with 
 such ease that even the " guying " which Teddy Major at- 
 tempted at the wings in no way shook his equilibrium. Even 
 Barry Sullivan complimented me, but advised me to speak 
 more naturally. This was diverting, as there never was a 
 more pedantic or less natural speaker than Sullivan himself. 
 He never spoke, he intoned, with a touch of a long drawn out 
 soliloquy pervading his speech. 
 
 On the departure of the star, the stock company started 
 in regular work ; yes, and it was work. Mrs. Michael Gunn 
 played Ariel in the production of "The Tempest." Robert 
 Brough,* now in Australia, played Caliban. Kyrle Bellew was 
 at the Gaiety, and he had not been on the stage long. We all 
 foregathered, and times, were not so bad. Since those days 
 Bob Brough has been lessee of a theatre, both in Melbourne 
 and Sydney, while " Kurley " appears to have become 
 Americanised, and I believe, and hope, has piled up a fortune. 
 I have been the rolling stone, gathering and dropping moss as 
 I went. 
 
 When the .veneer of " shop " does not cling to a professional 
 in his private life, he is, as a rule, a real good man, one of the 
 best ; but when he is a better actor off than on, then, indeed, 
 he is a well, I cannot find the word in the dictionary. Neither 
 Michael Gunn nor Egerton had a taint of this about them. 
 
 * Since these lines were penned, Robert Brough has died in Sydney.
 
 BOBEBT STANDI8H SIEVIEB. 45 
 
 I esteemed them both highly, and retained that esteem to the 
 end, Michael Gunn surviving Egerton many years. The latter 
 took a great interest in me. He asked me to study Claudio in 
 "Measure for Measure." I did. In due course Adelaide 
 Neilson came along, " Measure for Measure " was put up, and 
 I played Claudio. Miss Neilson congratulated me. It was a 
 condescending tribute, for she was as charming in manner as 
 she was beautiful, and her beauty was only comparable to her 
 most perfect acting. 
 
 I had a pleasant time, and was frequently the recipient of 
 that charming, open-hearted hospitality which both Mr. and 
 Mrs. Gunn dispensed at their house, and equally as I 
 remember her playing Ariel, so I can call to mind her genial 
 and " Ariel " good nature. Those da-ys were happy ones, and 
 I recall them with pleasure. 
 
 It was only a few years ago that Bob Brough reminded 
 me of the billiard handicap I promoted in the theatre. It 
 created no little excitement, and in the end Brough and I 
 were left in. We played it off on treasury day, and I have 
 ever since looked upon Robert Brough as a business man. He 
 won.
 
 46 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY <>! 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IN THE WITNESS-BOX AT PLYMOUTH. 
 
 -.iwf U ST before my nineteenth birthday, I returned from 
 VviMLL Dublin, and after playing a short engagement at 
 the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, I joined the stock 
 company at Plymouth. The proprietor was a Mr. 
 Newcome, whose chief ambition appeared to be to 
 look younger as he grew older. I was introduced 
 to an old gentleman well over seventy years, his cranium 
 adorned with a jasey, his Napoleon III. moustache and 
 billy-goat dyed a hue to match. He hunted regularly, and 
 he went straight and stuck on ; in fact, he showed such 
 physical vitality, that it seemed hard that Father Time had 
 interfered with his hair and general appearance as much as 
 he had. This may be a general complaint when three score 
 years and ten are reached. 
 
 I found the weekly programme of the Theatre Royal, 
 Plymouth, worthy of the stories which are now often told of 
 the old stock days, for here I played in as many as six 
 different pieces in one week. Shakespeare was " stock," and 
 all standard plays came under the same category. The old 
 actor had little or no trouble in other words, he was " stock," 
 too but for the uninitiated it was, to put it mildly, and 
 without the semblance of exaggeration, somewhat of a busy 
 time. For instance, I will give you an old-fashioned theatrical 
 weekly menu, consisting of: Monday, "Hamlet"; Tuesday, 
 " The School for Scandal " ; Wednesday, " Othello " ; Thurs-
 
 EGBERT STAN DISH SIEVIEE. 47 
 
 day, " The Ticket o' Leave Man " ; Friday, " The Two 
 Orphans " ; Saturday, " Black Eyed Susan " ; Sunday thank 
 heaven ! I played every kind and description of part during 
 this season, from a wicked Boer to Captain Crosstree, the 
 latter always getting a fat round of applause at Plymouth. Our 
 leading actor was one of the good old ringletted, thunderstorm 
 school, and judging from the effects of the recent American 
 introduction of the dope for racehorses, I am inclined to believe 
 there must have existed, in the days I refer to, a theatrical 
 dope, which the provincial leading actor swallowed nightly. 
 Nor do I consider the effect completely worked itself off, 
 until he blew out his candle and turned over to his rest. 
 
 The exercises and gesticulations of the histrionic heroes, 
 increasing from breakfast to their last drink at night, must 
 have been the means of keeping them in that good state of 
 health they nearly all enjoyed, while their own breeziness 
 must have been to them as a change of air. There was nothing 
 enervating about them in this respect ; it rather resembled a 
 good, old-fashioned blow on the East Coast, and they mani- 
 festly appreciated its exhilarating effect both on themselves 
 and upon the uninitiated. 
 
 Beneath all this tinsel ostentation of the provincial profes- 
 sional of my youth, there was generally to be found a 
 sympathetic heart and a generous nature, rising above the 
 pedantic mannerisms which enveloped him. There existed an 
 unwritten Bohemian law of hospitality in those days, which, 
 perchance, would not be so appreciated to-day, nor commend 
 itself to those superior geniuses who have leapt on the stage 
 only to disappear down the trapdoor. 
 
 There is a great majority who imagine they are possessed 
 of histrionic ability, but the principal part they play on the 
 world's stage is the fool. We have yet to learn that talent 
 is hereditary, though a fool usually begets his like. I was not 
 sorry when the stock season was growing to a close, the work 
 of daily rehearsals and evening performances leaving little 
 time for leisure. It was about this period that an incident
 
 48 THE AUTOBIOGE4PHY OF 
 
 happened which I must relate. ^Plymouth in those days upheld 
 the gaiety of the times, ^then waning in London, and it was 
 the wont of some of us to "take a stroll" after the hotels 
 had closed their doors. The police on one occasion were 
 perhaps a little over zealous in their peremptory orders to 
 "move on," and the prompter, by name Fitzroy, for once 
 forgetting his cue, was ruthlessly collared and run in. It was 
 a most unjustifiable act on the part of the men in blue. After 
 the formal preliminaries, he was allowed out on bail, and the 
 next day, when his " turn " came, made his debut in the dock. 
 We had engaged a solicitor to defend him, but it was agreed, 
 owing perhaps to my tendency to practical joking, not to put 
 me in the witness-box. The case appeared to turn on the 
 question of using bad language, the evidence of the police 
 being strong against the prisoner, while the company to a 
 man swore they heard none. The solicitor felt he had lost 
 the case, and in desperation put me in the box. I corroborated 
 the evidence given on behalf of the prompter, when the chair- 
 man of the bench turned to me and asked : 
 " Did you hear any bad language used ? " 
 " Yes," I replied, upon which poor Fitzroy collapsed in the 
 dock, the solicitor shuffled his papers together, and all our 
 witnesses looked at me open-mouthed. The police appeared 
 most satisfied. 
 
 " What did you hear 1 " asked his worship. 
 
 " I heard that policeman over there call us a lot of 
 
 actors." 
 
 It was true. They asked me no more. The case was 
 dismissed. The witnesses for the defence were Mr. Charles 
 Cartwright, Mr. T. G. Warren, the author of " Nita's First," 
 and others I cannot call to mind. The one witness who was 
 originally not to be called saved the situation. So much for 
 the law. I may add that I think this was the most successful 
 part I played at Plymouth.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIETIER. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 INDIA. 
 
 ONDON has a fascinating attraction for most people 
 who are disengaged, and for actors in particular, 
 and it is sometimes disappointingly astonishing 
 how long some remain "resting." Why the pro- 
 fession has given to this period of inertia the 
 term " resting " I have never been able to under- 
 stand, for, as a matter of fact, it is not always dis- 
 associated from the most critical time of the professional's life, 
 more especially in regard to what I may term the middle-class 
 actor, there being always a large stock of this species on hand. 
 A short season at the Haymarket Theatre, a few race meetings, 
 and I was offered an engagement to make one of the company 
 chosen to open the Gaiety Theatre at Bombay. This, indeed, 
 had the aspect of combining business with pleasure, and on 
 the first Sunday in November, 1879, we sailed in one of the 
 Hall Line steamers. The passengers differed in many 
 respects from my fellow-travellers on the African route, the 
 distinction being much in favour of those Eastward bound. 
 The majority belonged to the Civil Service, or were the wives 
 of those worthy officials returning to join their long-suffering 
 husbands, with a sprinkling of a few military men and garrison 
 hacks. However great the pride of caste may be among the 
 Hindus, it is infinitesimal compared with that of the white 
 official, and according to their official rank they insisted on
 
 50 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 taking precedence in a manner worthy of the traditions of the 
 Court of St. James's. On board the boat, as in India itself, 
 the civil servants looked down upon the soldier as though 
 he were placed at least a step lower on the social staircase, 
 while we strolling players were at first patronised with an 
 excessive politeness, bordering on vulgarity. This patronage, 
 however, gradually wore off as we became better acquainted. 
 It was astounding to learn how many of the dear ladies 
 returning to their sunburnt husbands hated the journey, 
 though resigned to the respectable inevitable. The voyage 
 progressed, we all became a very happy family, and the 
 austere demeanour of the first few days melted as we drew 
 nearer to the Southern sun. The old saying that familiarity 
 breeds contempt belied itself, and the more travelled of the 
 fair sex led the way, entering heartily into the amusements 
 and conviviality which soon reigned supreme. They tacitly 
 appreciated that as soon as the good vessel reached her 
 destination each would go his or her different way, and that 
 none of us might meet again, unless, peradventure but then 
 there was an unwritten code against any such contingency. 
 These worldly wrinkles imparted a freedom on board ship 
 non-existent ashore, and leaning over the bulwarks as the 
 vessel ploughed along on her journey a man could watch the 
 opaque blue of the ocean and, turning, look into a pair of 
 blue eyes. As I look back and remember that I was but 
 nineteen summers, I cannot refrain from recalling that they 
 were fairly hot ones! 
 
 Malta, that fortress of the sea, was reached after a fair- 
 weather run, and Blue Eyes came ashore. The opera house, 
 the cathedral, the Palace, and the Catacombs were shown to 
 us by a descriptive guide, voluble in his praise of Americans, 
 as he thought we were, but when we mentioned London he 
 snorted " Christopher Columbus ! " and started to eulogise 
 the English, beyond the measure of praise he had meted out 
 to the country of Stars and Stripes. Meeting some of our 
 fellow-passengers we lunched together, and going aboard soon
 
 KOBEBT STAN DISH SIEVIEE. 51 
 
 after, were once more going East before the shades of night 
 had cast their pall upon a pleasant day. Between us and 
 the setting sun, Malta, pushing itself through the celestial 
 blue of the Mediterranean, rose from the water's edge, its 
 steps of ramparts rising to an eminence, dotted with the 
 brilliant red of the uniforms of our soldiers. The light grew 
 dimmer and dimmer, the distance between us increased, and, 
 half in awe of, half in wonder at that great Artist, we gazed 
 into the twilight and 1 marvelled. 
 
 In those days travelling through the Canal at night with 
 the aid of a searchlight was unheard of, and we were moored 
 to the bank at sundown. 
 
 Ismailia and the Bitter Lakes were passed during the 
 second day, and no one was sorry when we left Suez behind. 
 Aden cannot be better described than by disjointing the first 
 vowel and making two words of it. The days were now near- 
 ing, when as in all else on this earth, the end must come. We 
 had arrived at the last night we were to spend on board, 
 and merry-making continued, with half an hour's extension 
 graciously granted to us by the skipper. To think that sober 
 party of travellers which I first saw on board, should let 
 themselves go as they did on this particular evening, afforded 
 me no little amusement dancing, games, everything went 
 merrily along without dissent I even believe one an,d all 
 would have cheerfully entered into a general game of Kiss, 
 in the Ring had it been proposed, and those dear little wives 
 who the next day were to rejoin their patient husbands, would 
 have been the first to grasp, hands in forming the circle. 
 " Auld Lang Syne " brought things to a close. At ten o'clock 
 the following morning we were anchored off Bombay, I bade 
 adieu to Blue Eyes I fancied I detected just the sign of 
 moisture I may have swallowed a lump myself and the 
 launch to take us ashore was alongside. Instanter, as if 
 electrical, that austere dignity which was so marked on the 
 first day or so of our voyage depicted itself in every woman ; 
 the rollicking fun of the night before vanished into obscurity,
 
 52 THE AUTOSIOGEAPHT OF 
 
 caste and precedence rode the high horse, and each of them 
 stepped on to the Apollo Bunder at Bombay with an attitude 
 and expression befitting a saint. I landed and went my way. 
 What of Blue Eyes'? If you expect an answer you are asking 
 the wrong man. 
 
 India, with its wealth, its semi-barbaric pomp and Oriental 
 grandeur, its Eastern colouring, its picturesque natives of 
 many castes and multifarious religions, ranging from the 
 most ancient form of idolatry to Christianity, its innate con- 
 servatism in traditions and old customs in face of the white 
 intruder, is to the visitor summed up in one word novelty. 
 Its scenic side is fascinating, and what it may lack in beauty, 
 from an English point of view, is made up for by endless 
 variety, and this distinction absorbs the traveller's interest. 
 To the European eye all is new, and the general surroundings 
 carry with them a freshness arousing ever-growing curiosity 
 and interest. The enthusiastic impressionist would describe 
 it as the land of enchantment, the country of the necromancer. 
 
 The first lesson one learns is that the unadulterated native 
 makes the best servant, while those- who have been fostered 
 in missionary settlements, make the best thieves. The Hindu 
 who speaks English advances with the times, as his cunning 
 is sharpened by civilisation. 
 
 The next lesson presents itself in the shape of an interro- 
 gatory. Why should the good, honest servant, as an unalloyed 
 Mohammedan or Hindu generally is, be inveigled from the 
 religious path of his native contentment? There is no form 
 of worship which does not in its finality point to God, and, 
 in my humble opinion, paramount of all feelings should be 
 respect for, or at least non-interference with, the freedom of 
 another man's belief. If it is sought to make converts, why 
 not first attempt to convert the thousands of heathens, devoid 
 of any belief whatever, who haunt the purlieus of London 
 and our big cities, rather than try to make a bad Christian 
 out of a good Mohammedan or Hindu ? 
 
 In every country where I have been, where the aborigine
 
 ttOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 53 
 
 is black or coloured, my experience is that the schoolroom 
 is the native's first stepping-stone to ruin, and that all loose 
 native women sing hymns. 
 
 Having lost several articles of underwear, unnecessary 
 minutely to schedule, I discharged the Portuguese missionary 
 boy I had taken on, and engaged an untainted idolater, to 
 look after the remnants left behind, which he did honestly 
 and well. I have since made it a rule, and it has panned out 
 well, never to engage a foreign servant who is unfaithful to 
 his nationality or his religion. A foreign valet who professes 
 to like England better than his Fatherland generally has his 
 eye on the jewel-case, and not infrequently where the> eye 
 rests the hand wanders. 
 
 The hotels of India may be described as veritable open 
 houses. There are no doors anywhere, except to bedrooms 
 and bathrooms. A piece of paper, called a. chit, is initialled 
 for anything that may be desired, and a more pleasant state 
 of luxurious affluence could not well be imagined, while it 
 lasts. The end of the month is the day of reckoning, when 
 the guest is presented with his chits, both from inside and 
 outside his hotel. A man can then count up the number 
 of cocktails he has killed, how many gin-slings he has slung, 
 and the pegs he has nailed down in a moon's life, and 
 some of these totals would make a unique record of how much 
 liquid a body can absorb in a given time. This fascinating 
 system of chits lends itself to hospitality, and as a cheque 
 settles it one way, it is not infrequent that a check has to 
 settle it another. 
 
 An enervating climate is the cradle of indolence. Indolence 
 in luxury is an accepted occupation ; it is only indigent 
 indolence that merits censure. Everything that tends to ease 
 the fatigue of the white man is brought into use'. He is 
 perambulated hither and thither in a rickshaw pulled by the 
 black man ; he is fanned by the punkah-wallah from without ; 
 he is surrounded by body servants, each having his own 
 special duty to perform in short, after a certain time, a
 
 54 TEE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 white man's existence in India renders him unsuitable for 
 life in any other country. Novelty takes an enchanting 
 grip of us all, but as familiarity lessens its fascination, the 
 traveller should bid au revoir to India, and tear himself away 
 from that monotonous life which has spell-bound the Anglo- 
 Indian. He will then always retain a great inclination to 
 see this Brobdingnagian fairyland once more. 
 
 " The Gaiety " at Bombay was to open its doors with the 
 production of " Pink Dominoes," a piece which was rather 
 of a scarlet hue- than that of modest pink. I was cast to 
 play Harry Greenlanes, not a bad part, and one which the 
 late Sir Augustus Harris originally played at the Criterion 
 Theatre. Our company consisted of that sterling actor, 
 Charles Cartwright; A. B. Tapping, a safe old man, and 
 good at that ; Hewitt, a low comedian, upon whom the green 
 curtain has finally descended the last play I saw him in he 
 was battling with the waves in " The Tempest," only to hear 
 later in life that he was shipwrecked and drowned at sea ; 
 Teesdale, of Lyceum fame (who also has since joined the great 
 majority), and others, including my unworthy self. The ladies 
 were Miss Edith Wilson, Missi Agnes Birchenough, a sound 
 actress, who, together with Miss Amy Crawford, has gone 
 yonder, and those others of more or less pretensions who go 
 to make up a dramatic company. A few primitive rehearsals 
 had been got through on board the boat, and the Gaiety was 
 due to open about five days after our landing. It was a good 
 theatre, supported by a syndicate principally made up of 
 Parsees, of whom the head was Sir Rabjeedodgy, as I called 
 him, for in Anglo-Saxon pronunciation his name had no 
 rhythm, except to those with a broken jaw. The eventful 
 night arrived, and the house was packed. We scored a suc- 
 cess. In the Cremorne scene I was quite up to the form 
 that the part afforded, and perhaps my acquaintance with the 
 real place infused in me a zest for the scene. Those good old 
 days ! Yet not so very old, nevertheless. Though but forty- 
 five years of age, I can distinguish between the men of that
 
 ROBERT STANDISR SIEV1ER. 55 
 
 period and those of this. We may return to those days when 
 les nouveaux riches have a gilded ancestry. Do not think me 
 a pessimist. We have the right men, but in most instances 
 the wrong ones it might be said wrong 'uns have the money. 
 
 To enumerate all the plays we produced would be of little 
 interest, but perhaps the best part I ever played was that of 
 Krux, in " School,' 7 and to typify the versatility which an actor 
 was expected to possess in those days, I next essayed to play 
 Catherine Howard in the burlesque of "Henry VIII." I can 
 now quite understand why this matrimonial monarch beheaded 
 her ! Then came the Usher in " Trial by Jury," followed by 
 parts covering every line of business to which the stage lends 
 itself. Being what is classified as a quick .study, I seldom 
 studied at all. India had greater attractions than the dry 
 words of a part, and I am ashamed to confess that I was often 
 not so perfect in my words as I might have been. Not that 
 I was ever at a loss for a word, or, for that matter, a sentence, 
 but this did not always give my brother in art his proper cue, 
 and he would " dry up " in other words, get stuck. This hit 
 doubly hard, for the audience very naturally were of opinion 
 that it was the other, and not I, who was the delinquent and 
 kept the stage waiting ; but I was ever ready with a gag or 
 some stage business, which, if it did not at once advance 
 matters, provoked a laugh, until the prompter came- to the 
 rescue and set us right. 
 
 I can call to mind two unrehearsed scenes with our low 
 comedian Hewitt. It was his turn not to be- perfect, and he 
 failed in the middle of my best scene. It was a complete dry- 
 up on his part, and half dazed, as it were, he stammered, " I 
 must leave you now," and walked off. Looking after him as he 
 disappeared through the door, I ironically mused, " If there is 
 a go-as-you-please match at the gymkhana to-morrow I shall 
 back you." The play was " Still Waters Kun Deep," but among 
 the audience laughter at once ran high. I then settled down 
 and played the two parts in monologue, and got the best Press 
 notices I ever had while on the stage. On my exit Hewitt
 
 56 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 made not the faintest effort of an apology ; on the contrary, 
 he patronisingly referred to the good turn he had done me ! 
 
 Shortly afterwards I was cast for a part full of long 
 speeches. The whole company who had to meet me during the 
 play dreaded me. Each, according to his part, approached 
 me with an apologetic plea for mercy. " I had such a fine 
 part, was sure to make a hit in it," and so forth ! Among them 
 was Hewitt, who had a scene in which he scored off me 
 throughout. I was a villainous earl, not the stereotyped 
 wicked captain. The house was crowded. I had gone so far 
 fairly perfect, and had been, I believe, reasonably successful. 
 Hewitt's scene was reached in due course. I made my speech, 
 gave him his cue, and as he was about to speak his first line 
 he had not yet spoken I held up my hand, saying, " Stay, 
 I have more to say," and, continuing, spoke all the points the 
 plot of the play needed, finishing peremptorily, " Now leave 
 me. I am weary. Leave me." Poor Hewitt! His expression 
 to me was the acme of low comedy. To anyone else it would 
 have appeared blank amazement. A silence followed. I 
 broke it by repeating, " Leave me," and sank into a chair as 
 if in deep meditation. Hewitt mustered his shattered forces, 
 and pleaded, " My Lord, I cannot leave you thus. I have 
 matters of moment to impart to you." I rose, and with a 
 patrician frown, said : " I will not be disturbed. Your news 
 will keep until to-morrow, when I will give you a fair 
 hearing ; but since you will not leave me, I will leave you," 
 and off I walked, making a similar exit to that which Hewitt 
 had made a few nights before. Next morning the Press were 
 not so kind to him as they had been to me. This practical 
 joking was all accepted in good part, though Hewitt appeared 
 a little less loquacious than usual after the performance. 
 
 The fact was that life was made all too pleasant for me at 
 nineteen years of age to seriously give myself up to study. 
 With invitations to this bungalow, to this place, and to that, 
 Malabar Hill became a kind of hostelry, and the theatre a 
 secondary consideration.
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 57 
 
 In no country does temptation invite a young man through 
 its open doors more than in India. How simple merely to 
 initial a chit in order to satisfy the requirements of this life ! 
 How easy it is to run accounts, and thereby unthinkingly keep 
 pace with other men whose purses are better filled, and how 
 hard indeed it is to avoid these facilities, which are the 
 common custom of the country, by retiring to a solitary 
 chamber and looking out of the window vaguely to study 
 astronomy ! 
 
 The races had come and gone, and several weeks of my 
 salary accompanied their departure. My chits were petrifying 
 into stones, which would be hurled at me at the end of the 
 month. John Roberts, the King of the Green Cloth, was 
 playing nightly at the Byculla or Waverley Hotels, but 
 necessity did not prompt me. to throw down the gauntlet to 
 him ! I resorted to the o.ld remedy, and a money-lender 
 accommodated me. I paid my debts by a method which in 
 truth increased them with interest. Nevertheless, they were 
 collected into one quarter. I took counsel with myself, 
 thought everything out, and proposed and carried excellent 
 resolutions with the result that I soon fell to signing chits 
 again with renewed freedom. 
 
 Common courtesy, apart from inclination, demanded that 
 I should make a few presents. Jewellery being the most 
 appreciated souvenir, I felt I could not wound my pride and 
 resort to the counterfeit. 
 
 Again another month was coming to a close, so was the 
 season at the Gaiety Theatreand so was I. The end of the 
 month brought with it reflections, and it by no means appeased 
 my discomfort when the management announced the produc- 
 tion, on the very day of reckoning, of " The Road to Ruin." I 
 felt if I could only play the weak hero of the piece it might 
 prepare my creditors for the worst, but no such good fortune 
 presented itself, and I was doomed to represent the very 
 character who sells the hero up ! 
 
 I came to the conclusion that as I had no chance of touching
 
 58 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the sympathy of my creditors across the footlights, I had better 
 try to create confidence, and the way I abused the poor hero 
 when he could not meet his honourable engagements must 
 have inspired them with a false hope. 
 
 Alas ! those chits ! Why should the mere fact of being a 
 white man be a basis upon which rests abnormal credit 1 Such 
 were the thoughts which passed through my mind. Not once 
 did I ask myself why I had succumbed to the temptation of 
 extravagance. I candidly confess I felt very much ashamed 
 of myself, but it is extraordinary how this initial consciousness 
 wears off with the progress of life, as the blushes from a 
 maiden's cheek. 
 
 I was encompassed by the inevitable. This has been de- 
 scribed as having to face the music, but the difficulty is to play 
 the tune. I strummed over the keys, but could only produce a 
 discordant crescendo of inharmonious sounds. The presence 
 of the dusky money-lenders and jewellers made things blacker 
 than ever. I interviewed Sir Rabjeedodgy, the head of the 
 Gaiety syndicate, with the hope of his advancing me a month's 
 salary, but that lynx-eyed Parsee, with his hands folded across 
 his bosom, only smiled that Oriental smile, so subtle and 
 snake-like, which puts the non possumus upon any subject in 
 question. I then said I must conclude my engagement forth- 
 with. This did not create a smile, but provoked a frown that 
 almost imperceptible Oriental frown. I was obdurate and 
 insisted, but to no satisfactory purpose, so I had nothing left 
 to me but to resort to the instincts of the rabbit, and bolt. I 
 borrowed fifty pounds from Charles Cartwright, which, 
 together with the money I had, settled all my smaller accounts 
 and the hotel bill, and arranging to sail in the. "Rydal Hall," 
 the same vessel which had brought us out, and which had 
 made a return journey, I paid my devoirs to my friends at 
 Malabar Hill, and said good-bye to the company. I had 
 stipulated in England that a part of my contract should include 
 a return ticket, and this was a forethought which at this 
 momentous juncture stood me in good stead. Going aboard in
 
 EGBERT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 59 
 
 a suit of immaculate white, with helmet to match, I outwardly 
 looked an emblem of purity, but the empty pocket told a 
 different tale. The majority did not know this, so, like many 
 before me, and many who will follow;, I passed muster. As I 
 steamed in the tug to the vessel I felt the " novelty " of this 
 mystic land was on the wane ! 
 
 No sooner had I got comfortably aboard than I espied a 
 launch steaming all haste towards us, and as she neared I 
 recognised Cartwright and a friend. Meeting him at the top 
 of the companion, he clutched me by the arm, and, speaking 
 in a mezzotone close to my ear, said, " You must hide yourself 
 the money-lender," and, pointing in the direction of a boat 
 being pulled by two men, added, " There he is, sitting in the 
 stern, with two officers to arrest you for debt." I thrust both 
 my hands into my empty pockets. This helped me at once to 
 grasp the situation ! On the voyage out the chief engineer and 
 I had been on friendly terms. The predicament was explained 
 to him, and down the engine-room steps I went, in my im- 
 maculate white suit ! Oil and coal-dust had no terrors for me ! 
 With little space to move, he left me in the vicinity of the shaft 
 of the propeller ; indeed, I was in the tube in which it revolves ! 
 Above me was a windsail, with rough rungs running up its 
 interior like an improvised ladder. This connected with the 
 deck, and down the funnel I could hear voices, as through a 
 speaking-tube. On the other side of me coal was being shot 
 down, and I could only distinguish broken sentences, such as, 
 " Arrest he owe me lot of rupees " a shoot of coals would 
 drown the rest a lull " He no pay me for lovely jewellery " 
 coals a lull "Me catch him and put him . . ." coals 
 a lull and I hear the third and last bell ring out its final 
 warning, " All ashore." The shooting of the coals ceased. My 
 enemies had gone ashore, but worse was to come. The shaft 
 began to revolve. I had to bend in a semi-circle for fear of 
 becoming inextricably entangled in its grip! A second's 
 reflection, and I was mounting the bars running up the 
 interior of the windsail. I poked my head out of the top of the
 
 60 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 funnel a nigger! receiving the cheery salaams of the chief 
 engineer and many others. Sqeezing myself out, I gained the 
 deck on all fours, looking like a demon from the depths below ! 
 Oh, those chits ! 
 
 Going full steam ahead, I waved my hand to Cartwright, 
 who to this day says he recognised me because I was the only 
 black man on deck. Leaning over the side of the vessel, 
 watching the fast-fading distant hills and rocky coast, I bade 
 adieu to Bombay and " au revoir " to my creditors, and 
 watched the fading coast with "mixed feelings." Waking 
 from my reverie, my attention turned to a more practical 
 point, and I had a bath. Begrimed with coaldust, which the 
 oil had encrusted on me, it was a moot point if I should not 
 have to resort to the holystone used for cleaning the deck, 
 but by the aid of the shower and a hard brush I succeeded in 
 removing the "enamel." 
 
 After dinner that evening I lit my cheroot, and threw 
 myself into my deck-chair and my thoughts. Everybody had 
 retired. I strolled round the deck. Leaning over the end of 
 the vessel, I watched the phosphorescent trail. I turned, and 
 straight before me was the empty seat which not long ago I 
 had occupied with Blue Eyes! Blue Eyes? I turned in. 
 
 We were not so lively a crew as we had been coming out, 
 and I fully appreciated that beggars could not be choosers ! 
 Amongst the passengers was a Parsee, to all appearances full 
 brother to Sir Rabjeedodgy. He was suffering all the evils 
 the sea could give rise to, now and again looking at the sun in 
 vain reproach. 
 
 At Suez I posted a letter to an uncle of mine, a clergyman, 
 asking him if he would lend me the money which I owed in 
 India, setting forth the facts without seeking to excuse 
 myself. 
 
 The still waters of the Canal suited the Parsee far better 
 than the rolling sea, and he asked me, I may say supplicated, 
 that I would leave the boat with him at Malta and go over- 
 land to London. My affection for Malta must have touched
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIER. 61 
 
 me, and I agreed, cabling to my uncle to send an answer to 
 my letter to the Quirinal Hotel, Rome. Disembarking at 
 Valetta, we booked our passages to Palermo in a Rubattino 
 steamer. This short journey again discovered the weak spot 
 of the Parsee, and on going ashore at Palermo he vowed he 
 would never get on a boat again, which, as I explained, meant 
 that he would never leave Sicily, for the simple fact that we 
 were on an island. 
 
 I here met some friends, and accepting their invitation to 
 stay, the Parsee was left to find his own way across the Con- 
 tinent to London, and taking him to Reggio, the southernmost 
 point of Italy, I waved my hand to his dusky face as it hung 
 out of a second-class window as the train departed. 
 
 After staying a month in Naples I reached the Hotel 
 Quirinal in Rome, and found my uncle's reply, which, instead 
 of a cheque, contained a sermon, telling me that I had com- 
 mitted a great wrong in getting into financial trouble, and 
 that I had no right to attempt to borrow money without being 
 able to offer security for the same. I answered this briefly 
 by stating that I thought as a clergyman he would appreciate 
 that I could not have offered better security, for " He that 
 giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord."
 
 62 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HATCHETT'S TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. 
 
 HEN an Englishman is abroad he doubtless 
 appreciates his own country more than at any 
 other time, and to the traveller who finds him- 
 self thousands of miles away from home, in an 
 indigent state, with nothing but bare hope to 
 help him towards his passage back, the dis- 
 tance one's native land then appears away is incapable of 
 estimation, for it is measured by despair. 
 
 South Africa having in my silent moments impressed me 
 with this possibility, I had taken the precaution, as I have 
 already stated, to secure my return ticket before I embarked 
 on the* theatrical trip to the Gaiety Theatre, Bombay. Hence 
 whatever my adventures might be in that fascinating country, 
 I always felt that I had a certain security behind me, which, 
 if not an asset for my creditors, was one on which I put great 
 reliance as security for my person ! 
 
 On my arrival in London I took up my quarters at Week's 
 Hotel, 49, Dover Street, Piccadilly, facing Hatchett's, before 
 the old building, with its sporting traditions, was demolished 
 a historic hostelry to which I shall refer later on. 
 
 Having deposited my luggage I went to see my mother, 
 and in narrating to her my experiences I am afraid I rather 
 dwelt on the parts I had played on the stage than those off. 
 I then turned my attention to raising the money to
 
 ROBERT STANDISH 8IEVIEE. . 63 
 
 liquidate the debts which I had left behind me, the records 
 of which were now doubtless slumbering in peaceful tran- 
 quillity among a mass of others in the safes of my creditors. 
 I laid the bare facts, surrounded by my guilt of extravagance, 
 before the then Vicar of Keswick, with whose family I was on 
 friendly terms. Unlike my preaching uncle, he came to my 
 assistance, and the money was forthwith cabled to India. 
 
 Like many others of my acquaintances, death has long 
 since claimed the Vicar, but among my sincerest friends to-day 
 are the members of his family. 
 
 Living in such close proximity to Hatchett's, it would have 
 been astounding if I had not visited this most celebrated 
 coaching house, with its merry men and jovial conviviality. 
 
 And what a real high-spirited lot they were. At this time 
 the revival of coaching was at its zenith, and in the White 
 Horse Cellars, underneath Hatchett's, was the booking-office 
 for all the road coaches. Piccadilly in those days was rarely 
 without the tootling of the guard's horn, and the departure 
 and arrival of the many teams was an attraction to all those 
 who loved the sound of champing bits and the rattle of the 
 splinter-bars. 
 
 Easily first amongst the coachmen was Jim Selby, rubicund 
 of vis-age and portly of person, dressed to fill the part, 
 whose teams were always good and turned out in faultless 
 style. Jim's coach, the Old Times, became world-known, and 
 the journeys to Oatlands Park and Virginia Water were 
 generally undertaken with a choice lot of spirits on board. 
 To the last Selby played the game, and died in harness, more 
 than respected by all who had matriculated under him. 
 
 Other coaches there were whose guards enlivened the 
 morning with their music. The Dorking, horsed and driven 
 and well looked after by Sheather ; the Guildford, with which 
 Walter Shoolbred, one of the best and most generous of 
 friends, was associated until his quite recent death ; the 
 Brighton, for which Stewart Freeman was responsible ; that 
 to Burford Bridge, whose pilot and principal proprietor was
 
 64 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that most excellent and reliable of whips, John Bolding, a 
 man who never made an enemy in his life ; the Windsor, 
 driven more often by Captain Bailey than anyone else, but 
 always a popular drive with the tourist section. 
 
 It was a cheery crowd who constituted " the see 'em home 
 club," and whose headquarters were the coffee-room at Hat- 
 chett's. Sportsmen, all of them. They could give you the 
 points of a horse as easily as those of a pretty woman, and 
 there was no question of sport upon which you could not get 
 a reliable opinion from them. 
 
 They looked upon the coffee-room as their own holy of 
 holies, and woe betide the stranger who tried to force himself 
 unasked into their select coterie. Divers ways and means 
 were adopted to make him unpleasantly aware that his 
 company was neither appreciated nor desired; and on one 
 occasion a more than usually thick-skinned intruder was lifted 
 from his chair and placed bodily on the nre before he could 
 be convinced that he was not wanted. The presiding deity 
 of Hatchett's in those days was Miss Wills, and she understood 
 her customers perfectly, and ruled them discreetly. William, 
 the head-waiter, was the guide, philosopher, and friend of 
 them all. 
 
 The coffee-room window was a wonderful point of view, from 
 which you could see the entire length of Piccadilly ; and 
 gathered there at all times of the day could be found some or 
 other of Hatchett's members. Walter Blake, then in his 
 bachelor days, lived at the place ; Bill and "Juggins " Cosier ; 
 Willie and David Hope-Johnstone ; Freddy Hobson, of Auster- 
 litz renown ; " Suss " Nesbitt, generally on his way to Sam 
 Lewis's or his tailor's ; " Pot " Franklin why " The Pot " no 
 one ever clearly understood ; Eddie Stratford, who in after 
 years was my secretary ; good-looking Joe Posno, whose tragic 
 death a year or two since removed a real good chap ; " The 
 Parrot," whose other name escapes me for a moment ; George 
 Kush, who swore he had to stay at Hatchett's for six weeks, 
 as his place in Northamptonshire was snowed up ; all these
 
 EOBEET STAN DISH SIEVIEE. 65 
 
 belonged to Hatchett's, and were of it. Another division, much 
 addicted to pigeon-shooting, included Walter Nixey, quietest 
 and most self-contained of men ; Poutz, who could execute a 
 commission as cleverly as most ; Walter Maas, one of the old 
 reliable sort of shooters ; and many others. Free of the 
 coffee-room, too, were such horsey and coaching men as Major 
 Dixon ; Ernest Beckett, about as good a man with the ribbons 
 as ever sat on a box ; Macadam, whose hands were as hard as 
 his ancestor's roads ; " Swish " Broadwood, with a wealth of 
 language that was inexhaustible ; and Walter Dickson, with 
 his " Cheer oh ! " ; " Squire " Goodman, whose nutbrown ale 
 every coachman stopped to quaff when arriving at the little 
 house on Kingston Hill ; his brother, a partner in Aldridge's, 
 about as good a whip as you could find ; and many others. 
 What rattling good fellows they all were ! and what times they 
 had ! Heigho ! 
 
 One curious thing about the coffee-room at Hatchett's was 
 that it was always breakfast-time. No matter what time of 
 day you went in, some one or other was having poached eggs 
 and such poached eggs ! they vied in popularity with the old 
 brandy, than which there was no better in London. Curious 
 things took place there, too. Wrestling matches were not un- 
 common, a sovereign sweepstakes forming the pool ; and a 
 little game that was peculiar to the place was the flicking of a 
 coin from the edge of the table into a circular hole in the! 
 centre ; much money changed hands at this simple game, and 
 much excitement reigned at times. Such was Hatchett's at 
 the time I resided opposite, and all must wish there were now 
 such men as those who added to the gaiety of life in those 
 days. 
 
 Having attended a few race meetings, I caused an announce- 
 ment to appear in that theatrical organ called " The Era " that 
 I was "resting." This in the profession is a polite term for 
 " out of work," but in my case it might have read " gone to 
 the races." 
 
 Knocking about the world had shown me something of the
 
 66 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 practical side of life, and that the next step to knowledge 
 should be application. As I went on I saw that the stream 
 of learning was ever running, and those capable of following 
 its course would find it never ending. Those who could not 
 swim with the stream were soon left behind, while those who 
 clutched at one of the buoys invariably found themselves in 
 a sorry plight. 
 
 In life's whirligig there are buoys and boys ! The latter 
 extended my knowledge of the world. The examination papers 
 were three cards, and the place of examination was a first- 
 class railway carriage, specially put on for Sandown Park races. 
 while I, the Juggins, was the examinee. There were three 
 other players in all, one confederate to each card. I have since 
 thought that I must have been the fifty-third of a pack the 
 Joker. To these three gentlemen I lost all I possessed, alight- 
 ing at Esher in their debt to the extent of 40. This sum I 
 borrowed from the late Mr. R. H. Fry and paid them, for I 
 then held, and my opinion remains unaltered to-day, that if I 
 was fool enough to attempt to win their money, nothing would 
 justify my not paying if I lost. 
 
 At least two of these three-card-trick men have advanced 
 with the times, and I can to-day place my hand on one who 
 is a member of a prominent racing club, and another who is 
 an owner of racehorses on a small scale under National Hunt 
 .Rules. If they read these lines they will remember the circum- 
 stance, and I take this opportunity of publicly thanking them 
 for the object-lesson which they taught me, though I feel under 
 no obligation. 
 
 It may appear puzzling to know how I ever got into the 
 financial position of being able to lose this money ; but I had 
 at this time gained the affection of someone^ that family relic 
 most of us must have possessed a maiden aunt. She 
 shuddered at the idea of my being on the stage. Having a 
 dutiful respect for her feelings, I did not increase the shudder- 
 ing by telling her that I had attended several race meetings. 
 Had she had the sole selection of my future, she would doubt-
 
 KOTiEBT STAN DISH SIEVIEB. 67 
 
 less have chosen the Church for my profession ; but I am afraid 
 the cloth would not have hung fittingly upon me, nor can I 
 quite distinguish in what way I might have succeeded, unless, 
 perhaps, as Chaplain to the Jockey Club. 
 
 The news that I had been plucked like a pigeon by the 
 three-card carrion travelled among " the boys " by the aid of 
 the tic-tac, which may be better defined as a crude form of 
 Marconi signalling. The unknown acquaintances who quickly 
 claimed me were more in numbers than in merit, but feeling 
 that I had gained sufficient experience among strangers for one 
 day, I had the whole of the explorer's ambition knocked out 
 of me, and preferred being left to my own devices rather than 
 to lean on the advice of others. I was not unlucky in my 
 speculations, which was perhaps equally a stroke of good 
 fortune for my good-natured aunt. 
 
 Derby Day was approaching, and I looked forward to my 
 first visit to Epsom as one of no small degree of importance. 
 
 The race of 1880 is generally referred to as Bend Or's 
 Derby, but I would rather describe it as Archer's, and instead 
 of saying that Bend Or beat Robert the Devil by a head in a 
 most desperate struggle, I am inclined to say the account 
 should read that Archer beat Rossiter. 
 
 This race made a great impression on me, for, apart from 
 the prestige of the Derby, it was a tremendous finish, and 
 from that day I thoroughly appreciated what good jockeyship 
 meant ; and my closer association with racing has more than 
 endorsed the opinion I then formed. Of the many endless 
 details connected with horse racing, jockeyship is almost the 
 paramount one, and every trainer of any capacity knows 
 what he has to fear in this respect. 
 
 Opposite my rooms, which were immediately over 
 Solomon's, the fruiterer's, was a hotel, recently demolished, 
 called " The Bath." This at least suggested cleanliness, which 
 a proverb tells us is next to godliness, which possibly induced 
 me to pay it a visit one Sunday just prior to my lunch. 
 Amongst its habitues was Mr. Fred Gretton, the owner of
 
 68 TEE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Isonomy. After my morning tub I kept up my acquaintance 
 with " The Bath " across the road, and I soon had reason to 
 fancy that the owner of Isonomy appreciated something 
 beyond the drinks which the young lady at the bar poured 
 out for him. She was a good-looking girl very. On better 
 acquaintance I took her to the Aquarium. Perhaps there was 
 something analogous between "Bath" and "Aquarium.'' 
 However that may be, an excellent dinner, washed down with 
 champagne, melted our acquaintance into convivial friendship. 
 
 From what had been whispered at the " Bath," I backed 
 Isonomy for the Manchester Cup of 1880 to win nearly 3,000. 
 
 Seated in Hachett's, many of us were awaiting the result 
 of the race, when suddenly the shout of the paper-boys 
 penetrated the room, with the crys of " 'Ere y'are ! Winner ! 
 Manchester Cup! " I rushed out and bought a "Globe," and, 
 shouting out " Isonomy's won ! " gave the boy half a crown. 
 Disregarding the traffic, I rushed across the street and entered 
 " The Bath " at a bound. " Isonomy's won ! " I shouted. We 
 were quite alone well 1 ? 
 
 Some of my bets were for ready money. I had 1,000 to 30 
 with Milner, and the rest had gone on, at 20 to 1, in tenners, 
 and so on. I remember the janitor of the Gaiety bar, recently 
 one of the staff at the Carlton Hotel, put a pony on for me. 
 This knocked acting into a cocked hat. I furnished and 
 decorated my lady of the " Bath " as any young gentleman 
 ought, and on the following Sunday Skindle's Lawn at 
 Maidenhead was alive with my friends, while the lady, seated 
 at the head of the launch, was a veritable belle de la riviere. 
 
 Undoubtedly the thick end of the wedge of racing which 
 had penetrated my life received a very substantial knock 
 with this win, and one which was encouraging, dissipating any 
 prospect of that inevitable knock which nearly always visits 
 all young plungers, unless they are closely connected with the 
 Bank of England. The goody-goody people would describe 
 this as the ephemeral success which tempts man to damnation. 
 
 I continued racing with extra vigour, and by the book-
 
 EOSEET 8TANDISH SIEVIEB. 69 
 
 makers was looked upon as a man of wealth, for, needless 
 to say, the 3,000 which I had won 500 of which I had 
 already given away was magnified doubly and trebly, as all 
 such transactions are. 
 
 Following in the footsteps of many others, I managed to 
 decrease my capital in my efforts to increase it, and I soon 
 learnt the practical lesson that to win a few thousands is not 
 to win much, but to lose a few thousands is to lose a lot. 
 
 It was now the autumn of 1880. Just about the period that 
 pheasants become rocketers, I became rocky. Yes, I candidly 
 admit it. I took the knock. Needless to add, K. H. Fry was 
 my biggest and almost only creditor. Forsaking my name- 
 sake, Robert the Devil, in the Cesarewitch, I returned from 
 Newmarket a sadder and " unwiser " man. 
 
 Again I soliloquised without words. It was not a mock 
 repentance. It was not what I would have done and what I 
 would not have done if this or that had happened. I merely 
 reflected what a jolly good time I had had, and how delighted 
 I was that I had not received my temporary quietus earlier. 
 The knock ! Ten seconds, and one is counted out. In other 
 words, Monday, twenty-four hours, and it is past until 
 animation is restored by payment. 
 
 Nothing brings with it better resolutions than failure. 
 I crossed the road, saw my lady " Bath," and told her every- 
 thing. Had I permitted it, I could have settled my account 
 on Monday. I felt my position, and I have always felt 
 everything keenly in connection with racing, good, bad, or 
 indifferent instinctively, possibly from my love of sport, and 
 this branch of it in particular. 
 
 In those days the major part of the settling took place at 
 TattersalFs. My chambers were a pleasant half-way house 
 for my creditors. The late Mr. Fry, ever urbane, would have 
 continued my credit, to my discredit, had I so desired and 
 here let me break from the line of my story, and say that the 
 ring has never seen a man like him before, nor will they 
 ever, in my opinion, see his like again. He was a speculative
 
 70 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gambler, no matter whether he received his gains or not, and 
 had he died worth a tithe, not of what he was owed, which 
 in itself was a fabulous fortune, but of what he gave away 
 in charity, those he left behind him would not have had to 
 fall back upon that prop of which he himself was so great a 
 support. 
 
 What was I to do 1 
 
 I went boldly to my aunt, and I admit that it took me 
 longer to screw my courage up to do this than any act I can 
 remember in the whole of my life. I respected the dear old 
 lady, and to this day I revere her memory. She listened to 
 me without interruption. I told her my story, ungarnished, 
 without reservation. Without a word of rebuke, she said how 
 glad she was that I had told her everything, spoke with no 
 little affectionate emotion, wrote out cheques for R. H. Fry, 
 Milner, and a few others for small amounts, which were then 
 and there posted. 
 
 In those days ladies grew old. Nowadays they never do. 
 They had that refined simplicity of manner, that true sincerity 
 of womanhood, which has left its influence to-day upon every 
 man who remembers that innate courtesy which marked the 
 generation to which I refer. 
 
 She has gone, and with her the customs of her age, which 
 had then been long on the wane ; and her maid, who is now 
 seventy-eight years of age, has, I am pleased to say, through 
 all my vicissitudes always been cared for. It is sad to record 
 that this old woman, in the fulness of time, has succumbed 
 to the temptations of the Turf, and her record is that she has 
 had a sovereign on Sceptre every time she ran. 
 
 Aunt Minty favoured the stage against racing, and 
 favoured neither against her convictions. I was then 
 approaching my majority, and her good nature prevailing, she 
 agreed that I should take out a dramatic company. Needless 
 to say, I did not dissent. 
 
 I played stock repertoire, with Gilbert and Sullivan's 
 "Trial by Jury" to finish each performance. Whether
 
 EOSEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 71 
 
 Hatchett's had installed in me extravagant ideas, or India 
 had lent, or I might say given to me an inclination to 
 extravagance, I cannot say ; but one thing is certain, that, 
 though the company was nominally a financial success, my 
 hotel bills and expenses swamped all the profits, until we 
 ultimately dried up at Birmingham. 
 
 Everything had pointed to a burst of success without being 
 able to finish. Fun we had, and successful as this may be 
 across the footlights, one does not get an audience or receipts 
 for it inside the theatre. The salaries were paid, and after 
 a short speech from me the company dissolved. 
 
 On returning to London I threw myself into an armchair, 
 wondering what I should do next.
 
 72 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OLD HOSTELRIES. 
 
 WATCHED the traffic in Piccadilly with all sorts 
 of schemes running through my brain, castles in 
 the air floating in the clouds. If I took out 
 another dramatic company, it might pay, and with 
 a little retrenchment, success might lollow, and 
 in my wild moments I even imagined the possi- 
 bility of my being a proprietor of a London 
 theatre! Then, on the other hand, my mind's eye would 
 rest on the racecourse, which with me was a softer 
 spot, and I pictured to myself the possibilities of 
 some day winning the Derby. I had already tasted the 
 sweets of winning, and there is no greater incentive than 
 this to the new beginner, whether it be in racing, acting, or 
 aught else. I took a short engagement at the Haymarket 
 Theatre, and the approaching winter compelled me sternly 
 to realise that racing, at least for some months to come, was 
 a dead letter. Prospective Isonomys were hibernating. 
 
 Many of the frequenters of Hatchett's coffee-room 
 patronised the Blue Posts, in Cork Street, celebrated for its 
 good English fare; it was also celebrated for the fun and 
 practical joking which went on inside its hospitable walls, 
 while it was no less a pleasant resort by reason of the com- 
 pany of the haut demi-monde, who were more in evidence in 
 those years than now. Their names were as well known in
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 73 
 
 the West End of London as those of any leading ladies in the 
 land, and many of them married well. To name them perhaps 
 would be unfair, for they were all a good sort in their way, 
 surrounded by a good time. 
 
 Another hostelry less frequented was the Crown, in 
 Rupert Street, now the Hotel Florence. Here Dr. Harvey, 
 Charley Johnson, the Pot, Dr. Dougall, and a host of others 
 ran riot at times, and any stranger presenting himself in what 
 was called the "upstairs club parlour," was generally received 
 with volleys of flour. This kept the place secluded from 
 strangers ! The barmaids were the most fashionable the pro- 
 prietor could obtain, and amongst them were prize-takers 
 at the Woolwich Barmaid Show. 
 
 It is needless to say that the decorum which one might 
 expect in the restaurant of the Savoy Hotel was not to be 
 found in the " upstairs club parlour " of the Crown in Rupert 
 Street. Chaff, practical jokes, things that men in their more 
 sober years wonder they ever did, were the sum and substance 
 of the meetings at the Crown. The landlord found it difficult 
 to keep time with his guests, and one evening closed his house 
 punctually, which was against the rules and inclinations of 
 every member of the " upstairs club parlour." The next day 
 it was decided to mete out punishment to him as a mark of 
 disapproval of his overnight conduct. He was a married man, 
 and his wife was good-looking and full of spirits. It was pro- 
 posed that a trip by sea to Aberdeen would blow the cobwebs 
 off everybody, and the landlord agreed with some others to 
 go. By the time he reached the boat, in company with the 
 rest who were supposed to be going with him, he had had 
 more to drink than he could reasonably carry, and taking to 
 his cabin long before the boat was due to start, he went to 
 sleep. Now was the time to mete out to him that punishment 
 to which the club had sentenced him. One of the members 
 took his return ticket out of his pocket together with all the 
 money he had on him, and left him still peacefully slumbering. 
 The party then wished him " Bon voyage " in ceremonious
 
 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 dumb show, and soon after they watched the boat safely off 
 with its cargo. 
 
 That evening the Crown in Rupert Street hardly closed at 
 all. Dancing and rollicking fun was the order until the break 
 of day. The lady who appeared to enjoy the proceedings most 
 was the landlord's wife ! But the fun had scarcely begun yet. 
 In due course a telegram arrived from Scotland which ran 
 somewhat as follows : " Where are the rest of the party 1 
 Here all by myself with neither ticket nor money. Reply." 
 The landlady, with an eye to the welfare of her business, 
 consulted some of the revellers of the night before, who 
 eased her of all trouble in this respect, and promised to 
 attend to the matter; but this poor landlord was sent from 
 one town to another by telegram saying he would meet one 
 man in this place, or another man in the other, or, failing 
 that, receive the money somewhere else, and he was kept 
 out of London for five whole days and nights. 
 
 The night of the landlord's return might have been 
 expected to be a stormy one, but such was not the case. A 
 dinner was laid for several, with the head of the table 
 reserved for the landlord, who in due course arrived. 
 Garrulous explanations were made drowning anything the 
 landlord said, and he was positively carried and put in the 
 chair at the head of the table to sit down and eat the dinner 
 which was arranged in honour of his return by his guests, 
 who had, he was informed, spent a very dull time anxiously 
 wondering where he was ; but they welcomed the prodigal 
 husband back, and so ended a huge joke, which the husband 
 was compelled to appreciate as much as the rest of us. 
 
 Of all the frequenters of the Crown whom I can for the 
 moment remember, only two are alive, Dr. Dougall and the 
 Pot. 
 
 Another hostelry which at this period received much sport- 
 ing patronage was Long's in Bond Street. In the eighties, 
 and many years earlier, this was a celebrated house, and the 
 entree to the coffee-room was perhaps more difficult than
 
 ROBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 75 
 
 to the majority of clubs. It may be said that the habitues of 
 the coffee-room at Hatchett's were accepted as honorary 
 members, and a list of the influential names of those who 
 frequented Long's would run into hundreds. Amongst many 
 others the Duke of Hamilton, " Jimmie " Shaw, Lord Gerard, 
 and others of that ilk kept the ball rolling. A wet devilled 
 sole and champagne cup, served in silver mugs, was the 
 standing breakfast. William was the head waiter, every inch 
 a gentleman's servant. 
 
 Limmer's, just round the corner in Conduit Street, might 
 be styled a full sister to Long's, but these old-time hotels 
 were part of an era which, I fear, is never to come again. 
 Limmer's is now a pianoforte warehouse, but whatever tunes 
 they may be able to produce there, not one of them will com- 
 pare with those of the sparkling days of old, while Long's has 
 been no less desecrated, and what were once the celebrated 
 coffee-room and the old smoking-room are now turned into 
 shops ; the drawing-room is a public bar, and what was in 
 recent years a billiard-room is now used as a make-shift 
 dining room. The old associations have disappeared, and 
 the new landlord, Jenks, a former proprietor of a gambling 
 club off St. James's Street, has transformed Long's Hotel 
 beyond the recognition of the sportsmen who used to 
 patronise the place. There is an incursion of palatial hotels 
 where one gets little else but an ample supply of coloured 
 glass and music, and the solidity of the good smaller hotels 
 which had their own particular clientele, and gave to their 
 guests the comfort of home, is now out of the fashion and 
 dead.
 
 76 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 TURF UPS AND DOWNS. 
 
 N May 30, 1881, my coming of age was celebrated at 
 Long's by a breakfast, and I determined at that 
 moment to sever my connection with the stage. 
 From that day forth I took to racing more actively 
 and generally than I had heretofore, and was to 
 be found on the racecourse at almost every im- 
 portant meeting in England. I was fortunate, 
 and soon won enough to repay " Aunty Minty " the bulk of 
 what she had advanced me. I was thus early well known 
 to the regular followers of racing, and I had pulled more than 
 one out of a tight betting corner. 
 
 From the day I saw Archer ride Bend Or in the Derby I 
 always favoured his mounts if I had the shadow of an 
 encouragement to back them, and this stood me in good stead. 
 Having taken up my quarters for the Sussex fortnight at the 
 Old Ship, Brighton, when Mr. " Arthur " was alive, I drove 
 tandem daily to Goodwood, having two changes on the road. 
 To my mind, Goodwood is never complete without lunch under- 
 neath the trees, hence I had my table there, a custom I never 
 relinquished any one year except when I have been abroad. 
 Entertaining my friends, I had not time to go into the ring, 
 so sent round to have 200 each way on Dutch Oven at starting 
 price in the Richmond Stakes with R. H. Fry. She got home 
 at 6 to 1, Archer up, and I landed 1,500, not a bad opening
 
 EOBEST STANDISH SIEriER. 77 
 
 bet, and good seasoning for a youngster who had just touched 
 his majority ! She won by a head from St. Marguerite and the 
 flying Kermesse, who ran a dead-heat for second place, and 
 to show what a good jockey Archer was, and how much he 
 must have had in hand, she later on at the meeting again met 
 St. Marguerite in the Rous Memorial Stakes, over the same 
 course, at a difference of 3lb in the latter's favour, and on this 
 occasion Dutch Oven beat her by three lengths ! Having 
 backed several good winners, I had 500 on Dutch Oven at 
 3 to 1, and on Monday morning when I settled up with R. H. 
 Fry at Brighton, before he went up to London, he handed me 
 a cheque for over 6,000 and there were others ! 
 
 Brighton and Lewes were not unsuccessful, and I finished 
 up the Sussex fortnight as "a man ought to." Then I continued 
 racing with those fluctuations, which are too well known to 
 need description, more especially when my twenty-one years 
 and the early success which I had achieved are taken into 
 consideration. Had I led a less liberal life ; or have been 
 brought up surrounded by the drudgery of a city office, or 
 have shut myself out from the world generally by locking 
 myself up in the Temple, or through one way or the other have 
 narrowed my ideas to a business degree, I might have plodded 
 oh without a reverse ; but this was not my nature. I was not 
 greedy to win, nor did I hoard up my gains, and during my 
 racing career I do not think I have gained the reputation of 
 being other than reasonably liberal, in proportion to my 
 successes. This gives a man who does not brood over his 
 gains the right not to brood over his losses. In colloquial 
 terms, I followed a " happy-go-lucky " line of my own. I never 
 looked back to pat myself on the back, nor did I attempt to 
 look into the future and wonder how long it was going to last. 
 " Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof ! " 
 
 I would not for an instant suggest this maxim to a 
 professional or business man ; but personally, if I am not a 
 bold speculator I am nothing. Had I introduced commercial 
 instincts, and treated my racing career in a purely commercial
 
 78 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 spirit, I might to-day have been a rich man, for I have at 
 different times acquired three large fortunes on the Turf, each 
 amounting to. over 200,000. These ups and downs have 
 afforded me great opportunities of studying human nature 
 the ebb and flow, and that overwhelming majority which floats 
 with the stream. 
 
 After a bad Doncaster I determined to give myself a rest, 
 and once more paid Plymouth a visit. I began dabbling as an 
 amateur bookmaker, which was a little slow and did not quite 
 satisfy the ambition of a young plunger. Whether it was 
 that the " Plymouth Brethren " knew a bit, or that my vein of 
 bad luck still pursued me, I cannot say, but as a result of my 
 amateur efforts I never won on any one week, and this, as it 
 continued, gave me a kind of professional bite. 
 
 My mother's cousin, Major-General James Freeth William- 
 son, having at one time commanded the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers, 
 gave me an introduction to the officers of that regiment, who 
 were at this time stationed at the Citadel ; and, following in 
 the footsteps of the " Plymouth Brethren," they backed Foxhall 
 with me for the Cesarewitch to a man ! The result of this 
 considerably reduced the balance of my account at my 
 bankers ; in short, it nearly left me high and dry. 
 
 I then opened a book on the Cambridgeshire, and that the 
 Welsh Fusiliers were conservative cannot for an instant be 
 doubted, for they backed Foxhall again to a man, and, not 
 content with this, introduced one or two friends, who followed 
 their example. On the day of the race I found myself rather 
 with a "Toxhall Book" than a Cambridgeshire one. The result 
 is common knowledge that is, so far as the winner of the 
 Cambridgeshire is concerned but the result of my settling my 
 account on the following Monday is not ancient history. Add 
 up my bank-book as I would, I could not find sufficient to meet 
 my liabilities. This knocked all the amateur out of me. I 
 became deadly professional. I interviewed three of the officers 
 to whom I was more largely indebted, and asked for "time." 
 At the early stages of my interview with them I believe they
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 79 
 
 would have obliged me had they been magistrates ! After a 
 prolonged explanation, in which " hope " played no small part, 
 they generously agreed to wait. I settled with everybody els, 
 packed up my traps, and returned to my rooms in Dover Street, 
 not a sadder,, but a wiser man. Here, although the winter was 
 approaching, I felt at least no concern as to the price of 
 coal! 
 
 It was not until my first return from Australia in 1886 that 
 I paid my debts to the three men of the 23rd. It came as 
 rather a surprise to them, for they had all forgotten the matter, 
 and had long since wiped it off as a bad debt ; but there are 
 two things I have always done firstly, never to forget a debt 
 I owed ; and, secondly, never to allow it to trouble me. 
 Moodily brooding only retards the prospective chance of getting 
 out of debt. 
 
 During the close season, I paid more than one visit to 
 Fitzroy House, Newmarket, which was then kept by old 
 Martin, the grandfather of E. Martin, the present trainer ; and 
 here I renewed my acquaintance with Dick Budge, in his day 
 a celebrated trainer of gamecocks. Dick had brought off a 
 main for me at Plymouth. He was a Devonshire man, and 
 I have an idea he looked upon me as a blossoming millionaire 
 patron of the sport. I did not undeceive him ; stern facts do 
 quit enough for us in this respect, without any aid or 
 assistance. Gamecocks brought him in touch with the late 
 Tom Jennings. In this roundabout way I gathered that Poulet 
 was expected to win the Lincoln Handicap of 1882. I backed 
 it, amongst others, with Mr. Pottle, of the Royal Exchange, 
 who, I regret to say, is now deceased. I got all sorts of prices, 
 ranging from 40 to 1 down to 20 to 1 ; and when Mr. Pottle 
 had to pay me on Monday his cheque did not arrive, but in 
 answer to a telegram on Tuesday he came to Newmarket, " as 
 he would like to have a look at the young gentleman who had 
 won so much money from him." He left his cheque behind 
 for a most acceptable sum, and asking me what he had better 
 back to get his money back, I advised him to have a pony or
 
 80 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 so on Iroquois for the City and Suburban, but he went lame 
 soon afterwards, and with this my business with Pottle also 
 broke down. 
 
 This was opening the season well, but it was not to last, 
 and before a fortnight had elapsed I had lost nearly all 
 my Lincoln Handicap winnings. I then took a trip on the 
 Continent, stopping at Monte Carlo and many other places, 
 ultimately reaching Naples. Here I re-visited a few of the 
 old spots, and thought of the Parsee I had put in the train 
 at Reggio, and other circumstances which the surroundings 
 brought back to my recollection. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival a large vessel came into the bay, 
 and, looking at her, I inquired her name. I was told she was 
 the Liguria, one of the Orient liners. I then inquired, " Where 
 is she going to?" "Australia," was the answer. A second's 
 thought, and I hailed a fly ; and, driven by the aid of a nose- 
 band and Neapolitan ejaculations, I reached my hotel. Hey 
 presto ! and my servant had packed the things ; I paid the bill, 
 and we were on board the Liguria sailing for Australia. 
 
 Again I met a distinctive lot of passengers compared with 
 either of those on the South African or Indian routes. The 
 South African travellers represented what Whitechapel is to 
 London, the Australians the suburb of Brixton, and the 
 Indians, Mayfair. 
 
 Our complement of passengers may best be described by 
 the one word "mixed." Old hands returning to the colonies, 
 whither, perhaps, their initial passage had not cost them so 
 much, and in more than one instance might have cost them 
 nothing ; others going out in search of those fortunes which 
 are won and lost on the goldfields ; in short, men of all classes, 
 doubtless mostly those who had not been as successful as they 
 thought they should have been in the mother country. A 
 sprinkling of youths, who in earlier years might have been the 
 hopes of the family, were being sent out by their fathers to 
 gain what is called colonial experience, which generally means 
 that the unruly youth at home discovers, on landing, that he
 
 EOBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 81 
 
 has much more scope, and is subjected to a great deal more 
 temptation, than is the case at homo. 
 
 A traveller on board ship has three courses open to him. 
 He can keep himself to himself, he can become one of a certain 
 circle, or he can be amiable and courteous to everybody, with 
 a result that each circle tries to ensnare him in their meshes. 
 The latter is by far the preferable stand to take, and affords 
 plenty of amusement to the man who is a worldly angler. 
 
 The Orient line at this time ran straight from Suez to 
 Adelaide, which is a long run without touching a port, and 
 seldom is a sail to be seen on this stretch. Sweepstakes on 
 the distance of the run of the vessel, concerts, dances, and 
 ship's athletic sports, helped to pass the time away. Amongst 
 our passengers were fifteen nuns, and though I hope each one 
 may be blessed, I am compelled to confess they did not add to 
 the conviviality of the voyage. It was no small relief when 
 Adelaide was sighted, where I landed on May 30, 1882, my 
 twenty-second birthday. I had ascertained that the York 
 Hotel was the best in town, which was inducement enough for 
 me to put up there. The Adelaide autumn races were just 
 over, and many sportsmen from Victoria and New South Wales 
 still remained behind. Amongst others, I met Mr. Joseph 
 Thompson for the first time, Mr. J. Eden Savile, an English- 
 man who subsequently trained The Assyrian, who won the 
 Melbourne Cup, and many others whose names would be of 
 little interest. What I was going to do I had no idea. I had 
 no plans in going to Australia. I saw no prospect if I was 
 going to stop there ; in short, I felt little better than a 
 peripatetic stroller. 
 
 The life was purely colonial, everybody knew everybody else, 
 and the hotels, which were not quite up to the class of the 
 Savoy or Claridge's, were the general meeting places of all. 
 
 Wide streets with huge telegraph poles running along either 
 
 ' side of them, shops with corrugated fronts projecting over the 
 
 gutter to protect them from the sun, dust which on hot-wind 
 
 days vied with the desert of the Sahara the eucalyptus stud- 
 
 7
 
 82 THE AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF 
 
 ding the street at regular intervals but giving little or no shade 
 with its vertical leaves ; such is a brief description of the 
 general impression Adelaide leaves on the stranger. It has 
 its suburbs, which are- extremely pretty, and its public institu- 
 tions are worthy of an architectural description. The men 
 were one and all a good-natured lot, and they extended to me 
 the hand of hospitality. 
 
 I am now strictly referring to those who live in Adelaide, 
 and not to the bookmakers of Australia, to some of whom I 
 shall have to refer in a less pleasing tone as the recital of my 
 life in Australia progresses. 
 
 A one-day's race meeting was advertised to be shortly held 
 at Morpethville, which is the name of the Adelaide racecourse, 
 and before going on to Melbourne I determined to wait for 
 this meeting. Just prior to its taking place I resolved to make 
 a book, and assuming my mother's maiden name, that of 
 Sutton, for racing purposes, I was proposed, seconded, and 
 elected a member of Tattersall's Club in Adelaide, and this 
 brought me into contact with the majority of owners in South 
 Australia, and I made many friends. The day arrived, and I 
 drove to the racecourse with more confidence than capital.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 83 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 USTRALIA! In this hemisphere of topsy-turvey- 
 dom where the aboriginal is black, where the 
 trees shed their bark and not their leaves ; where 
 the gean grows tasteless, with its stone outside 
 the fruit ; where the native pear ripens into a 
 pendulous pod of wood ; where the marsupial 
 kangaroo fosters her young in her pouch ; where 
 the bandicoot doth procreate upon her nipples ; where foxes 
 fly as bats by night ; where the birds have no song ; where 
 the rivers are destitute of water ; where all things indigenous 
 are inverted a traveller may expect to encounter impedi- 
 ments of all kinds. 
 
 I knew that in starting to make a book on the racecourse 
 as a new man among strangers, I should be confronted with no 
 little opposition from men who had followed the calling of 
 bookmaking for several years and were locally known. 
 
 The Australian system of betting was not on the more 
 liberal lines customary in England. It was the general rule of 
 the colonial bookmaker to bet on double events, and seldom, if 
 ever, to have a straight out book, except on important events, 
 such as the Melbourne, Caulfield, and Sydney Cups. Every 
 bookmaker carried his own book, having no clerk, and would 
 generally offer to bet on "this and the next," which meant 
 that the punter was expected to find not only the winner of the 
 first event, but also that of the following race ; and if he backed
 
 84 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 a winner in the first race, but in the second event his horse did 
 not start, he would lose his money. Cash betting was un- 
 known, and if a stranger wanted to make a bet he would have 
 to deposit his money, but, in the event of backing a winner, 
 would not receive his gains until the regular settling day. The 
 foregoing shows the crude state betting was in at the time of 
 my arrival in Australia. When, therefore, I took up my 
 position on the Adelaide Racecourse with a clerk by my side 
 I created no little excitement, and when I gave out that I 
 would pay over every race immediately it was decided and 
 the winner had weighed in, and that my transactions would 
 be confined to single and not double events, the bookmaking 
 fraternity looked upon me in wonderment mingled with 
 despair, while the public came up smiling, and I did a roaring 
 trade forthwith. 
 
 It was only a one-day meeting, held on Accession Day, 1 
 which was kept as a public holiday throughout the Colonies 
 an example which might be followed in the Mother Country, 
 for we have no public holiday throughout the year in connec- 
 tion with Royalty. 
 
 The result of my new methods, or rather the introduction 
 of those which were in vogue in England, caused me, before 
 the end of the day, to transact certainly 75 per cent, of the 
 betting on the course, and many of the local bookmakers 
 put their volumes in their pockets as "this and the next" 
 signally failed in face of the opposition which I had 
 inaugurated. 
 
 My first venture showed a profit of more than 1,500 at 
 the end of the day, and it was telegraphed all over the 
 colony to the different newspapers, that a prominent book- 
 maker of the name of Sutton had arrived from TattersalPs 
 in England, and that he had paralysed the betting in South 
 Australia, while the Adelaide " Punch " had a cartoon of the 
 Bishop betting with me, and some ten bookmakers belonging 
 to the Chosen Race were depicted walking away up a hill, 
 upon the top of which was a signpost pointing " To Palestine."
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 
 
 Having been so well advertised in the columns of every 
 newspaper of the different Australian Coloniesi, I immediately 
 packed up, determining to make my headquarters in Mel- 
 bourne, which in those days was only get-at-able by boat or 
 mailcart, there being no railway connecting the two cities. 
 
 The licensing of bookmakers had been recently introduced 
 into Victoria. The licence to bet at Flemington cost 25 
 per annum, and it was not long before all the minor race- 
 courses in Victoria levied some kind of charge on all book- 
 makers who betted at their meetings. 
 
 These licences represented a good round sum, and the 
 money so obtained helped to swell the prizes. If this method 
 were followed in England it might be made of great benefit 
 to owners, who are the principal supporters of the Turf, 
 for the stakes which are offered at the present moment cost 
 more to run for than those of any other country in the world ; 
 or the money might be divided amongst the different 
 executives and a lesser charge demanded from the public for 
 the entrance to Tattersall's and the smaller rings, while it 
 would give the bookmakers a better standing, and knock 
 welshing on the head, for the public would not do business 
 with any man who had not been licensed by the authorities. 
 
 My resolve to visit Melbourne, and actively continue the 
 business of a bookmaker, had been well discussed, and on my 
 arrival my name was already well known in sporting circles. 
 
 The Melbourne bookmakers did not disguise the fact that 
 they failed to appreciate my coming among them with the 
 innovation of cash betting, and in many instances attempted 
 to put obstacles in the way of my becoming a member of 
 the leading sporting clubs namely, the Victorian Club and 
 Bowes's Tattersall's. Having a letter of introduction to 
 Captain Standish, who was Chairman of the V.R.C., the 
 equivalent to the Senior Steward of the Jockey Club in this 
 country, this opposition was futile, as this gentleman proposed 
 me for the clubs, and the Hon. W. Pearson, the Vice-Chairman 
 of the V.R.C., seconded me. Had certain evidence recently
 
 86 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 given in the Law Court, before Sir William Grantham, been 
 true, it is not possible that these two gentlemen, holding 
 these high honorary offices, indeed the highest that can be 
 held under the rules of racing in Australia, would have pro- 
 posed and seconded me for the principal clubs in Melbourne. 
 
 I was unanimously elected, and received a licence imme- 
 diately upon my application to Mr. H. Byron Moore, the 
 Secretary of the Victorian Racing Club. 
 
 The first meeting I attended was at Caulfield, but I 
 decided not to bet there, so went as a spectator only, in order 
 to gain a general insight into the way racing and betting were 
 conducted in the colony of Victoria. " This and the next " 
 was the order of the day, and at least 90 per cent, of the 
 bookmakers' physiognomies announced that they belonged to 
 the Chosen Race. 
 
 The Sydney meeting was approaching, and after some con- 
 sideration I made up my mind that I would start business 
 there, and I was immediately elected a member of the 
 Sydney Tattersall's. 
 
 The Spring Meeting at Randwick (New South Wales) opens 
 the ball for flat racing in Australia, which continues merrily 
 until the autumn meeting, when it is carried on to a lesser 
 degree. There is no National Hunt, and this, judging from 
 the parlous state of steeplechasing at home, shows the 
 colonials' sound sense. 
 
 At this spring meeting I went on to the course with my 
 clerk, and, after surveying the space set apart for betting 
 purposes, I fixed on a place which I thought would be a 
 prominent position to take up. Such a thing as shouting the 
 odds was unknown ; indeed, bookmaking before my arrival 
 in Australia might be better termed "lumbering," it being 
 the common custom to run about in search of the up-country 
 squatter and lay him a bet, nearly always a double event, 
 much under the legitimate price. The bookmakers did not 
 take up a stand in any one place. The numbers went up for 
 the first race, and I launched out, shouting a price on the
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 87 
 
 field, with a result that some forty or fifty of these men stood 
 round me, forming a large ring, and booed. I continued, 
 taking no notice of them. It was a cowardly attack, but the 
 public broke through the cordon they had made with a cheer, 
 and from that moment I carried on the largest business of 
 any bookmaker in Australia. 
 
 It was not long before many followed the example I had 
 set, and in Australia to-day double events on minor races are, 
 very rightly, almost unknown. 
 
 I made many friends, and was christened by the public, 
 and always referred to in the papers as " The Englishman." 
 
 The Cornstalk is a, sportsman, and the generosity he 
 extends to his visitors knows no bounds. Wherever I went I 
 was welcomed, and considerable sympathy was extended to 
 me for the unseemly and contemptible demonstration of some 
 of the bookmakers on my first appearance at Randwick. 
 
 My business increased with each race, and I netted a con- 
 siderable sum, and began to feel that I was on the road to 
 becoming a Croesus, and had struck oil. 
 
 Returning to Melbourne, I met a friend of mine, Major 
 Bell, and with him went to a fancy bazaar which was being 
 held in aid of some good cause ; from memory I think it was 
 in aid of a fund for building the wing of a church, and amongst 
 other things I fell in love with one of the ladies who kept a 
 stall ; and as I do not intend to touch upon family matters, I 
 may say shortly that we were married three weeks afterwards, 
 I being just twenty-two years of age, and she my junior by a 
 year. 
 
 The Sydney episode and the large business I had done 
 there, had reached Melbourne before my return, and I became 
 a subject to be pointed out in the streets by different people, 
 and frequently heard myself being referred to with " There 
 goes the Englishman." 
 
 The accommodation and comfort afforded to the public 
 at Flemington, Randwick, and Caulfield, put in the shade 
 the stands and the space allotted in England. Indeed, I
 
 88 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 know of no stand in any part of the world that can compare 
 with that of Flemington, with its spacious lawn laid out in 
 flower-beds, where, on a Melbourne Cup day, when young 
 Australia turns out to a man aye, and to a lady, too there 
 is plenty of room for everybody, and the attendance in the 
 stands is about equal to that at Epsom on Derby Day, while 
 the charge for entrance to the grand stand, where one can 
 see the races in perfect comfort, is only 10s. (and this includes 
 the paddock), compared with the l or more which is de- 
 manded in England, where the pleasant surroundings I have 
 described are next to unknown. 
 
 In the grand stand certain seats are reserved for Stewards, 
 and a portion is kept for members of the V.R.C. The spacious 
 paddock is connected with the enclosure ; there is no barrier 
 or gate to go through, and no pass-out checks have to be taken 
 to get there. Of the merits of the horses we have had a 
 sample in England, and I need go no further than to name 
 Merman, a winner of the Cesarewitch and the Ascot Gold 
 Cup, though I cannot omit to mention Moifaa, once the 
 property of His Majesty the King. 
 
 The first Melbourne Cup I witnessed was in 1882, when 
 Assyrian, an outsider, won, and after paying out some 700 
 I won over 5,000 in ready money on the race; indeed, I 
 did so great a business that I was compelled to have three 
 clerks, the business of one being solely to hold the money. 
 
 That the meeting for the Melbourne Cup is a spectacle one 
 cannot witness on any other racecourse, is beyond contradic- 
 tion. With its garden-like lawn, its enormous stands, tier 
 following tier, with a natural hill behind it, forming, as it 
 were, another grand stand above the roof of that built by 
 man, it is in every respect unique. The course is circular, 
 a little more than a mile and a half in circumference, and 
 though it is in every respect good, it could not compare with 
 the track at Newmarket, or the turf at Goodwood. Ascot, 
 with all its brilliancy, is left far behind in respect to comfort 
 and the advantages of being able to view a race.
 
 EGBERT 8TANDISH SIEVIEE. 89 
 
 I generally won, I may say I always did so at the large 
 meetings ; and not being afraid of living up to my income 
 I had a house in St. Kilda, bought a yacht, and had a country 
 place at Schnapper Point (Mornington), which is on the 
 coast, or, rather, on the shores of the bay. 
 
 Of hunting there was not much, the Melbourne hounds 
 being a drag pack and there were no others, but hunting the 
 kangaroo afforded excellent sport, and coursing the strong 
 hares which Australia produces was good fun. One could 
 shoot rabbits, which are the pest of the country, quicker than 
 a naughty boy could catch flies, but with the exception of wild 
 duck and wild turkeys there was little sport for the gun. 
 
 These surroundings suited me very well, and at the end 
 of my first year's racing I had won over 70,000, of which 
 I sent a certain amount to England in payment of some 
 debts I had left behind, and assisted a few friends who 
 had been good enough to help me at a time when I myself 
 was in difficulties. 
 
 After some happy and fairly prosperous years, I arranged, 
 in 1886, to return to England for a trip. 
 
 One of the passengers on board the boat was Bishop 
 Moorhouse, who was returning to England to take up the 
 bishopric of Manchester. A better type of Englishman, a 
 more genial companion than his lordship one could not wish 
 to meet. It was announced that he would administer the 
 Sacrament at one of the Sunday services, and in due course 
 the Sabbath arrived, but no preparations had been made for 
 carrying out the communion service, and it was suddenly 
 remembered that no chalice was forthcoming. Mr. Harry 
 Haines, one of the best sportsmen Australia has ever seen, 
 immediately offered the use of a cup he had with him. This 
 was accepted on the spur of the moment, and after the service 
 the Bishop was admiring the cup which had done duty for the 
 chalice when he read on it the following inscription : " The 
 Adelaide Gold Cup, won by Euclid, the property of Mr. Harry 
 Haines."
 
 90 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A TRIP HOME AND BACK. 
 
 NCE again I found myself going through the Suez 
 Canal, once again we touched Malta and once 
 again I thought of Blue Eyes. Reaching 
 Brindisi, I disembarked and went overland to 
 England. On the train I met an officer in the 
 King's Dragoon Guards, whose name I need not 
 mention, but from that day we have been fast 
 friends. I mention this, as I shall have to incidentally refer 
 to him shortly. 
 
 On my arrival in London I took rooms over Elvery's in 
 Conduit Street, and settled down for a few months' holiday 
 prior to returning to Australia. My married life had not 
 been a success, doubtless all my fault, and it had been 
 arranged that during my absence the matrimonial link should 
 be legally broken. 
 
 I attended the different race meetings at Newmarket and 
 those convenient to London, and renewing my acquaintance 
 with many old friends, I was elected a member of Boodle's, 
 made a member of Sandowri Park, being proposed by the 
 late General Owen Williams, and became a member of the 
 majority of racing clubs. 
 
 Once more I found myself in the midst of a merry lot of 
 men, whose wild oats had not yet been sown, and judging 
 of them generally, the majority required several extra acres 
 for the successful carrying out of the old proverb. The East
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEV1EE. 91 
 
 Room of the Criterion had not then long been opened, and 
 was a favourite resort for dinner, while the Continental and 
 the Globe were the rendezvous for many a convivial supper- 
 party. 
 
 It was after one of these evenings, towards the end of 
 June, that a party of us repaired to my rooms in Conduit 
 Street. It took some half-dozen cabs to get our full comple- 
 ment there. On our arrival a good, true, and faithful 
 myrmidon of the law, to wit, a policeman, was standing 
 outside. It was a hot, thirsty night, and, like a good 
 Samaritan, I asked him if he could not "do a drink." He 
 followed us in, and a whisky and soda quenched the parched 
 lips of the law. He must have had his " appreciative " eye 
 on us, for he seemed in no haste to retreat, so I offered him 
 a cigar, and he took a seat and started puffing away with 
 another whisky and soda by his side. 
 
 It dawned on me that I had never had on a policeman's 
 helmet and tunic, and, beckoning to the constable, I took him 
 into another room. Dressing myself up as a policeman, I 
 returned suddenly, creating no little excitement when I 
 demanded the presence of Mr. R. S. Sievier, for whose arrest 
 I said I held a warrant. 
 
 No one recognised me ; indeed, they rather displayed the 
 mighty dread which the blue tunic carries with it. The 
 chin-strap of the helmet helped to hide my features, and it 
 was some time before I was recognised. This done, the fun 
 increased. 
 
 Unobserved by the owner of the tunic, who, in a loose 
 dressing-gown, was puffing away at the butt-end of his cigar 
 in a room by himself, I, followed by two or three friends, 
 began to parade Bond Street as an officer of the law, and, 
 meeting an acquaintance, immediately arrested him, insisting 
 that he was drunk and had been creating a disturbance. He 
 protested, but the strong arm of the law collared him, and 
 turning his nose towards Vine Street, marched him round 
 the corner into Conduit Street. Here I hesitated, suddenly
 
 92 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 rushed him up the stairs to my chambers, and threw him into 
 my rooms, where he found himself face to face with a good 
 many of his personal friends ! 
 
 Nothing daunted, I went out again on "the beat." Just 
 as I was about to turn the corner, the whole company hanging 
 out of the windows looking after me, I ran right into the arms 
 of a real policeman. I took to my heels instanter, the police- 
 man after me. I soon outpaced him, and, doubling round the 
 houses, reached Long's, and, ringing the bell, the door was 
 immediately opened by the porter and I entered. 
 
 He did not recognise me ; indeed, he stood dumfounded. 
 and walking straight into the smoking-room, although 
 breathless, I placed everybody under arrest, including the 
 landlord, for serving drinks after hours ; but my evening- 
 dress trousers and pumps rather gave me away, for the police 
 force are more celebrated for the size of their boots than for 
 the ordinary patent pumps. 
 
 I had safely dodged the policeman who was in pursuit, 
 but I was no less in a dilemma to know how to get back to 
 my rooms undiscovered, and to return the tunic and helmet 
 to the officer of the law who was doing yeoman duty with the 
 whisky and cigars. Borrowing a coat and cap, I got back to 
 my chambers, receiving a reception of three cheers from the 
 occupants of the windows, together with a volley of bolsters 
 and pillows which they had gathered from the different bed- 
 rooms and hurled down at me in the street. 
 
 I came to England for a holiday, and I was having it! 
 Among those present that night, one has blossomed into 
 an active and successful member of the House of Commons, 
 another commanded a corps of Imperial Yeomanry in South 
 Africa with great distinction, and the rest of the company 
 of that evening are one and all alive to-day, and each holds 
 a responsible position, and holds it honourably. 
 
 Goodwood came round, and taking one of the many 
 rectories always to let in the neighbourhood during the 
 race week, which is as much the rector's harvest as that of
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 93 
 
 his parishioners living round Goodwood, I collected quite a 
 respectable house-party, properly to bring off the double 
 event the rectory and the races. A matter which at the time 
 afforded me great amusement, and which I have never 
 forgotten, was the ever-ready courtesy of the rector to oblige 
 us in any possible way he could. He had removed for the 
 time being to a little cottage, and very graciously placed 
 everything he had left behind at our disposal, he himself 
 proposing that the donkey might assist in taking the lunch to 
 the racecourse, and an old broken-kneed pony and a ricketty 
 basket phaeton might be made use of by helping to take some 
 of the guests to the grand stand. I caused the donkey to be 
 used as a help, as suggested, and the old pony took two 
 or three of the valets to the course. It was a very thoughtful 
 offer on the part of the rector, and I felt I should like to 
 repay this in some indirect way, so on leaving I tipped his 
 servants with extra generosity. About the middle of the 
 following week I .received a note from this man of piety and 
 self-denial, asking if I would kindly send a cheque for twelve 
 guineas, being two guineas a day for the pony and a guinea a 
 day for the donkey! 
 
 I had a very bad time at Goodwood, not so far as racing 
 was concerned, as my account on Monday showed a small 
 balance in my favour, but I had lost a very large sum at 
 baccarat during the week, and one extraordinary feature in 
 connection with this after-dinner card-playing, which goes 
 to show what can happen in gambling, was that out of the 
 seven players I was the only loser. 
 
 I saw the Sussex fortnight out, and though losses never 
 troubled me, I began to consider the advisability of returning 
 to the land of the Golden Fleece, instead of remaining in the 
 country where I was being fleeced of my gold. 
 
 I found what money I had brought with me was exhausted, 
 and I borrowed 300 from my friend in the K.D.G.'s, to whom 
 I referred in the beginning of this chapter, and arranged to 
 sail forthwith on my return journey to Australia. A few
 
 94 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 friends dined with me at Boodle's the evening before I started, 
 and this arrangement suited my finances admirably, as 
 members only paid their bills onoe a year, when the house 
 account was sent in to them. Doubtless this custom has 
 been a convenient one to others in times gone by! After 
 dinner we all repaired to the Alhambra, and a question arose 
 as to whether any of our company could successfully 
 negotiate walking or running round the top of the dress-circle 
 balustrade. The discussion on the point became very 
 animated, and each of the company thought he could do it, but 
 when challenged, discretion became the better part of valour. 
 I offered to back myself for a pony to accomplish it there 
 and then. This was immediately taken by one who is now 
 the senior officer of one of our crack cavalry regiments, and 
 without a moment's hesitation I jumped on to the top of the 
 dress-circle rail and ran "the zigzag course " from the private 
 box at one end to the beginning of the row of boxes at the 
 other. The astonishment of the audience, after it was realised 
 what I had done, may be conceived. I had the biggest round 
 of applause in the house that night ! 
 
 These were the sort of mad tricks that I was always ready 
 to perform in those days, and even now I often wonder 
 whether I have settled down or not. Would I play them 
 again 1 Yes, if I could be put back twenty years ! 
 
 On reaching Melbourne I telegraphed the 300 I had 
 borrowed, to the credit of my friend at Cox's, and then sat 
 down to hear the story of different events which had hap- 
 pened during my absence. 
 
 I found I should have to get into harness again at once, 
 for I had not more money to carry on my business than I 
 required. My expenses had been enormous, and at spending 
 money it has always been my lot to be an expert. 
 
 By this time I was universally known throughout Austra- 
 lasia, and my name was a public one throughout the whole 
 of the five colonies, in which I include Tasmania. 
 
 After my return I attended several meetings, mostly up-
 
 __ BOBEBT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 95 - 
 
 country, where I generally lost money, and the vein of bad 
 luck which I had picked up in England still pursued me. 
 
 Having plenty of spare time, I determined to take a trip "to 
 Sydney, and took my passage on one of the coasters in prefer- 
 ence to the 500 mile train journey. These boats started from 
 the Kiver Yarra, which, were it not for Hobson's Bay, 
 evaporation would transform into a creek, and whereas the 
 geographer asserts that Melbourne stands on the River Yarra, 
 it is in truth the River Yarra that " stands " in Melbourne. 
 
 Gliding through the gaseous waters of the '"river," the 
 coaster dipped her nose in the ripples of the bay, and, piloted 
 between the stationary buoys marking the channel, leaving 
 Queen's Cliff on the starboard and Sorrento on the port, 
 steered her course between the Heads, and, gaining the 
 aquatic freedom of the ocean, headed for Bass Straits. 
 
 Port Jackson was sighted as the morning of the second 
 day broke. We passed Botany Bay, the original city of the 
 New South Wales settlement, and once a name by which the 
 whole colony was generally known, but which is now 
 untenanted and barren, as though performing a desolate 
 penance with a view to obliterating its early traditions, though 
 the spot will ever be historical as the landing place of 
 Captain Cook. 
 
 Sailing under the precipitous cliffs of Sydney Heads, the 
 little vessel went on until these huge mountainous rocks 
 suddenly opened like a gigantic chasm, and disclosed, as 
 though by magic, the fairyland beauty of the finest natural 
 harbour of the world. Studded with islets, bedecked with 
 semi-tropical vegetation, dotted with houses varying in size 
 and architecture, rugged with sand-hills, symphonising with 
 olive-tinted bushes, broken with inlets leading to nooks like 
 a lacustral chain overhung with foliage, all rhythmically 
 radiating into one mighty glaucescent mass of water, with a 
 couple of British men-of-war peacefully floating at anchor, 
 surrounded by craft of all nationalities, encircled by a broken 
 line of hillocks reaching in places almost to the height of
 
 96 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 mountains, with gardens and lawns coming down to the 
 water's edge, interspersed with wild flowers imagine this, 
 and you may have a slight conception of this magnificent 
 natural picture Sydney Harbour.
 
 KTANDIftH SIEVIER. 97 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 
 
 HE hotels in Sydney were not in my time, remark- 
 able either for their perfect cuisine or good 
 service, the best of them being Petty's. 
 
 To the Englishman, there seemed to prevail 
 more of a homely influence about the city than 
 was the -case in Melbourne, the streets and houses 
 more resembling the old-fashioned style of 
 England than the broadways of the capital of Victoria, 
 which favoured America in their general appearance more 
 than the Mother Country. It is needless to observe that 
 the two cities vied with each other, and considerable 
 rivalry, not altogether devoid of jealousy, existed between 
 the Victorian and New South Welshman as to the merits of 
 their respective capitals. Whatever may have been the 
 considerations on either side, Sydney Harbour is one of the 
 most picturesque spots of the Southern hemisphere and the 
 Sydneyite does not forget to trumpet it. 
 
 On my first journey to Sydney from Melbourne (1882) the 
 railway had not been completed, and we had to do a short part 
 of the journey by mail-cart, having to pass the Customs on the 
 border between Victoria and New South Wales, which to 
 the traveller was a nuisance ; for, after all, he was not 
 making an incursion into a foreign country, but merely 
 passing from one British colony to another. The whole was 
 the territory of the Empire, and to have one's luggage diligently
 
 98 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 searched at a British colonial Custom-house very much 
 suggested the procedure of the irritating Octroi throughout 
 France. On the Victorian side the railway runs right through 
 the notorious Kelly country, a wild, mountainous district, 
 where Ned Kelly, the ringleader of this family of bushrangers, 
 held out and held up banks for years, until ultimately, after 
 keeping the authorities at bay for an inconceivably long period, 
 his whereabouts was discovered and his temporary hiding- 
 place surrounded by a large force of some hundreds of police, 
 who, with the aid of artillery, succeeded in capturing their 
 prisoner, but not before he had been severely wounded. 
 
 It is extraordinary to relate, yet it is no less the fact, that 
 the Kelly gang had created a terrible state of terror, not alone 
 throughout the district they were known to "favour," but 
 throughout Australia generally. Nothing can better describe 
 this state of wholesale fright, bordering on panic, than the 
 fact that when the Kellys were at last run to ground and 
 known to be hiding in a small wooden shanty, called a bush 
 hotel, the police, numbering some six hundred or thereabouts, 
 surrounded the isolated place, little better than a hut, and, in 
 place of arresting these outlaws, set fire to the wooden cabin, 
 with the result that the owner, an innocent woman, was 
 burned to death, and a priest also perished in the flames. 
 
 Though the head of a gang of desperadoes, Ned Kelly proved 
 himself a man on this occasion, and, emerging from the burning 
 timbers, faced and fired on his enemy. They retaliated we 
 know their numbers. Ned Kelly had improvised some armour 
 out of a ploughshare, and had covered his head with an iron 
 pot, in which he had pierced two holes to see through. This 
 resisted many bullets, some of the police afterwards stating 
 that they thought they were firing at the devil himself ; but 
 being finally wounded in the knee, he sank to the ground and 
 was captured. He was tried and hanged in Melbourne. 
 
 Nothing remarkable happened at the race meeting at Rand- 
 wick worth recounting in these columns, and I retraced my way 
 to my colonial headquarters in Melbourne, Amongst other
 
 EGBERT 8TANDISR SIEVIEE. 99 
 
 country meetings, I regularly attended that of Warnambool ; 
 indeed, I shall always look upon this fixture and the surround- 
 ing country, as the most sporting in the land of the Southern 
 Cross. How far the railway now goes I cannot say, but a good 
 part of the journey considering the time it took rather than 
 the mileage had to be negotiated by the aid of the mail- 
 coach. Some hours in what is in Australia called a coach, 
 but what here would be called a caravan painted red, drawn 
 by four or six horses over a track of intermittent ruts and 
 stumps of trees, is not one of the most pleasant journeys on 
 a tropical afternoon. Yet it has its fascinations. The bush 
 of Australia is, generally speaking, weird. In parts, for hun- 
 dreds of miles together, the sameness of the country is such 
 that the traveller on his journey might apparently be travers- 
 ing the same road or path again and again. The immaculate 
 precision of the virgin country, with its towering eucalyptus, 
 its vertical leaves offering but scant shade, one spot exactly 
 similar to the other, gives no guide to any direction. Once 
 off the track, and it may never be regained. 
 
 The coaching stage from the railway to Warnambool, how- 
 ever, had none of these drawbacks. The road was a fairly good 
 one. ; on either side of it large paddocks were fenced in for 
 stretches running into miles, and the land was rich in grass and 
 herbs. A considerable portion of the journey lay between lines 
 of bracken alive* with rabbits, and the creaking, swaying coach 
 ran over more than one as we sped on our journey. This 
 district is the garden of Victoria, much resembling Tasmania, 
 which insular colony is a nearer likeness to the Mother 
 Country than any of her sister colonies. 
 
 The Warnambool meeting was of little importance, 
 that several good horses have come from the 
 
 especially refer to it as being one of the, r appr oach e d 
 
 in Australasia. The steeplechase cou^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 log fences, and both horse and r , ,, , nf 
 
 xg feeling and the common code ot 
 the right place successful^/- , , 
 
 , , alch racing demands, had resorted to such con- 
 
 t0? scheming. My conversation with the owner was
 
 100 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 if not more so than any course of its kind that I can remem- 
 ber; indeed, the jumps were obstacles which did not belie 
 their name. I rememb&r a horse called Dizzy winning four 
 races in one day there ; and that he was a good one was subse- 
 quently proved by his landing the National Hurdle Race at 
 Flemington shortly afterwards, the principal race over the 
 sticks then run in the Colonies. From memory, Bob Batty, an 
 excellent cross-country jockey, rode him. 
 
 ' A winner of four races in one day ! And this achieved 
 without having to run the gauntlet of a single objection ! I do 
 not refer to this as a comparison, but as an example. No 
 objection ! Such an exploit would be next to impossible in 
 England at such meetings as Ascot, Newmarket, etcetera, 
 even granted one owned the horse capable of accomplishing 
 this extraordinary feat ; for, owing to the extremely complex 
 and tangled wording of the many different conditions and 
 penalties, it would be almost a miracle to be able to discover 
 what should be the correct weight to carry in the next race, 
 in time to weigh out for it ! 
 
 The betting at Warnambool was insignificant and not worth 
 mentioning, but I always attended the racs meetings there, 
 owing to the thorough sporting surroundings and spirit which 
 prevailed. This part of the colony of Victoria was the best 
 for breeding horses, and the turf equally so with regard to 
 racing them, of any I saw in Australasia. I am afraid Avith 
 me it is adieu to the sportsmen of Warnambool. Would that 
 it were au revoir only! 
 
 These so-called up-country meetings varied to a great 
 
 degree, both with respect to the quality of the sport and the 
 
 '"it of it. Not infrequently both were bad. At times, and in 
 
 y~*~ ^ e pleasant picnic picture of a day's local racing 
 
 being finally woundeu IT . ,1 
 
 in oleograph depicting the most crude 
 
 was captured. He was tm s j took . fc a]1 &g - t came> for 
 
 Nothing remarkable happen. ,, magnetic attractions for me , 
 
 wick worth recounting in these coluu^_, . ., . - ^ O thi nc more 
 
 to my colonial headquarters in Melbourne. Amo a( j to bet on
 
 WBEBT STANDISH slEvitiit. 101 
 
 a match between two tame white mice. As another contrast, 
 if a match were made between the Bishop of Hereford and 
 Lord Davey to sprint fifty yards, I should inevitably have a 
 bet on it, even if the wager provoked the abandonment of the 
 match ! Thus it is not to be wondered at, that my following 
 of racing took me here, there, and everywhere ; and this 
 brought me into contact with thousands who, when they were 
 gathered together on that universal holiday, the Melbourne 
 Cup day I might say the GREAT MELBOURNE CUP all 
 betted with me to a man. 
 
 I remember at one of these small meetings, at a place called 
 Mount Ararat, I did not take an active part in the betting, 
 but had an equal share with Sam Allen in his book, which, 
 according to his custom, was one of double and treble events. 
 Things went very badly with him, and with the hope of getting 
 our money back he extended his operations on the last three 
 races and the final double. A local squatter had taken his 
 full book on both the treble and final double event, and had 
 landed the first two winners, and only had to pull off the last 
 event to secure a very good stake. It was an open race, there 
 being at least four horses on the spot with equal pretensions and 
 prospective claims to victory. Unfortunately but fortunately 
 for Sam Allen and myself the squatter strayed from sporting 
 instincts, and treated the play of betting rather like a game 
 of cards called grab. He succeeded in arranging with the 
 three different owners of those horses who had good chances of 
 winning the race that they should not run, though the jockeys 
 were to attend in the weighing-room with their racing colours 
 on, apparently ready to weigh out, but with no honest intention 
 of doing so. Having satisfied myself that this was so, I 
 remembered I had been taught that justice was meted out by 
 " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." I at once approached 
 the owner of the horse against which Allen had laid this man, 
 who, disregarding all sporting feeling and the common code of 
 honour, which racing demands, had resorted to such con- 
 temptible scheming. My conversation with the owner was
 
 102 THIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 brief ; in a few words I told him the facts, making no com- 
 ment, but nevertheless making a business offer. The parties 
 concerned met in the weighing-room I had become one of 
 the parties concerned. Three horses were weighed out for, 
 leaving the four jockeys who had any chance of winning 
 hanging around the scales. 
 
 "You had better weigh now," said the squatter to the 
 jockey of the horse he had backed in the doubles and trebles 
 with my partner for the day. 
 
 " Not until the other three have weighed out, Mr. -," I 
 
 observed. 
 
 " What business is it of yours, Mr. Sutton 1 " 
 
 " I am the owner of the horse ; I have just bought him ; 
 here is the receipt," and I laid it on the table in the weighing- 
 room. 
 
 There was a momentary silence. When those present had 
 recovered the shock, some made their way hurriedly out, going 
 towards the betting-ring. Turning to the clerk of the scales I 
 said, " When the other three have weighed out I presume they 
 are here at scale for that purpose then my recent purchase 
 shall weigh out, or I scratch him." A few hurried words 
 followed this observation, and slowly each jockey weighed out, 
 and as the third left the scale I tore up the receipt for the 
 horse and presented him to his late owner. After a desperate 
 race he was beaten a short head ! 
 
 Among the landowners in Australia, Tyson was the largest, 
 the whole extent of his property being estimated equal in 
 square miles to something like the size of England, while his 
 wealth was reputed to be enormous. He was a man of extra- 
 ordinary habits, which, owing to his inordinate riches, polite 
 mothers referred to as eccentric, for he was still a bachelor, 
 and, evading maternal snares and lassies' beauty, died one. 
 His sole aim he must have been devoid of all other ambition 
 appeared to be the continued accumulation of money, not 
 the enjoyment of it. He would carry his meals with him, and 
 sleep in his waggon or cart, to save the charges for the
 
 ItOBEBT STANDISH SttiVIEE. 103 
 
 comforts, such as they were, a bush hotel could afford ; nor 
 would the clothes he wore be calculated to advertise or 
 increase the business of a tailoring establishment. How rich 
 might not many men become if they lived in poverty ! 
 
 These characteristics by no means depict the general run 
 of Australian, squatters, who, as a body, are sportsmen and 
 men of liberal natures. Their visits to Sydney or Melbourne 
 rather incline to what is colloquially called a spree, and in 
 town, or at home on their stations, they are the very essence 
 of "generosity. There is no class of men on the face of the 
 globe who extend the hand of hospitality to the traveller more 
 readily and more willingly than the Australian squatter, and 
 these are the kind of men who go to make up the majority 
 of owners of horses on the Turf of Australasia. 
 
 Of the horses in Australia, some of the best would, in my 
 opinion, compare not unfavourably with their English brothers. 
 Such as Ormonde and St. Simon belong to the phenomenal ; 
 how often do we see their equals 1 Again, unless horses meet 
 to fight it out, it is impossible definitely to pronounce a verdict, 
 except as bare estimate of the superiority of one over another. 
 Is this not the case to-day even with our own horses, Ormonde 
 and St. Simon 1 I am inclined, therefore, to base my deduc- 
 tions on the general average run of the best horses of the two 
 countries rather than on the invidious pitting of one against 
 another. Were I compelled to name the two best horses which 
 came under my observation in Australia, I should unhesita- 
 tingly name Carbine and Malua. The former was a great horse, 
 as the majority of racehorse followers are aware, and by 
 winning the Melbourne Cup, a handicap of two miles, with 
 10,000 added (a prize which should make some of. our race- 
 course company officials hide themselves), carrying the welter 
 weight of lOst 5lb, must be credited with a very grand perform- 
 ance. ThisTace is equal in every respect to our Cesarewitch, 
 if not surpassing that, or any other handicap in the world, and 
 when it is remembered that Carbine won the Cup from a very 
 large field in a canter, with Highborn, carrying only 6st 12lb,
 
 104 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 second the latter subsequently winning, among many good 
 races, the Viceroy's Cup in India his victory stands out an 
 international record. I shall always look upon seeing this race 
 as one of the greatest sporting pleasures I have experienced ; 
 it was a scene and an achievement not to be forgotten. 
 
 Carbine was bred in New Zealand, and for 1,500 guineas 
 was purchased by Mr. Donald Wallace, who, adopting Lord 
 Falmouth's colours (black, white sleeves, red cap), was a worthy 
 upholder of the popular magpie jacket in the Antipodes. A 
 thorough sportsman, and one of the most charming gentlemen 
 it has been my good fortune to meet, it nigh broke Donald 
 Wallace's heart when Carbine was compulsorily sold. I have 
 been told he died some few years ago in poverty, an ill reward 
 for one whose better days were marked with so much 
 generosity. 
 
 To give some comparative idea of Carbine's quality (this 
 is merely an opinion), if requested to handicap him with 
 Merman, who won the Cesarewitch and Ascot Gold Cup in 
 this country., I should have asked Carbine to concede him any- 
 thing between 2!lb and 2st, and should have backed the 
 heavy-weight. Merman's best champions could not have ex- 
 pected him to give more than a stone to a horse like Highborn. 
 
 Malua belonged to a different man, a Mr. J. O. Inglis, and 
 the combination by no means favoured the horse. J. O. Inglis 
 was an amateur jockey, and a real good one, too, but I am 
 afraid he preferred the commercial side of racing to the 
 sporting side, for Malua was more than once inexplicably 
 beaten. 
 
 Amongst other successes, Malua, with top-weight, won both 
 the Newmarket Handicap (six furlongs) and the Australian 
 Cup (2 miles) at Flemington, beating large fields and the 
 best horses of his day, and when the extremely different 
 distances of these races are taken into account, this was a 
 good all-round performance -one that some of our more 
 modern trainers might look upon as a miracle ! He also won 
 the Melbourne Cup, carrying 9st 9lb, beating Commotion, a
 
 STANDlSH SlEVlER. 105 
 
 real good horse, and Plausible, who were second and third 
 respectively. Malua was never a popular horse, but this was 
 no fault of I his own. At the stud he got many winners, amongst 
 others Malvolio, who, following in the footsteps of his sire, 
 won the Melbourne Cup. 
 
 As an instance of the irregular management of Malua, he 
 was engaged in the Adelaide Cup with a heavy impost; the 
 exact weight I forget, but it was a welter one. 
 
 For some reason, best known to the stable, I was requested 
 by Mr. R. A. Inglis, brother to J. O. of that ilk, to back 
 Malua for the stable. I executed the commission, and then 
 started to back him for myself for a good round sum over 
 10,000. One feature of this business I could not explain 
 away to myself. It was that the regular stable commissioner 
 was ever ready to lay against the horse, even beyond his 
 own limit. I am not a suspicious man, but I am a great 
 believer in first impressions. In respect to Malua and the 
 Adelaide Cup there was that something floating in the air 
 which emitted an unpleasant odour. The regular agent for 
 the stable was backing another in the race, named Conjecture, 
 and laying against Malua ! 
 
 Everything pointed to a very fine game of hankey-pankey, 
 and the batting market reflected this, Malua going from bad 
 to worse, in face of my continued personal support of him. 
 I summed up the situation and came to the conclusion that 
 I had been made a scapegoat of to assist in successfully 
 carrying out the stable designs. I did not attend the Adelaide 
 races on this occasion, but remained in Melbourne. On the 
 morning of the race, my opinions by then being more than 
 verified, I sent a brief but concise telegram to a friend of 
 mine who was at the meeting. There was no law against 
 jockeys betting then, nor were the more severe restrictions 
 since introduced into the rules of racing in force. My 
 telegram ran : 
 
 " Lay Ivemy 2,000 to nothing for me against Malua to-day." 
 Ivemy rode Malua.
 
 106 THE AVTOtolOGilAPHY Of 
 
 It was a terribly wet day. The going at Morphetville, the 
 
 racecourse of the South Australian Jockey Club, was of the 
 
 heaviest, all against a top-weight. The result tissue came 
 
 into the Victorian Club, and when hung up on the board read : 
 
 ADELAIDE CUP. 
 
 Malua 1 
 
 Conjecture 2 
 
 King of the Vale 3 
 
 Betting: 100 to 7 agst Malua, 3 to 1 agst Conjecture, and 
 4 to 1 agst King of the Vale. Won in a common canter by 
 three-quarters of a length. 
 
 Ivemy, though successful on Malua, never rode for Mr. 
 J. O. Inglis again.
 
 HOBERT 8TANDISH S1EVIER. 107 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 ITEMS. 
 
 WENTY years ago and earlier, gambling in Australia 
 might have been styled the custom of the country 
 as, indeed, it is the custom of any body of free 
 men ; especially those who have lost their hymn- 
 books. At Tattersall's in Sydney, the hazard 
 " school " in the seventies and eighties would 
 have vied with old Crockford's, upon the site of 
 which, in St. James's Street, the Devonshire Club now 
 stands. I have seen men of all classes sitting round the 
 table, with thousands of pounds at stake on the turn of a 
 die. " How awful ! " I hear Mrs. Grundy remark. But what 
 does Mrs. Grundy know of the world, men, and their 
 ways? One thing is certain the money did not melt, and 
 the world was no worse off at the end of a night's play. Poor 
 men could not be much worse off than poor, and rich men 
 could afford to lose. Philosophy ? Certainly. A man would 
 indeed be a poor thing without it. Many more men by far 
 have, in my experience, made a successful start in business 
 through a "flutter" than have been ruined by gambling. I 
 could name several successful business men in Sydney who 
 now support happy homes through a start thus obtained. 
 
 The chances are that a man who is such a weak fool as to 
 lose his fortune at cards, or by the aid of some other instru- 
 ment of the devil, would, even if he had been an abstainer
 
 108 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 from all games, find some other means of gratifying his weak- 
 nesses. It is the weak man who is the author of whatever 
 may be deemed wrong in gambling ; and what is more pitiable 
 than a weak man except a drunken woman 1 
 
 This play continued throughout the year, increased on the 
 occasion of the race weeks, and during the whole of my stay 
 there, extending over eight years, I cannot call to mind a 
 single case of a player having been ruined, or of a scandal in 
 connection with the play, except that it came under the 
 censorious ban of the anti-gamblers. Money was in freer 
 circulation in Australia then than it is now ; or, as it is called 
 in the City, "money was easy." 
 
 I may say that I have lost thousands at cards and hazard, 
 and add that I do not regret a penny of it. I can call to mind 
 one evening it was on the day that Le Grand won the Cham- 
 pion Stakes at Flemington I lost within a fraction of 5,000 
 at hazard in the little back parlour of Solomon's shop at 
 Swanston Street in the space of a couple of hours or less. Joe 
 Thompson and his brother Barney were present. The players 
 were Harry Haines, George Alderson, Humphrey Oxenham, 
 W. T. Jones (later on destined to be the owner of Airs and 
 Graces, winner of the Epsom Oaks), and myself. Why I 
 particularly remember this incident is that I lost to everyone 
 present (after parting with about 4,000 in cash), except to 
 Jones, who owed me somewhere about 300 at the end of the 
 play, and this was paid to me with more "airs than graces," 
 and only after a bit of a wrangle. From memory, I was the- 
 only loser. 
 
 Mish Solomons always kept a good cigar, not a common 
 commodity in the Antipodes, and in the same little back 
 parlour of his cigar shop I lost a larger sum at solo whist 
 one evening than I care to name ; indeed, with the exception 
 of five good wins, three of which have never been honoured, 
 I have never won at cards or hazard any stake worth men- 
 tioning, though I have given the Casino at Monte Carlo a 
 good shock more than once.
 
 ROBERT 8TANDISH SI EV IE It. 109 
 
 A member of the two principal sporting clubs in London 
 and Melbourne, I think my fellow-members never, or very 
 seldom, saw me leave the card-table a winner of anything worth 
 mentioning. There is a good reason for this. I used to be 
 too reckless not in my play, but in my stakes much the 
 same thing, perhaps. 
 
 Harking back to sport, outside the area of the principal 
 meetings, I remember seeing a race at Cranborne, Victoria, 
 which would have made some of our gentleman jockeys, not 
 sit up, but fall off. It was a bare-backed Hurdle Race, 
 distance one mile and a half, over six hurdles, amateur riders 
 only. Mr. Watson, son of the starter at Flemington, rode the 
 winner, and all competitors completed the course. Do any 
 of our clerks of courses think a similar race would fill in 
 England 1 
 
 An annual meeting used to be held at Frankston, a small 
 seaside resort just beyond Mordialloc, and about ten miles 
 from Schnapper Point, my country residence. I can remember 
 riding at these races over a course which, what with fallen 
 trees and the absence of flags or posts to mark out the track, 
 placed the dangers of the Grand National at Aintree in the 
 category of mother's milk. In the first event I was beaten off, 
 but in the second, on a horse called Charles II., I rode a course 
 of my own, and won, amidst hilarious, not to say ironical, 
 cheers, by a distance ! Be it said for the sportsman on the 
 second, a good fellow named Sinclair, there was no objection. 
 Had there been, it would have taken the ingenuity of the 
 whole of the National Hunt Committee, with all their vast 
 experience, to have decided what was the course, or even 
 what was not. 
 
 Having mentioned a horse called Le Grand, and his winning 
 the Champion Stakes, I may here chronicle an episode in con- 
 nection with this race which I think unique with regard to 
 another race that of the Chosen People. Some time previous 
 to the day of running (1886), the Hon. James White's Norden- 
 feldt was favourite at odds ranging from 2 to 1 to 5 to 2 laid
 
 110 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 on him. By an extraordinary coincidence I had good reason 
 to believe there was a screw loose somewhere. It happened in 
 this way. About a week before the race I entered the telegraph 
 office at Melbourne for the purpose of sending a message to 
 James White, a bookmaker who resided in Sydney. I handed 
 in my telegram, and it was apparently despatched. I then 
 remembered I had another to send elsewhere, and I began to 
 fill up the form at the writing-desk set apart for this purpose. 
 A telegraph clerk returned to the counter, and, looking across 
 at me, inquired : 
 
 " Did you hand in a wire to White ? " 
 
 "Yes," I replied. 
 
 "Is this the correct address?" he asked, handing me the 
 form. 
 
 I read the message with no little interest and astonish- 
 ment. It ran as follows : " The Hon. James White, Sydney. 
 Afraid to go on with Nordenfeldt ; leg slightly filled." I 
 told the clerk the address was quite sufficient, but that it was 
 not my telegram, finished the one I was writing, and sent 
 it off. 
 
 If all is fair in love and war, this adage applies with 
 equal force to backer and bookmaker. I entered the Victoria 
 Club. The first man I confronted was Maurice Jacobs, at the 
 time the commissioner to the stable. 
 
 "I'll bet on the Champion Race," he challenged. 
 
 "The cat's out of the bag," I thought. 
 
 "What do you want to do?" I inquired. 
 
 " Nordenfeldt what odds do you want?" 
 
 "I'll take 500 to 200." 
 
 " I'll lay you 9 to 4," he replied, interrogatively, his little, 
 restless, dark eyes quizzing me. 
 
 " How much ? " I asked. 
 
 " 900 to 400 ? " 
 
 "Book it." 
 
 "I'll lay you two monkeys more," said Jacobs. 
 
 ".Done." A pause.
 
 ROBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEE. Ill 
 
 " What price will you lay me Matchlock 1 " I asked. It 
 was a horse in the same ownership, second-string to 
 Nordenfeldt. 
 
 " 1,000 to 100," replied Jacobs. 
 
 " Book that also. Again ? " I demanded 1 . 
 
 "Twice," he replied. 
 
 "Right," I said. 
 
 The bets were hardly booked before I was besieged by 
 many of his brethren desirous of laying the liberally short 
 odds of 2 to 1 on, and I booked many bets, and at the end of 
 the business I had thirteen names in my book, all Jews. 
 
 I told them that night that thirteen was an unlucky 
 number, though I did not refer to the origin of the proverb. 
 A few days before the race Nordenfeldt was scratched. Match- 
 lock, about whom I had taken 2,000 to 200 from Maurice 
 Jacobs, won. 
 
 I owned a few horses in Australia, but not many, and 
 none of any note. With Spero I won the Sale Handicap, 
 beating Arsenal, a subsequent winner of the Melbourne Cup. 
 In paying the stakes, 2 was deducted "for champagne," in 
 which the clerk of the course, stakeholder, &c. offices pretty 
 well all rolled into one individual, on the system of which 
 Pooh Bah was a past master were presumed to have drunk 
 the winner's health. 
 
 I trained the little horse myself in Albert Park, on a track 
 called after our Rotten Row, and the Rottenest Row it has 
 been my lot to come across. About four feet in width, mostly 
 tan and sand, with a scarcity of the former and the latter the 
 natural soil, the attempted innovation turned out a dire frost, 
 except that I utilised it occasionally as a pastime, and for 
 training an old nag or so. Partner won a race or two for me, 
 and in a selling race at Flemington equalled the record for 
 five furlongs. If the time test is accurate, then the Australian 
 plater is by it proved to be as good as his superior "class." 
 Class smothers, and always will, the horse tried by the watch 
 to do wonders.
 
 112 THE ArTOmOGEATHY OF 
 
 It was my pleasure to sail my own boat, the ''Zivola," 
 a little four-ton centreboard, winner of some thirty races. 
 With her I had a nearer chance of losing my life than I at 
 the time appreciably realised. Sailing from St. Kilda. which 
 may be styled a suburb of Melbourne, two of us set out one 
 Sunday morning for Schnapper Point. The weather was not 
 fair, and it was blowing hard when we started. I had con- 
 tinually to tack. The wind and sea increased. Storms in 
 Hobson's Bay are treacherous, rising with little warning, 
 resembling the mistral of the Mediterranean. The sea con- 
 tinued to rise, and I frequently had to ease off. A boat 
 called the " lolanthe " started about an hour before me, 
 and I sighted her ahead as she rose on the waves. We 
 shipped water almost quicker than we could bail out. The 
 wind was blowing a gale in our teeth, and at last I turned 
 her head towards Brighton, due west of Frankston. I was 
 unacquainted with this place, never having gone ashore 
 there. We had been out about six hours. The spot offered 
 no shelter, the wind blowing straight on to the land. Nearly 
 water-logged, I determined to run ashore. We landed without 
 accident, except to the tight little "Zivola." At about this 
 moment the " lolanthe " turned turtle, and all on board were 
 drowned. Some days later a shark was caught off Frankston 
 pier. It contained in its stomach the waistcoat and watch 
 of lolanthe's owner, and the boot of a friend who accompanied 
 him. The shark and " his meal " were exhibited in Melbourne.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. il3 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AN EPISODE. 
 
 'T is with some regret and great reluctance, that I 
 am compelled to refer to an incident which hap- 
 pened in Australia in connection with Viscount 
 Deerhurst. I might have dealt with this matter 
 in a few words, or even passed it by, had it not 
 been for the fact that this incident was referred 
 to, and most unfairly and unjustifiably commented 
 upon, in the case in which I was engaged before the Law 
 Courts in May, 1904. 
 
 A cowardly attempt was made, in the case to which I refer, 
 to prove that I had assaulted Viscount Deerhurst in Australia, 
 and, as a result, had suffered fourteen days' imprisonment. 
 I will avoid further comment, and go straight to the point. 
 We were both young men. We happened to meet on the 
 pigeon-shooting ground at Hurlingham, in Melbourne. A good 
 deal of betting took place on the shooting ; indeed, speculation 
 in this respect in Australia used to far exceed that at the Tir 
 aux Pigeons at Monte Carlo, at Hurlingham, or at the Gun 
 Club in England. This gentleman lost during the day a sum 
 of 281, which he did not happen to have with him, and as the 
 settling on pigeon-shooting takes place at the end of each 
 day, it placed his lordship in a somewhat embarrassing pre- 
 dicament. I relieved him of his difficulty by settling his 
 account myself, which, including an amount which had been 
 lost to me, amounted, as I have stated, to 281. Not receiving
 
 114 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY Of 
 
 this from Lord Deerhurst, after waiting some considerable 
 time I wrote him a letter, in which I said that I should feel 
 much obliged by the receipt of a cheque. I received no 
 answer. Several weeks passed, and I found I was being 
 avoided by him, which I resented. One evening I attended 
 the performance at the Opera House, Melbourne, and during 
 the first act Lord Deerhurst took a seat next but one to me. 
 On the falling of the curtain after this act he left his seat, 
 and after the lapse of a few minutes I followed. 
 
 His lordship did not return. After the performance I made 
 my way to the Melbourne Club, and met him going up the 
 steps. I expressed my surprise at his non-return to the 
 theatre, insisted on a settlement between us, and then left 
 him. The next morning I received a letter, of which I subjoin 
 a copy : 
 
 " Melbourne Club. Sir, I shall be in a position to 
 pay you before Friday 12 noon. In the meantime post 
 me, and be damned. DEERHURST." 
 
 My reply to the above was as follows : 
 
 '' Sir, I am in receipt of your letter. I shall be 
 pleased to receive the amount you are in my debt for 
 settling your account at Hurlingham, and will answer 
 the latter portion of your letter when I meet you in 
 person. Yours, &c." 
 
 I did not receive the amount at the time stated, and shortly 
 afterwards lodged a complaint with Mr. Thomas Haydon, the 
 secretary of the Victoria Club, and was requested by him not 
 to press the matter. I concurred in this, and later on the 
 money was paid. Some time after I entered a private bar 
 of Gallaher's Hotel, in Burke Street, and Viscount Deerhurst 
 was there in the company of a Mr. Agnew. Waiting an oppor- 
 tune moment, I spoke to his lordship in a subdued tone so 
 that no one should hear our conversation (all of this has been 
 substantiated on oath in evidence), and the first words I
 
 EOBEET STANDISH 8IEVIEE. U5 
 
 addressed to him were, " I should like to speak to you 
 privately on the subject of a letter you wrote to me." He 
 then sat on the counter of the bar, and in a loud, almost 
 truculent tone, said, " Whatever you have to say to me you 
 can say in public." I replied, "As you wish," and then 
 adverted to the latter portion of his letter, where he consigned 
 me to a place to which I was not at all inclined to go. He 
 merely laughed. I then firmly asked him to apologise or leave 
 the bar. I did so a second time, and jumping from the 
 counter he laid hold of my coat, saying at the same time, 
 "As. an officer of Her Majesty's police force I arrest you." 
 
 Brushing his hold away, I drew my hand across his face, 
 rather than struck him. I repeat we were both very young 
 men, and I have regretted losing my temper after he had 
 laid hands on me, as I trust he has for being the aggressor. 
 He did not then retaliate. He left the bar, which was a 
 parlour where only those known to the hotel were admitted. 
 Unfortunately, perhaps, for both of us, he brought the matter 
 before the Committee of the Victorian Betting Club, and, by 
 the aid of his influence, caused my name to be struck off the 
 list of members. With respect to this I reprint a cutting 
 from the Melbourne "Sportsman" as follows: 
 
 " The decision of the Committee of the Club was 
 naturally received with astonishment by all the members 
 on Friday evening, and the sentence was so hugely out 
 of proportion to the paltry nature of the offence, if any, 
 that the members of the Club, both backers and book- 
 makers, are, we hear, about to petition the Committee 
 to reinstate 'The Englishman,' or, failing this, call a 
 general meeting of the members of the Club. We are 
 informed on good authority that the Victoria Racing Club 
 will, under the circumstances, not move in the matter." 
 
 The Victoria Eacing Club is the equivalent of our Jockey 
 Club, and they took no notice whatever of the matter. To
 
 116 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 clear myself in the eyes of the public, and that the facts should 
 be- ventilated, I caused a summons for assault to be issued 
 against Viscount Deerhurst. He then took out a cross 
 summons against me. The evidence given on both sides 
 exactly tallied -with the facts as I have already given them, 
 and did not vary in any way whatever. The Bench was 
 packed, more magistrates sitting than had been the case for 
 over twenty years. My counsel, Mr. Duffey, who has since 
 been raised to the Bench in Victoria, told me at the luncheon 
 adjournment that I should be sure to get imprisonment, that 
 he had been informed of this on good authority, and that it 
 was iniquitous. At this time no evidence had been called for 
 the defence ! By the casting vote of the chairman I was 
 sentence.d to fourteen days imprisonment without the option 
 of a fine. The judgment was received with an outcry in the 
 Press throughout the whole of Australasia, and every paper 
 was unanimous in its condemnation of the grossly unjust 
 decision of the so-called justices. Letters filled columns in 
 all the papers in the various colonies, and excitement ran high. 
 The " Sportsman " stated : 
 
 " Seldom has a magisterial decision evoked more 
 adverse comment than that of the District Court Bench, 
 which adjudicated on the Sutton-Deerhurst case. The 
 matter carries with it so much interest to racing men 
 that we publish in another column a review of the facts 
 of the case as illustrated by the evidence adduced last 
 Thursday. We have already commented on the extra- 
 ordinary action of the Victorian Club in the matter, and 
 it is satisfactory to note that our comment the first, by 
 the way, published has been endorsed by all the prin- 
 cipal metropolitan journals, sporting and otherwise. Mr. 
 Panton's sentence of fourteen days fell like a thunderbolt 
 on all present, and from the moment the decree was 
 recorded, public, Press, and Bar have for once been 
 unanimous, and the whole of the proceedings have
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEriER. 117 
 
 evoked universal condemnation. Temple Court, to use 
 a legal luminary's own expression, is ' up in arms,' and 
 so largely have the public interested themselves in the 
 matter that, hazarding a prediction, we are inclined to 
 think that on the rehearing of the case next month, the 
 magisterial verdict is bound to be upset. From which- 
 ever standpoint the two verdicts the Victorian Club and 
 District Court are regarded, whether looked at in a 
 legal or rational light, there can be no two opinions as 
 to the manifest partiality evinced towards the lord, and 
 the gross intolerance shown to the commoner." 
 
 The " Age," a leading Melbourne daily paper, published 
 a request that the Mayor should call a public meeting in 
 the Town Hall to consider the action of the magistrates. The 
 "Argus," indeed every leading journal, followed on the same 
 lines. 
 
 Against the decision of the magistrates I immediately 
 appealed. Directly after the case, several gentlemen came 
 forward who had dined with Lord Deerhurst at the Melbourne 
 Club on the night of the incident at Gallaher's Hotel. These 
 testified to the fact that Lord Deerhurst had after dinner 
 invited them to accompany him and see the thrashing he was 
 going to give to Sutton. 
 
 The following is taken from the " Melbourne Herald " : 
 
 " Mr. Duffy, who appeared in support of the appeal, 
 commented strongly upon the non-appearance of Lord 
 Deerhurst. He first stated that his client intended to 
 fight out the case, and had subpoenaed all the witnesses 
 whose evidence would relate to the occurrence in the 
 hotel. He referred to the cowardice, meanness, and 
 malignity of the spirit which prompted Lord Deerhurst, 
 through his counsel, to press for a sentence of imprison- 
 ment on Mr. Sutton, and then to decline to come forward 
 when the- case would be reopened and heard in its
 
 118 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 entirety. The magistrates, without a tittle of evidence 
 to justify the conclusion, had sentenced his client to 
 fourteen days' imprisonment. The listeners in the Court 
 were all agog with astonishment when Mr. Duffy told 
 His Honour that Lord Deerhurst, according to evidence 
 which had since been obtained, had invited his friends 
 to see the fun he would have with Mr. Sutton. It was 
 of importance that the matter should be ventilated, 
 because the full disclosure of the facts would doubtless 
 lead to Mr. Sutton's reinstatement in the Victorian Club, 
 from which he was expelled by a small coterie. Mr. 
 Duffy hinted that Lord Deerhurst had taken fright at 
 the expected disclosures, and thought he was safe out 
 of Court. He probably had heard of the very ancient 
 and apposite motto, ' He who fights and runs away may 
 live to fight another day.' The Judge allowed the appeal 
 with costs. The quashing of the conviction was cheered 
 by those in Court and continued in the streets the vast 
 majority of people will re-echo that feeling in view of 
 the unjust sentence of the magistrates and the toadying 
 sympathy practically expressed by them for the lordling." 
 
 The Judge decided that all costs would go with the quash- 
 ing of the conviction, and that I was to recover these from 
 Viscount Deerhurst. These costs not having been paid, an 
 application was made to remove the issue from the Sessions 
 to the Supreme Court to enable me to effect service in 
 England, when they were subsequently liquidated. 
 
 I deeply regret having been compelled to refer to this 
 matter at all, and more especially in extenso ; but having 
 regard to the fact that the case has been so misrepresented 
 so recently, I have had no recourse left but to give the full 
 details in my autobiography, which, under the circumstances, 
 would be incomplete without them. The facts of the case 
 were so twisted in the Courts of Justice, and in Mr. Justice 
 Grantham's summing up, that I have no alternative but to
 
 ROEERT STANDTSH SIEVIER. ] 19 
 
 set out the actual facts in order to remove the false impression 
 his observations may have made. 
 
 My readers have now before them the plain, unvarnished 
 truth, and I can only conclude by an expression of regret to 
 Lord Deerhurst that unfair events should have compelled me 
 to refer to this matter again.
 
 120 THK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LONDON, 1887. 
 
 RIOR to the case to which I have reluctantly been 
 compelled to refer in the last chapter, I had 
 booked my passage to England by the P. and O. 
 This, in the ordinary course of events, would have 
 been partially forfeited, but, owing to the extra- 
 ordinary verdict, the hearing of my appeal against 
 which I was then awaiting, the P. and O. Company 
 addressed me a courteous letter, saying a cabin was at my 
 disposal on any of their steamers, and they would, under 
 the circumstances, not claim a penny of the money I had 
 paid for my passage on the steamer for which I had 
 originally booked it. This marked courtesy to me in no small 
 degree re-echoed the general feeling the case had provoked. 
 It was only the appeal which had detained me in Australia, 
 and as soon as it was over, foregoing many invitations, some 
 of a public nature, I left Melbourne for home by the first mail 
 steamer available. I take this opportunity of publicly 
 acknowledging the courtesy which the officers of the P. and O. 
 Company in Melbourne extended to me on this occasion. 
 
 Our passengers consisted of a lively lot, and they were 
 a source of amusement from many points of view. Many 
 appeared anxious to make my acquaintance, though I already 
 knew the majority ; others, from a mere feeling of inquisitive- 
 ness, got into conversation with me, and, of course, there 
 were the different " sets " on board. These " wingy " coteries
 
 KOKEJIT STAXmSH KIEriEE. 121 
 
 have often been a great relief to me, and helped to pass the 
 general monotony of a long voyage. Treat them as they Mirrr, 
 in their narrow conceit, they should be treated, and they are 
 sackfuls of fun. On the lines of "humour a lunatic," one 
 should never argue with a fool. On this basis, never contra- 
 dict the wingy, starchy fraternity, and always answer in the 
 affirmative all sentences ending with " don't you think so 1 " 
 Among the passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong and their 
 little baby boy. He is a man now, and good luck to him, 
 wherever he may be. I have always had a weakness for 
 youngsters, and many a toddle he and I have had on the deck, 
 and many a romp. Mrs. Armstrong was the daughter of Mr. 
 Mitchell, a large contractor, who built the Melbourne Exhibi- 
 tion. She was a very charming lady, with darkish hair and 
 fascinating eyes, while her two sisters who accompanied her 
 were quite a contrast, being fair. Mrs. Armstrong was not 
 liked by the lady passengers, her great fault being that she 
 was the best looking of her sex on board. Someone must 
 always suffer in this respect. She had another fault. She 
 possessed a charming voice, which was, if possible, more 
 fascinating than her charming personality. So high does 
 jealousy run on board ship what a narrow little world a 
 floating craft is ! that few, if any, availed themselves of the 
 great pleasure of hearing her sing when she condescended to 
 do so. I never once missed the opportunity, and often I have 
 sat alone with her in the saloon, turning over the leaves of 
 the music, while she sang. Tosti's " Good-bye " was then in 
 its young days, and how well she sang it ! How the other 
 married ladies hated it ! ! As sung by her ! ! ! That lady is 
 now known over the whole world as Madame Melba. 
 
 There was generally something going on, and I have always 
 looked upon this voyage as one of the most pleasant of my 
 experiences in connection with sea travelling. We had a full 
 complement of passengers, among them all sorts and con- 
 ditions of men, not to say characters. One I remember 
 well. He was quite a .sport in his own little way. Jt was
 
 122 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 astonishing how accurately he could guess the length or 
 height of anything on board, while he was equally expert 
 at estimating the weight of different things, such as deck 
 chairs, buckets, &c. Strolling about, he would turn the con- 
 versation in this direction, and then make a bet as to the 
 height of the smoking room at a certain part, or the length 
 of a rope, or what not. He always won. This did not arouse 
 my suspicion so much as the absolute accuracy of his guesses. 
 It happened that I slept on deck one night, and in the morn- 
 ing, just before the break of day, I sat half-hidden behind the 
 wheel, when I espied this sport carefully examining different 
 parts of the vessel. At times, after taking a look round, he 
 would hold up a chair for a second or so on what appeared 
 to be a hook, and then replace it on the deck in the exact 
 position he took it from. Finally I saw him distinctly 
 measure two pieces of hanging rope which dangled loosely 
 from their fastenings. I now had a shrewd idea how this 
 gentleman's extraordinary accuracy, through which he had 
 won several bets in money and many champagne cups at 
 lunch, was accounted for. I always like to make war, if 
 war I have to make, in the enemy's country. That 
 day, just before the mid-day eight bells, I found myself 
 in conversation with this gentleman in the vicinity of the 
 dangling ropes. One or two joined us. It was apparent 
 that these two ropes had a great fascination for him, for he 
 never took his eyes off them. At last I inquired what it was 
 that interested him so much. He replied that he was mentally 
 measuring the length of the two ropes, the end of which did 
 not reach the deck by some two and a half feet. I fell into 
 the trap at once, offering him to bet he could not guess the 
 length, and after some haggling he backed himself for a fiver 
 to do so within three inches. He made a few more stray wagers 
 of half a sovereign and a pound. I suggested that whatever 
 the result of the bet I would go him double or quits that he 
 could not guess the length of the second rope within the same 
 allowance, three inches. " Done," he cried. And done he was,
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEIt. 123 
 
 I had hauled them up a good six inches that morning while 
 he was at breakfast. After he had paid the money, which came 
 to just about as much as he had previously won from others, 
 a couple of bottles of champagne were drunk at the bar, and 
 the balance left found its way into the collecting box of the 
 Seaman's Orphanage Fund, which stood by the saloon com- 
 ' panion. Later on I told him if he played any more such tricks 
 I should give him away. He never did, and I kept my own 
 counsel. 
 
 Arrived in London, I took up my quarters at 1, Burlington 
 Gardens, just off Bond Street, and next to Sam Lewis's ; hence 
 I should not have far to go in the event of the proverbial rainy 
 day. Sam was in his time an " umbrella " to many. I had 
 been, as I have said, elected a member of Boodle's the 
 previous year, and used the club fairly frequently. It was the 
 year of the first Jubilee of our lamented and revered Queen 
 Victoria, and I witnessed the procession from here ; and 
 having been fortunate enough to draw two ladies' tickets, with 
 a couple of other members, we made up a pleasant party for 
 the day. Boodle's was most convenient, as, possessing an 
 entrance in Bury Street, we had no crowd to break through in 
 making our way to the club-house. Seeing the illuminations 
 that evening was a matter of duty, and our brave little ladies 
 footed the streets round London with us, and leaving them at 
 their homes well after midnight, we men waded our way 
 through the crowds to the Continental (Regent Street). This 
 hostelry is not now what it then was, and its supper-tables 
 were nightly crowded by the most fascinating and high-class 
 cocottes. These have gradually disappeared, and have been 
 supplanted by the alien lady who, from appearances, one would 
 judge to be a derelict from the Continent. Those days were 
 the fag end of a fast-fading era, and times and customs have 
 now completely changed. The " class " is missing. Narrow- 
 minded legislation, skulking along hand in hand with faddists, 
 has closed the doors on that open-hearted, good-natured fun 
 that used to exist, with the result that what they were pleased
 
 124 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHT OF 
 
 to decry as bad is now worse. The grievance of many appears 
 to be and there are females in their ranks that money and 
 everything else should be kept in the family. With what 
 result? Many of the sprees which would have been over, 
 forgotten and unchronicled in twenty-four hours, nowadays 
 more often reach the precincts of the Divorce Court. 
 
 The crowds and cheering in the streets continued throughout 
 the night, and everybody was happy, jolly ; and cheeringly 
 cheery. There was no getting up or down the winding stair- 
 case of the Continental, and a couple of us, to get to the lower 
 room, descended by a rope from the balcony. Even the police 
 in this particular neighbourhood, where they are not infre- 
 quently too aggressive, were, on this particular evening, 
 reasonable, if not jovial. To get back to the first floor was 
 next to impossible, except by the aid of the rope, and by this 
 novel way we went, hand over hand, to the upstairs supper- 
 room. Cheers from the crowd. Scrambling of silver and 
 coppers among them in the streets. All went on merrily. 
 
 About this time there were two institutions being run, for 
 the purpose of providing amusement for those who objected 
 to being sent to bed by Act of Parliament. They were called 
 respectively the Gardenia and the Corinthian Clubs, the 
 former being at the south-eastern corner of Leicester Square 
 and the latter at the back of the present Sports Club in St. 
 James's. In fact, the present smoking-room of the last-named 
 was the ballroom of the Corinthian. 
 
 Very much in vogue just then were two buck niggers, who 
 were known as the Brothers Bohee, and who had acquired 
 considerable popularity from their singing, dancing, and banjo 
 playing. The creation of the Gardenia was due to them, but 
 I think they called their venture by their own name the 
 Bohee. Their tenure came speedily to an end, and Dudley Ward 
 took over the premises and gave the club its horticultural name. 
 Blessed with a circle of friends as large as any man, Ward 
 was not long in gathering together as his members all the 
 best of the men about town, and a remarkably lively lot they
 
 ROBEET STANDISH SIEVIER. 125 
 
 were. In speaking of the one club it may at once be assumed 
 I am speaking equally of the other. Their frequenters were 
 mostly composed of the same crowd ; and, as poor Hughie 
 Drummond once explained to a fellow-member he is com- 
 manding a distinguished regiment of dragoon guards now 
 " the difference between the. two clubs is that between a 
 cabbage and a cauliflower." Either of them was a rendezvous 
 for fun in the early hours, and as everyone knew everyone 
 else there was a delightful absence of ceremony with respect 
 to both sexes. There was an orchestra, but not much dancing, 
 except when the spirit moved one of the men, who would 
 execute a pas seul that for weirdness and eccentricity was 
 unique. It was a high crime and misdemeanour to call a 
 man by the patronymic his progenitors' had bestowed upon 
 him. There were nicknames for all. Two of the best were 
 " the Finches of the Wood," Dan and Clem, brothers of cheery 
 Joe Aylesford. A trio of brothers, a singular contrast to each 
 other, were the Drummonds, Hughie, Archie, and the Salt 
 the last-named now one of the soberest of H.M. Consuls. 
 There was no devilment of which Hughie was incapable, but 
 the flame burnt too fiercely for his constitution. Willie and 
 Charlie Barron, Tom Baring, Jackie O'Donnell, Capt. Pirie, 
 Walter Blake (always one of the first to go home), Stiffy 
 Smith (then in the zenith of his comet-like career), Bogie Horn 
 (always swaggering and staggering), The Criminal (who would 
 sit up as long as anyone), Long Dummy (who is still with us), 
 Frank Jessel, Marmaduke Wood, Joe Posno, Jack Hotham, 
 Arthur de Vere> Smith (Captain Evergreen, best of good 
 fellows), Harry, Robbie, and Lindsay Garrard, Harding, Arthur 
 and Fairie Cox, Edmund Routledge the hospitable, Shirley 
 Brooks (Blobbs), Willie Goldberg (Shifter), Carlton Blyth 
 (Hullo There !), Swish Broadwood (with a command of Anglo- 
 Saxon many envied), Dicky the Driver, Ernest Beckett, good 
 old Partner, Mark Cazenove, Skipper Holmes (now of the 
 Reformed Raleigh), Leycester Barwell, Hugo Chadwick, 
 Arthur Chetwynd, Long Giles (the guide, philosopher, and
 
 126 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 friend of Randolph Churchill on his visit to South Africa), 
 The Treasure, Billy Fitzwilliam (who little dreamed of the 
 mayoral honours that awaited him), Swears, with his reminis- 
 cences of real life. How the names come crowding to the 
 mind as the pen runs on ! The recollections of the good times 
 are tinged with regret for those whose names are now only 
 shadows of the past ; but the times were good, and the fun, 
 if fast and furious, was genuine, and hurt no one. It was 
 the hey-day of their youth, their hot blood was cooled under 
 the eyes of their fellows, and Society was saved from much 
 of the scandal that breaks out nowadays in spite of probably 
 because of the hypocritical restrictions by which London is 
 bound. 
 
 Dudley Ward soon tired of the Gardenia, which, after all, 
 was only a hobby. Perhaps the suggestion of one of the 
 members to change the name to Malmaison may have affected 
 his determination ; be that as it may, he sold his interest to 
 a Hebrew, Ike something or other, and a police raid closed it. 
 
 The history of the Corinthian was much the same, and it 
 came to an end from a similar shock. It was affected more 
 by the youth of Aldershot than the Gardenia, and there was 
 generally an exodus about three in the morning of those who 
 had to catch that most gruesome of all services, " the dead- 
 meat train," in order to be on parade. 
 
 The years that have passed since those days are not so 
 many ; but what a change ! Autres temps, autres mccurs, with 
 a vengeance. Is the balance of advantage with the present 
 day 1 Are the morals of the class from which the men I have 
 spoken of were taken, more decent for the restrictions our 
 narrow-minded Bumbles have placed upon their liberty 1 ? 
 Have those restrictions made the present generation a more 
 wholesome one, a more moral one, or a more MANLY one 
 than the last? I take leave to doubt it very much.
 
 ItOBEET STANDI'SH SIEVIEE. 127 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MY PRESENTATION. 
 
 . STEPHEN TUCKER, then the Somerset Herald, 
 had 1 during the previous year proposed that I 
 should be presented at Court. It would seem 
 superfluous to suggest that, of all men, one of 
 the Heralds of the Heralds' College should be 
 better acquainted than any other official with 
 the legitimate social eligibility of any man to 
 this distinction. The pedigrees of all families of any standing 
 are to be found in the archives of the College, and the 
 patents for arms are granted by it. Both my grand- 
 fathers bore arms, as did their forefathers. The Somerset 
 Herald died, and I was subsequently presented by his 
 successor at the levee held in June, 1887. Lord Dudley 
 attended the levee. Later, I believe, he informed the Lord 
 Chamberlain my name was not Sievier, but Sutton. He 
 should have known better, for he had been accommodated 
 with a seat on the Bench when the first Deerhurst case was 
 heard, and I swore to my name when he was present. But 
 this is not the first mistake by many that Lord Dudley has 
 committed. There was an undercurrent at work. One or two 
 of the minor papers wrote inspired articles, and in due course 
 they reached the Australian Press, which doubtless was origin- 
 ally meant to be their destination. What I may describe as
 
 128 TEH AUTO&IOG&APHY Of 
 
 my hereditary claims to Society were not once questioned. 
 I was not personally attacked, but the fact that I had made 
 a book in Australia was criticised. These statements in the 
 Press were then brought officially before the Lord Chamber- 
 lain, my enemies' aims were gained, and my presentation was 
 cancelled some eight months afterwards. I here reproduce 
 extracts from the official letter I received from the Somerset 
 Herald, addressed from the Heralds' College on February 
 24, 1888: 
 
 " The causes which have led to the cancelling of your 
 presentation are, shortly, these : Immediately after levee 
 some people came forward and testified to the fact that 
 you were engaged on the Turf in Australia as a book- 
 maker, and that in such transactions you bore the name 
 of Sutton. Shortly afterwards the affair was noticed, I 
 think, in an English paper, and a little later it went 
 through all the Australian Press, and, of course, was 
 much spoken of in London. The best that can now be 
 done is to help me in getting clear evidence that you 
 were not engaged on the Turf, as I mentioned in the 
 first part of my letter, and then, I am sure, the announce- 
 ment cancelling your presentation would be removed.' 1 
 
 Nothing could have been clearer or more straightforward 
 than this letter to me. I had professionally embarked in 
 betting in the colonies, and, rightly or wrongly, this was 
 deemed a technical breach of the customs of Society. There 
 was nothing else assumed against me. There was not a 
 tittle of suggestion that I was in any other respect ineligible. 
 Looking at the situation from the strict sense which must be 
 upheld at Court with unbending rigidity, I readily admit the 
 Lord Chamberlain had no other course open to him when 
 his hand was forced as it had been. If I entertained a
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 129 
 
 regret, it was that I ever made a book none other. Except 
 for this, I was eligible. 
 
 I say the Lord Chamberlain was right just as right as 
 Sir William Grantham was wrong and unjust in his biassed 
 harangue to the jury in May, 1904, at the Royal Courts of 
 Justice ! He> more than misrepresented this incident, misled 
 the jury, never once touched upon the* facts, and finished off 
 the finest bit of modern clap-trap by audaciously asserting 
 that "Her Majesty would sooner have vacated her throne" 
 than that I should have been presented. But later on I shall 
 deal with the case in the course of which these observations 
 were made, and I shall then have the opportunity of summing 
 up Sir William Grantham's summing-up. 
 
 I remained a member of Boodle's. 
 
 In London, as I have previously stated, I had my rooms at 
 1, Burlington Gardens, immediately over Holbrook and 
 Walker's. They faced the Old Burlington Hotel, where 
 Monsieur Jules reigned in all his glory before the whole staff 
 migrated to the Berkeley, and many a good dinner he* has 
 served me with. He was subsequently at the Savoy, and is 
 now successfully running a restaurant of his own in Jermyn 
 Street. 
 
 At an angle which almost caused one to wink I could look 
 down the Burlington Arcade (who hasn't done a wink in this 
 Arcadia ?), while all travellers from Piccadilly to the Blue Posts 
 had to pass my door, and it was not long before my chambers 
 were treated with little more respect than that bestowed on a 
 half-way house, and in time were a standing rendezvous for 
 many noted patrons of the Turf. 
 
 I was passing along the .switchback ups and downs of 
 racing, and more than once had been very pressed for money, 
 but by some means or other, perhaps by the aid of the little 
 cherub who sits up aloft, I somehow managed to fall on my 
 feet when things looked at their worst. True, the land of the 
 Golden Fle-ece was always open to me, and I knew I could 
 ' return at any moment, and by renewing my racing avocation 
 
 10
 
 130 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 in Australia, probably acquire sufficient means to put things 
 right again if they took too serious a turn. I need hardly say 
 that in face of the mean I might reasonably add, cowardly 
 action of the committee of the Victorian Club, I was not 
 inclined to pay the Antipodes another visit, though I had the 
 whole of Australia, this small coterie excepted, on my side. 
 
 Hard up, "financially bent," or what you will, I managed 
 to keep two or three hunters always going, and in 1888 won 
 the South Notts Point-to-Point with North Kilworth, a horse 
 I afterwards sold at Tattersall's. He was bought by Sir 
 James Miller, then quartered at Brighton with the 14th 
 Hussars, lately one of the Stewards of the Jockey Club, but 
 now, I regret to say, deceased. North Kilworth won many 
 races subsequently, owned and ridden by that fearless rider, 
 Mr. Charles Thompson. And I also always had a bit of 
 shooting, more or less rough, mostly rough. 
 
 I had experienced in 1887 what those uninitiated in racing 
 and its attendant pitfalls would possibly call the coup de grace, 
 but such a state of things is only temporary with men who have 
 any spirit. I had, in racing parlance, taken " the knock." It 
 was over the Cesarewitch won by Humewood. I was an 
 intimate friend of the late Captain Shaw (Jimmy), who was on 
 most friendly terms with the Duke of Hamilton, with whom I 
 also was on terms of acquaintanceship, and he had a horse 
 called Jacob running in the race. He had a month previously 
 cantered in for a welter race of two miles at the Derby Meet- 
 ing, and unfortunately, for the time being anyhow, I had over- 
 estimated him and this performance. Woodburn rode him, 
 and I backed Jacob to win me about 50,000, and saved on 
 Bendigo, an old favourite of mine, standing to win about 
 10,000 over him. Bendigo ran second, beaten a length, but 
 Jacob failed to climb the ladder as of yore and I fell with 
 him between the rungs. Losing a large sum at cards that week 
 and running amuck generally, I failed to settle on the Monday. 
 If we could temper ourselves with that regularity which brings 
 Monday round to us each week but what is the use of attempt-
 
 BOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 131 
 
 ing to moralise? Like many men before me, and not a few 
 that will follow, I could not settle. The Ring knew me, and I 
 believe I was more exercised over my failure in this respect 
 than were those who should, under ordinary circumstances, 
 have been the receivers. It was 1 too late to think of Australia, 
 so I hunted. For wealth ? No, the wily fox. I was, as they 
 say in the theatrical profession, resting. Nor was I any better 
 off the following spring, and the little racing I did was m 
 successful ; not, at least, to the extent of my being able to 
 liquidate my affairs. I must here say, and I thank my friends 
 in the Eing with all sincerity, that not one of them really 
 bothered me ; they were satisfied that it would come along 
 some day, and that as soon as that day dawned they would 
 feel the warmth of the golden sun. 
 
 I went to the Epsom Spring Meeting of 1888 with the late 
 " Bob " Howett. I may here observe that I kept my hunters 
 at his hospitable home, Woodborough Manor, in Nottingham- 
 shire. On the first day I had won 110, my transactions being 
 in ready money owing to the " suspension " of credit. The 
 second day I took 500 to 100 about Mr. Arthur Cooper's 
 Cardinal Wolsey, which won with F. Barrett in the saddle. 
 I followed this up with 1,600 to 200 Good Night, and I re- 
 member as he passed the post I turned to Bob Howett and 
 said, "Another winner, and it will soon be good morning." 
 Having collected my money, this brought us to the City and 
 Suburban, and I went solely for Fullerton, the property of 
 Sir George Chetwynd. The first bet I got was 7 to 1 to 300 
 with Ben Cooper. I then took 800 to 100 from Ben Hyams, 
 and Bob Howett put 300 on for me at an average of about 
 8 to 1. Afterwards I went on to the course and saw them 
 canter past, and returning to the Ring took 800 to 100 more 
 from the Brothers Dreysey, then at their zenith, and had 
 200 more on in broken sums, making a thousand altogether. 
 From Tattenham Corner to the winning post the result of the 
 race was never in doubt, and Fullerton won easily by two 
 lengths. Then came the collecting. I had won nearly 8,000
 
 132 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 on the race, and was stuffed with notes, so much so that I 
 left a large balance owing to me standing. The news spread 
 like magic hrough the Ring, and not a few accosted me with 
 the enquiry, " Shall I claim mine on Monday 1 " 
 
 And there were also some, to whom I owed not even the 
 shadow of an obligation, who had a pony handed to them for 
 the asking. My betting did not end here. This was the mere 
 greasing of the wheel which had set things in motion, and it was 
 exhilarating to feel oneself going along once more after stand- 
 ing still for some six months. Woodburn, who had ridden 
 Fullerton, had the mount on Chilwood in the next race, and 
 following my luck, not without a few necessary inquiries, I had 
 3,000 to 1,000 Chilwood, and, following Fuller-ton's example, 
 he won by two lengths also. On the next race I lost 1,000, 
 but soon recouped myself from this temporary break, by back- 
 ing P. and O., perhaps on account of the many thousands of 
 miles the P. and O. had carried me, but more than likely 
 because I knew something, and taking all sorts of odds between 
 7 to 4 and 9 to 4, I won nearly 4,000 on the race. I had not 
 another bet that day. To show what can be done, and more, 
 what has been done, I started at the Epsom Spring Meeting, 
 one of two days' duration, with a " pony," and won by playing 
 up my winnings over 16,000. Needless to add, Bob Howett 
 settled my old account on Monday, and once more Mr. W. 
 Clowes began to settle for me every subsequent Monday until 
 but I must not get in advance of my story. Before I finally 
 quit this episode, I feel I must once more refer to the 
 generosity which the bookmakers as a rule extend to fheir 
 clients when a bad time overtakes them. I could, of course, 
 name one or two who are not too leniently inclined, and have 
 in their grasping endeavours been known to chop off their noses 
 to spite their faces ; but as a body of men if they beat you, 
 they do not kick you when you are down. 
 
 Had I not bucked up, faced the situation, and determined 
 to extricate myself how could I possibly have succeeded? 
 Ought I to have retired to a garret and meted out a small
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 
 
 133 
 
 annual pittance to my creditors, insufficient to liquidate my 
 debts unless I lived to the age of Methuselah, when my 
 creditors' remote descendants would have been drawing the 
 instalments 1 What a weak resolve !
 
 134 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 MORNING WORK. 
 
 IPEAKING of ups and downs, I ought perhaps to 
 refer tb one of the downs which befell me in Aus- 
 tralia. Always of an energetic nature, there was 
 not enough horseracing to keep me occupied, hence 
 I found myself engaged in every kind of sporting 
 pursuit. One at which I never did any good was 
 coursing. In Australia the Waterloo Cup, which 
 out of compliment to the Old Country bears the same 
 name as its Liverpool prototype, a 64-dog stake, is an 
 enclosed affair, better known as " Plumpton." These enclosed 
 meetings minimise those chances of a surprise which the 
 open sporting plains at Altcar provide so plentifully. The 
 result was that favourite after favourite won, and being 
 a gambler I lost very large sums of money, and more than 
 once lost a " pad " at the game. It was after one of the 
 Waterloo Cups that I found my ready money was much 
 diminished, and I went on to the racecourse at Flemington 
 with a smaller sum than I usually took to the meeting. It 
 was one of those " freezing " days when everyone is of a 
 mind to back one horse, and that one wins. I continued 
 betting, and losing, and quite unconsciously found myself 
 at the end of the fourth race with not enough money to pay 
 out to everybody who had won. Suddenly realising this, I 
 intimated to my clerk that he had better go and have a drink
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 135 
 
 and take the book with him. This gave me breathing time, 
 and I borrowed what little money I could, for, like myself, 
 the fraternity were pretty well cleared out. On the return of 
 my clerk I playfully abused him for not attending to business, 
 and then started to pay out with a little less alacrity than 
 usual. The numbers went up for the next race, and I fielded 
 with foolhardy bravery. As is usual with most men who 
 gamble, luck always runs in " trots," and up came the 
 favourite again. This was a blow, not that I cared a snap 
 for my losses, but the whole ring was cleared bang out by 
 this last performance, and we were all running from one to 
 the other trying to borrow. For once the ring was unanimous ! 
 The dodge of sending the clerk for a drink was of no avail, 
 for he would have had to remain at the bar or elsewhere 
 the whole day, so there was nothing left but to pay as much 
 as I could. This I did, and when I came to the silver, all 
 that was left, I took the satchel from my clerk's neck and 
 scrambled the coins among the punters generally, finally 
 throwing the satchel itself among them. I was well known, 
 and the next day, as soon as the banks opened, I redeemed 
 my credit. I have often laughed over this incident, and have 
 as frequently been reminded of it. 
 
 To the man who devotes his time to racing, the sport 
 becomes real hard work. I say the sport advisedly, and by 
 it I do not mean merely running down to a meeting by train, 
 strolling round the paddock, making a few bets, and getting 
 back to town in time to rush into dress clothes and dine with 
 one's best girl or somebody else's. That's not treating racing 
 as a sport, but merely as an amusement. A man who enjoys 
 it as a sport, and I may fairly claim to have done so to the 
 full, must know a racehorse when he sees one, must possess 
 a knowledge of his make and shape, and, more important than 
 aught else, of his action. Winners are of all shapes, but if 
 the action is not there, well neither is the horse. Apart from 
 all other fatigue connected with a week's racing, no end of 
 labour, both physical and mental, is entailed by the advisa-
 
 136 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 bility, almost the necessity, of knowing a horse in his work 
 as weil as in his races. Only the wonderfully healthy, open- 
 air conditions, under which the all-important watching and 
 observation are done, enable a man to accomplish this task. 
 The life of a racing man, who is a sportsman as well, is harder 
 than that of almost any other class. The true sportsman must 
 be capable of forming his own opinion, and must base it on 
 his own observation and his own judgment. How many men 
 who go racing can do this? Not one in a hundred! To the 
 uninitiated the element of chance is so great that they allow 
 superstition to take the place of sound judgment. And the 
 man who once gives way to weakness of this kind is indeed 
 undone, for indecision will hamper the workings of his mind, 
 and prevent the formation of a definite opinion. A man who 
 wishes to acquire the indispensable practical knowledge and 
 the strength of character necessary to the forming of a sound 
 personal opinion must be one of the early birds, and must 
 watch the work of the different horses daily during a meeting. 
 He must make it both his business and his pleasure to be on 
 the course each morning, and to see the work done. Now, 
 to do this a man must be either a sportsman or a man of 
 commerce, or he may be a little of each, or even half-and-half ; 
 if winning he will perhaps pose as the former, but if losing 
 he is strongly imbued with the business instinct to set himself 
 right again! We are most of us keen business men when it 
 is a question of getting our own back. 
 
 I maintain that a man must be able to form his own opinion 
 on racing, or he will not succeed as a regular racegoer. And 
 to do this after the manner of a true sportsman requires 
 tireless activity. It entails rising at the break of day, and 
 greeting the sun as he rises above the horizon. Yet surely 
 the crisp freshness of the morning air, the dewdrops sparkling 
 on the grass, the singing of the birds, form more than an 
 equivalent for an hour or two of slothful slumber. Suitably 
 equipped with thick boots and the indispensable glasses, our 
 early riser makes his way to the course, where, if he is a man
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 137 
 
 of practical experience, he should know nearly all the horses 
 by sight. Many eke out their superficial knowledge in this 
 respect by the aid of the clothing the horses carry, and the 
 initials of the owner or trainer on the cloths. This conceit 
 is common enough, and reminds one of the man who cannot 
 read, and yet holds a paper in front of him, even if it is upside 
 down, rather than admit the fact of his ignorance. The man 
 who has his heart in the sport, and I grant you that he may 
 be a gambler as well, knows his animal at once by its walk, 
 its carriage, its canter, and its characteristics generally, its 
 colour being merely a confirmation of the whole. 
 . In the early morning our sportsman observes the different 
 strings as they walk round, watches them canter with a critical 
 eye, and then judges their gallops as they negotiate their 
 day's work with their companions. And if he is a man of 
 keen discernment, he may see improvement in a horse more 
 readily than the trainer himself. For a man who has not seen 
 the animal for a fortnight or so is much more likely to observe 
 a difference than one who has watched him every day. Many 
 a good bet have I won through keeping my eyes open for 
 points of this kind. 
 
 Again, on the book a horse may appear a certainty for a 
 race, but in his early morning work he may show considerable 
 falling off both in condition and in action. If the latter is at 
 fault, and he goes short and scratchy, it is any odds against 
 his being within pounds, or even stones, of his previous form ; 
 always provided that one has seen him galloping, and reason- 
 ably extended, for nothing, in the case of some horses, is more 
 misleading than to form an opinion of their merits solely from 
 seeing them in their slow paces. 
 
 Then there are the hundred-and-one things that always 
 crop up in connection with the early morning work, and 
 should occupy the sportsman's keenest attention. He will 
 find it ten o'clock or later before he has had his tub, and can 
 comfortably sit down to breakfast. He then has an oppor- 
 tunity to run over in his mind all that he has seen, and to
 
 138 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 do what is most essential, yet very rare among racegoers 
 generally, viz., make up his mind and act on it. 
 
 Many a good man and true do I remember who seldom, 
 if ever, missed the morning work. First I may mention that 
 keen sportsman, Lord Cholmondeley, good horseman and 
 huntsman too ; Lord Lurgan, who unfortunately has of late 
 years taken less interest in the game ; Lord Marcus Beresford, 
 who has been manager of the studs of a crowned and an un- 
 crowned King ; Lord Buchan, in those days Lord Cardross, 
 spick and span even in those early hours. Then there were 
 Captain Milligan, ever on the qui vite; Walter Blake, who 
 has gradually grown tired of exercise since the days of 
 Exmoor ; W. Allison, the " Special Commissioner," always 
 ready to insure any horse, or, for that matter, anybody's 
 whole string ; and " Bob " Pryor,* chary of taking off his hat 
 so early in the day. At Ascot and Goodwood one often met 
 Prince Christian, consistently inquiring the name of every- 
 thing that galloped past, and occasionally Lord Farquhar, 
 who has more than once been known to ask the name of one 
 of his own horses. I must not omit to mention Charles 
 Hibberfc, who is his own judge, and has on that account much 
 to be thankful for ; the late Arthur Cooper and his partner, 
 Johnnie O'Neill ; or Bill Riley, who is said never to have 
 missed a day ; and of course the usual crowd of touts and 
 tipsters, and host of others, not forgetting Old Mary, the 
 card seller. 
 
 Earlier in the eighties, amongst those who regularly 
 watched their horses at work on race mornings were the 
 Duke of Beaufort, the Duke of Hamilton, the Hon. James 
 Lowther, Prince Soltykoff, and many another pillar of the 
 Turf. The sport of kings has sadly missed their whole-hearted 
 support, and it will be long before we shall see their like 
 again. 
 
 Well, the horses have finished their work, and we must 
 
 * Mr. Pryor has died since this was written.
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 139 
 
 get back to breakfast. And what an appetite the keen 
 morning breeze has blessed us with! When the inner man 
 has been satisfactorily attended to there are the papers to 
 be read, and the day's programme to be studied in further 
 detail. Then comes the racing, with all its attendant bustle 
 and excitement, its frequent visits to the paddock, and its 
 close study of each race in its turn. The keen betting man 
 watches every move of the market, and now is the time to 
 turn to good account the knowledge gathered in the early 
 morning. After racing, the book should be made up and 
 checked, to prevent any possible error, for mistakes occur 
 easily when the balancing is left until the end of the week. 
 When this is done one has just time for a snatch of rest and 
 a rub-down, and then comes the most comfortable part of the 
 day, the change into evening clothes. If this is not a solid 
 day's work I should like to know what is. Yet a more healthy 
 mode of life it would be difficult to find ; for one practically 
 lives in the open air. Think of it, you whose lives are spent 
 in stuffy offices and in scarcely less stuffy suburbs ; think of 
 the hours every day passed out of doors, with the fresh 
 breezes blowing the cobwebs from the brain, and the blue 
 sky for a canopy. Of course, the sky is not always blue, or 
 if it is one cannot see it for grey and stormy clouds, and 
 sometimes the .wind is too keen to be altogether pleasant. 
 But bad weather seldom hurts those who are properly 
 equipped to face it, and, at any rate, one lives ! 
 
 Many are the practical jokes that have been played upon 
 unsuspecting victims. I could fill pages with anecdotes that 
 I know to be true, and in many of these performances I have 
 taken no small part. I remember a certain bookmaker who 
 shall be nameless, for I do not wish him to become again the 
 butt of his brother pencillers who one day boasted that 
 he had secured the finest piece of silverside of beef that had 
 ever been seen. In the fulness of his heart he invited two 
 comrades of the Ring to help him do justice to the feast, and 
 so much was said of this marvellous silverside that everybody
 
 140 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 knew of it. It was a real bad day for the bookies, and 
 favourites rolled home in unbroken succession, so it was 
 with somewhat glum faces and surly tempers that our hero 
 and his friends repaired to the scene of festivity. However, 
 a wash and brush-up refreshed them, and they entered the 
 dining-room with every intention of atoning to some extent 
 for the disasters of the day. In came the landlady, a nervous 
 old soul with ancient ringlets, bearing the precious joint, 
 which was hidden from view by the only electro-plate cover 
 of which the house could boast. The host was all smiles, and 
 sharpened his knife as he said, "Now, boys, I've got a bit 
 of boiled and carrots for you ; the best you ever saw." Then 
 the landlady raised the cover, and what he beheld on the 
 dish drove every vestige of a smile from the bookie's face. 
 He looked as if he had himself been welshed. He glared 
 fiercely at the joint, and more fiercely at the poor old land- 
 lady, whose ringlets were by this time dancing with fright. 
 " Madam ! " he hissed, " this was a prime silverside of beef, 
 and I told you to boil it; but,' by all the gods, you have 
 roasted it ! Roast salt beef and carrots ! " Then words failed 
 him, and the old lady, shaking all over, fumbled in the depths 
 of her pocket, and at last produced a crumpled telegram, 
 handed in at the racecourse by an anonymous practical joker, 
 which ran : "Kindly roast silverside to-night, carrots as usual." 
 When racing is so far away from town as to make it 
 impossible to return home for the night, many of our middle- 
 class sportsmen form themselves into small parties, take 
 lodgings, and mess together. As most of these gentlemen 
 fancy themselves not a little as judges of good living, there 
 is frequently keen competition for the office of caterer-in- 
 chief, and a good deal of chipping goes on. A certain 
 prominent backer, who to this day poses as an epicure, 
 always insists on being the chief of commissariat for his 
 particular party, who, it may be mentioned, have suffered 
 many a time from his peculiar predilection for boiled mutton. 
 For even the rudest and healthiest of appetites cannot be
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 
 
 expected to appreciate boiled mutton and turnips as a 
 standing dish. One day he came in radiant, saying he had 
 just been buying some blue trout. " Blue trout, boys ! " 
 Then he hesitated a moment and took stock of the company. 
 " And I saw such an extra special leg o' mutton such a 
 boiler so I got that, and we'll top that up with a plum tart 
 and cream, and a corona-corona, what ho ! for the merry 
 punter ! " None of the party said a word, but suffered in 
 silence. When they got back at night, the lady of the house 
 announced that the fishmonger's boy said as 'ow they was 
 sorry they couldn't send no blue trout, so they sent some 
 blue turbot. There was no one in the crowd bold enough to 
 say that no such fish existed, and in due course the blue 
 turbot was put on the table. Blue ! it was as blue as the 
 Mediterranean ! They all looked dubiously at one another, 
 and then stared silently at the fish. There was a long pause ; 
 nobody wanted to be the first to brave the dangers of the 
 unknown ; but at last, half in shame and half in desperation, 
 the unhappy caterer ventured on a mouthful, which speedily 
 found its way into the folds of his napkin ! 
 
 " It is blue, ain't it, Charlie? " asked one. " Are blue trout 
 anything like that ? " inquired another. " I didn't order it," 
 snarled the sufferer ; " go and take it out of the fishmonger 
 it ain't my fault." On came the boiled mutton the inevitable 
 boiled mutton, caper sauce, and mashed turnips. The cover 
 was lifted, and behold ! the mutton was blue, as blue as the 
 turbot ! " That turbot has been swimming about in the wrong 
 pot, for certain," remarked one candid friend. "Yes," said 
 another ; " blue's catching just look at our blue mountain 
 mutton!" "Well," chimed in a third, "I thought we were 
 going to have a good old English dinner, but give me the a la 
 business in future." Hastily the provider of the feast rose 
 and left the room, consigning the party, all and sundry, to 
 regions unmentionable. The truth was that one of the " mess " 
 had been to the fishmonger's and substituted turbot for the 
 trout, and had concocted the supposed message from the shop.
 
 142 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Then he placed a ball of washing blue in each of the pots 
 and a blue dinner it was! One satisfactory result was that 
 boiled mutton has not since made its appearance on the menu. 
 
 Another dinner that went wrong was that of a bookmaker 
 famous, in plain language, for his gluttony. He asked two 
 kindred spirits to dine with him, and for their delectation pro- 
 vided two geese. Two geese between three is not starvation 
 allowance, but he quite reckoned on attending to one himself. 
 This got about, and the usual kind friend sent a note round 
 to his house saying the geese were to be boiled ! Boiled goose 
 sounds as bad as, I should think, it would eat, and " the three 
 pigs," as they were called, had to adjourn to a neighbouring 
 hostelry, where they are stated to have devoured three fowls 
 and a whole ham between them !
 
 ROBEBT STANDISH 8IEVIEE. 143 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 AUSTRALIA AGAIN. 
 
 IME passed on with the usual ebb and flow attendant 
 on racing affairs, the only exception to which is 
 that of the bookmakers, whose fortunes seem 
 always at the flood. Ascot, the Newmarket July, 
 and that queen of all meetings, Goodwood, came 
 on with their wonted regularity. But I cannot 
 dismiss Goodwood so briefly, for its course, 
 besides being in other respects one of the very best in the 
 world, carries that natural down turf of which few can 
 boast. Indeed, the July Course at headquarters and the 
 courses at Salisbury and Bath are the only others which I 
 can call to mind as approaching it. " Glorious Goodwood " 
 stands out alone in the beauty of its surroundings and the 
 silent charm of its scenery. The approach to the course is 
 perfect. Entering at the lodge-gates, the drive leads past 
 the mansion itself, and then through avenues of beeches and 
 woods gay with their summer foliage. After ascending the 
 hill the famous Birdless Grove is reached, and passing through 
 this the racecourse presents itself to view. From the summit 
 stretches away as far as the eye can reach the undulating 
 Sussex scenery, studded with coppices and plantations, whilst, 
 on a clear day, a glimpse of the blue Solent can be obtained 
 in the distance. What finer holiday can be imagined than a 
 real summer day at Goodwood, with its luncheon under the 
 trees, and its racing for racing's sake? On no other course
 
 144 TEE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 can one obtain such complete relaxation and relief from the 
 ordinary cares of life. 
 
 Yes, all went on in just the same way the St. Leger, the 
 Cesarewitch, the Cambridgeshire, and finally Manchester, 
 which so often decides whether the punter's winter is to be 
 cheerful or the reverse. To the uninitiated the continued 
 round of racing may sound monotonous and uninteresting, and 
 this may in truth be said of almost any other avocation but a 
 sporting one. The chief attraction of racing is its glorious 
 uncertainty, which carries with it an unfailing and indescrib- 
 able fascination. 
 
 My restless spirit, however, could not settle down quietly, 
 and had not yet reached that calm and composed state which 
 prompts a man to say, " J'y suis, j'y reste." So in 1890 I 
 determined upon another voyage to Australia, not with any 
 idea of business, but as a pleasure trip pure and simple. The 
 old associations of the place drew me, and I wanted to see 
 again a few old faces of those whom I looked on as my friends. 
 I went out on the "Austral," a steamer which had once, when 
 coaling, made an expedition to the bottom of Sydney Harbour. 
 She was an excellent boat, and carried a very good lot of 
 passengers of the usual mixed description. It was one of the 
 voyages which I shall never forget, and its memory will always 
 be a pleasant one. 
 
 There is not very much to note in this, my last trip to 
 Australia, but I may remark, in passing, that I was received 
 with, if possible, more enthusiasm than usual, solely on account 
 of the scurvy treatment I had experienced at the hands of the 
 committee of the Victorian Club. I renewed old associations, 
 and lived old times over again. The length of time which had 
 elapsed since my last visit made the revival of old acquaint- 
 ance all the more pleasant. 
 
 The city of Melbourne had made great progress. Many of 
 the old-fashioned houses in Collins Street had been knocked 
 down, owing to the falling-in of the leases, and had been 
 rebuilt. An underground system of drainage had been substi-
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 145 
 
 tuted for the surface method which had obtained on my 
 previous visits. In the earlier days I have seen Elizabeth 
 Street, a road on a decline, which crosses Collins Street, in 
 such a state of flood that foot-passengers had to hire a four- 
 wheeled cab, which in Australia was a wagonette covered with 
 American cloth or oil-skin, in order to be able to cross with 
 safety. It is even on record that people have been carried 
 away by the rush of water during heavy rains, and have been 
 drowned through getting caught under the bridges which 
 crossed the gutters. All these, traces of primitive methods 
 had vanished, and the city had been much modernised. No 
 doubt the improvement has continued in accordance with the 
 motto of the colony, " Advance Australia ! " 
 
 It was on this visit that I saw the never-to-be-forgotten 
 race in which Carbine won the Melbourne Cup, carrying the 
 enormous weight of lOst 5lb. I have already referred to this 
 wonderful performance, but I must be allowed some brief 
 further allusion. Merman, The Grafter, and many other horses 
 bred in the land of the Southern Cross have given us in 
 England a taste of their quality, but Carbine was the greatest 
 of them all. 
 
 Any horse that can give a subsequent winner of a Viceroy's 
 Cup 49lb must be> a phenomenal one. A bay, with black 
 points, Carbine, by Musket, resembled Best Man more nearly 
 than any other English horse with which I can compare him, 
 but there is no comparison as to which was the better horse 
 on the racecourse. It is common knowledge that the Duke of 
 Portland gave 15,000 guineas for him, and that he now stands 
 at Welbeck. So far as my opinion is of value, I have no doubt 
 whatever that the cross will make itself felt, especially in 
 years to come. 
 
 I cannot dismiss my visits to Australia without referring 
 to Tasmania. The climate being cooler than that of Australia, 
 it is a charming summer resort, whilst Hobart is one of the 
 prettiest towns to be found on the other side of the equator. 
 It has an excellent racecourse, and is, generally speaking, 
 
 11
 
 146 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 a charming place to live in. Instead of the monotonous post 
 and rail fences which abound throughout Victoria and New 
 South Wales, the eye rests on hedges such as we have in the 
 home country. Originally called Van Diemen's Land, after 
 the name of the explorer who discovered the island, it was 
 one of the early penal settlements, and I paid a most interest- 
 ing visit to some of those individuals who had survived their 
 sentences, some of whom are perhaps living at the present 
 day. These men, bent with age, live in a settlement set apart 
 for them, which I cannot better describe than by comparing 
 it with the almshouses to be seen in some of our small pro- 
 vincial towns. Here they have their gardens and different 
 plots of land, and the few who remain are fairly comfortably 
 off. They are allowed to visit the town at certain periods, 
 and walk about perfectly free and unguarded, for " the devil " 
 which once possessed them is now dead. 
 
 A more villainous lot of faces it would be hard to imagine, 
 than those which confronted me on my visit to the place set 
 aside for these men, while some of their stories were blood- 
 curdling. It is usual for visitors to take with them tobacco, or 
 some similar present, and it was extraordinary to notice how 
 each vied with the other, to get an extra amount of the weed, 
 by recounting their criminal experiences almost to exaggera- 
 tion, and boasting about what they had done to receive the 
 sentences which had sent them to transportation for the 
 "term of their natural life." I remember one old man with 
 a jaundiced eye, who sat on a rough wooden form and told 
 the story of how he had shot a policeman by " accident,'' and 
 had heard his own death bell tolling, when the reprieve 
 arrived just in time to save his neck. In those days telegraphy 
 and railways were not, and it was only by the aid of pos1>- 
 horses that his life was saved by some quarter of an hour. 
 The authorities had taken what is called in legal terms a 
 "merciful view of his case," and had, in spite of his convic- 
 tion, apparently accepted the theory set up by the defence 
 that the shooting of the policeman " might " have been an
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 147 
 
 accident. Or perhaps the authorities in those days did not 
 place so great a value on the life of the " bobby " as they do 
 now. No sooner had he finished his narrative than up jumped 
 a comrade, and addressed me somewhat as follows : 
 
 " 'Im, he ain't done nothing. Shot a policeman and then 
 tried to get out of it by cracking it was an accident. Why, 
 he ought to have been proud of it ! 
 
 " I was sent out 'ere after doing a sentence of ten stretch, 
 went home again, and then got back at the old game. Why, 
 bless yer, guv'nor, when once you've had the taste of doing 
 the trick it's impossible to keep away from it. I got into 
 a mess over a little shop-lifting, the nearest tick in the world, 
 guv'nor, that we didn't get all the swag ; but just as we were 
 going, up wakes a bloke from under the counter they called 
 'im the night watchman. There he was a-snorin' till just the 
 finish. Well, I downs 'im with a chisel, and blest if he doesn't 
 fall against a china vase, and the smash brought down a 
 couple of chaps from upstairs. I downs one of 'em, and my 
 mates have a struggle with the other, when in come the 
 coppers, and there was a rare set-to. Talk about shooting 
 one by accident! Well, you should have seen 'em after me 
 and my mates had finished with 'em. Well, they gave 'me 
 a lifer, and I'm proud of it, for if they didn't send me here 
 I should never have been as comfortable as I am now. Perfect 
 independence, and what more does a man want? Good luck 
 to you, sir." With a victorious glance, almost of scorn, at 
 his brother in crime, who still sat on the form, he held his 
 hand out for a stick of tobacco. 
 
 But no sooner had he finished than another began his 
 story, endeavouring to outdo his predecessors in depth of 
 guilt and picturesqueness of gory detail. But the most extra- 
 ordinary of them all, was a man by the name of Charlie 
 Dennis, a gentleman born, who had been condemned to death 
 no less than three times. He. still bore traces of having been 
 a handsome man, and though bent with age, he must in his 
 earlier days have stood at least 6ft 4in. The sentence, of
 
 148 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 hanging in those days was not reserved for murder alone, as 
 people were strung up for forgery, sheep stealing, and similar 
 offences, but this man in his time had murdered two warders 
 and had attempted to kill one of the junior governors of the 
 prison, these being the three offences for which he was at 
 different times sentenced to death. The story, which is almost 
 to-day a Tasmanian legend, was that a certain governor's wife 
 fell in love with him, and that a liaison had existed between 
 them, and it was through her intervention that he was re- 
 prieved for each of these crimes, once when actually on the 
 scaffold. And so I listened to the different stories, nearly 
 all of them interesting, but the whole merry party of convicts 
 burst out into guffaws when one man said that the only 
 offence he had committed for his sentence of transportation 
 for life, was stealing a pocket-handkerchief. They all jeered 
 at him as though he were an amateur among a lot of pro- 
 fessionals, and such remarks as, " Why don't you own up like 
 a man 1 " " What have you got to be ashamed of ? " " Wliat's 
 the good of kidding you're innocent now ? " and so forth, were 
 hurled at him. He bore the nickname of the " Curate," which 
 was doubtless given to him because of his continual protesta- 
 tions of innocence. They were all dressed in ordinary clothes, 
 nor was the sign of the broad arrow to be seen. They were 
 not allowed to go beyond certain landmarks in the place 
 assigned to them, nor were they ever permitted to be out 
 after dark, unless they had written permission. In earlier 
 days many used to attempt to- escape, and some even starved 
 in the Bush rather than return to complete that dreaded sen- 
 tence, "the term of his natural life." They have in the past 
 at different times broken out and raided small townships, and 
 the history of the penal settlements of Tasmania and Australia 
 would fill many an interesting and thrilling volume. With the 
 exception of these few men there is no trace of the convict 
 to-day in Australia, and if a native has any doubt in his own 
 mind of his ancestry it is the custom to assume that his father 
 had been governor of one of the gaols ! This, to some extent,
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH . SIEVIEK. 149 
 
 is true, inasmuch as his father had probably been an inmate 
 of one of the many prisons which in those days abounded in 
 South Australia, Botany Bay, and Tasmania. 
 
 I cannot dismiss Australia without once more referring to 
 some early experiences there, and relating one or two stories, 
 for the truth of which I can vouch. Of all the men I met in 
 the -Colonies, perhaps the most extraordinary and certainly 
 the most interesting was Joe Thompson, now established in 
 England as a leading bookmaker. 
 
 When attending up-country meetings, there was little or 
 nothing to do in the evenings. Hence much time was given 
 up to smoking and yarns, washed down by libations according 
 to one's taste or the temperature. The worst of these meet- 
 ings which I remember was Wagga Wagga. Here until sunset 
 one has to wear a fly net over one's hat for protection from 
 this insect, which in this particular district is most pertinacious, 
 and declines to be brushed off in the ordinary way. Then 
 goggles have to be worn, for the glare is most oppressive ; so 
 that the racing man at Wagga Wagga resembled a motorist of 
 to-day, with the addition of a net covering all over his head 
 and face. In Australia, and, for that matter, in England also, 
 Joe Thompson and I have had many friendly battles in the 
 betting arena, and it was at these up-country meetings, when 
 the racing was over, that I found him one of the most 
 interesting of raconteurs. The bushrangers of Australia 
 have been many, and they were in their time all known 
 to Joe, except one whose name was Morgan, and as this 
 individual had already a record of having shot twenty-seven 
 men, perhaps on this account Joe Thompson forswore his 
 acquaintance. " Joe," through the whole of his career, has 
 shown considerable tact and discretion! Morgan was the 
 worst of all the outlaws, and was hated by his brethren in 
 the "profession." He was a blackguard of the worst type, 
 and indulged in crimes which his fellow bushrangers despised, 
 for he numbered women among his victims. There was an 
 unwritten code among these bandits that women should always
 
 150 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 be spared under all circumstances. The notorious Kellys, 
 Frank Gardner, and all the rest of the gangs always adhered 
 to this, and there was never a charge made against them 
 on this account. On the contrary, it is on record that they 
 have assisted women in many instances, at times going out of 
 their way to do so, even at the risk of their liberty. It was 
 owing to their respect for women that the Kellys and others 
 of their like received so much protection from the public and 
 those living in the Bush districts, where they sought refuge, 
 but Morgan was hated by them, and Frank Gardner, the bush- 
 ranger of New South Wales, when in gaol, stated that he- 
 hoped to live to finish his sentence that he might have the 
 pleasure of shooting Morgan for the dastardly deeds he had 
 committed in shooting down anybody and everybody at sight. 
 Gardner, as he pleaded to his sympathisers, " only killed 
 policemen." It may seem strange in England that these out- 
 laws remained uncaptured for such a number of years, but it 
 was, as I have stated, owing to the fact that they never once- 
 laid hands on a female, and they therefore frequently found 
 sanctuary where, under ordinary circumstances, they would 
 have been lost. 
 
 A short time ago I had the pleasure of meeting Joe Thomp- 
 son again, and our conversation turned upon old times, and he 
 reminded me of some things I had forgotten ; amongst them 
 the incidents I am now dealing with. It was the habit of these 
 outlaws, when an up-country race meeting was in progress, 
 to send in a messenger to Joe Thompson or his brother Jack, 
 whose death every sportsman in Australia lamented, saying 
 that they would like to meet them at a given trysting place at 
 a certain hour. The late Jack Thompson was one of those 
 big, good-natured men all heart. Though straight as a die, 
 yet he had no little sympathy with these outlaws. I do not 
 say he was right or wrong in his views, but every outlaw has 
 his sympathisers; therefore, the Kellys and Frank Gardner, 
 who were sought after by the police, and who could have been 
 shot by any man at sight (and that man would have received
 
 ROBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 151 
 
 a reward), sent messages to Jack Thompson making some 
 appointment whenever he attended the race meetings in the 
 Benella, or "Kelly gang" districts. The last time Joe 
 Thompson, accompanied by his brother Jack, saw Frank 
 Gardner they both endeavoured to persuade him to desist, and 
 his reply was, "The day I shoot Morgan I will never fire 
 another shot as long as I live." Morgan, it should be observed, 
 belonged to Victoria, and perhaps the petty jealousies which 
 have ever existed between the two colonies may in no small 
 way have affected the respective bushrangers ; but I am 
 strongly inclined to think that what was uppermost in Frank 
 Gardner's mind was the dastardly treatment to which, as I 
 have just said, Morgan had subjected many women. There 
 must have been some good in Frank Gardner after all. Some 
 influence was brought to bear ; and after having served, at 
 different periods, thirty-two years in gaol, he received a 
 pardon at the hands of Sir Hercules Robinson, the Governor of 
 New South Wales, on the condition that he left the country, 
 and in due course he migrated to California. His two mates, 
 Gilbert and Hall, had long since been shot on sight as 
 outlaws. 
 
 Morgan's end was different. The races were being held at 
 Beechworth, in Victoria, and it became known that Morgan 
 was about the district. Joe Thompson found himself in rather 
 an awkward predicament, for he had loudly proclaimed, as had 
 every man in the Colonies, his hatred for Morgan, while it was 
 understood he had some kind of admiration for Frank Gardner. 
 Not "taking any chances," Joe saddled his horse just before 
 midnight, and set off to Wangaratta. The same night Morgan 
 came out of his lair ready to hold up anybody ; but, being fore- 
 warned, the town was forearmed, and he went outside to the 
 station of a gentleman named MacPherson. On his arrival 
 there he calmly entered the house, revolver in hand, ordered 
 all doors to be locked, and, throwing himself into an armchair, 
 demanded a cup of tea, and, placing his pistol in front of him 
 on the table, he added, " If I sleep, I do so with only one eye
 
 152 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 shut." Had MacPherson taken up the revolver at that moment 
 he would have found that it was empty ! Long immunity had 
 made Morgan recklessly foolhardy. Being aware that Miss 
 MacPherson played the piano with more than ordinary skill, 
 he called for a tune. He was obeyed in everything ; but, 
 despite his precautions of having the doors locked, he had 
 made one mistake he had not previously searched the out- 
 buildings. One of the female servants had been away. On 
 returning to the house, and finding the doors locked, she grew 
 apprehensive, and peering through the window saw Morgan 
 seated in the armchair, the revolver in front of him, and Mi&s 
 MacPherson playing the piano ! She recognised him at once, 
 for his likeness had been freely distributed about the country. 
 With some forethought, she threw off her skirts, and started 
 to run in her petticoats to Wangaratta, a distance of six miles. 
 Reaching the township, she informed the police of Morgan's 
 whereabouts. 
 
 Police and volunteers arrived at MacPherson's station in 
 the dead of night, and lay in ambush until daylight. In due 
 course Morgan appeared on the scene, impudently walking 
 about the place arm-in-arm with Mr. MacPherson, as if he 
 had been an old friend and an honoured guest ! 
 
 They were making their way to the stables, as Morgan had 
 demanded the best blood horse that could be provided. As 
 they walked up the path Morgan must have observed some- 
 thing, for turning to MacPherson he said suddenly, "What's 
 the matter ? What are you shifting away for ? " As a matter 
 of fact, they were close upon the inspector lying in ambush ; 
 MacPherson had caught his eye, and had been waved aside 
 by him. As he took a quick step from Morgan, the latter 
 turned and must have realised the situation. Immediately 
 the report of a rifle rang through the air, and the bullet went 
 through Morgan's back. He reeled and fell, and hardly had 
 he touched the ground when the whole of the forces, civil 
 and military, rushed upon him, and he was literally cut to 
 pieces. So eager were his assailants to get at him that he
 
 BOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 
 
 was unrecognisable^ when he was lifted from the ground and 
 carried to the outbuildings. His head, which had been 
 severed from the body, was sent post haste to Melbourne. 
 Within twenty-four hours a plaster cast had been taken of it, 
 and it was exhibited the same day at Kreitmayer's waxwork 
 show. 
 
 The peculiar part of these stories is that both Joe and 
 Jack Thompson were on most intimate' terms with the late 
 Captain Standish, who was chairman of the Victorian Racing 
 Club and head of the Victorian police. Hence it might be 
 said that with one hand Joe Thompson could touch the 
 shoulder of the chief of th& police and with the other that 
 of the outlaws. Perhaps the best friend the Kellys ever had 
 was Jack Thompson, who sympathised with them to an extra- 
 ordinary degree. They most certainly chose the more romantic 
 side of highway robbery, for they never held up anything 
 but a bank, or stole cattle from any stations except those 
 belonging to the richer classes. Had on of their gang at- 
 tempted to lay hands on a woman he would doubtless have 
 been shot on the spot by one or other of his mates. They 
 were once officially interviewed by Jack Thompson, who 
 acted as a kind of intermediary, and begged them to throw 
 up the game. He offered them an unofficial truce, which could 
 have been arranged had the Kellys agreed ; but no, the life 
 they lived had become second nature. 
 
 The fascination of the bush, the mock romance of their 
 surroundings, held them, as it were, in a spell, and in spite of 
 all Jack Thompson's entreaties the only answer he came' back 
 with was, " They say it is too late, and they could never exist 
 without killing another policeman or two." The Kellys' 
 greatest delight was to waylay and entrap a policeman, and 
 to hang him on a tree by the wayside, where he could be seen 
 by all passers by. It is recorded that once they hanged as 
 many as three at one' time. 
 
 No one in Australia has had the same varied experiences 
 of the country and the men in it as Joe Thompson. In the
 
 154 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 early days Ballarat was the scene of a great rush, for gold 
 was discovered there, and he was one of the first to arrive 
 on the scene. The> claims were called " jewellers' shops," they 
 were so rich, and were pegged out only twenty-four feet square 
 for eight men. The mines proved extremely wealthy ; in fact, 
 it is said that the diggers sometimes got up more gold in a 
 bucket than dirt! These were the reckless early days of 
 Victoria, and if a miner was not working he was singing or 
 drinking. All classes of all countries rushed to Ballarat. 
 Chinamen worked at the mines, and at Mount Ararat they 
 themselves discovered a lead of gold which they called the 
 Canton Lead. From this spot, unknown to the European, 
 the " Heathen Chinee " brought parcels) of gold into the 
 market for sale. When it was discovered whence they got 
 the precious metal, the Englishmen rushed the ground, ousted 
 the Chinamen, and gained the spoils. It turned out to be 
 extremely rich in ore, and gold to the tune of hundreds ofl 
 thousands of pounds was extracted. The Chinamen's tents 
 and all their belongings had been burned before the police 
 had time to get on the ground, and Johnny Chinaman had fled. 
 
 There is no doubt that Joe Thompson is the biggest book- 
 maker Australia has ever seen, for I never remember him 
 having a volume of less extent than 20,000 on any of the 
 principal ante-post betting races. That is all over now, owing 
 perhaps to the fact that they race almost every day in one 
 part or other of Australia. That the colonies have produced 
 some excellent horses, Carbine, already referred to, exem- 
 plifies, nor can I close my notes on Australia without men- 
 tioning Abercorn, Grand Flaneur, Commotion, Malua, Trenton, 
 Darabin, Tim Whiffler indeed, I could go on enumerating 
 scores of good ones. Joe Thompson was the owner of many, 
 amongst them Don Juan, for whom he gave 50, and won 
 with him the Melbourne Cup. 
 
 It is remarkable to relate that as racing has changed in 
 England so it appears to have changed in the Colonies, and 
 is daily concentrating itself round the cities of Melbourne
 
 ROBERT $TANDISH SIEVIEE. 155 
 
 and Sydney, to the disadvantage of the sporting country 
 meetings. The heavy betting which used to take place has 
 also much diminished, and with the exception of the Derby 
 and the Melbourne Cup there is little done. Some years ago 
 the Colonies were almost in a state of bankruptcy over the 
 delusive land boom. So great was the excitement that land 
 was once sold at public auction in the city of Melbourne at 
 a greater price than similar plots have fetched in the city of 
 London. Needless to observe, that when things settled down 
 and reached their normal state the speculators and nearly all 
 the public who had their savings, and more, invested in land, 
 were left bankrupt. It has taken her some years to recover, 
 but I am glad to be able to state that the prosperity of 
 Australasia and racing is well on the go again.
 
 156 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MONTE CARLO. 
 
 EAVING Australia in December, I spent my first 
 Christmas aboard ship. It was far from an auspicious 
 time of year to choose to return from the Antipodes, 
 and England in the depth of the winter of 1890-1 was 
 by no- means a genial change of climate. It was 
 freezing hard, and as my wardrobe consisted for the 
 most part of summer garments, the East wind of 
 rny native country made me keenly alive to the fact that I 
 had "come home." 
 
 From the Southern Sun to the Northern Snow is a far and 
 cold cry. Equatorial climates thin the blood. I suffered con- 
 siderably, and could not stand the climate, for, do what I 
 would, I could never get warm. Hunting was stopped, and no 
 fire appeared big enough to heat me through. With numbed 
 fingers and cold feet I started for Monte Carlo to thaw. My 
 anticipations were more than realised. It not alone melted 
 me, but also my cash. The irresponsible wheel, the irresistible 
 trente-et-quarante, had invincible attractions for me, and 
 though I had no intention of playing oh ! those good inten- 
 tions and the road which is paved with them no sooner was I 
 in the Casino than I searched for a seat, and got it. It was 
 about all I did get. Though I played steadily, and did not rush 
 after my losses as so many do, a persistent run of bad luck 
 pursued me, and I seldom found myself with a winning coup 
 of any description. Day after day I lost my limit with that
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 157 
 
 regularity which foretells one's doom, and there I sat, waiting 
 for the break which never came. It has always been the 
 same throughout the whole of my transactions, I have either 
 cleared out the- lot or have been cleared out. Still, I felt 
 warm, and no longer frozen. The sun was welcome, and if 
 one did pay dearly for it, its value is surely inestimable. 
 Never having suffered from the blues, I was able to enjoy the 
 hue of the Mediterranean. I did not aggravate my losses by 
 brooding over them, and thereby spoil my visit to Charlie's 
 Mount. Besides this, there are plenty of attractions " down 
 South " beyond those of the Casino. A walk to Cap Martin 
 and back before breakfast is an excellent restorer to an " over- 
 night," while another healthful bit of exercise is, having sent 
 a change to the hotel at La Turbie, to take train to Mentone 
 and start for a climb up the old Corniche Road to that edifice. 
 It is a real good bit of hard walking, all on the< collar, and the 
 surrounding scenery is unsurpassed ; the olive trees growing, 
 as it were, on the top of each other out of the precipitous rocks, 
 intermingled with huge boulders of different crude colouring, 
 till they touch the edge of that vast salt lake called the Medi- 
 terranean, with its silver-crested waves. On a clear day 
 Corsica is to be discerned, floating far off on the azure surface. 
 Arrived at the summit upon which La Turbie stands, a tub 
 and change, and one is ready for a hearty breakfast. I found 
 it was only those of the impecunious brigade, the losers, who 
 ever attempted this walk! 
 
 Altogether, my position was an unenviable one. It was too 
 cold in England for me to return comfortably, and too expen- 
 sive to stop. In this impecunious stats, between two stools, 
 as it were, I found myself one sunny morning watching the 
 waves lazily breaking on the shore. Sitting on the rocks in 
 the warm rays of the- Riviera sun I determined I would be 
 regulated by King Sol, and stop where I was. It was the one 
 comfort which the clouds alone could take from me. But what 
 was I to do 1 - I was not anxious to risk the little that was 
 left at the Hall of Enchantment, commonly called the Casino ;
 
 158 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 while, on the other hand, I was not built with a temperament 
 that would permit of my doing nothing. All this passed 
 through my mind in an instant, and I continued cogitating 
 more lazily than seriously. At last I made up my mind, and 
 decided I would have a shot at writing a farce. Farce? I 
 had not far to look for a plot, for surely my surroundings 
 were Sufficiently quaint in themselves. I must have quickly 
 concluded that any play I was going to write would not be 
 of an ethereal nature, and at once settled in my mind 
 that something sporting would be more in my line. I 
 thought out a scenario and became so engrossed that I even 
 muttered a few sentences as though I were rehearsing it. But 
 the title, that was an all-important point. It came to me 
 naturally. I would call my little curtain-raiser " Stone Broke." 
 Most apropos. I regret to say the story was not one which 
 would leave much of a moral behind it, but that was not my 
 aim. The play is the thing, and as long as I could complete a 
 one-act farce which would create laughter throughout, what 
 did I care 1 It would, at any rate, afford occupation for a time. 
 I will briefly give the rough outlines of the plot, with the 
 gratuitous advice to my readers to avoid ever becoming one of 
 the characters in real life. The curtain rose on the scene of a 
 modern sitting-room in one of those houses which display in 
 their windows, "Apartments to let." Breakfast was over, and 
 two young "sports," Dick Swift and Jack Sharp, were discuss- 
 ing the ways and means how to pay their bill, when the 
 landlady entered, intimating her resolve not to wait any longer, 
 or to listen to any more promisee. She, like most London 
 landladies similarly placed, was obdurate. With threats of 
 seizing their belongings, locking doors, and so on, she departed. 
 There was the lodging-house "slavey," who conventionally 
 came on at the wrong moment and complicated matters all 
 round. At last a wicked idea struck Jack Sharp. Looking at 
 the breakfast table, he noticed that Miss Hicks, the landlady, 
 for some unaccountable reason, had sent up the one and only 
 silver coffee-pot, "which had been in her family for years."
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 159 
 
 Eyeing "temptation," Jack Sharp remarked that he knew a 
 certainty for the big race that day, but how could they raise 
 the wind to back it 1 How 1 Swift, without any further intima- 
 tion from his friend, grasped the situation, and spinning his 
 only coin copper said as it fell in his hand, 
 
 " Toss you who pops the pot ! " 
 
 " Done ! " 
 
 Sharp won. After much theatrical business Swift left with 
 the pot and Sharp barricaded the door. The former was to 
 pawn the silve-r, back the certainty, and as soon as the result 
 came up on the tape redeem the landlady's family treasure and 
 pay their bill with the winnings. 
 
 The confidence" of those in extreme straits when a chance of 
 escape offers itself amply verifies the proverb that a drowning 
 man will clutch at a straw. During his absence, the landlady 
 and the servant gave plenty of scope for fun and comical 
 complications. At last he did return but without the sacred 
 coffee-pot. 
 
 " Second ! " he cried. The situation can be imagined. The 
 landlady went off into hysterics, the " slavey " followed her 
 mistress's example, when the voice of the newsboy was heard 
 in the street calling, 
 
 " Winner ! Winner ! Winner of the big handicap. " 
 
 With a hasty word of advice to Swift to try to keep them 
 quiet, Sharp rushed from the room. The landlady and the 
 maid-of-all-work-and-everybody's-business came to. The 
 three then started to search for the coffee-pot. In vain did 
 Swift plead that he was sure they had had tea for breakfast, 
 and in vain did he try to pacify the head of the house. The 
 situation grew bluer and bluer, and was reaching a climax 
 when lo ! Sharp returns unseen, and replacing the coffee-pot 
 on the tray, flings himself into the armchair and lights a 
 cigar. Suddenly he calls to the landlady, and with the sang 
 froid of a Croesus offers a Bank of England note in liquidation 
 of the bill, &c. Being asked by Swift how he had accom- 
 plished this, he explained that the winner had been success-
 
 160 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 fully objected to for bumping, and concluded by adding, 
 " Didn't I tell you it was a certainty 1 " 
 
 That is the rough story which I sat down to mould into 
 a farce. Many a millionaire to-day may have gone nearer to 
 singeing his wings than did the hero of "Stone Broke." The 
 same evening that I conceived this very irregular story I 
 started on my work, and before morning I had completed it. 
 On my return to London I sold it for 50, and it was first 
 produced at the Grand Theatre, Islington, Mr. Charles Cart- 
 wright playing Jack Sharp and Mr. D'Orsay, now a leading 
 actor in the United States, Dick Swift. It was subsequently 
 played in nearly every theatre in the provinces. 
 
 Returning to England, the first thing I bought was a 
 betting book. True, I was not overburdened with capital, 
 but one has to keep a record of one's transactions, no matter 
 how small. I have been blessed with a good memory, and 
 strange as it may appear to many an old racegoer, I never 
 carried a book of form in my life. If a race had not left an 
 impression upon me I never sought a " guide " to make one 
 for me. In this respect I think I have been the gainer. It 
 was in May of 1891, that a race at Kempton Park a maiden 
 plate, run over a distance of a mile left me with one of 
 these " impressions." It was won by a filly called Comedy. 
 She scored easily by ten lengths, and belonged to a Mr. 
 W. W. Fulton, an Irishman. He had a very jovial idea of the 
 Rules of Racing ! I gathered this from Comedy's next 
 performance, and for reasons which are obvious I must 
 refrain from expressing my " impressions " of this race. The 
 season progressed, and in due course the weights for the 
 Cambridgeshire appeared, and Comedy, then a three-year- 
 old, was allotted 7st 3lb. To obtain correct information 
 regarding Mr. Fulton's horses was not the easiest task ; it 
 was, in fact, as near as possible an impossibility. There are 
 some stables which are run to-day on quite the same lines 
 indeed, I have known some of these people who have told so 
 many different tales about their horses that they have ulti-
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 161 
 
 mately got into a tangle themselves as to what to do or say. 
 Mr. Fulton was much addicted to schemes of this kind, and 
 ruined that brilliant mare Laodamia by running her unfit and 
 out of her course. In prosecuting inquiries, I satisfied myself 
 that Comedy was being trained for a distance over which the 
 Cambridgeshire was then run, and started to back her quietly 
 whenever an opportunity arose. I was experiencing reason- 
 ably mild luck at the time, and as I won put more on her. 
 Commencing by backing her for various sums at the rate of 
 100 to 3, I never ceased supporting her up to the day of the 
 race, the 28th of October. I stood to win a very acceptable 
 sum of money over her some 16,000 while if she lost the 
 small amount I should have left to call my own would be 
 not worth mentioning. As was usual in connection with all 
 Mr. Fulton's horses, she was the victim of all kinds of 
 rumours, which caused her to jump about in the market like 
 the proverbial parched pea. Before the race there was a 
 considerable hubbub going on as to who would ride her, but 
 Ibbett, who had been up on the filly in the two races she had 
 lost, claimed the mount, and Mr. Fulton, wisely, if 
 reluctantly, did not take him off. Making nearly all the 
 running, Comedy won by half a length from Breach, the 
 property of Lord Hastings, with His Majesty's (then the 
 Prince of Wales's) Derelict third. The Stewards held an 
 inquiry after the race the exact grounds I never could 
 correctly understand and the air was full of all sorts of 
 scandal, and there was even a wild report that all bets would 
 be declared off. In the result the race remained as it stood, 
 nothing being done. I won my stake over the Cambridge- 
 shire solely from the " impression " Comedy had made on 
 me by the style she won " A Maiden Plate " at Kempton early 
 in the season. I was again on my legs not that I have ever 
 felt off them and if they have perhaps once or twice suffered 
 from a slight after-dinner " dubiosity," they have never let 
 me down ! 
 
 Yes, the winner of the Cambridgeshire in 1901 was quite a 
 
 12
 
 1G2 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Comedy to me. True racing has its varieties, its chops and 
 changes, and in turns may be a comedy, a tragedy, and not 
 infrequently, with many, a farce. The latter is the dangerous 
 side of the game, and the sport of kings has suffered through 
 the wanton conceit of many who have assumed a knowledge 
 of horses which they did not possess. But presuming a man 
 to be a judge of a racehorse, he has many other obstacles to 
 combat before he can approach, let alone reach, success on 
 the Turf. He must be a keen judge of the market, and this 
 particular is, perhaps, the most important of all. No matter 
 what may be the real or apparent merits of a horse for a 
 certain race, the betting market must endorse the estimate 
 of his chances, or one had better lay against him rather than 
 back him, even if he has pleased the critical eye. In 
 City phraseology, on such occasions it is better to 
 be a "bear" than a "bull." Then, on the other hand, 
 the market is often false. That is to say, a favourite is 
 frequently backed at a ridiculously short price, which does 
 not represent his chance. His actual chance is less than the 
 market odds. On such occasions the race should be severely 
 left alone so far as betting goes, for the backer who takes 
 a false price will soon find himself in the shallows and quick- 
 sands. And at racing they take a lot of getting out of. There 
 are no lighthouses or danger signals to guide the unwary. 
 
 Again, assuming the horse is fit and backed, there is yet 
 another matter for grave consideration the jockey. This is 
 an all-important " component part." Some jockeys ride 
 better on one course than on another, and not a few discredit 
 their calling altogether. Again, some " fit " a horse, and 
 there are instances when a particular animal will go for one 
 rider better than it will for another. Then there is the 
 trusted jockey and the suspected one. In the case of jockeys, 
 as in all other walks of life, rumour is frequently rife, and 
 blows hot and cold according to results. It never makes 
 allowances for bad horsemanship and jockeyship. This latter 
 combination is sadly wanting in many who are riding to-day.
 
 R011ERT fiTANDIflH SIEVIEB. 163 
 
 One without, the other is like an omelette without eggs ; on 
 the other hand, a bad imitation is even worse, and savours 
 of an omelette made of rotten eggs ! 
 
 Those hands which .were the admiration of Tom Cannon's 
 followers ; those strong, vigorous finishes of Archer, George 
 Barrett, Charlie Wood, and a host of others ; the rushes of 
 poor George Fordham ; the " head " riding of these artists in 
 the eighties and earlier, where do we find their characteristics 
 in our jockeys of the present generation? Monkeyship has 
 supplanted jockeyship, and the question whom to put up is, 
 at the present moment, more crucial than it was a decade or 
 so ago. 
 
 All these details have to be studied by the racegoer, and 
 he must not permit a screw to be loose anywhere. The least 
 hesitation on the part of a jockey and the situation is lost ; 
 the same applies to a backer with all its force. If racing 
 has been blamed in this respect, it is in itself not responsible. 
 The sport cannot hold itself sponsor for the weak who venture 
 where strong men refuse to go. 
 
 Then there is the owner to take into account, and he is 
 no small item to sum up. Since I first joined the "glorious 
 uncertainty " he has greatly changed. He comes, in many 
 shapes. He generally knows how to take care of himself and 
 his own, and often enough a bit of someone else's, much more 
 so than did his predecessor. The present stamp of man, in 
 by far the majority of cases, is a different person altogether 
 from that of past generations. We live in a claptrap era. 
 Some call it going ahead, but I am inclined to call it going 
 to . 
 
 Twenty years ago there were no Jewburg owners running 
 horses on our English racecourses. Since then dealers in 
 stolen diamonds, fugitives from justice, the scum of swindling 
 speculators who, like leeches, have sucked the life-blood of 
 many a noble family, have taken the place of their victims, 
 lamentably so for the Turf. With this gang the spirit of the 
 sport doesn't enter into the game ; indeed, racing is rather
 
 164 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 utilised as a key with which to open the door to Society. 
 Such is the evolution for the worse to which I can testify. 
 
 Yet another consideration crops up, and this no small one 
 that of the trainer. There is no harder worked man than 
 this too often abused individual, if he conscientiously sticks 
 to his business. I am inclined to believe the work is treated 
 a little more lightly than it used to be, for I have noticed an 
 increasing inclination among not a few of the more modern 
 trainers to leave a great deal more to the travelling lad than 
 was customary in the "good old times." Apart from such 
 meetings as Ascot, Goodwood, and the like, one has only to 
 be out observing the work done in the early morning on the 
 race days at many of the suburban meetings, to discover that 
 the number of trainers present, compared with a decade or 
 so back, is most palpably on the decrease. This makes the 
 question of trainers an even more serious consideration with 
 the racing man than it used to be. Small races frequently 
 take more winning than classics, for in the latter case the 
 trainer knows his horse and his capabilities, whereas in the 
 former the animals engaged are generally so bad that they 
 are almost unknown quantities. It is far easier to gauge the 
 merits of a good horse than of a middle-class one. There is 
 no reliability in the latter. They beat each other. Therefore, 
 do not th& second division require even more care and study 
 of detail to be bestowed upon them by their respective 
 trainers? Do they get it? 
 
 Hence the things which a legitimate racing man has to 
 weigh and settle before he ventures to support his opinion 
 are illimitable and innumerable. How many of the thousands 
 who had a bet on this year's Derby have given any one of 
 these points a moment's thought? Yet, let them lose their 
 money, and there is a body of hypocrites, sanctified in their 
 own sight, ever ready to hold up their hands in horror, and, 
 turning their eyes skywards, to abuse the Turf as being part 
 of the Devil's machinery. I venture to think that if Provi- 
 dence decreed that as a punishment for the bookmakers
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 165 
 
 every favourite should win for, say, one week in a year, there 
 would not be one of the shocked division who would not be 
 a sport, if only for the brief space of those seven days. 
 
 True, the beginner or the uninitiated has much greater 
 facilities at his command than were available to our fathers. 
 Nor is the young man of to-day given to act on his own 
 judgment to that degree which marked the era of that great 
 plunger, Lord Hastings. The result is that whereas I can 
 remember the time when bookmaking was a most profitable 
 certainty, it is now a near thing whether the game is worth 
 the candle. There is no fresh blood joining the* ranks of 
 layers. Betting has been on the decrease for years, and the 
 introduction of that nail in the backer's coffin, that artificial 
 instrument, the starting-gate, has made the cautious speculator 
 doubly careful. I say without fear of contradiction that where 
 thousands were betted years ago hundreds are not invested 
 to-day. The ring is not nearly so rich as it was by a very 
 large amount, and the fortunes that were made in the past 
 are but traditional history, and are not realised in the 
 present. No sport, no institution, has been sucked so dry 
 as racing. All this has helped to compel the owner to 
 look at his horses through commercial spectacles, and to 
 live up to the sporting spirit which once existed has been 
 made pretty nearly impossible. The gigantic profits of 
 gate-money meetings, the major portion going out of racing 
 into unknown hands, never to be returned ; the enormous 
 entry fees compared with those in any other part of the 
 world ; the increased and iniquitous charges which are im- 
 posed on all who attend race meetings all these impediments 
 have blocked the way, and I have lived to see the betting 
 market fade into a state little better than bankruptcy. And 
 why ? Everything is going out and nothing coming in. Owners, 
 trainers, and every man who helps to support racing, are bled 
 by aliens to the sport. I have been asked two pounds a night 
 for a bedroom at Doncaster, a room I would hardly have 
 assigned to my valet under ordinary circumstances. At Ascot
 
 166 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 many of the residents expect to pay their annual rent by 
 letting their place for the race week, a period of four days! 
 At Goodwood, so close to Chichester, with its cathedral, the 
 whole of the local clergy look forward to the harvest which 
 the letting of the rectory or the vicarage brings in. Indeed, 
 it may be said that their harvest thanksgiving should rather 
 refer to the rent they annually pocket than to the carted corn 
 of the farmers. The charges for the stabling of racehorses in 
 this neighbourhood, and, for that matter, at Ascot, and also 
 many other meetings, is a scandal, not to say a robbery. I 
 have been charged as much as two guineas a night for a loose 
 box, and compelled to take it for the whole meeting at that ! 
 It is quite time these " highwayman " tricks were put down. 
 At Goodwood I must exempt Mr. Waters, Avho has a farm on 
 the Duke's estate, and who lets his excellent boxes at a rate 
 which would be considered moderate at any time. It is to 
 these persecutions, to which the owners and trainers have 
 been subjected, that I attribute much of the decline of the 
 true sporting owner, who finds to his cost that he cannot 
 continue the pursuit of the Sport of Kings after the manner 
 of a gentleman, and is thereby compelled to retire. These 
 are my experiences, and I believe I am a reasonably observant 
 man. In mediaeval times it was the survival of the fittest ; 
 the custom is now slightly altered to the> survival of the 
 most tricky. 
 
 Comedy, and the merriment its success brought with it, 
 in due course played itself out, and was followed by the 
 usual varied luck attendant on racing. But my experience 
 was beginning to make itself felt to some degree, and though 
 I was still reckless beyond discretion, yet I was not as fool- 
 hardy as I used to be.
 
 ROBERT STAND1SH SIEriER. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 1891. 
 
 BOUT this period I frequently came into contact 
 with the late Marquis of Ailesbury. I had known 
 him some years previously, and in September, 
 1892, I married his sister, Lady Mabel Brudenell- 
 Bruce. 
 
 About the end of the following year a cousin 
 of mine started a Turf-commission agency in 
 Bennet Street, St. James's, under an assumed name. It 
 seems to have been at once presumed that the office 
 in question was mine, and by many I appear to have 
 been looked upon as the proprietor. As a matter of fact, 
 I had no financial interest in the business .whatever. Cer- 
 tainly I was often there, and assisted him in many ways, 
 and during that time the place was a success and thrived. 
 For reasons which I need not mention, as I was in no way, 
 directly or indirectly, connected with the cause, the balance 
 at the bank became greatly diminished, and the foundation 
 which had been built upon began to give way. In due course 
 the office failed. Its affairs were brought before the Com- 
 mittee of Tattersall's, who decided I was liable for the firm, 
 and I paid the whole of such outstanding accounts as the 
 Committee declared were legally owing according to their 
 rules. My mistake was that I did not explain I was not a 
 partner in the firm ; at least, it was so contended, and I
 
 168 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 submitted, and paid. Had I been inclined to dispute their 
 ruling, I had no opportunity of doing so, for there is but one 
 tribunal to settle betting disputes, and from its decision there 
 is no appeal. The Stewards of the Jockey Club affect to take 
 no cognisance of betting unless a man is declared a defaulter, 
 when they use their prerogative by warning him off New- 
 market Heath, which carries with it a bar to all other meet- 
 ings under their rules. The names of such offenders used to 
 be published in the "Racing Calendar," but this custom, 
 doubtless by reason of a high legal opinion, has long since 
 ceased. It is now the practice to furnish all clerks of courses 
 with a list of the black sheep, the publication of names in 
 the official organ unquestionably constituting a libel. When 
 the default is made good, after the preliminary red-tape 
 arrangements have been gone through, the clerks of courses 
 are informed of the rescission of the order of the Stewards. 
 A good many names have been on this list, and their publica- 
 tion would astonish Society. 
 
 My wife owned and raced horses, and was fairly successful. 
 They were originally trained by Sherwood at Epsom, but 
 eventually they were sent to Sanders atLambourn. I managed 
 them, and superintended most of the work. Allsopp, the 
 jockey, was then at the zenith of his fame, and won many races 
 on them. Then I got into one of my periodical financial 
 troubles, and I sought that asylum known to the temporarily 
 embarrassed as "abroad." I was. 
 
 At Paris my son was born. My daughter had seen the light 
 about a year earlier at 28, Lowndes Square. Time heals most 
 things, but the only salve which heals the creditor is cash. 
 It was rather a prolonged period before I could apply the 
 healing salve. 
 
 On my return to England I found my cousin's brother had 
 taken an office in the Haymarket. I assisted him in this, and 
 it was not long before* he had a flourishing business a Turf 
 one, of course and, strange as it may appear, again I fell a 
 victim to what I suppose I must call my laxity. It was just
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 169 
 
 before the Ascot meeting that the late Captain Arthur de Vere 
 Smith called upon me and asked if I would help Mr. Walter 
 Shakeshaft by advancing him a sum of money to assist him 
 carrying on his business as a bookmaker at this meeting. I can 
 say that I have seldom, if ever, refused a friend, or even an 
 acquaintance, when it has been in my power to help him over 
 a stile. Captain de Vere Smith was the former, and Shake- 
 shaft the latter. I advanced him a hundred pounds, and on 
 the settling day I increased this by four hundred to get him 
 through with his account. He had won on the week, and when 
 I asked for a settlement he advanced excuses, which I accepted 
 without any hesitation at the time. A few weeks passed, and 
 on a Monday Shakeshaft failed to settle his liabilities. I then 
 ascertained the fate of my five hundred pounds. He had been 
 paying his old debts with it. As a matter of fact, he had won, 
 but the usual " pressing matters at home " and elsewhere 
 formed the basis of his excuse for treating my loan in the 
 manner he did. All this is of little interest, nor should I remark 
 on it, except for the sequel. Again I was called before the 
 committee at Newmarket, this time to show cause why I should 
 not pay Shakeshaftfs betting debts. I explained my position, 
 which the- committee held constituted a guarantee, and I was 
 ordered by them to pay the whole of this man's bets that were 
 then outstanding, as from Ascot. That they arrived at their 
 judgment reluctantly was demonstrated by the rider they 
 added to their decision, which was to the effect that they felt 
 I had been treated very unjustly, and that the creditors should 
 express their sympathy with my position in the matter by not 
 claiming more than 10s. in the from me. They unanimously 
 consented, not one claiming more than half. I much appre- 
 ciated their spirit. Nevertheless, though I uphold and admire 
 the Committee of the Newmarket Subscription Rooms, with 
 e-very respect I take this opportunity of- dissenting from their 
 judgment in this particular case. Had Shakeshaft won any 
 monies, large or small, could I have called upon him to pay 
 me a share of them? No. Furthermore, all partnerships in
 
 170 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 betting have to be registered before they are recognised. No 
 such contract was entered in between Shakeshaft and myself. 
 I merely advanced him in two sums an aggregate of 500, 
 and a very bad turn I did myself, for apart from losing it, I 
 had to pay a large amount for the privilege ! 
 
 Things had taken a turn for the better with me. I had 
 written, and Downey and Co. had published, a book called "A 
 Generation," which ran into 480 pages. Rather a tall order 
 for a maiden effort, but over 7,000 copies were sold, including 
 a Colonial edition, a large number finding their way to 
 Australia. It was fairly well reviewed, but the story was a 
 complex one, and it is a marvel to me, in these days of sing- 
 song, sketchy plays, how so voluminous and heavy a work ever 
 found its way into public favour in any degree at all. I often 
 wonder how, in the midst of racing, I ever possessed the 
 patience to complete it ; but, as a rule, when I take a thing 
 in hand I do so resolutely, and am not the kind of man to leave 
 anything in a half-finished state. I remember I put the first 
 cheque I received on account from the publisher on Odour. 
 who won at Kempton at 10 to 1, and by estimating the result 
 on these lines writing should be a profitable pastime ! But 
 there are Odours and odours ! 
 
 So time passed on. My two children were growing up, 
 and being naturally fond of youngsters, it is only reasonable 
 that I became, devoted to my own. They have been a great 
 source of consolation to me, more so than any words of mine 
 can express, and no matter what I may have lost or gone 
 through, I believe my affection for them has helped me to 
 succeed, at a time when perhaps many men might have sunk.
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 171 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY. 
 
 ROM the day I returned from abroad, I on several 
 occasions made headway only to fall back again, 
 like the climber of a greasy pole at a regatta. 
 Bad jockeyship, so often put down to bad luck, 
 an unequal start something always happened, 
 and I could not bring off that final coup to com- 
 pletely clear away everything in front of me. 
 True, I jogged merrily along, and managed to enjoy life. The 
 man who does not embrace the latter opportunity in this 
 world will surely some day have to answer to Providence. 
 Yes ; and no matter how greasy the pole of life may be. 
 
 It was not until November, 1899, that things once again took 
 a decisively favourable turn, and got me out of the " ups and 
 downs." I had owned and run a few jumpers, and Merry Mood 
 and Shaker had won a race or so. In a quiet way this was 
 very wholesome, and did not attract that notice which subse- 
 quent events were fated to do. It was the last week of racing 
 under Jockey Club Rules, and there were the usual three days 
 each at Warwick and Manchestei*, whilst Folkestone had been 
 gi anted two, namely, the Tuesday and Wednesday. Whenever 
 the chance has arisen of uniting pleasant surroundings with 
 racing I have always tried to avail myself of the combination ; 
 hence I chose a sojourn to Folkestone in preference to Warwick. 
 I wish to make no invidious distinction between the two
 
 172 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 places, but the Southern town is on the coast in itself always 
 an attraction. 
 
 I started the week well, and though the bookmakers were 
 not present in full strength at Folkestone, I succeeded in what 
 in racing parlance is termed "packing up a parcel." I had 
 backed the first two winners ; and, planking down the greater 
 portion of my winnings on Sun Bonnet (then a two-year-old), I 
 landed a nice stake. Indeed, I can say that during the whole 
 week I never looked back. At Manchester, on the first day of 
 the meeting, I found myself launching out, and bought that 
 good little horse Crarae for 560 guineas, after he had won his 
 maiden race there. Charles Morton, who then trained for me, 
 was not particularly taken with the colt, chiefly owing to his 
 size. But Morton never was an optimist ; there is no better 
 nor more patient trainer in England than the little man at 
 Leteombe Regis (Wantage) ; but he is the worst of the whole 
 of his brother equine magicians in extending encouragement 
 to his patrons on the day of the race, and the earlier confidence 
 of winning, which he very rightly may have expressed, appears 
 slowly to evaporate as the day of battle approaches. This 
 may be the outcome of over-anxiety, or what not ; one thing 
 I quickly discovered that Morton's early opinions were to be 
 respected and his final ones rejected. 
 
 I completed my successes by backing Proclamation for the 
 big handicap of the meeting, and how the winner was ever 
 allowed to start at the very long odds of 25 to 1 with that 
 genius Sloan on his back ; I have never been able to com- 
 prehend. Proclamation had recently succeeded in landing the 
 Derby Cup, with any kind of lad on his back ; the same boy 
 who had, a week or so before, thrown away the Liverpool Cup 
 on him. Now with Sloan up, granted with several more pounds 
 also, he started comparatively unbacked. The two results 
 the Derby Cup and the Manchester November Handicap 
 cannot better demonstrate the enormous importance that there 
 is to be attached to jockeyship. In the former race Proclama- 
 tion, ridden by Wetherell, beat Invincible II. (1^ miles) by a
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SI E VIE It. 173 
 
 neck, with 16lb in the former's favour ; eight days later Pro- 
 clamation, with Sloan up, again beat Invincible II. (If miles) 
 by a neck, but was this time conceding 2lb, a difference of 1st J f lb! 
 
 On each occasion Madden rode the neck loser. Here is an 
 instance where jockeyship has to account for a difference 
 of 18lb. 
 
 Just that last week of the season sent me into winter 
 quarters at Toddington Park, where I there lived with my 
 children, with an assurance that I could face the most 
 strenuous of winters. Yes, I had "packed up a parcel." It 
 was common knowledge. I soon learnt this by the number of 
 letters I received asking me to throw some of my cargo 
 overboard. I did, and I am in a position to-day to say that 
 a great deal of it sank! 
 
 Christmas came, and faded into the New Year of 1900. It 
 was at this epoch that the Boer war assumed a most serious, 
 not to say alarming, aspect. Volunteers were called for. The 
 cablegrams from the front, published in the daily papers, 
 caused consternation throughout the land, and it was felt that 
 someone had blundered. That loyalty to Queen and country 
 which has ever been dominant in all British breasts spon- 
 taneously answered to the call of duty. Among the earliest 
 volunteers was myself. As my readers are aware, I had already 
 seen active service in South Africa, and understood Afrikander, 
 Dutch, and Kaffir. Sending my name in to the headquarters 
 of the Yeomanry, I was one of the very first passed by the 
 War Office. My previous service was doubtless the reason for 
 this. I then had an interview with Lord Valentia at the 
 temporary offices of the Yeomanry in Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, 
 and it was arranged that I should see Lord Chesham, the 
 officer commanding the district of South Bedfordshire, and 
 obtain his consent to raise a corps of Imperial Yeomanry. This 
 I did at the barracks at Buckingham,, and my interview with 
 Lord Chesham closed by his giving me a letter to Lord Cowper, 
 the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, whose consent I had to 
 obtain in the first instance. In this letter Lord Chesham
 
 174 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 recommended my proposal to Lord Cowper indeed, he 
 suggested my taking over the barracks at Buckingham as soon 
 as they were vacated by the Yeomanry then ready for 
 embarkation, under his command. If ever a man had his 
 country's interests at heart, that man was Lord Chesham. 
 The main object alone victory was uppermost in him. 
 Losing no time, I proceeded forthwith to Panshanger, Lord 
 Cowper' s seat in Hertfordshire, in company with Mr. Montagu 
 Sweet. Mr. Sweet I knew in Australia. He is an excellent 
 all-round man ; and when I say he was the active secretary 
 of the Melbourne Athletic Club, one of the best institutions oi 
 its kind in the world, I have said sufficient. 
 
 His Lordship received us with that charming courtesy which 
 marks a fast declining era ; and after kindly asking us to dinner 
 we discussed the object of our visit. Not only did he, as Lord- 
 Lieutenant of the County, grant his permission for me to 
 raise a corps of Imperial Yeomanry, but he supplemented 
 this by promising a donation of 300 towards the expenses of 
 its formation, &c. He had already given a large subscription 
 to the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, raised by Lord Alwyne 
 Compton, a relative. The following is a copy of the letter 
 written by Earl Cowper to the Mayor of Luton : 
 
 Dear Sir, I have seen Mr. Sievier, and cordially 
 approve of his scheme of raising a mounted infantry corps 
 for South Beds. I sincerely hope he will be successful. 
 Yours truly, (Signed) COWPER. 
 
 Panshanger, Hertford, January 10, 1900. 
 
 The Mayor of Luton placed the Council Chamber in the 
 Town Hall at my disposal, and with the assistance of Mr. 
 Montagu Sweet and Captain McGee I proceeded to form a 
 corps. It was hard work. Volunteers poured in, but a large 
 percentage, certainly 70 per cent., failed to pass the examina- 
 tion I set them. I had each man on horseback and at the 
 butts before I sent him to pass the doctor. A week's work at
 
 EGBERT STANDI8H SIEVIEE. 175 
 
 recruiting is no sinecure. I had raised about l,000 in 
 subscriptions during this period, and I received support from 
 all classes all over the county. From time to time I had 
 occasionally reported progress both to Lord Chesham and at 
 headquarters. I had collected 170 good, sound recruits, many 
 of whom had served in Her Majesty's Army, some on active 
 service. A better lot of men I could never hope to get together 
 for the business in front of us. 
 
 Having completed my establishment much sooner than 
 had been anticipated but I had worked day and night I 
 addressed the following letter to the Headquarters of Imperial 
 Yeomanry, then removed to St. James's Square : 
 
 URGENT. 
 
 To the Committee, Imperial Yeomanry, 
 
 Gentlemen, I have the honour to report that as the 
 result of the public meeting held in South Bedfordshire, 
 when it was unanimously agreed that I should obtain 
 permission to raise a Company in the County, upon the 
 advice of Lord Valentia I attended Lord Chesham at 
 Buckingham, where I received his written consent. I 
 then saw Earl Cowper, the Lord-Lieutenant, who cordially 
 consented, supplementing this with a voluntary subscrip- 
 tion of 300 towards the local Fund. I proceeded to the 
 Headquarter Staff, where I saw Lord Valentia, and gave 
 him Lord Chesham's authority, personally, after which 
 he told me to proceed, and that I was under Lord 
 Chesham's orders, Bedfordshire being attached to the 
 Buckingham Hussars. I then proceeded to carry out 
 those instructions, with the result that I have a full Com- 
 pany of Volunteers from the County, whom I subjected 
 to a riding test with the assistance of Captain McGee, 
 late riding master 17th Lancers, before I entered their 
 names upon the enrolment sheets. This meant a refusal 
 of 70 per cent. Based on my previous* experiences of 
 South Africa, I venture to assume that the men selected
 
 176 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 are of the order required. I saw Lord Chesham at Buck- 
 ingham yesterday, and he expressed regret that he had 
 no barrack accommodation at present, nor had he any 
 clerical staff, and referred me to Captain Bagot, who, he 
 said, would give me instructions. The men have been 
 waiting to be attested, and I feel sure the Committee will 
 give this their prompt consideration. I am, Gentlemen, 
 your obedient servant, R. S. SIEVIEK. 
 
 Toddington Park, Bedfordshire, January 16, 1900. 
 
 To this I received an indefinite reply, one which did not 
 fall in with my views, for the only consideration I had in view 
 was to get to the field of operation with as little delay as 
 possible. I immediately presented myself at headquarters. 
 To avoid causing pain I refrain from mentioning any names, 
 but that some members of the committee had suddenly become 
 hostile to me at once made itself apparent. The first difficulty 
 raised was whether I would object to an officer being placed 
 above me. Notwithstanding the active service I had seen, 
 my knowledge of the country and the languages, I immediately 
 consented, my object in raising a corps being to get out there 
 and do something ; I was not seeking mere kudos. I felt I 
 could accomplish what I had undertaken. I had done it all 
 before, and now, as an older man with more experience, 
 I felt I was better able to do it. 
 
 My acceptance of the suggestion of a superior officer being 
 put over me gave the committee occasion to deliberate, and 
 I returned to Bedfordshire. I still could not get any definite 
 reply from them. Petty obstacles continued to be put in my 
 way, and on my application for attestation papers, I was 
 informed that "they had all been used." This brought a 
 second letter from me couched in terms that demanded a 
 straightforward answer. But even this was not replied to. I 
 had long before this satisfied myself that " influence " had 
 been at work; the country was a secondary consideration. 
 I was a man as fit as most men to take the field. I feel I
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 177 
 
 should have done my duty until a piece of lead stopped me. 
 My men were without barrack accommodation ; they, too, 
 were clamouring to start for the front. I had no help for it. 
 I had done my utmost. 
 
 IN THE QUEEN'S NAME I DISBANDED THEM AT 
 LUTON. 
 
 After this event, which caused no little excitement in the 
 country, I received the following telegram : 
 
 To SIEVIER, Toddington Park,' Bedfordshire. 
 
 Committee are unable to avail themselves of your 
 personal services. Men anxious to enlist in Imperial 
 Yeomanry must do so through Colonels of Yeomanry 
 Regiments. (Signed) VALENTIA. 
 
 The whole of the daily papers, without exception, reported 
 the matter. There was not a solitary journal which cast the 
 least blame upon me for the part I had taken ; on the 
 contrary, their articles were headed by such lines as 
 " Strangled by Red Tape," " Somebody's Blunder," 
 "Yeomanry Bungling," and severely condemned the conduct 
 to which I had been subjected. Those responsible for this 
 did not, nor could they, make any answer or tender any 
 explanation. The whole cause was the petty spite of one 
 man, a man whose name is found in the pages of the peerage, 
 and had he not appeared on the scene I should have once 
 again been fighting for my Queen and Country in that 
 event I should never have owned Sceptre. 
 
 As soon as I had disbanded the South Bedfordshire corps 
 of Imperial Yeomanry, I advised them at once to enlist in 
 some other troop, but I regret to say that I fear they were 
 heartily sick of the unpatriotic treatment to which I had 
 been subjected, and they expressed their resentment by 
 remaining at home. The subscriptions which I had raised, 
 and wEich were more than sufficient to cover the expense of 
 
 13
 
 178 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 equipping my men, horses excepted, were returned to the 
 generous donors. To say that I felt hurt would not adequately 
 describe my feelings, for, apart from any other service I might 
 have succeeded in ' rendering, I could have turned my 
 attention to single-handed scouting. I had not failed in this 
 respect in a previous campaign in the same country. But 
 whatever disappointment I suffered, Providence or fate, 
 perhaps good luck, possibly judgment, amply rewarded me, 
 and during the year of 1900 I won what most people would 
 call a fortune. In fact, 1900 was my most successful year of 
 speculation on the Turf ! 
 
 Here, then, I leave the Yeomanry and those responsible 
 for its very numerous blunders and scandals, recently unfortu- 
 nately revived by the publication of the result of the long 
 and tedious Government inquiry into things in general 
 connected with the Boer War.
 
 EOEEPT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 179 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 SOME BIG BETS. 
 
 |Y mother had been ordered to the Riviera, and 
 there, with her and my children, I spent the 
 tail of the winter. 
 
 Prior to my departure I had been to New- 
 market, and the .way Sir Geoffrey went in his 
 work left upon me one of those impressions to 
 which I have referred in previous chapters. He 
 was engaged in the Lincolnshire Handicap with 8st 6lb, 
 and after making such inquiries as I deemed advis- 
 able, I backed him to win me a very fair stake 
 several thousands. I did not hurry to return from abroad, 
 but extended my holiday, and I made it no secret that I 
 thought Sir Geoffrey would win the first important handicap 
 of the season, and I have reason to believe I did more than 
 one good turn under these circumstances to several of my 
 friends and acquaintances. In due course I left Cap Martin, 
 where I had been staying, and arrived at Dover on the day 
 the Lincolnshire Handicap was run, and it was indeed a very 
 satisfactory welcome to open the telegram which announced 
 Sir Geoffrey as the winner of the race. 
 
 I attended the Liverpool Meeting of the same week, and 
 by the aid of Osbech, who won the Liverpool Spring Cup, 
 and one or two minor races, I increased my Sir Geoffrey 
 winnings to a substantial sum, about 9,000. Northampton 
 and a few other small meetings intervened, and I won
 
 180 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 different amounts every week, not large, but totalling up to 
 a pleasant figure, my biggest win being over Mr. George 
 Cottrill's Lackford in the Doveridge Handicap Plate at Derby. 
 Then came Newmarket, and taking 1,000 to 100 about Gram- 
 crip for a selling race, I bought him after his success for 
 200 guineas, and he won me a nice race later on, apart from 
 being an excellent trial horse at home. And so my luck 
 continued until the Epsom Spring Meeting came round. In 
 the Great Metropolitan Stakes I backed King's Messenger 
 to win me a good stake. Wednesday was the day of the 
 City and Suburban, and two candidates, both of whom had 
 held prominent places in the betting returns from the time the 
 market on the race was first started, were both trained by 
 Brewer, who till lately had Mr. Henning's horses at New- 
 market. The names of the two horses were The Grafter and 
 Syerla ; the former belonged to Mr. G. Clark, in partnership, 
 I believe, with Mr. Robinson, and the latter to Mr. Humphrey 
 Oxenham, the well-known New South Wales bookmaker. I 
 had had a tip for both horses, and one appeared to me almost 
 as reliable as the other, so I determined to see them gallop 
 myself. I therefore went to Epsom overnight, and going 
 on the Downs unknown to anybody, I waited till Brewer 
 came along with the few horses he then had in training. On 
 this particular day he sent them together about six furlongs, 
 and I was immediately convinced in my own mind that The 
 Grafter was the superior of the two. That day I backed him 
 for a few thousands. The two horses were chopped about 
 in the market, and changed places daily, almost hourly, Each 
 had his supporters, who were equally sanguine that their 
 choice would win. On the day of the race I scanned the two 
 over in the paddock. Syerla was a nice natty sort, but The 
 Grafter, though of huge proportions, which have been not 
 incorrectly described as " camel-like," was, if one picked him 
 to pieces, a very fine horse indeed. He had those enormous 
 feet characteristic of the Waler, so abnormally large that, 
 except with those who had had considerable experience of
 
 EOBEET STANDISH 8IEVIER. 181 
 
 the Australian thoroughbred, they would not create a favour- 
 able impression. Again, he was "as long as a ship," and his 
 height gave him the appearance of having considerable day- 
 light underneath him. He had. But he was symmetrically 
 formedj so far as very big horses ever are to the eye. He 
 possessed any quantity of bone, and as an Australian bred 
 one, pleased me. I had already backed him for a fair sum 
 of money outright, and had instructed a commissioner to 
 support him on my behalf in London prior to my going to 
 Epsom. On returning to TattersalPs Eing from the paddock, 
 I further supported him for large sums, Mr. Goodson laying 
 me in one hand the odds to lose him 5,000. From my box, 
 which I had regularly taken for years, I watched the race. 
 The field ran reasonably together, and Morny Cannon, who 
 rode The Grafter, came down the hill towards Tattenham 
 Corner holding a very nice position in the middle. Rounding 
 the bend for home he came up on the outside, and the race 
 was over. The Grafter won comfortably, though Halsey on 
 Innocence gave me the impression that he came a little late 
 through a piece of bad luck which happened to him in the 
 straight. On this race I won over 33,000. I am ready to 
 admit that I accepted this as a good set-off against not going 
 out for the Imperial Yeomanry! 
 
 The next meeting I attended was the Guineas week at 
 Newmarket. Here I backed Diamond Jubilee to win me 
 about 5,000, but in the following race I lost between 3,000 
 and 4,000 of this, fielding against a two-year-old, Good 
 Morning, the property of Captain Greer, trained by Sam 
 Darling. He beat Handspike over the Rous Course by a 
 neck, but by the aid of Toddington, by Melton Minera, and 
 Winifreda, the winner of the One Thousand Guineas, I 
 finished up that week by adding some 20,000 to my winnings. 
 I had one or two horses running at Chester the following 
 week, and attended the meeting. Here, my good luck con- 
 tinued, and with Crarae I won the Earl of Chester's Welter 
 Handicap, his starting-price being returned at 5 to 2 against.
 
 182 THE AUTOBIOGEAPSY OF 
 
 I had 4,000 on him. I had also had a good win over Rough- 
 side, the winner of the Chester Cup, ridden by Sloan, and, 
 finishing the week at Kempton Park, I won a selling race 
 there- with Gramcrip, who beat the favourite by a neck, start- 
 ing at 3 to 1. I won 7,000 on the race, and he was after- 
 wards sold to Mr. W. Brown for 250 guineas, and, though 
 never winning again in England, won several races in Belgium. 
 Charles Morton was then training for me, and that excellent 
 jockey, Sam Loates, riding. A better judge of a race or a 
 trial than the latter I have never met in the whole of my 
 experience, and whereas the majority of jockeys are too 
 frequently over-confident, Sam Loates never expressed an 
 opinion to me with regard to any of my horses which was 
 not actually fulfilled in the race. It is doubtless, this happy 
 faculty which has helped him to succeed in his business as 
 a trainer. 
 
 Toddington had made such a great impression upon me 
 by the style in which he won the May Plate at Newmarket 
 that I immediately opened up negotiations with Mr. Musker 
 through the agency of Mr. T. Vigors (" Ashplant " of the 
 " Sportsman "), and I instructed him to inquire at what price 
 Mr. Musker would sell. He came back with the answer, 
 10,000 guineas. "He's mine," was my reply, and drawing a 
 cheque for that amount, we made an appointment that evening 
 to see Mr. Musker after racing, and the deal was then and 
 there completed. 
 
 That Toddington was- the best two-year-old seen for some 
 time, and also of his year, I had little doubt, and the opinion 
 I formed of him he thoroughly sustained in the trial I set 
 him before running him in the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom. 
 Overnight Morton and I discussed the weights, and we ulti- 
 mately agreed that Crarae, a recent winner at Chester, should 
 carry 9st 3lb, and Toddington 9st. This was in the middle 
 of May. The pair jumped off together, Sam Loates riding 
 the two-year-old. I may mention that Crarae, as he sub- 
 sequently proved to be, was a very fast horse, but the
 
 EGBERT STANDI8H SIEVIER. 183 - 
 
 youngster stuck to him from the moment they first struck 
 the ground. By the side of the gallop there were some chains, 
 and Sam Loates, not being fully acquainted with the Downs, 
 rather hung towards them, and had to pull out of their way 
 at a critical moment, which caused Toddington to lose at 
 least a length or so. On they came< neck and neck, and though 
 the last 200 yards of the gallop were well on the collar, Tod- 
 dington looked as if he would just do it, but the older horse, 
 lasting the longer, finished a bare neck to the good. This was 
 a most meritorious performance, without taking into con- 
 sideration the fact that Toddington did not go quite the 
 nearest way. One thing, we were all quite satisfied that the 
 Woodcote was as good as over. 
 
 En passant, I cannot refrain from mentioning that at the 
 following Newmarket Meeting I bid! for a filly by the name 
 of Kaffir Queen, who had just won a selling plate, 'and was 
 knocked down to me for 1,100 guineas. After the auction I 
 tendered my cheque for this amount, which, if for no other 
 reason than the fact of having paid 10,000 guineas for Tod- 
 dington, I did not for a moment think would be refused ; but 
 the late Mr. Weatherby would not accept the draft on my 
 bankers, nor would he give an order for the delivery of Kaffir 
 Queen to me. Never before had I been faced with a refusal 
 of my cheque on any racecourse or by any official the world 
 throughout. I quickly cleared up the difficulty by producing 
 three 500 notes, and on asking Mr. Weatherby for the change 
 the boot wasi on the other leg. He offered to give me a 
 cheque for the difference, and assuming his attitude towards 
 me, I declined to accept it ; but I extended to him some 
 leniency by saying that " he could give me the change any 
 time he liked when it was convenient." This I received 
 the following day; but why every kind of petty obstacle, 
 emanating from certain quarters, was always put in my way 
 I have never been able to comprehend. 
 
 It was at this meeting that Diamond Jubilee was very 
 nearly beaten by Chevening in the Newmarket Stakes, when
 
 184 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ___ 
 
 he only won by a head over a distance' of 1 mile and 2 furlongs, 
 each carrying 9st. I had formed a very high opinion of His 
 Majesty's horse, and I watched every inch of the race. Sloan 
 on Chevening rode one of those extraordinary, inexplicable 
 races which have been so frequently associated with his 
 success. After the race there were many ready to decry the 
 merits of Diamond Jubilee, but I was convinced that Cheven- 
 ing would never get so near him again. The result of the race 
 gave me a better opportunity of backing the King's horse for 
 the Derby, and I supported him well whenever the top odds 
 were on offer, and amongst other bets I booked 14,000 to 
 8,000 and 12,000 to 8,000. Though I was a good winner at 
 this meeting, I again lost a large sum by fielding against 
 Good Morning, the winner of the Bedford Two-Year-Old 
 Stakes. 
 
 At this time I was playing a good deal of cricket, and had 
 laid down an excellent pitch at Toddington, and had sup- 
 ported the' game throughout the county of Bedford. I was 
 the means of resuscitating the county club, which had long 
 ceased to exist. I arranged some very good matches, which 
 gave a zest to the game throughout the countryside, and 
 cricket flourished to a much greater extent than it had ever 
 done before in South Bedfordshire. Dr. W. G. Grace kindly 
 came down, and with W. L. Murdoch (ex-captain of the 
 Australians), A. O. Jones (captain of Notts), Charlie Eobson 
 (captain of Hants), Lockwood, Hayward, poor old Davenport 
 (who has, alas! lost his wicket in this life), poor Bill Yardley 
 (" Bill of the Play" of the "Sporting Times"), who made 
 the record highest score for 'Varsity matches when he played 
 for Cambridge, Atfield, " Little " White of Herts, and a host 
 of others, helped to give the game a new life in Bedfordshire. 
 
 The many matches I played, and the active part I took in 
 cricket, caused me to miss several race meetings, which I 
 should otherwise have attended, and it was not until the 
 Epsom Derby Meeting that I again found myself on a race- 
 course. Here I won the Ashtead Plate with Crarae, which
 
 ROBERT SIANDISR SIEVIEB. 185 
 
 enhanced Toddington's trial to no small degree, for Orris 
 Root, who finished second, ridden by Sloan, subsequently won 
 many races for Mr. George Cottrill. As an instance of the 
 great decrease there is in betting to-day as compared with 
 that of only five years ago, I had 7,500 on Crarae, and my 
 money averaged over 2 to 1, yet he started at 7 to 4 against. 
 Then Toddington cantered away with the Woodcote Stakes, 
 which he won by four lengths, and, with odds varying between 
 5 to 2 and 3 to 1 laid on him, I won 4,000 on the race. 
 
 Fate had not yet once> frowned on me, and the larger sum 
 I had on a horse the easier he generally won. The following 
 day was the Derby, and I played up no small amount of my 
 winnings, in spite of the previous bets which I had booked in 
 favour of Diamond Jubilee. The history of the race is common 
 knowledge. The King's horse won cleverly by half a length, 
 and though the excitement did not reach that pitch which it 
 had done in Persimmon's year, it was no less a sight to be 
 remembered. The following day (Thursday) came the Great 
 Surrey Foal Stakes, and that bogey to me, Good Morning, 
 started favourite at evens for this event. Though I had lost 
 many thousands by laying against him previously, I did not 
 attempt to retrieve my fortunes, but again opposed him, though 
 to a much smaller amount. In this race he was left at the 
 post. Immediately after the event there were those ever ready 
 to assume that I "knew something." The air was rife with 
 all sorts of rumours, and I believe I'm speaking entirely from 
 memory that Eickaby, the rider of Good Morning, requested 
 the Stewards to hold an enquiry. That he was exonerated 
 from any blame was demonstrated by his subsequently riding 
 Champ de Mars in the Epsom Cup on the same day. Person- 
 ally, I have always regretted that I did not ask the Stewards 
 to kindly hold an enquiry with regard to myself, but later in 
 the year an opportunity afforded itself to me of being able to 
 show the Stewards my book with regard to the other races 
 Good Morning had run in, and as it proved conclusively that 
 I had lost, as I have already stated, many thousands of pounds
 
 .186 THE AUTOBTOGBAPHY OF 
 
 by laying against this horse previously, and only won some 
 1,500 when he was beaten, any explanation from me was 
 quite unnecessary. This incident goes to show how rife 
 scandal is at times on the Turf, with no foundation whatever 
 to support it. As the financial result of this meeting I won 
 over 53,000 on the week. 
 
 It was at this meeting that the late Mr. Charles Greenwood 
 asked me to run Toddington on the Saturday at Kempton 
 Park. Being a great believer in running horses in public, I 
 consented. The horse did not canter to the post with that 
 freedom I had expected, but that anything was wrong with 
 him I did not for an instant imagine. I had already some 
 5,000 on him, and he won only by a neck from Royal River, 
 conceding him 71b. Among the beaten lot was Volodyovski, 
 who finished fourth with 8st 12lb. In this race I succeeded, 
 with my win in the Woodcote, in getting back my purchase 
 money, but I would willingly have lost as much as I had won 
 sooner than Toddington should have broken down, as he did 
 through breaking a small bone in the near hind pastern. 
 After calling in more than one veterinary surgeon, I tele- 
 graphed to Mr. Peard, of Dublin, and he came over, and was 
 the first to locate the injury. This necessitated Toddington 
 remaining in the stable for some six weeks, and not being 
 able to train him for a considerable time, he developed 
 roaring, and, being a big horse he stood over 16 hands 2^ 
 this infirmity increased as time went on. He never won 
 another race in England, and Mr. W. Allison, of the Inter- 
 national Horse Agency and Exchange, finding me a customer 
 for him in America, I sold him to go there as a stallion. That 
 he was a most brilliant horse, and a game 'un into the bargain, 
 his success at Kempton under such difficulties proves beyond 
 doubt ; while his trial with Crarae so early in May is one of 
 the best I can recall. That he would have won the Derby 
 the following year- there can be no manner of doubt had all 
 gone well with him. But such is the fortune of racing.
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIER. 187 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE PURCHASE OF SCEPTRE AND OTHERS. 
 
 HE following article, which I contributed to the 
 " Badminton Magazine " in January, 1903, relates 
 to my purchase of Sceptre, whose doings will be 
 fully referred to later on : " When I first picked 
 up the catalogue announcing the sale of the 
 late Duke of Westminster's yearlings in 1900, 
 a pang of regret took hold of me, and I sat 
 feeling that a central, if not the central, pillar of the 
 Turf had been removed, hoping, but with little con- 
 fidence, that it would be befittingly replaced. My hopes 
 have not been fulfilled, which rather goes in praise of 
 the late Duke than against his survivors ; for he stood out 
 alone, a unique ideal of a successful scientific breeder of 
 horses, and it may take a generation or even more before the 
 Turf is graced by his like again. During this period of thought 
 I was perusing Messrs. Tattersall's announcement. I felt that 
 the- chance of perhaps a lifetime presented itself to a man 
 devoted to the horse and the sport, and that, had I inherited 
 Bond Street, or even one* side of it, or to be more modern, 
 were I a nouveau riche company promoter, or 'something in 
 the City,' I would go to the sale ring and buy at any price, not 
 one. lot, but the whole lot, Stern reflection convinced me that
 
 188 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I had none of the above redeeming qualifications and they 
 redeem one from many things unconnected with horses. So I 
 drew a cheque for 20,000 and took the notes with me to 
 Newmarket. 
 
 " The following morning I spent several hours inspecting 
 the Eaton yearlings in the company of my late trainer, Charles 
 Morton, and Mr. Peard, the celebrated veterinary surgeon from 
 Ireland ; and let me here thank them both equally for the 
 pains they took on my behalf. 
 
 " That evening I saw Mr. Somerville Tattersall at his office 
 at the Rutland Arms ; and explaining that I had seldom bought 
 anything at auction, and that, in a business sense, 1 was com- 
 paratively unknown to him, I produced the twenty thousand 
 pound bank notes, asking him to take them as a security, for 
 I thought I might be a likely bidder the following day. It 
 was after banking hours, and Mr. Tattersall politely suggested 
 that my proposal was quite unnecessary ; but I waived this 
 gracious remark and handed over the 20,000 cash, which I 
 have always felt Mr. Tattersall took with some timidity, as he 
 observed he had no safe place wherein to deposit it. 
 
 " The ringside was crowded with perhaps the most repre- 
 sentative collection of sportsmen that has ever been gathered 
 together at one time under the auspices of the most famous of 
 auctioneers, and I took up a little corner to myself immediately 
 under the rostrum. The second lot brought in was a chestnut 
 colt by Orme, out of Console. This I secured for 700 guineas, 
 when a sudden feeling of fear took hold of me as I realised 
 that I must be careful and resist temptation, reserving myself, 
 or rather my purse, for the filly by Persimmon out of Ornament. 
 Mr. Peard's characteristic enthusiasm must not, I felt, lead 
 me away, for the filly was last but one on the catalogue ! The 
 bay colt by Orme, out of Gantlet, since known as the Duke of 
 Westminster, was greatly fancied by Charles Morton, and, 
 sharing his opinion, I bought him for 5.600 guineas. I made 
 no bid for the brother to Flying Fox, but ventured an attempt 
 for the colt by Orme, out of Kissing Cup, since known as Cup-
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 189 
 
 bearer, who in my humble judgment was one of the best- 
 looking yearlings that ever entered the sale ring, except for 
 one characteristic which forcibly struck me he gave me the 
 impression that he kneriy^jtoo much/ and my trainer agreed 
 that he might be ' tricky^ John Porter bought him for 9,000 
 guineas for the Duke of Westminster, and, as I anticipated, 
 he turned out a rogue. At last the filly since known under 
 the name of Sceptre was led in. There she stood, what I can 
 only describe as a mass of perfection, even to the merest tyro 
 or a captious critic. Such a mare as perhaps for many years 
 would not be offered for sale again, or could be matched the 
 world throughout, sired by the King's horse, Persimmon, the 
 dam a full sister to the mighty Ormonde, she walked round the 
 ring comprised of millionaires and others ready to become 
 the property of the man who would bid most for her ; and I 
 felt I was that man. The value of money was lost in admira- 
 tion ; any commercial view of the situation never entered my 
 mind ; I fell in love with her ! Her prospective qualities, 
 either on the Turf or for the stud, appeared flawless. If one 
 could possibly find the semblance of a blemish it was her 
 inclination to be a little straight in front. She was at once 
 a racehorse and a machine. A bold Persimmon head, his 
 hocks and characteristics, she was her sire all over to look at 
 in all but sex. 
 
 " I opened the bidding at 5,000 guineas, to which John 
 Porter added 100. 'Six thousand' from me, 'One hundred' 
 from Porter, ' eight, nine/ and, bidding 900 guineas each time, 
 at ten thousand she was knocked down to me. I was dubbed 
 by some 'an ass/ by the majority as 'mad/ while a few kindly 
 referred to the proverb of 'A fool and his money/ I should 
 have gone much higher, for I had determined that Sceptre 
 should be mine." 
 
 Of all who were present, only two bid for Sceptre, John 
 Porter and I, and though she fetched the record price of 
 10,000 guineas, exceeding by 4,000 guineas that previously 
 given for any other yearling, the bidding for her was quicker
 
 190 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and of less duration than that for any other animal sold that 
 day. I then bought the only other filly offered, by Trenton 
 Sandiway, for 5,500 guineas. 
 
 Two days earlier I had bought the brood mare St. lima, by 
 St. Simon, with a bay filly-foal by Crafton at foot, and 
 covered by Minting, for 1,300 guineas; also Chimera, by 
 Sheen, with a brown colt by St. Angelo at foot, now known 
 as Thunderbolt, a most excellent performer, for 860 guineas. 
 She was covered by Sainfoin. Both these mares had belonged 
 to Mr. J. A. Miller, and they turned out good bargains, as I 
 afterwards sold St. lima to Mr. Croker for 1,500 guineas, I 
 retaining the produce, and for Chimera I received 2,000 
 from Mr. W. Bass, and 2,000 for Elston one of her sons by 
 Donovan and l ; 000 for Thunderbolt. These deals showed 
 a profit of 4,140 guineas, with her Sainfoin filly thrown in. 
 
 At the following July Meeting I again attended the sales, 
 but I saw nothing which took my fancy except a filly by Per- 
 simmon Ornis, bred by Captain A. Greville, which I bought 
 for 1,500 guineas, and this I called Egg Plum. She never ran 
 in my colours, as I sold her in the spring of the following 
 year ; but as I have determined to deal with my different 
 transactions in succession as they happened, I shall have cause 
 to refer to her again. 
 
 Apart from the great opportunity of being able to buy the 
 Eaton blood, the fact that the sale of these yearlings took 
 place in July was greatly in the purchaser's favour. As a rule, 
 not that it was so in regard to the late Duke's yearlings, the 
 breeder subjects his produce to a process which is styled 
 " getting them up for sale." This in truth means preparing 
 to help to break them down. Doncaster excels in this respect, 
 and taking into consideration the lateness of the year when 
 these sales take place, it is a pity, and I express my opinion 
 very mildly, that breeders, or their stud grooms, should get 
 their bloodstock up rather for the show than the sale ring. It 
 is unfair to those who want to buy, hard on the trainer who 
 is expected to deliver them fit at the post, and even visits the
 
 ROBERT KTANDI8H HIEVIEE. 191 
 
 vendor himself, for many horses yes, pretty well the majority 
 are ruined by being over " done," and never see a racecourse 
 in consequence. The good reputation of a stud farm must, 
 in the first instance, be founded on the blood, and after that by 
 results. How many good yearlings have been rendered prac- 
 tically useless by being locked in the stable and fattened for 
 sale, like a prize pig being got ready for the Cattle Show. The 
 month of September leaves little or no time for the buyer 
 to turn his purchases out and let them, by the aid of nature, 
 return to their normal selves. Nearly all the Doncaster 
 yearlings go straight into the hands of the trainer. Instead 
 of an animal in a natural hard condition, fresh from the 
 paddock, he has a soft, heavy youngster to take home. He 
 is forced to get the fat off at the expense of its legs. Legs in 
 a racehorse are everything. The work they have to stand 
 is more than many realise, and the fact that horses break 
 down is, apart from any faulty conformation, more often due 
 to the pace they go than anything else. Bad horses do not 
 often break down, for the simple reason that they cannot go 
 fast enough. Therefore it would be better for all concerned 
 if it were made a practice that yearlings should be delivered 
 in the ring in their natural condition, as that great breeder, 
 Sir Tatton Sykes, sends up his stock annually. 
 
 At the Doncaster Sales of 1900, after having launched out 
 at those of the July week, I need hardly remark that I was 
 sought after by all those who had horses figuring in the cata- 
 logue. Had I listened and believed all I heard it would be 
 reasonable to assume that I should have bought the lot ! As 
 a matter of fact I purchased hardly any. Mr. Kennedy, of the 
 Straffan Stud, co. Kildare, sends up his yearlings in natural 
 condition, and after Doochary, by Milford Monday, had 
 passed out of the ring without a bid being made for him, I 
 bought him privately for 150. He turned out a real good 
 two-year-old the following year, and won some valuable stakes. 
 With the exception of two others, for which I gave respectively 
 100 and 45 guineas the cheaper one winning a race I did not
 
 192 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 increase my stable of horses. It might be worth consideration 
 whether it would not be advisable to hold a yearling sale on 
 a much larger scale in July annually at Newmarket, and 
 thereby ease those held at Doncaster. The Cobham Stud 
 very sensibly sell during this month. 
 
 I had not betted so largely as before, nor had I attended 
 the race meetings so persistently. I won an ordinary handicap 
 at Kempton Park with Crarae; certainly he brought home 
 something like 5,000 along with the prize, but the added 
 money in this country is so small that an owner is compelled 
 to make up for this deficiency somehow ! 
 
 Then I found myself at Newmarket again, where I bought 
 Leonid for 400 guineas, Madame Rachel for 710, and the best 
 two-year-old I ever owned, Lavengro, for 700. How good this 
 colt was in his early career I cannot say, for he won all his 
 trials and his races with such ease that it was impossible to 
 estimate what he had in hand. But I shall give the trials and 
 the weights carried by all these horses as I progress. 
 
 At the Newmarket July Meeting I had bought the filly St. 
 Louvaine, now the dam of Lovania, out of a selling race. 
 She showed good form, and except that she had very shelly 
 feet would have taken a position in racing high up in the 
 second class standard. This particular season was a dry one, 
 and provided little opportunity for giving her the necessary 
 work, and on running her at Sandown she flinched at the 
 hard going, and on account of this only finished second. Under 
 the circumstances, I had to wait for the rain, and this arriving, 
 Morton was able to give her a few gallops to put her straight, 
 for she was due to run in the Vauxhall Selling Plate at 
 Kempton on October 6. The book said she could not lose this 
 race, and being confident that she would be a strong favourite, 
 I got as much money on her as I could at starting price 
 early in the day. So far from making this a starting-price 
 coup, I saw some friends who I knew were in a position to 
 get 500 each way on a horse, and asked them, without any 
 secret, to do this for me. They all agreed, and I also inter-
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 193 
 
 viewed four commission agents, not telling them my previous 
 arrangements, and they also each agreed to put me 500 each 
 way on St. Louvaine, so I found myself with 3,500 each way 
 on the filly, and everybody was aware of the bets I had long 
 before the race. Nothing can better demonstrate the 
 susceptibilities of the racing man than what happened. 
 
 When I saw Morton in the paddock he advised me not to 
 run the filly, his reason being that she had got loose from her 
 boy and galloped a mile and a half over the Downs the day 
 previously. I gave instructions that the filly should be brought 
 into the paddock, and I would then decide whether she was 
 to run or not. In due course she arrived. St. Louvaine was 
 on her toes, looking fresh and well, and was fly-jumping all 
 over the place. She did not give me the impression that 
 her canter across the Downs had in any way upset her, and 
 I concluded that I would run her. Her trainer, Morton, would 
 not have a penny on her, and the story of her having got 
 loose soon became common knowledge. The fact that I had 
 so much money on her was treated as nothing, and though 
 she opened favourite at 2 to 1, she was quickly supplanted 
 by Irish Lass, the mount of L. Reiff, and drifted out until 
 at flag-fall her price was 7 to 2 against. Ridden by Sam 
 Loates, she won in a canter by a length and a half, and I 
 was very fortunate in being able to buy her in for 280 guineas. 
 This only shows what small things will prejudice backers 
 of horses against carrying out their previous resolves. Had 
 St. Louvaine not got loose, or had Morton kept this fact to 
 himself, St. Louvaine would probably have started at odds 
 on ; but, speaking of punters generally, they are as restless 
 as grasshoppers, and will hop from one place to another 
 without the faintest idea where they are going to land next. 
 A rumour adverse to a horse is, generally speaking, believed 
 without comment, whereas, no matter how straightforward 
 the owner may be, let him state ingenuously, almost publicly, 
 that he expects his horse to win, and though the man may 
 not be doubted, his judgment will be severely criticised. I 
 
 14
 
 194 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 think I can say that my horses ran reasonably up to their 
 form, and were accepted as being triers when they carried my 
 colours. Yet, though I told everybody I met that I considered 
 Sceptre was a certainty for the St. Leger, the more I spread 
 the report the longer the price she stood at in the market. 
 This has been so with many other horses I have owned, and 
 my experience is not unique, for almost every owner who 
 took up a similar position on the Turf to mine has experienced 
 the fact that the nearer the truth you are in speaking of 
 your horses, the bigger fibber you are put down to be. On 
 this line I must have been looked upon as Ananias. 
 
 In this same month King's Courier, by Kingston Styli- 
 tene, winner of the Doncaster Cup, was advertised for sale 
 "to dissolve a partnership," which to my mind stood for 
 " a Yankee syndicate," and I bought him at public auction 
 for 5,200 guineas. By this time I had collected what 
 might be called a very representative stable of horses, and 
 every morning I had somewhere between sixty and seventy 
 thousand pounds worth of horseflesh cantering on the Downs. 
 Before the season closed I had won a small handicap with 
 Crarae, and St. Louvaine also secured a nursery, while Leonid, 
 later on a trial horse of Sceptre and Duke of Westminster 
 when two-year-olds, and Merilla concluded my successes of 
 this year. 
 
 X- -fc * 
 
 During the last few seasons which I have touched upon ; 
 the English Turf was infested with what I can only term an 
 invasion of the scum of the Startes. Tod Sloan's remarkable 
 success in the saddle was no doubt the attraction which, like 
 a magnet, drew these men to our shores. Not that they were 
 acquaintances of Tod Sloan, or that he was in any way 
 directly responsible for their undesirable presence. About 
 this time Lester Reiff was at the height of his success, perhaps 
 I might say financial success, and, taking the surroundings 
 generally, our racecourses more resembled the outside
 
 BOBEET STANDI8H SIEVIER. 195 
 
 Southern tracks of America than an English course. While 
 they lasted, the way these Yankee adventurers played Battle- 
 dore and shuttlecock with the Ring, or, for that matter, 
 with anybody and everybody when an opportunity arose, is 
 marvellous to look back to. They would stand in a cluster, 
 or, as they would themselves term it, a "bunch," until the 
 numbers for a race were hoisted, and then would step down 
 and back indiscriminately with every bookmaker they could 
 get credit from, such horses as Sloan or Reiff rode. The price 
 was no object to them ! If it was even money they betted in 
 thousands ; if it was good odds against, then they would 
 descend to hundreds. But one hundred in America is but 
 20 in English money, and it is possible that these 
 individuals may have got mixed in the matter of exchange ! 
 This lasted during the period of the phenomenal successes 
 of Sloan and Reiff. An investment on their mounts would 
 show a profit for a considerable time. But the day of 
 reckoning came, and after a most disastrous week, so far as 
 figures were concerned, the American " bunch " failed to come 
 up to time on the Monday, and taking their large gains, went 
 their several ways, some returning to the land of " Stars 
 and Stripes," others being dispersed over the Continent. This 
 is another instance of the credulity, or hospitality if you will, 
 of the racing world. Personally, I confess I took a strong dis- 
 like to these people en bloc, and extended this dislike to the 
 jockeys themselves, and I must admit that, even to this day, 
 that prejudice still exists. Generally speaking, I am not in 
 favour of the American jockey or his monkeyship. I in no 
 way apply these remarks to Lucien Lyne of those who hold 
 licenses at the present moment under Jockey Club Rules. 
 During the American boom there were, among others, a couple 
 of men who were received with open arms, and they were 
 given the entree to all the club enclosures without exception. 
 It was not long before I came to the conclusion that they 
 knew the chances Lester Reiff possessed of winning 
 or losing as well as he did himself, for, apart from
 
 196 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 backing him when he won, they often stood aloof 
 and did not bet at times when odds were laid on 
 his mount; but on these occasions he was never successful. 
 Being determined that I would satisfy myself in a practical 
 way that this was so, I resolved to endeavour to bet with, 
 either or both of these men at such times as I deemed: 
 necessary to attain my object. It was not long before I had 
 the opportunity of putting my conclusions to the test. It 
 was on the occasion of a race at Newmarket in which 
 Americus ran. On the book it looked a certainty for this- 
 horse, but by degrees the odds demanded by the bookmakers 
 decreased, in my opinion always an ominous sign, more 
 especially when the connections in this instance are 
 considered. One of the two persons I am referring to entered' 
 the club enclosure and inquired of one or two bookmakers 
 at the top of the rails the price of Americus. As much as- 
 2 to 1 had been laid on this horse previously. When the- 
 individual arrived the offers to take odds were not quite so- 
 rare as they had been, and they now asked for odds of 6 to 4. 
 He refused to bet. I felt I had read the situation, and going 
 to the rails just where Mr. Benjamin and Messrs. Millard 
 stand, I said to him, " If you want to back Americus I will 
 bet you an even 5,000 he does not win." He half turned 
 towards me, but apparently on second thoughts, he walked 
 away, pretending he had not heard me. This in racing 
 colloquialism is styled " cocking a deaf 'un " ; but I have 
 been blessed with good lungs, nor am I often at a loss for- 
 a word, and being perhaps over-anxious to achieve my ends, 
 I shouted " Americus does not win for 5,000 ! An even 
 5,000 against Americus ! " until the gentleman posing as an 
 American plunger had walked out of sight, if not out of 
 hearing. I then tried to back Sonatura, the only other runner, 
 but I could not get on any way. Bookmakers have a peculiar 
 instinct! They possess an extraordinary faculty! They are 
 past-masters of understanding songs without words ! Though 
 Americus is returned in " Ruff's " as having started at 6 to 5-
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 197 
 
 on, anybody could have got 6 to 5 against him on the Q.T. 
 The result of the race was that Sonatura be'at Americus all 
 ends up by four lengths, and for the first time in my memory 
 .there was a general public hooting at Newmarket. I was 
 .satisfied. My convictions were correct. 
 
 Americus was then the property of Mr. Croker, but that 
 .he was a party to these proceedings, or previously knew that 
 the horse was 1 unlikely to win, I do not for an instant believe. 
 On the contrary, I am in a position to state that when this 
 .gentleman's horses were successful he was frequently not on 
 .them, while this was not generally the* case when they were 
 ibeaten. But the extraordinary result of the course I had 
 .adopted was that at certain dinner tables in the evening it 
 was stated that I must be connected with the Yankees ! .The 
 question was asked, " Why was> I offering to bet these large 
 sums against Americus 1 " Fortunately, however, .. for me, 
 shortly after this episode I was able to dissipate these im- 
 pressions. As I have always looked upon this occasion in 
 -a private rather than an official sense, I feel bound to with- 
 hold the facts which brought this opportunity about. If fur- 
 ther evidence were needed of the correctness of my conclu- 
 sions, what can be stronger than the fact that with the warn- 
 ing off of Lester Reiff these men returned whence they came, 
 and have not been seen since, except on one solitary occasion, 
 -when one of them paid this country a second visit for about 
 a fortnight's duration, and betted in infinitesimal sums com- 
 pared with his previous transactions. I have referred to these 
 matters at some length because they came into my life, and 
 "because I have always, as far as in me lies, endeavoured to 
 uphold the traditions of the Turf.
 
 198 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 BOBSIE, LAVEXGRO, AXD OTHERS. 
 
 HORSE that I had as much affection for as any I 
 have owned was Bobsie, by Oxlip, out of Doctrina, 
 bred by that enthusiastic sportsman, the late Dr. 
 Kennard. It may almost be said that a halo of 
 romance surrounded Bobsie. We had been prac- 
 tising the two-year-olds at the starting-gate at 
 Wantage, when Mr. Edward Robson, who trains 
 there, rode up on his hack. The horse struck me at once, 
 and, taking a liking to him, I asked his price. Mr. Robson 
 replied, "120." "He is mine," I said, and, entering the 
 house, I wrote out a cheque for him forthwith. He had 
 a couple of formidable splints, and on this ground some 
 " vets." would not have passed him ; but I was satisfied 
 that they in no way interfered with him, and that to all 
 intents and purposes he was perfectly sound. Every inch 
 a blood 'un, he was full of life, while his colour, bay with 
 black points, showed him off favourably. As a matter of fact, 
 I purchased him for a lady who was in want of a hack, and 
 I had, in my opinion, not seen a better one than this for 
 many a day. In due course he arrived in London, and the 
 lady rode him in the Park, but he was not quite the staid 
 animal that she required for taking exercise on in Rotten 
 Row! On hearing this, I was covetous enough to feel a little 
 pleased, and I had him sent down to Toddington. As far as 
 I knew, he was a blood hack pure and simple. As such I rode
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEFIER. 199 
 
 him. His manners were perfect. He gave one a good feel, 
 and the rider at once knew he had something underneath 
 him. I rode him about the estate, and, as occasion offered, 
 popped him over a small ditch or so. One day, in the winter 
 of 1902, I had just finished lunch, when the hounds ran across 
 the park at full cry. The temptation was too great to remain, 
 indoors, and, making my way to the stables, I had Bobsie 
 saddled, and it was not long before I was following in the 
 wake of the- hunt ; nor was it long before I caught them up. 
 At first picking my way, I soon discovered that Bobsie was 
 one of the finest natural jumpers it has ever been my good 
 fortune to cross, and passing the stragglers I was soon in, 
 the thick of it. The scent was breast high, and hounds were 
 running strong. How I admired the old horse I shall never 
 forget. I was more pleased than surprised. At the end of 
 the day I was quite convinced I had ridden a horse that was 
 certain to win a steeplechase. The Oakley Hunt 'Chases were 
 shortly to come off, and I entered him for the Cup to be run 
 for at Kimbolton. The country is a stiff one, and would serve 
 as an example to clerks of courses of some of our suburban, 
 meetings, where the fences are gradually but surely becoming 
 less difficult every season. Bidden by Mr. J. Dover, a farmer 
 on the Toddington Estate, he won by a distance, and the 
 second to him shortly afterwards secured a race in another 
 part of the country. I came to the conclusion that my esti- 
 mate of Bobsie was correct. As he had been a hack since a 
 two-year-old, I did not subject him to a rigorous training, 
 such as I would have given the> ordinary steeplechaser, and 
 as a result of a light preparation he won the first four steeple- 
 chase^ in which he started without a loss. Following his 
 success in winning the Oakley Hunt Cup, he won the Burwood 
 Steeplechase at Sandown Park by a distance in a field of 
 three, and opening at 5 to 1, I backed him down to 9 to 4, 
 and netted a good stake. He then won the Hampton Steeple- 
 chase at Kempton Park, starting at evens, and four days 
 later secured the February Handicap Steeplechase at Hurst
 
 200 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Park, starting 'equal favourite with Drumcree, who, conceding 
 him 15lb, finished third, being beaten ten lengths. Taking 
 into consideration that Drumcree won the Grand National 
 Steeplechase at Aintree three months later, this was an ex- 
 cellent performance for a hack! When the weights appeared 
 for the National, and taking this running as a guide, I came 
 to the conclusion that Bobsie had an excellent chance for 
 the Cross-country Blue Riband. I had got him what I was 
 pleased to term hack-fit, and had galloped him well enough 
 to cause me to support him to the extent of 500 each way 
 for the National. Early in this year he had won a steeple- 
 chase at Kempton and a smaller event at Folkestone. At this 
 time I was training my own horses at Shrewton, which estab- 
 lishment I will deal with later on. Having to go to Lincoln 
 with Sceptre, I left Bobsie behind, with instructions as to 
 what work he was to do. His final gallop at home Avas 
 arranged for Tuesday of the Lincoln and Liverpool week, he 
 being due to leave on the Wednesday for Aintree. My dis- 
 appointment may be imagined when I received a telegram, 
 just after Sceptre had been beaten for the Lincolnshire Han- 
 dicap, stating that the boy had allowed Bobsie to get away 
 with him, and the horse, running out of the gallop, had fallen 
 over a heap of stones and injured himself to such an extent 
 that it was inadvisable to send him. Such are the misfortunes 
 which owners and trainers have to bear. I was sorry for him, 
 for I am convinced he would have made a bold bid for victory 
 in the Grand National of 1903. 
 
 On my return I found the old horse had a leg, but by 
 hacking him throughout the summer I succeeded in getting 
 him sound again. However, it was not until the January 
 of the following year that he won another race, and this was 
 his last success on the Turf. With 5 to 4 laid on Hidden 
 Love, who had been winning several steeplechases in great 
 style, Bobsie started at 3 to 1, second favourite for the Open 
 Steeplechase at Hurst Park. I made it no secret that I 
 thought I should just win, and after Hidden Love had made
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEFIEE. 201 
 
 the running for over two miles, the old horse took the lead, 
 and, clearing his fences like a stag, won amidst considerable 
 cheering with a few pounds in hand. As a winner of an 
 ordinary steeplechase, the reception the public gave to 
 Bobsie went to show how popular he was ; indeed, apart 
 from a Grand National, I have never heard such hearty 
 cheering on a racecourse under National Hunt Rules. True, 
 I should like to have kept him, but with racehorses one's 
 sympathies must not override common-sense, and I sold him 
 at public auction for 500 guineas. One of th-e finest jumpers 
 I have ever seen or ridden, he died in harness, for, over- 
 jumping the water-jump at Birmingham, he fell and broke 
 his back. 
 
 I have gone somewhat ahead so that I might deal with 
 Bobsie straightaway, and now I must hark back to 1901. My 
 two-year-olds, Sceptre, Duke of Westminster, Lavengro, and 
 Doochary, together with the older horses, had all wintered 
 well. Toddington, who, as I have already stated, became a 
 confirmed roarer, would perhaps hardly have succeeded in 
 winning a selling race. Leonid had just won a selling race 
 at Lincoln, and I bought him in for 350 guineas, and early in 
 April I discussed with Morton the advisability of trying some 
 of the two-year-olds with Leonid, who was then five years old, 
 as a trial horse. I was anxious to see how Sceptre and Duke 
 of Westminster went, and the following were the weights I 
 tried them at : 
 
 Five furlongs. 
 
 Years. Weight. 
 
 Leonid. 5 9st 
 
 Sceptre' 2 (W. Lane)... 8st 
 
 Duke of Westminster 2 8st 
 
 Kaffir Queen 3 8st 
 
 St. Louvaine 3 8st 
 
 They got off to a fair start, and about two furlongs from home 
 Lane let out Sceptre, who was followed by Duke of West- 
 minster, with the old 'uns riding, and she won in a hack canter 
 by half a dozen lengths, with " The Duke " finishing two
 
 202 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 lengths in front of Leonid, Kaffir Queen and St. Louvaine .a 
 long way behind. That Sceptre would have beaten Leonid 
 at even weights both Morton and I were convinced ; indeed, 
 if any question had arisen, it would have been, with how much 
 could she have presented the old horse T I then tried 
 Lavengro, Consort, by Orme Console, Merilla, and Jam Jar 
 at the following weights : 
 
 Five furlongs. 
 
 Years. Weight. 
 
 Jam Jar 4 9st 
 
 Merilla 3 8<t 
 
 Lavengro 2 8st 
 
 Consort 2 8st 
 
 They got off together, and Lavengro, jumping into his bridle,, 
 won by a distance, with Jam Jar second, Merilla close up, 
 and Consort tailed off. Sceptre's previous gallop was striking 
 enough, but the way Lavengro accomplished his task from flag- 
 fall, and the consummate ease with which he did it. I cannot 
 easily express in words ; even Morton could not hide his 
 astonishment. I also galloped a few other horses, and the 
 result of these trials told me two things : on the one hand that 
 I had some excellent horses, and on the other that I should 
 have a sale. I then made arrangements with Messrs. 
 Tattersall, and the sale took place on May 2 at New- 
 market. With the exception of Sceptre, I sent all my horses 
 there, but the majority did not reach those reserves which I 
 knew they were well worth, the following being a list of those 
 which were sold : 
 
 Gs. 
 Merilla, b f by Sir Modred Cottage Girl, 3yrs...M. Frants T. Olsen 100 
 
 Leonid, ch g by Prism Variety. 5yrs Mr. C. Wood 300 
 
 St. Paulus, br c by St. Florian Polonel, 4yrs Lord Carnarvon SCO 
 
 Kaffir Queen, br f by Lactantius Cheerful, 3yrs Mr. J. Hall 300 
 
 -St. Louvaine, b f by Carnage or Wolf's Crag St Reine, 3yrs 
 
 Mr. W. Raphael 1200 
 
 Crarae, b c by St. Angelo Xeruda, 4yrs Col. McCalmont 1150 
 
 King's Courier, ch h by Kingston Stylitene, 4yrs...Lord Ellesmere 5500 
 
 Egg Plum, b f by Persimmon Ormis Mr. A. M. Singer 1050 
 
 Consort, ch c by Orme Console Mr. G. Faber 2000
 
 __ EGBERT STANDISH 8IEVIEB. 203 
 
 - Perhaps the greatest surprise of the sale was the price given 
 for Consort, for I had the previous July bought him out of the 
 late Duke of Westminster's lot for 700 guineas, and now John 
 Porter purchased him for 2,000 guineas on behalf of Mr. George 
 Faber. Considering I had the opportunity of trying him, not 
 to mention the fact that I found him useless, this did not 
 present itself to me as a bad deal. Although they fetched 
 12,400 guineas, not one of them won a race on the flat, with the 
 exceptions of King's Courier and Leonid, the latter securing 
 one or two selling races. That King's Courier was a good 
 horse over a mile or less I am convinced, but he could not 
 stay, even though he is recorded as the winner of the Doncaster 
 Cup. The year that he was successful the race was run at a 
 crawling pace, and he was never really extended. Adding to 
 this that he had the assistance of Lester Reiff, who was then 
 riding in tremendous form, these can be the only reasons why 
 King's Courier was ever returned a winner of a race over a 
 distance of two miles. Nevertheless, this victory would 
 naturally mislead any trainer or owner into whoste stable this 
 horse went until they had got to the bottom of him. Crarae, 
 though he had done me good service, should, in my opinion, 
 have won races, but this he failed to do in the colours of 
 the late Colonol Harry McCalmont. St. Louvaine cannot now 
 be called a dear purchase to Mr. Raphael, as she is already 
 the dam of Louvania, who was a very fair two-year-old indeed. 
 Nevertheless, 12,400 guineas represents more value than the 
 performances of the lots which I sold justified. 
 
 Having weeded out what in racing parlance is styled the 
 " undesirable," I turned my attention to the campaign of 1901. 
 Sceptre looked a good thing for the Woodcote, but previous 
 to this I had won a race with Jam Jar at Chester, while 
 Doochary and Lavengro pulled off a double for me on my 
 birthday, May 30, at Manchester. The former was an unsexed 
 son of Milford, and as a two-year-old was a real good colt. I 
 had tried him quite top of the second class, and therefore- I 
 was not surprised when he won the John o' Gaunt Auction
 
 204 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHT OF 
 
 Plate in a canter by five lengths on his first appearance on a 
 racecourse. Although there were only three runners, he 
 started at 11 to 10 against owing to the American support 
 accorded to Chicago II. I managed to buy the winner in for 
 340 guineas, and as his subsequent performances will show, 
 his repurchase was not a dear one. His next outing was at 
 Lingfield, where he had to meet Mr. Prentice's! bogey, Pekin, 
 His Majesty's Pole Carew, and four others. The net value 
 of the stakes was 1,169, and Doochary secured them in a 
 canter, winning by three lengths from Pekin, who the follow- 
 ing year was presumably backed for the Derby to win more 
 than one fortune. Kemembering that Doochary only cost 
 150 guineas after being passed through the sale ring without 
 eliciting a bid, and that after showing stylish form at Man- 
 chester I was enabled to buy him in for 340 guineas, the 
 Lingfield Great Foal Plate was a real nice race to take with 
 him. But his vein of success continued, for in his next 
 outing he won tho Staffordshire Breeders' Foal Plate at 
 Wolverhampton, value 437, and giving weight away to 
 everything in the race (thirteen ran), he romped home the 
 easiest of winners. He was bred by Mr. E. Kennedy at the 
 Straffan Stud, co. Kildare, and prospective purchasers might 
 do much worse than buy this gentleman's lot en bloc each 
 year, for he always sends up a useful one or two out of the 
 few he offers for sale annually at Doncaster. Though Mr. 
 Kennedy sells at this meeting, his yearlings are, as I have 
 already said, not fattened and stabled up for sale, which to 
 a great extent accounts for the success which has attended 
 his stock. 
 
 Having won the first race of the day at Manchester, and 
 having in reserve that brilliant colt, Lavengro, for a race 
 later in the day, I felt I was spending quite a happy birthday. 
 Again Eugene Leigh thought he had a good thing in 
 Omaha II., and he was made favourite- at 7 to 4 against. 
 Lavengro opened at 6 to 1, but playing up my Doochary 
 winnings, he is returned as having started at 3 to 1, a price
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 205 
 
 unobtainable at the rising of the gate. The American con- 
 tingent made no secret of their belief that Omaha II. was 
 the fastest horse out of the gate they had ever seen, but I 
 also had an opinion in this respect regarding Lavengro. He 
 was at this period of his career the fastest and best two- 
 year-old I have ever owned. He was, if possible, even 
 quicker than Toddington out of slips, and all observers of 
 racing will remember how good he was. On the rising of 
 the barrier, Lavengro jumped off in front, and making every 
 inch of the running won all the way by a length and a half. 
 The crowd cheered. Why 1 ? Perhaps because they admired 
 a good horse. Perhaps because there was never any mystery 
 connected with my stable, for I had no secrets, nor did I 
 ever mislead a single man as to the merits of my horses, 
 during the whole period of my racing career. 
 
 We had now reached the Epsom Summer Meeting, or, as 
 it is more generally styled, the Derby week. Sceptre was 
 to make her debut on a racecourse in the Woodcote Stakes 
 (six furlongs), always run on the first day. She had "come 
 out," or made her first bow to the world when I bought her 
 in July of the previous year. The mere fact that she cost 
 10,000 guineas, and held the record for price as a yearling, 
 would in itself be sufficient to create considerable interest, 
 and when she was on view in the paddock previous to the race, 
 I think I am right in saying, this at once turned to admiration. 
 Sceptre was all over a racehorse. She had a fine broad head, 
 which resembled more a colt's than a filly's, with those big 
 ears which so many good judges like to see, while her neck 
 was fitted on to perfection. Her shoulders were perhaps the 
 best thing about her, though it would be hard to say what 
 part of her anatomy was better than another. From hip to 
 hock she showed great striking power, and she was ribbed up 
 with symmetrical completeness. She could not but impress 
 anyone having ordinary knowledge of a blood 'un with the 
 fact that she combined those two great qualities she was 
 both a racehorse and a machine. Her one fault was that she
 
 206 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 was a bit straight in front, and one of her toes was inclined 
 to turn in, but the latter slight defect made no difference to 
 her whatever. Her straight forelegs were a different matter, 
 and in her early career, and once as a three-year-old, gave 
 serious trouble, not to mention anxiety. Her feet, though 
 moulded to perfection, were inclined to be fleshy. Her 
 straightness created a weakness in the knees, always dis- 
 cernible after galloping on hard ground ; but I will now go 
 straight on and deal with her record career. It is almost 
 needless to remind my readers that she was made a hot 
 favourite, and, opening at 5 to 4 against, she stood at that 
 pric-e throughout the market operations, never deviating a 
 fraction. Csardas, a good two-year-old, figured second in the 
 list at 9 to 2. They got off to a good start, Sceptre being the 
 first to break the line, and she made play on the rails. Just 
 before reaching Tattenham Corner she appeared to hold the 
 field, but on Sam Loates taking a pull at her to negotiate the 
 sharp turn, she went back to her field so quickly that her 
 trainer, Morton, who was standing next me in my box, cried 
 out, "By gad! she's beat!'' But no sooner had he spoken, 
 than they were heading for home, and once again on a straight 
 stretch, the filly quickly showed the field her heels, and won 
 in superb style by four lengths from Csardas. She received 
 a most gratifying ovation. In all her subsequent races she 
 showed her dislike to racing round turns, and always lost 
 ground when these had to be negotiated. Full of courage, she 
 wanted to gallop straight on. She was never beaten at New- 
 market, where, the St. Leger excepted, she showed her best 
 form, form which will live long after we have run our race in 
 this life. But the race touched her we&k spot. The going 
 was on the hard side., and the sharp descent at the start is 
 a severe test to the legs of any horse. The next day she was 
 lame in front from concussion. The trouble was principally 
 in the knees, though she had slightly bruised her fleshy feet. 
 This stopped her fulfilling her Ascot engagements. 
 
 For the latter meeting, Morton and I decided that we would
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIER. 207 
 
 only take Lavengro, who was engaged in the Forty-Fourth 
 Biennial, a race- worth 1,160, run on the first day. This he 
 won in great style by three lengths, starting at 6 to 5, and I 
 had a fair plunge on him. St. Windeline, Friar Tuck, and 
 Punctilio (winner of the Acorn Stakes) were unplaced. I met 
 Morton in the off-saddling enclosure, when he at once and 
 without the least hesitation, said, " This is the best horse we 
 have seen since Ormonde." 
 
 How good Lavengro was we ourselves did not know, for 
 he had answered every question, both at home and in public, 
 by winning with consummate ease and in most decisive fashion. 
 After he had been seen to and despatched to the stables, 
 Morton and I discussed the advisability of sending for Duke 
 of Westminster, who was engaged in the New Stakes, due to 
 be run on the Thursday. He had not been an easy horse to 
 get ready, Morton's particular trouble with him being that he 
 would eat next to no hay. This accounted for his shelly appear- 
 ance, and though every kind of hay had been tried, including 
 American and Australian, he could not be induced to take 
 " bulk." For a horse to live on oats alone is equivalent to a 
 man living solely on meat, without vegetables, bread, or any 
 accessory to aid digestion. Sweet hay is the salt of a race- 
 horse in training. But in spite of Lavengro 's very taking 
 performance in the Biennial there was another presumable 
 obstacle : he could give the Duke a stone and an easy beating ! 
 
 Weighing the public performance of the big son of Ladas, 
 I decided to send for Duke of Westminster, and Morton 
 telegraphed instructions that he was to be sent to Ascot the 
 following day, Wednesday. He arrived fresh and well. 
 Flying Lemur, who, with Game Chick and Robert le Diable, 
 was engaged in the race, was voted a certainty, and stories 
 were rife as to the trial he had won at Kingsclere. Nor were 
 the other two referred to unfavourably ; on the contrary. 
 Always a nice race to win, the New Stakes was worth 1,732, 
 and before the horses had gone half way Duke of Westminster 
 had won it, and he passed the post three lengths in front of
 
 208 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 Gam Chick, an excellent performer subsequently, with Flying 
 Lemur unplaced. As I saw the Duke striding home I marvelled 
 what sort of colt was Lavengro ! 
 
 Doochary was not far behind Duke of Westminster, and 
 with Sceptre and Lavengro I possessed four such two-year-olds 
 as no man has owned for many a year, and such as few have 
 ever possessed since the days of horseracing commenced. 
 
 Before I proceed further, a brief description of Lavengro may 
 be interesting. He was a herculean giant. A rich bay with 
 black points, he stood not quite 16 hands, with over nine inches 
 of bone below the knee. No ordinary racing girth was large 
 enough to fit him, and girths had to be made specially for him. 
 I cannot call to mind any two-year-old so deep, and I do not 
 except Minting. Behind the saddle he had any amount of 
 power, and though sickle-hocked, this was only a blemish to 
 the eye. Duke of Westminster was a colt of quite an opposite 
 stamp, being light of frame and lighter in colour. The next 
 race Lavengro ran in was the Hurst Park Foal Plate, value 
 1,135. Game Chick had arrived, but for some reason, perhaps 
 judicious, she did not run. The big colt had to give her a 
 stone, and through the Duke, would have beaten her for 
 certain. Odds of 3 to 1 were laid on him, and though he had 
 nothing to beat, the style in which he accomplished his task 
 was a treat to see. Yet he was within an ace of not running ! 
 When being plated in the early morning he had been pricked, 
 and when Morton met me. at that excellent hotel, the Mitre, 
 ac Hampton Court, he broke the unwelcome news to me. We 
 visited his box together, and on taking the poultice off, to my 
 relief he trotted quite sound. After he had won, I was so 
 pleased with my trainer, and the natural anxiety he had 
 displayed, that I presented him with a cheque for 500. 
 
 Then came the " Julys-" at Newmarket, and Sceptre, 
 though not entirely sound again from her Epsom jar, won the 
 July Stakes, value 1,530. The turf on the July Course is 
 exceptionally good, and resembles more that of the Wiltshire 
 Downs than that of any other racecourse, Goodwood always
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. .209 
 
 excepted. Goodwood is the Queen of Racecourses ! The race 
 did Sceptre good ; in any case, no harm. It was only an 
 exercise canter for her, no more than she would have had to 
 do at home, and though odds of 10 to 1 were laid on her it 
 was a remunerative bit of exercise. Lavengro a fortnight later 
 won the Chesterfield of 850, which he ran away with, and 
 20 to 1 was betted on him doing it. 
 
 With four such youngsters, not much heed was paid to 
 those of lesser degree in the stable, and it was not until 
 Goodwood came round, that I won another race. This was 
 the Richmond Stakes with Duke of Westminster, who . was 
 again opposed by Game Chick and Flying Lemur. Odds of 
 7 to 4 were laid on him, and Danny Maher, who rode, taking 
 matters somewhat easily, only won a head from Game Chick, 
 the brother to Flying Fox finishing third two lengths away. 
 By not a few it was contended that the- filly ought to have 
 won, but on consulting Maher, he confirmed my reading of the 
 race, and said he won very comfortably indeed. There was 
 some talk of a match being made, but my offer to run again 
 for 1,000 a-side was not accepted. 
 
 I later on won a small race with Barberstown, and with 
 this exception my stable was very quiet until September, 
 when I received a rude shock, and experienced one of the 
 greatest disappointments. Sterling Balm had just won the 
 Gimcrack for that excellent sportsman, Major Joicey, and 
 John Watts, who trained her, had a very high opinion of 
 the filly. So had I of Lavengro ! They were both engaged 
 to run in the Champion Breeders' Foal Stakes at Derby 
 and 7 to 4 was laid on my colt at the start. I had 
 a very large sum of money on him. To my astonishment 
 he ran slack, if not currishly, right through the race, 
 and was beaten easily by Sterling Balm; in fact, -he -oniy 
 just beat Battle Song for second place, and that some- 
 thing was wrong was manifest, for Doochary had beaten this 
 same colt in a canter at Wolverhampton not long before. 
 The reason for this defeat I could not imagine, and a watch 
 
 is
 
 210 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 was kept on Lavengro after his returning home. As a result 
 the cause was soon discovered, and it was found that he had 
 resorted to those abuses which have cursed the career of many 
 a good colt inclined to the stallion stage. Every precaution 
 was resorted to electric batteries, American contrivances of 
 all kinds, shields of every description ; but all to no purpose, 
 for if the remedy was successful one way, he would sulk and 
 refuse to lie down. I have had him standing for six days 
 and nights, getting more savage every twenty-four hours. In 
 the end the cure was, if possible, worse than the disease. 
 My admiration for him turned to disgust, and, except a selling 
 race, he never won again. 
 
 Lavengro, from being the best two-year-old seen in 
 England for some considerable time, had rendered himself 
 next to useless for racing. From being worth any amount 
 he had, as it were, turned sovereigns into pence. His promise 
 at the stud had been prematurely dissipated. 
 
 Sceptre in many ways was an extraordinary filly. One 
 peculiarity with her was that as a yearling she got her winter 
 coat in the early autumn, the hair being of abnormal length. 
 This was also the case as a two-year-old in a modified degree, 
 but only as regards the mass of hair. As early as September 
 she had got her " overcoat " on, and so she appeared at Don- 
 caster to run for the Champagne Stakes. I had not seen her 
 for some time, though Morton had told me how she looked, 
 but he stated that she was well in herself. My admiration for 
 Sceptre was so great that, even had I thought she was unlikely 
 to win, I should have been compelled to support her, and 
 before seeing her in the paddock I had already given instruc- 
 tions to my commission agent. Had I not been somewhat 
 precipitate, I certainly should have varied these by a great 
 reduction, for when she came into the paddock I hardly 
 recognised her. Her coat, long and shaggy, was staring^ 1 She 
 had been hunter clipped along the belly and on the legs. 
 Though never a good walker, she appeared in this respect 
 worse than ever. I sent in to stop my commission, but the
 
 ROBE TtT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 211 
 
 ring at Doncaster is not an easy place in which to discover 
 a person, and when my man was found the bets on my behalf 
 "had been ma3e. An owner cannot be too careful ! He should 
 always see his horse before deciding to back it. The race was 
 run, and Sceptre led to the distance, when she failed, in my 
 opinion through weakness, to keep her place, and Game Chick 
 "beat her by a length and a half, and Csardas, whom she had 
 beaten pointless in the Woodcote, just finished a head in front 
 of her for second place. It is possible that owing to her 
 abundance of premature hair, Morton had refrained from 
 giving her that work which ninety-nine per cent, of Per- 
 simmon's stock require ; for after a gallop she would, in the 
 condition she was, naturally sweat much more than under 
 normal circumstances. Hence, had she done the requisite 
 work, she must of necessity have become weak. As it was, 
 she carried no muscle whatever. So luck continued, for Duke 
 of Westminster fell slightly lame, and could not fulfil one of 
 his valuable back-end engagements. The only other race I 
 won that year was with Madame Kachel, but she was of jades 
 the jadiest, and though starting at the nice price of 5 to 1, 
 J won very little over her victory, Morton refusing to back her 
 ifor a penny. 
 
 Before going further, it may be interesting to relate how 
 I endeavoured to keep Sam Loates at the head of the list of 
 winning jockeys for the season of 1900. At this period there 
 was no little rivalry between the American jockeys and those 
 of the old division. I had strong feelings on this point, and 
 keenly favoured the hope that an Englishman might head 
 the list. At the beginning of the last week of the season 
 it was a race between Sam Loates and Lester Reiff. They 
 stood at 135 and 137 wins respectively. 
 
 It was a tough task that Sam Loates had in front of him, 
 for a lead of two and only the last week to go, was a for- 
 midable one. Leonid and Merrilla both possessed fair chances 
 of winning at Folkestone, and I took them there, Sam Loates 
 xiding at this meeting, while Reiff went to Warwick. Luck
 
 212 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 did not favour Sam, for though he got Leonid home on the- 
 first day, he also rode two seconds in Bogatir and Lyddite, 
 and a third in Baccalaureat, while Lester Reiff tied this one- 
 success by winning on Waltzer in the Midlands. On the 
 second day Sam could only get second twice, on Merrilla and 
 Miss Biddo, while Reiff went one more ahead by the aid of" 
 Karnak. In the hope of gaining another bracket for Sam I 
 sent Leonid on to Manchester. This turned out disastrous, 
 for with odds of 11 to 8 betted on him, Reiff beat him a short 
 head on La Figlia ; but I have an idea Sam rode a little too- 
 confidently on this occasion. This put the result of the race 
 for winning mounts almost beyond hope, but I did not despair, 
 for though Reiff on Orris Root beat my filly St. Flora later in 
 the day, Sarn scored on La Lune. Then Wax Toy. a Yankee 
 horse I had bought, could only get third to Billow, the mount 
 of Reiff, and riding Spectrum in the Final Plate, he landed 
 himself at the head of the list for the season of 1900 with six 
 to spare. My effort to help Sam Loates to pass and beat the- 
 American jockey cost me a very considerable sum, but it was. 
 quite a sporting battle ; we lost, and there it ended. 
 
 Though I had won 11,171 10s. in stakes in 1901, I had not, 
 had a good season. No pne except him who has gone through 
 it, knows the enormous amount which is absorbed in forfeits, 
 fees to officials, and railway charges, to say nothing of the 
 training bill by one running some thirty to forty horses. I 
 mention this because unless an owner continues to be- 
 extremely fortunate he is compelled to reflect on the 
 colloquialism, " I've had some ! " My training bill alone came 
 to something over 100 weekly, while the forfeits, fees, and 
 railway charges, with the boys' and trainer's fares and their 
 expenses, not to mention my own, reduced the winnings in 
 stakes to nil, and left me on the debit side for the season. 
 Being under-capitalised having regard to the stable I was 
 keeping, I realised that something would have to be done 
 to raise the wind, and as the only machinery to set this in 
 motion was a sale, I made it known that I was prepared to-
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 213 
 
 part with any horse I possessed providing a price could be 
 agreed. It is true that J. B. Joel, after her success in the 
 Woodcote, offered me 10,000 for Sceptre "and chance it," 
 T)ut as I had chanced these figures, except that they repre- 
 sented guineas, when she was a yearling, I did not quite 
 appreciate " the chance " so seriously as Joel appeared to do. 
 As was only natural, John Porter, on hearing of the 
 possibility of getting the Eaton-bred two-year-olds into his 
 .stable, was anxious to accomplish this, and it was arranged 
 that he should meet me at Wantage and see '.them, together 
 with Lavengro and the others. 
 
 After inspecting those horses which he wished tfcf see, 
 Porter asked me to put a price in writing on both Duke of 
 Westminster and Sceptre, and to leave the offer open for a< 
 day. I put a stiff one on the former, asking 25,000 guineas, 
 while I purposely offered Sceptre too cheaply, which doubt- 
 less caused a slight suspicion about her the Turf 'is evei* 
 sceptical. I risked asking so little for Sceptre, believing it 
 would create a doubt that something was wrong with her, 
 and having no desire to part with her, I took a big chance. 
 The " Duke " being a colt and unbeaten, was taken away, 
 and I was left with 21,000 guineas and the filly. I certainly 
 believed that Duke of Westminster was the best colt in 
 England at the time, but I had no doubt-^and I frankly 
 admit it that I would beat him with Sceptre the first time 
 they met.
 
 214 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTEK XXVI. 
 
 A CHANGE OF STABLES. 
 
 WAS quite contented with my trainer, but with 
 all men carrying on business, weight of money 
 must tell. This presented itself in the person of 
 Mr. J. B. Joel, who made Morton a very lucra- 
 tive offer to become his private trainer, and from 
 a commercial point of view Morton was perfectly 
 right in accepting this. He waited my con- 
 venience, and after due deliberation I determined to 
 train my own horses. With this in view, I took 
 over Elston House, Shrewton, from John Porter, whose 
 son George had trained there for Mr. Keene, Mr. 
 Gretton, and others. Shrewton presented itself as an ideal 
 training place, for, apart from being healthily situated, with 
 about forty-eight acres of land at my disposal, there were four- 
 distinct training grounds lying north, south, east, and west. 
 How good these Downs were is borne out by the fact that 
 during the two years that I trained my horses I only had one* 
 of the whole lot who ever broke down, and that was Jam Jar, 
 who has since won races. At Lavington there were two 
 gallops of one and a half miles and one and a quarter miles 
 respectively, of the finest turf that can be found on any Downs 
 in England. On Mr. Hooper's farm I had a gallop of one mile 
 straight, which turned into a crescent-shaped gallop of about 
 a mile and a quarter. The home Downs consisted of one mile 
 straight and another of six furlongs, and a horseshoe gallop of
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 215 
 
 a mile and a half, while the Alton Downs gave me a gallop 
 of two miles and a half, the first mile and a half perfectly 
 straight, then, rising out of the valley, a little on the 
 collar, and, taking a wide turn at the top, running on for 
 another mile straight. In the winter, or in the wet season, 
 these grounds were never used, as Salisbury Plain can be 
 galloped over anywhere during those periods. 
 
 The principal thing in a training stable is summed up in 
 one word detail. I believe I left nothing undone. I had my 
 boxes built not in the shape of a yard, as is usual, but in 
 straight lines of from eleven to thirteen scattered about the 
 place. I also had isolated hospital boxes, and in these I 
 always put fresh horses, that I might have bought out of a 
 selling race or elsewhere, before I permitted them to join the 
 string. The hay of Wiltshire is renowned, and it grows in 
 every possible kind. My oats I got from several places, but 
 have great pleasure in stating that those of Messrs. Elsey, of 
 Lincoln, were by far superior to those of any other dealer. I 
 had my own forge and blacksmith on the place ; in short, 
 when I had completed my arrangements and 1 my horses were 
 at Shrewton I do not believe my stable lacked in anything. 
 
 The great essential in the construction of stables is ventila- 
 tion. For this reason I am against the stereotyped yards 
 which are generally in use in the larger and, for that matter, 
 the smaller training establishments in England. True, they 
 give a neat look to the place and are pleasing to the eye, but 
 the eye is not the pulse of health. In building my boxes 
 I favoured wood against bricks, having all the roofs thatched, 
 which I secured by a covering of wire netting of a fine mesh, 
 \vhich formed a protection against birds and vermin of all 
 kinds. Thatch keeps a stable cool in summer and warm in 
 winter. Each box had its ventilating pipes, which ran into 
 larger ones in the roof, where the current found a vent. The 
 doors were in top and bottom halves, and the top part could 
 be left open at any time, the horse being then secured by the 
 closing of a strong gate of stout zinc wire. This gave him
 
 216 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 more air, more sun, and an "open door" to his surroundings. 
 Had the boxes been built in the narrow compass of a yard, 
 it would have been the invariable practice of the horses to 
 have watched their opposite neighbours through these gates, 
 possibly leaving their feed for this purpose and seldom resting. 
 But by having my boxes built in one line and scattered about 
 the- place, not one set of boxes being within view of the other, 
 I could give my horses all the air, sun, and liberty obtainable, 
 without any chance of the retarding effect I have referred to. 
 Nor was this the only advantage gained by the method I 
 adopted. Horses, at least in one respect, are very nigh 
 human. They have their Don Juans and their Hebes among 
 them. Let the former face the latter, with only a gate of 
 thick wire and the space of a yard between them, and did 
 not someone once swim the Hellespont ? 
 
 Nearly all the boxes had chalk floors. These are particu- 
 larly healthy, and can be dug out and refilled as often as 
 deemed desirable. Bricks can, to a limited extent, be kept 
 clean, but they are porous, and therefore must retain a certain 
 amount of insanitary matter. Chalk is a filter. There is never 
 the suggestion of a disagreeable smeil in a stable where the 
 chalk floor is properly kept. The daily scraping takes off a 
 thin layer from the surface ; in other words, the horse has a 
 " clean sheet '' to lie on every night. 
 
 The. boxes all contained long, narrow windows level with 
 the eaves, back and front. These were primarily used to assist 
 the ventilation. They were never both completely closed 
 down, at any time. It may not appear smart to the eye, but 
 in a stable cobwebs should never be swept awaj 7 . They catch 
 the fly. The fly is a pest. Keep your stables sanitarily clean, 
 and the rest will take care of itself. Let the decorations fail 
 to please the critical eye if you will, but do not allow the 
 boxes to offend the nostrils, or your stable will " coma 
 undone." 
 
 Having completed my establishment, I was advised to 
 obtain the services of a man who possessed the qualification
 
 EGBERT STAN&ISH SIEVIEB. 217 
 
 of an American trainer to take charge of my horses. This may 
 sound as if I had been infected with the then raging craze, 
 or desired my horses to be tuned up to a Yankee Doodle 
 concert pitch by the aid of a few double octaves in dopes ; 
 but such was not the case, and, generally speaking, I do not 
 think it would harm a stable to be saved from either or both. 
 Anyway, I engaged one.
 
 218 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 SCEPTRE AND SOME OF HER RACES. 
 
 JCEPTRE was now being prepared for the Lincolnshire- 
 Handicap (1902), and was doing gentle work, 
 preparatory to the more arduous gallops which 
 she would later on have to undergo. Some 
 four weeks before Lincoln I was called away 
 to Paris. The horses were then left in com- 
 plete charge of my American trainer. On 
 my return I found, to my dismay, that Sceptre had 
 gone off her feed, which was quite strange for her, 
 and she appeared nervous, restless, and upset. I soon 
 discovered the cause. She had been galloped a mile 
 in company with Lavengro at racing pace, before she had been 
 got properly ready to undergo so severe a task ; the following 
 day she had gone the same distance with two fresh horses ; 
 the next morning she had been sent a mile again with 
 Lavengro, as fast as he could bring her along ; and on the 
 fourth consecutive day she was set to beat the whole lot at 
 a mile, giving away lumps of weight. Then she had been 
 locked in the stable for a rest ! Little wonder that she had 
 been off her feed ! I was never so near committing a breach 
 of the law in my life ; and as I write I can with difficulty 
 restrain the expression of my feelings. But the miracle was 
 that, except for feeding badly, the filly stood it all ; she was 
 as sound as ever, and her legs were as clean as the day she 
 was foaled. True, she looked tucked up, and was dry in her
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 219 
 
 coat, but the courageous spirit was still there. The abnormal 
 tasks which had been set her had not killed this. Walking her 
 on the Downs the morning following my return, she was 
 actually anxious to go ! I had already written striking her 
 out of " the Lincoln," but in view of the way she went 
 that morning, and remembering that she held a prominent 
 place in the betting, I deferred the posting of my letter to 
 Messrs. Weatherby. There were but some fourteen days to 
 run prior to the race, and I took over the feeding of her 
 entirely, and supervised her exercises I cannot call it work, 
 for of that she had had more than enough. It was now a 
 delicate and anxious task to get her to eat at all. She> 
 ate mostly out of the hand, with an occasional apple or 
 piece of carrot to entice her ; but all my endeavours and 
 resources could not get her to eat more than a measure and 
 a half of oats, which in weight would come to about 5lb 4oz a 
 day. By way of contrast, throughout her St. Leger prepara- 
 tion she consumed six measures a day, about 2!lb, never 
 leaving an oat, a difference of 15lb 12oz per diem ! 
 
 With patience and assiduous attention I succeeded by 
 degrees in getting her to take three measures a day ; she 
 improved steadily, and gained strength ; and being fully aware 
 of her capabilities and marvellous constitution, together with 
 the fact, as I have said, that she held a prominent place in 
 the market on the Lincolnshire Handicap, I decided to run 
 her. I backed her for a large stake, and should have won 
 over 30,000 by her victory, exclusive of the money I had 
 put on for many of my friends, not to mention some of my 
 acquaintances. Not getting off too well, she joined the front 
 rank too early in the race, ultimately being beaten a head 
 by St. Maclou, 7st 12lb. She started a strong favourite at 
 the short odds of 11 to 4. There were a good many who, 
 ever ready to form hasty opinions, adversely criticised Hardy's 
 riding of Sceptre, some even going so far as to say that he 
 had thrown the Lincolnshire Handicap away. These people 
 have no consideration. They do not for a moment make any
 
 220 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 allowance for apprentices during the early period of their 
 career. True, Hardy made great use of the filly, and it is 
 possible he was over-anxious to get home on her ; but this 
 is only too reasonable to imagine would be the case, and 
 light weights, as a rule, have not had the experience of heavy 
 ones. This is known to the owner and the trainer before 
 the boy is put up, and it always has been, and will be, a 
 handicap against the light division. These irresponsible 
 criticisms, which were passed by equally irresponsible persons, 
 even before Hardy had returned to the paddock with Sceptre, 
 annoyed me, and prior to his dismounting, before everybody 
 present, I thanked Hardy for the excellent race he had ridden 
 on her ; and, though I had not won the large sum I had backed 
 her for, I endeavoured thus to express my dissent from the 
 gratuitous opinion of a few men who possibly ought to have 
 known better. In racing there are all sorts of chances to 
 contest against before the winning-post is reached, and it is, 
 in my opinion, unfair that the younger generation of jockeys 
 should be so often blamed, when no more could be expected 
 of them before= they were given the mount. With these 
 feelings I entered the weighing-room, just as Hardy was 
 taking off the colours, and, before the whole of his brother 
 professionals, I pointedly thanked him again for the race he 
 had ridden for me, and I hope it gave him some encourage- 
 ment. I believe it did. If so, I succeeded in carrying out 
 my views, which were that the youngster should not be 
 severely censured because he had got so near, yet not quite 
 near enough. I was not inclined to treat my transatlantic 
 trainer with extenuating consideration^ and having lost the 
 Lincolnshire Handicap, I brought off a double event by seeing 
 that I also lost him. 
 
 In taking over the full charge of my horses I found myself 
 in very good company with Sceptre for a Queen, and having 
 the " Thousands " in my eye (not yet in my pocket), I started 
 on my self-imposed task. It has been stated " in print ; ' that 
 Sceptre was in training the whole of the season, and, though
 
 BOBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 221 
 
 I do not expressly deny this, I must at least qualify the 
 observation. After Lincoln the filly had a sound rest, trotting 
 and cantering for as short a period as possible in the early 
 morning, and going out in the afternoon, sun and weather 
 permitting, to walk and eat grass. Her appetite returned, 
 and her work slowly began to keep time with its increase. 
 She had done more work of a most erratic kind than any 
 three-year-old had ever before been asked to do, and, being 
 a filly, I nursed her. 
 
 The day preceding her departure for Newmarket she did 
 a fine performance on my trial ground, Randall being in the 
 saddle, and being half the size again that she was at Lincoln, 
 I left with her for " headquarters " rich in confidence ; and 
 there my riches ended. One hears of a shoe pinching ; in. 
 my case, I frankly admit, it was the pocket. 
 
 Taking her into the paddock on the day of the Two Thou- 
 sand Guineas caused her instantly to burst into a profuse 
 sweat, so, removing her clothing, I at once sent her out on 
 the Heath. She was so full of courage that it took no little- 
 time and precaution to saddle her ; but, once Randall was on 
 her back, she cooled down to business in a marvellous way. 
 How she won the Two Thousand is common knowledge,, 
 beating with consummate ease such horses as Ard Patrick, 
 Rising Glass, and others, in the then record time of Imin. 
 39secs. Duke of Westminster also ran, it was his first 
 appearance since I sold him, and he shared favouritism 
 with her, but, as I anticipated, she beat him pointless. On 
 the following Friday she won the One Thousand. I have no 
 hesitation in saying that on that day St. Windeline was a 
 good filly, and here again Sceptre made a time record for the 
 fillies' race. In saddling her at the starting-gate she twisted 
 a plate, and the blacksmith not being at his post, as had been 
 arranged, it took all my strength, and a good deal of the skin 
 off my fingers, to wrench it off. I had reason to know that 
 Sceptre was not the only one who perspired before a race. 
 Of the One Thousand I only saw the start, Sceptre got badly
 
 222 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 away, but being ridden patiently, and allowed to warm to her 
 work, which she always wanted to do, she by degrees gained 
 on the leaders. Difficult as it is to follow horses when they 
 are running from you, I could see her creeping up in the style 
 I knew so well, and was confident she had won. The cheers 
 from the stands confirmed this. Short of a front plate, which 
 must have taken at least one or two inches from her each 
 stride, and getting badly away, this was a better performance 
 than most people were aware of. 
 
 In the winter I had backed Sceptre to win the Derby, and 
 the first bet that was obtained for me was one of 1,000 to 30 
 against. Just previous to the running of the Guineas I gave 
 instructions to my commission agent to support her somewhat 
 liberally on my behalf, and on my return to Shrewton I had 
 backed her to win somewhere about 33,000. Giving her a 
 brief rest, I went on with her training for the Derby. This 
 continued satisfactorily until within about ten days of the 
 race, when, after a rousing gallop, I found her lame. She 
 had bruised her foot. 
 
 I shall never forget my feelings, nor shall I ever be able 
 to express them. Here was I, the owner and trainer of the 
 favourite for the Derby, a filly who had just succeeded in 
 winning both the One Thousand and Two Thousand Guineas, 
 a feat never before accomplished, who was perhaps the 
 greatest public favourite our racecourse had ever seen. I 
 was, as it were, her sponsor, and she was lame ! Apart from 
 attending to the injury, the first thing I did was to keep the 
 fact a strict secret ; and so far did I succeed in this, that 
 she did not go back a fraction in the betting. Her injured foot 
 yielded to treatment, and after two days I had her trotting 
 and cantering on the Lavington Gallop, than which there is no 
 better in England. Having got her round, with her appetite 
 now set, I was confident that I would win the Blue Riband 
 of the Turf, a race which it is the chief ambition of every 
 sportsman who owns a racehorse to win. The day of the 
 race came round, and I received permission of the Stewards
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 223 
 
 for Sceptre to go to the post the opposite way of the course, 
 accompanied by Barberstown, a mare who always accom- 
 panied her wherever she went. She was an even-money 
 chance, and I never hedged a sixpence; indeed, I had sup- 
 ported her at as short a price as 5 to 2. She exhibited a 
 disinclination to start, and Avould not go up to the gate, and 
 in consequence got badly away. Another thing which told 
 against her was that she was drawn on the outside. Randall, 
 who had won on her at Newmarket, again rode her, and I 
 am afraid he showed some indiscretion, when he vigorously 
 drove Sceptre up the hill to catch the leaders. In success- 
 fully accomplishing this in so short a space of ground and 
 time, her chance must have been greatly jeopardised, and 
 this, in my opinion, is the chief reason why she was beaten, 
 or, in any event, did not finish second. Every excuse was 
 forthcoming for Randall. It was the first year he was riding 
 .as a professional. What the Derby is to an owner or trainer, 
 it can be no less to a jockey. Sceptre ran neck and neck 
 with Ard Patrick to Tattenham Corner, and came into the 
 straight looking all over a winner ; but this was only for a 
 moment, and the work which had been asked of her in the 
 -early stages of the race began to tell. Changing her legs, 
 she dropped back until she did not even finish third, being 
 beaten by Friar Tuck. 
 
 Having seen to Sceptre and despatched her to the stables, 
 I made my way to the weighing-room to consult my jockey. 
 That the race had been a great strain on Randall was marked 
 on every feature, and he was so upset that he could hardly 
 speak to me. None but those riding an even-money chance 
 in the Derby can realise what it means when they are beaten, 
 and I sympathised with Randall. All he could say to me was, 
 " Please come and speak to me later; I am too upset to talk." 
 He certainly was. Whether the stoppage in her work helped 
 towards her defeat I cannot definitely say, but subsequent 
 events strongly suggest that when she bruised her foot and 
 was forced to stay in the stable for forty-eight hours, it must
 
 224 TE AUTCfelOGBAPBY OF 
 
 to some considerable extent have militated against her 
 chance. 
 
 On the Friday, starting at 5 to 2, she won the Oaks in a 
 canter, with St. Windeline again second, and Elba third ; but 
 in this race Randall waited with her until Tattenham Corner 
 was fairly rounded, and then, letting her stride out, she won 
 in grand style. The reception she received was one which 
 will not be readily forgotten, nor can I call to mind any 
 heroine of the Oaks who has ever been the recipient of so 
 great an ovation. The cheering continued for long after the 
 race, even in face of her defeat in the Derby on the preceding 
 Wednesday. 
 
 After Sceptre's stylish performance in the Oaks, I have 
 since learned that there was a miserable minority which 
 assumed that she did not try in the Derby. One person in 
 particular but never within my hearing continually trum- 
 peted this, and he, I believe, never saw the Derby of that 
 year. Any man who has owned horses, or has any knowledge 
 of racing, should have known better. And such an aspersion 
 was nothing more or less than the cry of a coward, the yelp 
 of a cur. 
 
 I had won the Oaks. Sceptre and I had been cheered to 
 the echo. The ovation was unanimous. I had lost the Derby 
 with the same filly, and though I have never made it public 
 property before, I had lost so much money over Sceptre in 
 that race that I had to visit the offices of Messrs. Pratt and 
 Co., of 9, George Street, Hanover Square, on the Saturday, 
 and request them to advance me the stakes I had won over 
 the Oaks to enable me to settle the bets at the Victoria Club, 
 on the Monday. They obliged me by advancing the amount 
 I required. Hence my winnings on the Oaks did not fully 
 liquidate my losses on the Derby. So much for the canard 
 which one man in particular was ever ready to spread about, 
 and who, when challenged, could only muster sufficient 
 courage to deny that he had spread it.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. .225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE GRAND PRIX, ASCOT, AND THE ST. LEGER, 
 1902. 
 
 AVING already referred to Shrewton, I feel I 
 cannot pass this pretty little sleepy hollow by, 
 without further notice. What I call Shrewton 
 was, and, correctly speaking, still is, comprised 
 of five old hamlets, namely, Shrewton (town of 
 Shrews), Maddington, Rolleston, Orcheston St. 
 George, and Orcheston St. Mary. In the' good 
 old days of yore, these parishes consisted of a few cottages, 
 more or less scattered, but it is quite conceivable that 
 St. George and St. Mary of Orcheston may have had an 
 eye to the future. Anyway, the increase of population, for 
 which Shrewton .and its environs have very rightly gained 
 a most deserving reputation, has caused these five 
 old parishes to link themselves together, with the result 
 that without the different districts being explained to the 
 stranger, he would look upon the whole as the village of 
 Shrewton. I say this with a full apology to Rolleston, which 
 boasts eighteen parishioners all told mostly children! 
 
 This chain of five hamlets makes up a fairly pretty village, 
 on one side shops and houses of varied sizes and shapes, on 
 the* other old trees and a river without water. The " river " 
 is fed by the springs which only rise about four months 
 in the year, except during very wet seasons, when they hold 
 out accordingly. Furthermore, the many military wells which
 
 226 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHT OF 
 
 have been sunk on Salisbury Plain have been the cause of 
 diverting a great deal of the water. The bottom is gravel, 
 so that when dry it is quite inoffensive to the nose. Taking 
 it altogether, Shrewton is perhaps more quaint than pretty. 
 The main street, in other words the village itself, runs snake- 
 like, in curves, and is studded with old timber. 
 
 Generally speaking, the tradesmen, like their shops, are 
 quite up to the standard, and a more respectable or better 
 lot it would be hard to find. I was agreeably surprised to 
 see how advanced they were, not alone in their business, but 
 outside it. One great drawback to the progress of the place 
 is that there are no gentry in the neighbourhood. And yet 
 poor little Shrewton has to face an even greater drawback 
 It has five churches and five parsons ! 
 
 Yet from what I saw of the inhabitants and the parsons I 
 should unhesitatingly say the former were far in advance of 
 the latter. One parish, as I have said, musters in all but 
 eighteen souls, including babies. The result is that one,. or 
 at the most two, make up the congregation. I have, solely 
 out of compassion for the .vicar, often sent my children 
 with their governess to Kolleston church, and they not 
 infrequently have been the sole occupants of the place. Are 
 not these five churches and five parsons helping to hold 
 religion up to mockery? The world is more enlightened now, 
 and Shrewton in this respect is far from being behind the 
 times. Surely one, or, say two, well-filled churches would 
 leave a better impression than a sprinkling of congregations 
 here and there. If Shrewton and its district, not forgetting 
 the camps pitched on the Plain close by, only require two 
 policemen, they cannot possibly want five parsons ! 
 
 Thus sermons abound in Shrewton, and perhaps for once, 
 to reverse the order of things, it might not be entirely 
 uncalled for to ask these five gentlemen of the cloth to listen 
 to one. For that matter these remarks may equally apply to 
 the dear ladies, and one or two of the sterner sex, who control 
 Shrewton society! 
 
 About a couple of years ago the Postmaster, who had held
 
 BOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 227 
 
 office at Shrewton for pretty well half a century, died. He 
 had been a faithful, obliging servant, and was identified with 
 the place. His grave remained rough and uncared for, as 
 the gravedigger had left it. Not one came forward or made 
 any attempt practically to recognise in the only way then 
 possible, the many obliging acts which the old Postmaster 
 had performed in his lifetime. Strange, and had it not been 
 for an unworthy racehorse owner, no memorial stone would 
 have adorned the uncouth mound of earth which marked his 
 resting place. Not that this owner of horses, and trainer to 
 boot, was an old inhabitant on the contrary ; but he had this 
 mark of esteem erected in the village churchyard solely out of 
 respect for grey hairs and as a sermon in stone. 
 
 Harking back, there are few men, if any, who have won the 
 Two Thousand Guineas and have been served with a writ for 
 a paltry amount within an hour of its accomplishment. This 
 happened to me, and strange as it may sound, the writ was 
 issued at the suit of an inhabitant of Newmarket, namely, 
 Gilbert the saddler. I had only a few minutes previously 
 subscribed fifty pounds towards the Newmarket Coronation 
 festivities ! Nor had I forgotten Shrewton in this respect, 
 having placed 200 in the hands of the five parsons, which 
 sum I insisted was to be spent to the last farthing in honour 
 of our King. One of the clerics was a solid teetotaler, and 
 there were some rare old ructions in committee as to whether 
 the beer to be provided should be malt or ginger. This 
 knotty point was submitted to me, and I quickly put the 
 matter at rest by writing across the question in red ink 
 "Both." 
 
 We now know that the running in the Derby improved 
 Sceptre to such an extent that she won the Oaks in a canter, 
 and as she kept fresh and well I determined to dispatch her to 
 France. Though it was a long time since England had taken 
 the spoils of the Grand Prix, I felt that a good chance existed 
 of again bringing the prize home to England. This policy has 
 been frequently condemned, but to criticise is an easy task,
 
 228 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 whilst to train is to be subjected at times to unfair criticism. 
 I left her at Epsom under the charge of Mr. Goodgames, and 
 preceded her to Paris, so that I might have everything in- 
 readiness for her reception. Some few days before the race- 
 was due to be run Sceptre was boxed at Epsom at 7.30 a.m.^ 
 and was swung on and off the boat without being changed 
 from the van she travelled in. During the journey she ate her 
 hay, corn, and green stuff with avidity, arriving at her quarters 
 in Paris just before 11 o'clock that evening. She stepped out 
 of the van showing no signs of fatigue. M. Halbron, who- 
 generously places his stables at the disposal of all English 
 owners running horses in France, was there to receive her, 
 and I again take this opportunity of thanking him for his. 
 kindness and for the interest he exhibited in the welfare of 
 us all. I know of no similar reciprocity of courtesy to French-, 
 horses and owners on this side of the Channel. 
 
 The Grand Prix is an international contest. Unlike most 
 of the French races, it is open to the whole of the world, and 
 horses of almost every nationality are entered for it. Now 
 that the entente cordiale is so thoroughly established, would 
 not this be an opportune moment for the French Jockey Club' 
 to throw the whole of their races open to the world, or, as a 
 distinctive mark of amity, to England? To a man with any 
 sporting instincts, the attempt to win an international race is. 
 a great temptation, more especially when linked with such a 
 chance as I believed I possessed in Sceptre. I could not help 
 remarking the courtesy which was extended to me, and I can 
 only compare it with the ovation which was accorded Monsieur 
 Blanc and Val d'Or, when he won the Eclipse Stakes at 
 Sandown Park. 
 
 A steward of the French Jockey Club very courteously 
 asked me if I had a reserved seat from which to view the race, 
 and on my replying in the negative he gave me a ticket for a 
 private box ; but this was found to be overcrowded. Imme- 
 diately, and without the least hesitation, he invited me into 
 the Stewards' box, and from this point of vantage I saw the-
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 229 
 
 Grand Prix run for. On the smaller events preceding the 
 Grand Prix, I had won about 26,000 francs, and this is the 
 sum I had on Sceptre. Randall, who had had the mount both 
 in the Derby and Oaks, came across to ride her. Whether 
 he suffered from the nervousness he had displayed at Epsom, 
 or took extreme precaution on account of his riding in a field 
 of strange jockeys I cannot say ; but he left on me the 
 impression, and this has never been removed, that he did not 
 display that nerve which one likes to see in a jockey about to 
 contest a great race. True, it is common knowledge that 
 Continental riders are ever ready to bustle and jostle the 
 visitors, and in a race like the Grand Prix this does not add 
 to the jockey's confidence. I may recall the extreme pre- 
 caution enforced upon M. Cannon when he rode Matchbox in 
 this race. It was much the same with Sceptre, except that 
 apparently the precaution to resist foul play was in her case 
 still greater. At this period that mechanical contrivance 
 called the " starting-gate " was not in vogue . in France. 
 Nevertheless Randall took things quite leisurely, and when 
 the flag fell did not get well away. Starting in the middle of 
 the course, Sceptre was permitted to remain outside every- 
 thing all the way, which in itself would account for a very 
 -considerable distance of ground. So they ran, the filly 
 always going well within herself. When rounding the final 
 turn near home she held a position so far on the outside 
 of her field that she actually appeared to be in front of those 
 .going the nearest way, being still covered by the angle of the 
 rails. Shouts went up for Sceptre, but when they came into 
 line it was seen that instead of being in front she was some 
 lengths behind, and favouring the stand side of the course 
 instead of that of the winning post. It was a desperate race 
 between the first three, Kizil Kourgan winning by a head 
 from Retz and Maximum, who ran a dead-heat for second 
 place, Sceptre finishing about two or three lengths behind the 
 winner. I am as certain as it is possible for a man to be that 
 Sceptre went at least 200 yards further than the victor. The
 
 230 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Stewards of the French Jockey Club had cautioned the jockeys 
 prior to the race, and this was not likely to add to the com- 
 fort of the visitors, for it practically admitted the existence 
 of unfair and foul riding. I do not for a moment wish to 
 detract from Randall's capabilities as a jockey and a horse- 
 man ; on the contrary, I am sure that when he relinquished 
 the amateur for the professional grade, he did so with ability 
 on his side, and the improvement he has wrought in himself 
 by constant practice has placed him among the foremost in 
 his business. The race did Sceptre no harm, she ate up 
 as usual, and having several engagements at Ascot, I shocked 
 those owners and trainers who keep their horses in glass cases 
 by deciding to run her, and she left La Belle France on the 
 day after the Grand Prix and proceeded to Ascot. On 
 Wednesday I ran her in the Coronation Stakes, when, getting 
 away badly, she failed to concede Doctrine a stone. I shall 
 always look upon this race as one of her greatest perform- 
 ances. Left many lengths behind, when the horses came 
 into full view one might reasonably have thought that she 
 had broken down, or had met with an accident ; but no ! On 
 she followed, a rearguard to the stragglers behind. Then 
 suddenly Randall appeared to realise his position, and, as 
 though by magic, she swept round the turn almost as wide as 
 in the Grand Prix, and resolutely galloping up Ascot Hill 
 drew almost level with the leaders. Here the race hung 
 in the balance for some strides, but the gigantic effort, the 
 terrific speed she must have put in. carrying the full penalty 
 of 9st lOlb, giving away a stone, and in some cases 211b, told 
 its tale, and nature could not withstand the strain. How she 
 ever got into such a hopeless position in the early stages of 
 the race I did not take the trouble to inquire, but I learned 
 afterwards that she had fly-bucked at the post and unseated 
 the jockey. The Anglo-American seat may have its advan- 
 tages, but in cases such as the above the rider frequently 
 finds another seat, that of terra firma. In this case I believe 
 it was a blackberry bush ! When Randall returned to scale
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 231 
 
 he did not report to me that the mare had dislodged him at 
 the starting-gate and got loose. Under the circumstances he 
 never rode Sceptre again. 
 
 The following day, with this gallop in her, she, with Hardy 
 up, won the St. James's Palace Stakes, easily beating Flying 
 Lemur, Rising Glass, and five others. This conclusively points 
 to Sceptre's extraordinary nature. In my opinion, had the 
 races been reversed, she would have lost the St. James's 
 Palace Stakes, and have won the Coronation Stakes on the 
 following day. Had Sceptre ever run a dead-heat, I have no 
 hesitation in saying that the run-off would have been an 
 absolute certainty for her. Inconceivable as it may appear, 
 she would, I fully believe, have run better in the run-off than 
 on the first occasion. Had I run her in the Hardwicke Stakes 
 on the Friday, I believe she would have won this more easily 
 than when she beat Flying Lemur. Were proof needed, her 
 subsequent Goodwood running fully confirms what I have 
 stated. 
 
 After Ascot I eased her up completely, but with what 
 result 1 No sooner did she cease to do her usual work than 
 she began to feed less ; in short, extraordinary as it may 
 sound, work was to her an appetiser. Her first engagement 
 at Goodwood was in the Sussex Stakes, in which she was 
 beaten two lengths by Royal Lancer, conceding him 6lb, in 
 other words, 9lb at weight for sex. It was this race which 
 fully convinced me that if Sceptre did not regularly have 
 abnormal work she was useless. After this race she pulled up 
 so blown and stuffy that there were critics ready to assume 
 she made a noise, and this was hinted in more than one paper. 
 Happily nature had provided Sceptre with legs to withstand 
 the extraordinary training she required, though it must not 
 be forgotten that during 1902 and 1903 our summers were wet 
 ones, and the going generally on the soft side. The. day follow- 
 ing her defeat in the Sussex Stakes, I shocked the majority 
 of the Goodwood early birds by sending her, with Hardy up, 
 at first six furlongs sharp, then, after walking her about, a
 
 232 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 mile and a half at good three-quarter speed, and on the follow- 
 ing morning, she being due to run that afternoon in the 
 Nassau Stakes, I sent her a sharp mile as quickly as she could 
 go. She had to give heaps of weight away all round. She 
 won the race in a canter by four lengths, Elba finishing second, 
 receiving no less than 17lb, with Ballantrae beaten a distance. 
 Had Royal Lancer met her that day I do not think he would 
 have fared any better than did the rest of her opponents. 
 It was my experiences at Goodwood which won me the St. 
 Leger with Sceptre that year. 
 
 I had from five to six weeks before me prior to the St. 
 Leger, and, returning home with her, she thrived daily on long 
 gallops of all distances, eating her hay and corn with the same 
 precision as her matchless action, putting on muscle, revelling 
 in her daily work without intermission, and stumping up a 
 horse a week ! 
 
 Not long before the St. Leger, I was approached by Mr. 
 Horatio Bottomley with a view to Sceptre having a gallop 
 with his horse Wargrave, who had just won the Ebor Handi- 
 cap. The idea of the proposal, I understood, was to discover 
 the merits of Wargrave with a view to the Cesarewitch, the 
 filly's subsequent running in the Doncaster race to be the 
 guide. I acquiesced, and in due course Batho arrived at 
 Shrewton with Wargrave and the stable jockey. 
 
 The order was secrecy, and Wargrave was stabled at a 
 farm about a mile away from my place, while preparations 
 were made to "dodge" the tout by starting the following 
 morning before the day had fairly broken. In the grey mist, 
 before the reflection heralding the rising sun had spread its 
 crimson carpet in the sky, Sceptre, Wargrave, and Silverhamp- 
 ton were making their way across Salisbury Plain to a spot 
 known as "Newfoundland." Here Laodamia, Comedy, and 
 many other good horses had been trained in times gone by, 
 while the old village folk can rattle off the names of several 
 Derby winners who have done their final gallops in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Shrewton. It was my desire to try them on the
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 233 
 
 straight two miles gallop known as " Alton," which runs 
 on a ridge above the Knighton gallop in the valley below, but 
 the going was inclined to be hard here, so I determined to run 
 on the lower ground, which is two miles and a quarter in 
 length with one turn. The first mile and a half is straight, 
 rising out of the valley until the collar is quite as severe as 
 the finish at Ascot. At the top of this is a turn with a dead flat 
 run-in. The jockeys received instructions to pull up at the 
 mile and six furlongs post, or two furlongs beyond the turn. 
 I expressed my doubts about this gallop, as Sceptre had 
 done regular work here, and had never once been asked to go 
 beyond this turn, having, indeed, always begun to pull up 
 before reaching it, and being so well acquainted with her pecu- 
 liarities, I was afraid she might stop here according to her 
 custom. Sceptre and Wargrave were at even weights, with 
 Silverhampton carrying a "feather." The latter on book 
 credentials useless, but at home a very good mare started at 
 the far end of the valley. The horse got some two lengths 
 the best of the start ; Silverhampton, spinning away as was her 
 wont when not out racing, came along a cracker, Sceptre 
 pulling over them for the first six furlongs, when, against all 
 orders, the boy let her have her head for a second, and in a 
 stride, as it were, she was leading them some three or four 
 lengths. The change of places was magical, it was so 
 instantaneous. I muttered a brief word, not for publication, 
 and, turning to Batho, added, " She will never take the turn 
 with nothing to bring her along." On she sped pulling double, 
 and Wargrave, I may say, was well behind her. 
 
 On they came at a smashing pace, Silverhampton fading 
 away. The crucial point was being neared. Would she round 
 the point with nothing to lead her ? She passed the last 
 furlong post before the bend. In a second she began to look 
 about, and in less time than it takes to clap one's hands she 
 slackened down, apparently, to those who did not know her, 
 beaten. Wargrave consequently caught her at the turn, and, 
 with Silverhampton, passed her ; but Sceptre had done her
 
 234 THE AUTOSIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 usual gallop on this ground, she had reached her destination, 
 and knew the " pulling up post " too well from past experience. 
 She had Wargrave well beaten, and was merely cantering when 
 she stopped. To all intents and purposes she had won the 
 gallop, and personally I was quite satisfied. 
 
 *S' Spider " was the sobriquet of the boy who rode and " did " 
 Sceptre, and good and honest lad though he was, the tempta- 
 tion to show off and beat the stranger ridden by a professional 
 was too great, so, disobeying strict injunctions, h let Sceptre 
 out instead of waiting to be led round the turn. Had that 
 been accomplished she would then, I am sure, have gone on 
 in the manner already described in the earlier stages of the 
 gallop. Poor " Spider " was very sorry for himself, and 
 candidly admitted the mistake, pleading over-excitement, 
 while he was no less outspoken as to " what she'd a' done if 
 she had only known of the turn." 
 
 I there and 1 then impressed on Batho, to the best of my 
 ability, that he should take no notice of the< gallop, that it 
 was all wrong ; but sooner than disappoint him and War- 
 grave's owner I would gladly give them another trial after 
 the St. Leger. Being convinced that my estimate of the 
 gallop w T as correct, I felt I could make no fairer offer, and 
 no more straightforward or sporting proposition. But Mr. 
 Horatio Bottomley and his friend dissented from my view of 
 the trial, and, guided by what they incorrectly considered the 
 true state of things, laid against Sceptre for the St. Leger. 
 My commission agent took one large bet of 5,000 from their 
 representative, but even this did not convince them, and 
 they continued to lay against " the old lady," as they now 
 know to their cost. 
 
 That the field for the St. Leger was a good one, and above 
 the average, is certain, for Rising Glass, who ran second to 
 her in the race', did not know defeat afterwards that season, 
 and he beat, amongst others, Templemore, giving him a year 
 and 6lb. Templemore in turn vanquished Black Sand, the 
 winner of the Cesarewitch, who subsequently defeated William
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH SIEYIEB. 235 
 
 the Third, winner of the Ascot Gold Cup, at the last New- 
 market meeting of the year. 
 
 Perhaps the most extraordinary circumstance in connection 
 with the St. Leger was the betting. I had supported Sceptre, 
 and up to flagfall backed her on every opportunity ; all my 
 friends and the majority of my acquaintances and the 
 latter would make a goodly number had likewise freely 
 supported her. There was no secret, and I had publicly 
 expressed my sanguine conviction that she was well and 
 would win ; but in face of her well being, the more money 
 that went on her the worse favourite she became ; she was 
 shuttlecocked about in the market in an alarming manner, 
 amply sufficient to create a suspicion of a screw being loose 
 somewhere. I could not discover the screw nor its insecurity, 
 but it made my responsibility for the St. Leger favourite no 
 less, for I had, in losing, all to lose. 
 
 It is not for me to describe how Sceptre won the St. Leger, 
 to comment on her great "reception," nor to say how much 
 I shall ever cheris-h my pride in her.
 
 236 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIX. 
 SOME REMARKS CONCERNING SCEPTRE. 
 
 ICEPTRE'S last race this season was in the Park 
 Hill Stakes at Doncaster, which she lost, attempt- 
 ing to give Elba 12lb forty-eight hours after the 
 St. Leger. After she had lost, it was a matter of 
 regret that she started ; but it looked a mere 
 walk-over for her, and this was a general view, 
 proved by the fact that 4 and even 5 to 1 was 
 laid on her winning. But her severe St. Leger prepara- 
 tion, the great task she accomplished (see Rising 
 Glass's subsequent form) in heavy going, had left its 
 effects, and they told against her beyond my judgment or 
 belief. This I shall always deplore ; but that the St. Leger 
 of 1902 was a severe one, much more so than was generally 
 appreciated, is further endorsed by the running of Rising Glass 
 on this same Friday afternoon, for it took him all his time 
 to beat an indifferent horse like Perfectionist, the race being 
 in the balance at the Intake turn. Wednesday's struggle 
 had left its mark behind on one as on the other, but unfor- 
 tunately for Sceptre, carrying the welter weight of 9st 8lb, 
 she had to meet Elba, fresh and perhaps better than she had 
 ever been in her life, with 8st lOlb up, while Rising Glass, 
 after a fair fight a couple of furlongs from home, beat Perfec- 
 tionist at even weights w r ith the reasonable impost of 8st 12lb. 
 As to the respective merits of Perfectionist and Elba, the 
 filly has since proved herself vastly superior to the colt.
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEriEE. 237 
 
 Furthermore, Elba carried more muscle and looked better 
 on this particular day than she ever did before. The only 
 time she has since approached being anything like her former 
 self, was when she won the Great Metropolitan at Epsom, 
 and it was solely on account of her " rejuvenated " appearance- 
 that I backed her for this race. In the Cesarewitch following 
 Sceptre's St. Leger she looked tucked up and fretful, but- 
 had she been the Elba of the Park Hill Stakes day she must 
 have won the long-distance handicap of the year in a common 
 canter. Her running at Ascot and Doncaster with Sceptre 
 fully proves how well she was at the latter place, no matter 
 what excuses may be made for the St. Leger heroine. 
 
 It may be of interest to describe here the winding-tip 
 gallops I gave Sceptre prior to the St. Leger. As I have- 
 already mentioned, taking the filly to Goodwood won me the- 
 race. That she was, if anything, a stayer, I had fully satisfied 
 myself. It had been a wet season, and having ascertained 
 that the going on the Town Moor was good, I took the mare- 
 to Doncaster, accompanying her myself, on the Saturday pre- 
 ceding the race. I had arranged that Hardy should come on 
 there after racing that day, and be ready to ride her on 
 Sunday morning, Mr. I'Anson having kindly consented that 
 the- chains should be taken down, and that I should have the- 
 use of the course. 
 
 She travelled well. On the Sunday morning, with Hardy 
 up, I sent her the full length of the St. Leger course, a little 
 over one mile and three-quarters. The following day she 
 went six furlongs sharp, followed at an interval by a mile at 
 racing pace. On the Tuesday, the day preceding the race, she 
 again negotiated the full course, being brought along by three- 
 different horses, stationed at successive distances of about 
 five furlongs from each other. I told Hardy that if he did 
 not beat each one in succession he would not ride her in the 
 race. I had two solid reasons for this. Firstly, the enormous, 
 amount of work the filly required in the last forty-eight hours 
 of her winding-up, and secondly, the common practice among.
 
 238 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 jockeys, who too often assume the position of trainer, and 
 ride horses in gallops according to their own views, rather 
 than in accordance with the instructions given to them. Not 
 that Hardy ever took this course. On the contrary, a better- 
 behaved lad in this respect I have never met. He obeyed my 
 orders to the letter. 
 
 On the morning of the race I had the " old lady " out early, 
 long before the majority of the. onlookers were about, and, 
 after a sharp canter, sent her a mile and a bit, the last six 
 furlongs as sharp as she could go. On returning to the stables 
 she had about two pulls of water and a double handful of 
 corn. The normal quantity given to a horse due to run eight 
 hours later would have left her stuffy. I merely recapitulate 
 these facts to show what some horses require. That she 
 would have won the great race of the North had she not been 
 subjected to the two last gallops I have referred to, I do not 
 for an instant believe. In my opinion the St. Leger was 
 Sceptre's greatest victory. Anyway, the cheers which accom- 
 panied her home are ringing in my ears as I write. 
 
 She did not run again that year ; nevertheless, in a letter 
 which the " Sportsman " thought fit to publish it was 
 suggested that I left her in the Cambridgeshire for an ulterior 
 motive and then scratched her. I have nothing to say upon 
 the point beyond the- fact that the writer died in a mad- 
 house some few months afterwards. This will in no way 
 surprise those who have the misfortune to be acquainted with 
 the general run of letters which from time to time appear 
 in the daily sporting Press. 
 
 Adverting for an instant to the " Thousands," I must not 
 omit to record that I refused two bona-fide offers of 38,000 
 and 40,000 guineas for Sceptre. The latter offer came from 
 an American millionaire, or, rather, his agent, and on my 
 declining it he asked me to put a price on the filly. I replied : 
 "Well, we'll start with New York on account." Though I 
 had to borrow to help me settle the bets I lost over her in 
 the Derby, I stuck to her as long as the sinews of war held
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 239 
 
 out; but nothing melts quicker than money when it once 
 starts on the liquid course. Quicksilver is a baby to it. 
 
 I had won a few small races with one or two others in 
 the stable, and at the end of the- season 1902 headed the 
 winning list of owners, 23,686 being the amount placed to 
 my credit in prizes. To the uninitiated this may sound a 
 large sum of money to win. But to those- who have had to 
 support a large stable such as I kept up, on the best possible 
 lines, such a sum is almost entirely, if not quite, absorbed in 
 expenses and forfeits. If this is so in a successful year, what 
 must be the loss in a bad one 1 I am referring only to owners 
 who keep up a big string and run their horses as sportsmen. 
 That racing can be run on commercial lines and made to pay 
 is abundantly proved. That times are not quite as " simple " 
 as they used to be goes without saying, and for this reason 
 more than one commercial house has threatened to " chuck 
 it." The sooner they carry out their threat, the greater 
 welcome it will receive. Nevertheless, my experience tells 
 me that some consideration will, sooner or later, have to be 
 extended to the owner, or he will slowly but surely become 
 extinct. It is impossible, under the present state of things, 
 that an owner on a large scale is ever likely to receive that 
 encouragement which he may possibly consider he deserves. 
 Forfeits, fees which are little else but taxes on stakes, &c., 
 &c., will, sooner or later, submerge him, and once he begins 
 to go under there he will stop until he is drowned. Always 
 providing he has a limited capital ; also that he is a sportsman. 
 The authorities hate reforms, but the- day has surely come 
 when the revenue required to support racing should be derived 
 from the companies of gate-money meetings. When this 
 change from the open meetings first came into force the owners 
 should have been relieved, and the executives of the different 
 dividend-paying racecourses made to bear a portion of their 
 expenses. Difficult it may be to carry into effect, but I say 
 in all seriousness that unless the owner receives some relief 
 from the many expenses he is now mulcted in, he will las
 
 240 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 compelled to throw up the sponge, or resort to those tricks 
 which handicap the handicappers, and at times play havoc 
 with the public. 
 
 Though I had achieved with Sceptre the unprecedented feat 
 of absolutely winning four classics out of the five, and though 
 I trained and owned her, and was the first trainer ever to head 
 the List of Winning Owners, the- expenses of the upkeep of 
 such a large stable as I had gathered together, clearly showed 
 me that, even with apparent success, I was under capitalised 
 I was rich in horseflesh, but poor in pocket. To offer 
 racehorses, no matter how valuable, to one's bankers as a 
 security is about as useful as waving a red rag before a bull. 
 It was after a hard struggle that I was forced to send Sceptre 
 to the sale ring in the December of this particular year. I 
 could not help myself. She was, as it were, the asset of the 
 establishment. Only those who have owned and loved a 
 great horse will appreciate my feelings. Only those who have 
 gone through the whirlpool of financial troubles will under- 
 stand my position. 
 
 Arrived at Newmarket, I put a reserve of 24,000 guineas 
 on her. In the stable she looked perfect, even with her long 
 coat, which she annually grew, but which with age came less 
 each year. It was a horrible moment when she stepped out 
 of her box on her way to the sale paddocks at Newmarket. 
 Even the name of Tattersall at that moment had no pleasant 
 sound for me. It was a cold December morning. Xo sooner 
 had she started on her way than the east wind caught her. 
 Her coat, a few minutes before all gloss, had turned, and 
 she looked, to the everyday critic, a different creature. She 
 entered the sale ring. Mr. Somerville Tattersall put her in 
 at her reserve, namely, 24,000 guineas. There was a silence. 
 I can distinctly call to mind Mr. Chaplin trying to infuse 
 some animation into one or two rich men to bid, almost 
 suggesting that he wished it was all happening twenty years 
 ago ; how he would then have bid and bought. I think I 
 heard him ejaculate, " Go on, bid up." But no one displayed
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 241 
 
 either the pluck or the judgment, and, embarrassed as I was 
 pecuniarily, I felt, as she walked out of the- ring, much more 
 relieved, much happier, if possible, in my enthusiasm at 
 retaining her; much richer than had she gone. 
 
 The inexperienced may be under the impression that winter 
 is the hibernating season of those engaged in training horses 
 for flat-racing. It is quite the reverse, that is if the trainer is 
 a man who attends to his business by superintending it. The 
 yearling is the foundation of the racehorse. Too much care- 
 cannot be devoted to it. Its breaking-in in its baby days is, 
 in my opinion, the most intricate and important detail of a 
 racing establishment. The trainer has not only successfully 
 to discover the temperament of the yearling, but he should 
 also have a shrewd knowledge of the temperament of the lad 
 who he has decided shall "back" this colt or that filly. An 
 impatient lad may easily cause irremediable evil, heavy hands 
 will create a " heavy " mouth, a few intemperate strokes with 
 the cane will probably cause chronic nervousness, commonly 
 dubbed excitement. Without a perfectly all-round balanced 
 lad, the yearling may quickly favour hanging to one side or 
 the other, and in this respect once get him "fixed," neither 
 good St. Archer nor St. Fordham could get him right again. 
 . Not even that jockey who possessed the -best hands of them 
 all, Tom Cannon, and he is not yet a saint I am pleased to 
 record, could reclaim a youngster who in his early days has 
 been given a bad mouth. But having successfully got over 
 the stage of the breaking-in of the baby, and having taught 
 him to walk straight without sidling about on the sight of 
 this or that ; in short, having accustomed him to the " proba- 
 bilities " of an everyday life, he has yet to learn to gallop. 
 At this point the lad in charge is apt to become over- 
 zealous. He is " busting " to jump him off and show the rest 
 what he can do. Stable lads vie with each other in this 
 respect, with much greater zest than do some jockeys when 
 riding in a race ! 
 
 The difficulty the careful trainer has in keeping the- boys in
 
 242 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 hand is incredible. The young horses, full of courage, are 
 ready to run away on the least inducement ; and there is a 
 great difference between running away and galloping. Very 
 few lads appreciate this, and there are trainers who allow 
 this grievous mistake to occur year after year, venting their 
 " private dictionary " on the lads after the mischief is done. 
 The legs of many a valuable yearling have been damaged for 
 ever at this stage of his schooling. As a, baby learns to walk, 
 so a yearling should learn to gallop by degrees. He should 
 be so broken and encouraged that, led by the head lad's hack, 
 or any similar slow, sober old gentleman capable of setting a 
 good example, he can be ridden as a hack, before attempting 
 to start him galloping upsides the rest of the inmates of the 
 nursery. And always have a gelding to lead him. Patience, 
 we are told, is a virtue ; in the breaking and training of 
 youngsters it is an absolute essential. Not the least detail 
 must be missed. 
 
 Then comes the final part of his education, one which 
 appears to be opposed to all sporting instincts, though com- 
 mercially it may save time. The baby has to be brought 
 under the barrier of the starting-gate. This is possibly the 
 most crucial period of his early days, and there are not a few 
 whose tempers are ruined, or at least injured, at the circus- 
 like business which has to be gone through before they can 
 be accustomed, if they ever are, to this artificial adjunct to 
 sport. True, there are some youngsters who take to the gate 
 almost at once ; but there are others. We are so inclined 
 to look to the successes that we often take no heed of the 
 failures. But the gate has come to stay, and that being so, 
 I can do no good by here dwelling on its bad side stern fact 
 says, there it is, take it or leave it. I think I have now 
 established what I wished to explain to those unacquainted 
 with a legitimate racing stable, namely, that the winter season 
 is no holiday, but a busy and most anxious time for any trainer 
 worthy of the name. 
 
 So far as the owner is concerned, the great obstacle he
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 243 
 
 has to face is that there are no prizes to be run for during 
 this period, and he has to pay his training and other bills, 
 with no possible chance of anything coming in, unless he 
 descends to the fast-languishing sport under National Hunt 
 Kules. Once a sport in which many a good man indulged, 
 and an open field for the amateur, it has for the past few 
 years drooped and drooped to such an extent, that unless 
 somebody comes to the rescue it will soon to all intents and 
 purposes become extinct. It wants the support of aspirants 
 to Grand National honours, either as owners or amateur 
 jockeys. In the eighties and earlier there were many. 
 Where are they to be found to-day ? The best men I ever 
 knew I am speaking of all-round sportsmen are now 
 passing the meridian of life, or have, alas ! passed it, and 
 their deeds in the field and on the Turf are now but pleasant 
 reminiscences. I can see no youngster to-day likely to follow 
 in their footsteps. This is the knell which has been sounding 
 the gradual decay of a most glorious sport, full of traditions, 
 full of ceaseless adventures and stories, full of those chances 
 and risks which the youngster of the present day appears 
 only too anxious to avoid.
 
 244 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY <>! 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE SALE OF SCEPTRE. 
 
 ATHER from necessity than choice, I "was com- 
 pelled to continue running horses during the 
 close season on the flat, and with Barberstown 
 (Bobsie I have already referred to) and a few 
 others I managed to win some races, and suc- 
 ceeded in what I believe is the prevailing spirit 
 of 'chasing nowadays I refer to the new school, 
 not the old I made it pay. 
 
 By the aid of this I was enabled to hang on to Sceptre, 
 and as a final shot, whether I was to retain her or 
 not, I took Hobson's choice, and ran her in the Lincoln- 
 shire Handicap. Financial matters were in a critical state 
 with me that is, unless I sold, and creditors who had dis- 
 played reasonable patience, for which I sincerely thank them. 
 were beginning to " place the matter in the hands of my 
 solicitor." 
 
 Lincoln is not a galloping course-, and I can imagine none 
 more unsuitable to the " old lady " ; but there it was win. 
 and I could retain her; lose or not run, and she must go to 
 meet the just demands made upon me. The rest of my horses 
 had done little, and would not have realised their value, 
 much less sufficient to meet my liabilities. Therefore the 
 Lincoln of 1903 had to decide a lot for me. I got her well, 
 but the length of the course, an easy mile, was all against 
 her. and I was more than doubtful, indeed. I was certain.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 245 
 
 she would not strike the ground quickly enough to be in it 
 with them in the early part of the race. I had not backed 
 her for a large sum, though she was a good favourite, but 
 merely for sufficient to carry me over the stile if she won. 
 
 She cantered to the post full of that fire which I liked to 
 see her display, and before long " They're off " re-echoed in 
 the stands. My opinion was confirmed. Sceptre had not 
 begun with her field, and was not to be found among the 
 leaders. Over Norton, always: nicely placed on ' the rails, 
 took up the running a long way from home, and won com- 
 fortably, with Portcullis second, Ypsilanti (7st 9lb) third. 
 "Sceptre (9st lib), easing up, being placed fifth, a head behind 
 Cliftonhall, who had only 6st lOlb. The falseness of the race 
 is proved by the position occupied by Ypsilanti, not to men- 
 tion Cliftonhall. In any case, Sceptre had been set a for- 
 midable task, as the form subsequently proved. 
 
 It was my last chance of retaining a mare I had more 
 than an affection for, and I accepted the inevitable. 
 
 No sooner has a man a horse for sale, than a certain set 
 start a scandal'as to its well-being, soundness, or something 
 or other. The prevailing canard in connection with Sceptre 
 was that she made a noise. "Bob Sievier would never sell 
 her if she was all right." How little did they know what 
 Bob Sievier had gone through, and the struggle he had made 
 to hang on to her as long as he had done ! The outsider is a 
 poor, suspicious mortal even impecuniosity must carry with 
 it some motive ! 
 
 It so happened that Mr. Arthur Chetwynd was due to stay 
 -with me at Liverpool for the National week. At that time 
 he managed Mr. Bass's horses, and that gentleman can never 
 look back with regret to the deals which Mr. Chetwynd made 
 on his behalf, at my suggestion. No sooner had I put the 
 fact of Sceptre being for sale before Mr. Chetwynd than he 
 cabled to India. Asking the price I put upon her, I replied 
 25,000 guineas. He inquired if the shillings were for him 
 as commission, this being customary in deals where a middle-
 
 246 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 man intervenes. I answered in the affirmative. He said : 
 " Then I shall cable 25,000, for I could not accept anything 
 out of the transaction." The next morning the answer came, 
 and Sceptre was no longer mine. I had sold her on the 
 spot, but at the subsequent request of Mr. Chetwynd I agreed 
 that she should pass a veterinary examination. Mr. Leach, 
 of Newmarket, as excellent a vet. as he is good-natured, 
 duly arrived at Shrewton. Knowing how thick-winded 
 Sceptre was, I gave her plenty of work preceding his arrival, 
 and she passed without much difficulty. 
 
 Then Alec Taylor came along to take her away well, I 
 bore it very well, all things considered, and I do not wish to 
 look upon the scene again. 
 
 During her two-year-old career Sceptre won two-thirds of 
 her races, and as a three-year-old won half. The whole of 
 the latter, with the exception of the " Thousands," were run 
 on good! or soft going, an important feature which some of 
 her captious critics have always overlooked. Had the going 
 been hard, she would undoubtedly have missed some of her 
 minor engagements, but fortune favoured her in this respect. 
 
 Sceptre's various records for races, apart from the nominal 
 records of being the highest-priced yearling ever sold, and 
 being trained by her owner, an amateur, are as under: 
 Winning the Woodcote Stakes, Epsom (for two-year-olds), 
 6 furlongs in Imin 10 3-5sec ; the Two Thousand Guineas, 
 one mile in Imin 39sec ; the Nassau Stakes, Goodwood, one 
 mile and a half in 2min 40sec ; and the record for " classics " 
 in absolutely winning four of the five great races. 
 
 I have been often asked my opinion as to which was the 
 better, Sceptre or Pretty Polly. My answer has invariably 
 been, " They were both too good to be compared." 
 
 There have been so many incorrect statements in regard 
 to the prices realised by the different horses which I bought 
 at the sale of the late Duke of Westminster's yearlings, that 
 I will put all contention at an end by stating the exact figures. 
 They are as follows:
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 247 
 
 PKICES PAID BY ME AT AUCTION WHEN 
 YEARLINGS. 
 
 
 
 For Sceptre, by Persimmon Ornament 10,500 
 
 For Duke of Westminster, by Orme -Gantlet 5,880 
 
 For Sandflake, by Trenton Sandiway 5,775 
 
 For Consort, by Orme Console 735 
 
 Total 22,890 
 
 PRICES RECEIVED AND STAKES WON. 
 
 
 Duke of Westminster (bought by John Porter for Mr. 
 
 George Faber) 22,050 
 
 Consort (bought by John Porter for Mr. George Faber) 2,100 
 Sandflake (bought by the International Horse Agency 
 
 on behalf of Mr. W. Bass) 1,680 
 
 Sceptre (bought by Mr. Arthur Chetwynd on behalf of 
 
 Mr. W. Bass) 25,000 
 
 Stakes won by Duke of Westminster 2,645 
 
 Stakes won by Sceptre 25,650 
 
 Total 79,125 
 
 The result of the deal in these four yearlings showsi a profit 
 of 56,235, exclusive of expenses, an item which would shock 
 the uninitiated. It is not uninteresting to note firstly that 
 Duke of Westminster more than paid for the lot ; secondly, 
 that Sceptre won in stakes more than this sum ; and thirdly, 
 that her sale price also more than covered* it. Hence the 
 original outlay was regained by the aid of any one of these 
 three different results, and those who at the ring-side on that 
 warm July morning stigmatised me as a fool afterwards re- 
 called their mistake like sportsmen, or viewed m with the 
 jaundiced eye of jealousy. The latter feeling is no less pre- 
 valent among the ordinary general run of those on the Turf, 
 than it iss among professionals on the stage, in the law, and,
 
 248 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 for that matter, wherever success predominates over the 
 failure of those who stand still. 
 
 With the departure of Sceptre, Shrewton lost her Queen. 
 The village folk and I shall always look upon them with 
 no small esteem and regard were as loyal to the old lady as 
 if she had swayed a Sceptre. After the " Thousands " the 
 little hamlet was bedecked with flags, and the local brass 
 band turned out to a man and 1 everyone rejoiced except the 
 local bookie ! 
 
 A kingdom without a crowned head is a barren waste, and 
 Shrewton had no further charm for me at least until my 
 children returned home for their holidays. Until then there 
 had been a kind of vacuum about the place. But time passes 
 very rapidly, and is a great healer, and with it we leave the 
 past troubles of life behind. 
 
 Among other horses I bought at auction was the American 
 Scotchman II. I gave 240 guineas for him, and may say I 
 bought him partly out of curiosity. That he must once have 
 been a real good horse I have no manner of doubt, but when 
 I took him over he had been puncture-fired, while his neck, 
 in places, where the hypodermic syringe had been inserted, 
 showed the " puncture " scars, almost as plainly as those on 
 his legs ! Had Scotchman II. been treated and trained 
 according to English principles I fully believe he would have 
 turned out a second Ypsilanti. 
 
 There is no question that many of the horses running just 
 before this time were subjected to the nefarious practice of 
 what in America is called "the dope," and when in later 
 years the history of the Turf is written, this period could not 
 be better described than as the successful epoch of the Yankee 
 Alchemists. 
 
 This wretched American practice, which, be it said to the 
 honour of the New York Stewards, is punishable to the extent 
 of "ruling any offender off the track," was, with all its atten- 
 dant tortures, insidiously introduced into this country. The 
 agonies the thoroughbred suffered from the unnatural ad-
 
 SOBER! STANDISH SIEVIEB. 249 
 
 ministration of the drugs, which went to make up " the dope," 
 were only too apparent on our racecourses, and those sub- 
 jected to this brutal treatment went to the starting-gate like 
 mad animals. By the aid of the dope, forsaking and eschewing 
 all the honourable traditions of sport, a certain section of 
 notorious Americans succeeded in ruining many good horses, 
 at the same time playing havoc among the bookmakers. There 
 was neither art nor science in their methods ; it was sheer 
 brutality. 
 
 In time the cruelty was detected and fully exposed. A 
 rule was passed by the Jockey Club forbidding such practices, 
 and the pirates have since departed for Columbia. In my 
 opinion there is no more reprehensible offence against the 
 canons of racing than that of resorting to the trick of doping 
 not even when a man descends to methods which effectually 
 stop a horse from winning.
 
 250 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 SOME ANECDOTES. 
 
 \f UEING 1903 I won some small races with Boycot, 
 St. Joie, Thunderbolt, Snowdrop, and others, my 
 best winner being Heronry, who secured the Acorn 
 Stakes at Epsom, and I sold her at Doncaster that 
 autumn for 3,000 guineas. 
 
 I possessed nothing above the useful class, but 
 I had a very nice-looking lot of yearlings, and their 
 running has substantiated my estimate of them. They 
 were Brother Bill, Cherry Ripe, Potash (a good winner in 
 South Africa), Elston (half-brother to Thunderbolt), King 
 Duncan, and others. As an instance, and a very pronounced 
 one, of the " glorious uncertainty," King Duncan, by 
 Ayrshire Amphitheatre, came out on his first home gallop 
 one of the best two-year-olds I ever tried, and was 
 at the time a long way in front of both Cherry Ripe and 
 Brother Bill ; but it must be said for the latter that he had 
 not thus early got his strength. I tried them first in the 
 latter part of February, and now that their respective merits 
 on a racecourse are known, their early trial may be the more 
 interesting. 
 
 Trial, February 26, 1904, four furlongs: 
 
 St Ib 
 
 King Duncan 7 11 
 
 Value, 3yrs 8 4 
 
 Cherry Ripe 7 4 
 
 Brother Bill 7 
 
 High Treason 6 10
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 251 
 
 They finished as placed, King Duncan winning easily by a 
 length, and his style much impressed me. Cherry Ripe ran 
 like a stayer, beaten two lengths, Brother Bill finishing well 
 in front of High Treason. A more satisfactory gallop at this 
 early period than King Duncan's could not be imagined, and 
 except that Value was a thorough genuine bit of stuff for 
 about four furlongs, and had nearly always led her field in 
 every race she had run, I should have doubted the gallop. 
 Nor must it be overlooked that Value won a selling race this 
 same year at Brighton (1904). In the middle of March I had 
 Hardy down at Shrewton, and fully to satisfy myself I tried 
 the same lot again at exactly the same weights, except that I 
 put 4lb more up on King Duncan. Hardy rode him, and he won 
 just as easily, the gallop being a reproduction of the former 
 one except that Brother Bill finished neck and neck with 
 Cherry Ripe. He was gaining strength and coming on. King 
 Duncan was engaged at Liverpool, and I felt I had something 
 to bet on. I made no secret of his usefulness, and he started 
 a good favourite. He had eaten and done well since leaving 
 home. On the rising of the barrier he jumped off and led his 
 field to the turn. At this point the rest were riding to keep 
 within hail of him. As much as 100 to 5 was offered on him, 
 but no sooner were these long odds shouted than he stopped 
 I can offer no reason and was not even placed. On return- 
 ing home I tried him again, and this time put the three-year- 
 old St. Joie in the gallop as well as Value, leaving the two- 
 year-olds out. Again the result confirmed his home merits ; 
 he won in a canter. I believed I possessed one of the 
 best colts I had ever owned, though his Liverpool perform- 
 ance was an enigma; but up to the time of writing these- 
 lines he has never won a race ! I sold him to Mr. W. Bass, 
 and I have no doubt now that he will not finish his races in 
 public. What he can do at home I have no idea. This is at 
 least a vivid picture of the "glorious uncertainty." Both 
 Brother Bill and Cherry Ripe have turned out smartthe- 
 former a stayer, the latter a sprinter and I am only too
 
 252 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 pleased that they are both owned by a good sportsman. 
 Elston. the half-brother to Thunderbolt, also promised well, 
 and perhaps, like the brown son of Chimera, he wants time, 
 though I believe he has turned out a disappointment. Then 
 Perpetual won a nice- lot of races, and Colonel Wozac, even 
 after leading Rock Sand in his work, showed he had not lost 
 his form. Boycot, Yankee Duchess, Twin Cherry, and Snow- 
 drop have also brought grist to the mill, and taking them 
 collectively they would have made up a fairly successful 
 string for any one man to own and train. 
 
 Although I have already briefly explained the natural 
 advantages of training on the Wiltshire- Downs, the great 
 galloping area, and the many gallops adaptable- for the various 
 seasons of the year, Salisbury Plain has also its humorous 
 side. 
 
 I remember a sham fight, and it was indeed well-named, 
 which took place between different contingents of volunteers. 
 Some of these aspirants to military honours, as soon as they 
 are under canvas, perambulate with stilted step, throwing 
 out their chests to such a degree as almost to suggest they 
 have "bought the Plain." No sooner do some of these young 
 scions of Mars put on the King's uniform than suddenly, as 
 if by magic, they imagine they are better men in all respects 
 than when engaged in their ordinary humble, everyday 
 occupation. Opportunity makes the man, but I fail to see 
 why a uniform should, any more than a wig and gown must 
 necessarily make a good counsel ! 
 
 The sham fight I have referred to was arranged to take 
 place, the whole being set down according to military red- 
 tape rule, and there was nothing in these preliminaries to 
 suggest that the opposing force had anything to meet except 
 a host of ingenuous friends ! As " enemies " they were of 
 the courteous description, effusively so. Each side knew 
 where the other was, their numbers, &c. At a stipulated hour 
 bugles sounded in both camps with the same punctuality that 
 Big Ben announces the time of day. Without the semblance-
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH SIEFIER. 253 
 
 of fear or responsibility the men fell in, the majority with a 
 picnic smile on their countenances. They one and all treated 
 the fear of death with the utmost contempt, though it is 
 possible the romance attached to the Victoria Cross did to 
 some extent appeal to their wild imaginations. It was a. 
 glorious holiday. To the martial strains of " The Girl I 
 Left Behind Me " (I have often wondered whether the girl 
 always wasted her time all this while) on came the noble 
 " Death or a Night in the Canteen Brigade," while from 
 an imaginary hiding place " on the skyline " the enemy 
 awaited them with blank cartridges, a fair portion of 
 which had already " gone off " by accident as they 
 lay in deadly ambush awaiting the onslaught. There 
 is little or no cover on Salisbury Plain, and all planta- 
 tions are declared out of bounds, hence the ambush disclosed 
 the enemy silhouetted against the sky ! To hold a hidden 
 position on the top of a hill would be an overwhelming 
 advantage, but when this prove to be an unprotected and 
 fully-exposed position, it may be questioned if with the aid 
 of modern weapons, the picture might not be quickly trans- 
 formed into a dissolving view ! But these are not conditions 
 seriously taken into consideration at all sham fights, more 
 especially what I may excusably term "amateur" ones, so 
 the opposing forces gradually but surely got nearer and 
 nearer without the loss of a man, but not without the loss of 
 a lot of powder. In view of the progress the fight had made 
 it was strikingly extraordinary how exceedingly well the men 
 had retained the polish on their boots ! Nearer and nearer 
 these boots brought the foes to closer quarters. Then things 
 appeared to me to get into a hopeless tangle, my past 
 experience of active service was of no use to me; possibly 
 the advancement we have made since those days is beyond my 
 comprehension. Suddenly the retreat sounded, and all was 
 over. The umpires met and made their award. Which side 
 won I never could exactly understand, but one thing was clear 
 to me there had never been a change of bowling during the
 
 :254 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 whole match. The only bit of " active service " I witnessed 
 during the whole of the " march " dubbed manoeuvres, was 
 a handful of over-zealous volunteers chasing a hare with 
 hatchets. 
 
 I do not wish it to be thought that I in any way desire to 
 depreciate our Volunteers ; on the contrary, but what I do 
 think is that it would be possibly better all round if, in their 
 sham fights, they were opposed by regulars. 
 
 On one occasion, just before the St. Leger (1902), I was 
 out with my string of horses earlier than usual when I came 
 across a picket of Volunteers. They had been " on watch " 
 all night, and were sleeping peacefully under the shelter of 
 some bushes. I aroused the sergeant, and as he was rubbing 
 his eyes I ejaculated peremptorily, " Consider yourself under 
 arrest ! " He was wideawake instanter ! I had " formed 
 fours " with my string, and they were " marching " on peace- 
 fully towards the training ground. The picket fell in, and I 
 marched " the prisoners " off in the direction of the gallop. 
 The sorry faces of the men almost drew an expression of 
 compassion from me, but I kept up the joke. Having 
 reached our destination, I sent Sceptre a clinking gallop, 
 led by Doochary and Scotchman II. The " prisoners " 
 appeared highly delighted, and ordering them to fall in, I 
 addressed them thus: "You have seen Sceptre, the best filly 
 in the world, do a real good gallop, and my advice to you is, 
 always to keep your eyes open, and back her for the St. 
 Leger. Attention ! Right turn ! Dismiss ! " 
 
 Later in the season I received a very pleasant letter from 
 that sergeant thanking me for arresting them, adding that 
 all the prisoners had had a good win. 
 
 I once had rather a funny experience with two subalterns 
 who had just joined the gunners, and were "recruited" to 
 Bulford Camp. They came across me on the Plain, and had 
 evidently lost their way. The open country, its general 
 appearance and stillness, with not a thing moving to be 
 detected as far as the eye can reach, appears to inspire some
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 255 
 
 of these youngsters with a military zeal, more imaginary than 
 real. Riding up, they inquired the way to Bulford. To 
 direct strangers across country, over what to all appearances 
 can best be described as the open veldt, is no easy matter, 
 for it can only be don& by travelling from one landmark to 
 another. Being familiar with the country, I explained 
 these to the best of my ability, and sent them on their 
 journey. Shortly afterwards I noticed they came to a halt, 
 and one of them, taking what appeared to be a map from his 
 pocket, they consulted it. It was not long before I observed 
 them riding back towards me at a gallop. Pulling up, one 
 of them accosted me as follows : " Look here, when we asked 
 you the way to Bulford we did not desire to be put on the 
 wrong road." 
 
 I replied that I had directed them" the right way, but if 
 they, thus early, practically understood the military map 
 better than they did plain English it was useless for them 
 to inquire. Then the other youngster chipped in, and pro- 
 ducing the map, said something to the effect that they were 
 not going to be " spoofed." I observed that if they knew 
 anything of the game of spoof they were acting the part of 
 their own markers. At this juncture they again consulted 
 the map, and leaving me with a look of swaggering contempt, 
 rode off in the direction of Lavington, the exact opposite 
 way to Bulford ! 
 
 That evening, at stable time, two young men rode up and 
 inquired of one of the boys the way to Bulford Camp. I 
 fancied I recognised the voice of one of the youngsters I had 
 met in the morning, and leaving Sceptre's box, sure enough 
 I confronted my two friends. They gave a sheepish glance. 
 I at once put them at their ease. 
 
 "Your horses look a bit knocked up. Don't you think 
 you might give them a rest before continuing your journey 
 and come and have a look at Sceptre 1 " 
 
 " Sceptre ? " they ejaculated simultaneously. " Are you 
 Mr. Sievier 1 "
 
 25(5 _ THE AVTOmOGEAPHY OF 
 
 "Yes. Come into the house, and if you care to stop to 
 dinner I will ride over to Bulford with you afterwards." 
 
 The lads put up their tired nags, and late that evening I 
 rode over to the camp with them. I have met them since, 
 and the lesson they received that day was not inferior to any 
 they learnt at Sandhurst. 
 
 A better lot of sportsmen than the officers regularly 
 quartered at Bulford I do not wish to meet. Without ex- 
 ception they preserved the gallops, and did all in their power 
 to promote the welfare of the trainer. It was always a 
 pleasure for me to show them over the stables, and I do not 
 remember on any occasion of their visits one of their 
 number asking my opinion of the chance of any horse I had 
 engaged in a race. This was not the general custom with the 
 Militia ! 
 
 During my residence at Elston House, which was the name 
 of my place at Shrewton, I trained a few horses for Lord 
 Fermoy, an Irish nobleman who possessed a charmingly 
 sanguine estimate of their merits, not to mention their value ! 
 My only regret in this connection was that for all practical 
 use his calculations were so much at fault. Then I sold 
 Thunderbolt to Mr. Herbert Sleath-Skelton on the under- 
 standing that he did not leave the stable, and having won a 
 very useful race with him, I induced his new owner to pur- 
 chase Happy Slave at the sale of Mr. " Joe " Lewis's horses 
 for 1,500 guineas. The horse was as sound as the proverbial 
 bell except in temper, and in consequence of this latter 
 curse, so prevalent among thoroughbreds, was a very peculiar 
 horse to train. I took great pains with him, studied his 
 temperament, watched him, and kept a strict eye on the boy 
 who '"'did" him. Happy Slave frequently and emphatically 
 demonstrated that work was the last thing he cared about, and 
 that he infinitely preferred slow paces to fast. There are some 
 human beings not entirely lacking in these qualifications ! With 
 considerable patience and care I got him to my liking. Then 
 I tried him. As a result of this trial I told Mr. Sleath-
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 257 
 
 Skelton that the Newmarket October Handicap (1903) was a 
 real good thing for him. He was allotted 6st 12lb, and with 
 Butchers up could claim the 5lb allowance. When I say he 
 was a stone and a beating in front of Thunderbolt (3 yrs), who 
 had won a fair race at Salisbury in a common canter by two 
 lengths, a similar event at Hurst Park, and that in the gallop 
 Snowdrop and Colonel Wozac were beaten off, I do not think 
 I was exaggerating my description of his chance. Both 
 Hardy and Butchers rode in the trial. As the race was run, 
 Happy Slave had the winning of it at any point, and how he 
 was ultimately beaten by a neck by Gourgaud I can only 
 leave his jockey to explain. Both his owner and I had a 
 large sum on him, and his subsequent performance in the 
 Duke of York Stakes amply shows how easily he should have 
 won. 
 
 Mention of the Duke of York Stakes recalls one of the 
 most extraordinary experiences I have had in racing. Happy 
 Slave was engaged in it with 6st 6lb, inclusive of the appren- 
 tice allowance, and Sceptre, then the property of Mr. Bass, 
 was handicapped at 9st 4lb. On the day of the race, about 
 a couple of hours before the start, Lord Berkeley Paget and 
 Mr. Arthur Chetwynd came to me in the paddock at Kemp- 
 ton. I noticed they displayed no little anxiety, and the 
 reason for this soon appeared, when they stated that Sceptre 
 was lame. Alec Taylor, who was standing close by, was 
 called up, and he explained the symptoms. I knew exactly 
 what was the matter. I had gone through the same expe- 
 riences with the "old lady" myself. She had a knack of 
 going superficially lame. To all appearance she would at 
 these times undoubtedly be pronounced lame. But after 
 walking for less than a minute she would shake it off, and 
 trot, canter, or gallop perfectly sound. I explained this, 
 adding that if she were mine she would run, "but" and 1 
 addressed myself to Lord Berkeley Paget and Mr. Chetwynd 
 " if you do not run I shall win with Happy Slave ; but run 
 her, it will not harm her, nor should I advise you to run if I
 
 258 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 for an instant imagined it would be detrimental to her 
 future." I was fully aware what a good thing it was for Mr. 
 Sleath-Skelton's horse with Sceptre out of the way. I had 
 backed him to win about 10,000 at long prices, not for an 
 instant thinking I could beat my old mare, and had a good 
 round sum on him for a place, which I looked upon as a cer- 
 tainty. It was ultimately decided to start Sceptre, and I 
 believe I am right in saying that had 1 opposed the idea of 
 her running, both Lord Berkeley Paget and Mr. Chetwynd 
 would, under the circumstances, have acted on my advice. 
 From a pecuniary point of view it was greatly to my interest 
 that she should not take part in the race. 
 
 Naturally, I was fully aware of all Sceptre's little failings, 
 not the least of which was her dislike to come round a turn. 
 As soon as her jockey took an " easy " at her she always hung, 
 and was inclined to stop. The only way to ensure her keeping 
 up her pace, so that she had not to be set going again after 
 rounding a turn, was 'to let her run wide outside her field. This 
 I knew Madden would not attempt. I was in a peculiar position, 
 only made peculiar through my devotion to Sceptre. I had Mr. 
 Sleath-Skelton's interests primarily to consider, and this I did. 
 I gave Butchers, who again rode Happy Slave, strict injunc- 
 tions to get a good place at all costs before reaching the bend 
 for home. I further impressed upon him that at this point 
 he had to come on for all he and his horse were worth, and, if 
 possible, to " shoot " his field. He carried out my orders to 
 the letter ; indeed, he rode as good a race here as he had 
 ridden a bad one at Newmarket, and I cannot give him higher 
 praise than this. Just before reaching the home turn he 
 secured the rails, and coming on he was clear of his field, 
 and dashing up the straight, led by at least three or four 
 lengths. Nor had I forgotten that Sceptre always went freer 
 for Hardy than for any other jockey, and on this occasion 
 Madden had the mount. He brought her round the turn 
 on the rails in the rear of the field, and she had to be shaken 
 up as soon as she got straight for home. This, as I have
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 259 
 
 stated, I was sure would happen, and it was this and nothing 
 else which I knew was the only possible chance Happy Slave 
 had of winning. For seconds it looked as if she would never 
 get through, but Madden at last emerged from what looked 
 like an impossible position, and then it was seconds as she 
 began to get nearer and nearer to the leader. Madden made 
 a feint at trying to get up on the inside, but, thank heaven, 
 he changed his tactics, for if he had pursued them, Butchers 
 most surely would have squeezed him, with the chance that 
 she might have been the victim of an accident. Butchers was 
 but an apprentice. Suddenly placing her on the outside, 
 Madden made a determined effort. Sceptre responded. It 
 was a great race ; they had passed the number-board opposite 
 the stand ; they were close home ; Happy Slave still led. 
 With a grand determined effort Sceptre appeared to lay 
 herself down level to the ground, and they passed the winning 
 post locked together. The excitement was intense, and the 
 judge's verdict was, " Sceptre by a short head 1 ." 
 
 Immediately after the race Mr. Arthur Chetwynd sought 
 me, and, holding out his hand, shouted in the midst of the 
 excitement that prevailed, " Well, Sievier, by God, you're a 
 sportsman ! "
 
 260 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 SIEVIEK v. DUKE. 
 
 AM now approaching a period which may probably 
 be considered the most interesting of my life to 
 the public from the mere fact that, generally 
 speaking, they are already acquainted with its 
 outward aspect, though to a great extent they 
 are ignorant of the actual facts. I say " ignorant 
 of the actual facts " in all its meaning and with 
 all its force, for the miscarriage of justice in the slander action, 
 Sievier v. Duke, could only find its fellow in the criminal 
 case of Adolph Beck ; and it is not a little significant that 
 Mr. Justice Grantham presided as judge on both of these 
 occasions. In the latter case this judge allowed " expert " 
 evidence as to handwriting to be -received as though it were a 
 mandate from Above, which, after Adolph Beck had been 
 found guilty, proved to be absolutely unreliable ; indeed, 
 utterly untrue. On the other hand, Mr. Justice Grantham 
 disallowed certain questions which would at once have 
 established the innocence of " the prisoner," and after a severe 
 and adverse summing up, the jury were inevitably compelled, 
 through the misrepresentations made and allowed, and through 
 the suppression of evidence which would have broken down 
 the prosecution, to bring in a verdict of Guilty against a man 
 as innocent of the crime with which he was charged as the 
 judge himself. 
 
 This case is notorious for its gross miscarriage of justice,
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 261 
 
 and is fresh in the minds of all ; indeed, it can never be 
 eliminated from the black pages* which record these terrible 
 I might say tragic facts. My sole reason for mentioning it 
 is, as I have stated, that Mr. Justice Grantham, the judge of 
 Adolph Beck, was also the judge in the case, Sievier v. Duke. 
 
 In dealing with Sir William Grantham and these legal 
 proceedings I shall be compelled to refer to several matters 
 already dealt with, so in this respect I must claim my readers' 
 indulgence and forbearance, but justice cannot be done with- 
 out here and there harking back. 
 
 That I had no fairer hearing than Adolph Beck a very large 
 majority of the British public have fully testified ; and were 
 proof required I might quote the many letters which appeared 
 in the daily Press at the time, the judge's extraordinary mis- 
 direction to the jury, and last, but not least, his permitting 
 the reception of evidence which no other judge on the bench 
 would for an instant have tolerated, and which subsequently 
 caused a question to be asked in the House of Commons, 
 when the Solicitor-General, in reply, stated in effect that he 
 deprecated that any such statements as those complained of 
 by the hon. member were permitted by the judge, and that 
 similar " evidence " would not be allowed in civil cases again. 
 
 Therefore, I wish it to be fully understood that I am not 
 penning these lines with any idea of vindicating myself. I 
 have more friends to-day than I had then. Many men who 
 at that time were only nodding acquaintances shake hands 
 with me now. I do not believe that any unbiassed man would 
 assume I had a fair trial, and this being my conviction I will 
 proceed to prove it beyond reasonable contradiction. 
 
 I preface my remarks with these observations, so that 
 when I reach the evidence which was adduced at the trial, 
 with the questions and the answers indeed, the whole case, 
 as represented by my counsel and misrepresented by Mr. 
 Justice Grantham my readers may be able better to appre- 
 ciate the true state of things. 
 
 Throughout the whole proceedings a mysterious something
 
 262 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 I think I could give it a name } but I will not appeared to 
 pervade the atmosphere of the court, except perhaps when 
 Sir James Duke was in the witness-box. It laid hold of the 
 unprofessional listeners as might the insidious, sleepy sickness 
 of the desert; and those who have not listened to a cause 
 celebre lasting over several days have no idea of its subtle 
 influence, how infectious it is, and its inevitable damnation 
 to the party it attacks. 
 
 Nor must my readers overlook the fact that Mr. Justice 
 Grantham is deaf. This may account for everything or any- 
 thing. If " what the eye does not see the heart does not 
 yearn for," then truly what the ear does not hear the brain 
 does not trouble about. 
 
 Now that my readers are enlightened on some preliminary 
 points let me proceed with the story. I regret that in certain 
 instances I shall be compelled to give names, but when I feel 
 I can in justice to myself suppress them I shall certainly do 
 so not that I see any reason for this, except that some people 
 are but cowards when brought before the critical eye of the 
 public. I have had some practical experience of this! 
 
 It was the Second October Meeting at Newmarket, the 
 year Grey Tick won the Cesarewitch, 1903, and several of us 
 made up a very jolly party at the Rutland Hotel, composed 
 of Major Sellar, Mr. Arthur Chetwynd, four other members 
 of the Raleigh Club, and' myself. It is not an uncommon 
 thing for cards to be played after dinner, and this has been 
 known to have taken place in the most exalted circles ! At 
 the previous Newmarket Meeting, when Sceptre won the 
 Jockey Club Stakes, I had lost a little amongst pretty well 
 the same friends and acquaintances; on this occasion I won. 
 The game played was baccarat. On the first night nothing 
 very sensational occurred. At times I was losing within the 
 region of four figures, and the game fluctuated until it closed 
 for the evening, when I was merely a hundred or so out. 
 After it was over, two of the players whom I need not name 
 certainly had a royal duel, one owing the other something like
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 263 
 
 12,000 at one time, but it eventually ended in their going 
 double or quits a most childish and ridiculous arrangement. 
 On the third evening I took the bank we had most of us had 
 a go at it and had one of those lucky runs which sometimes 
 favours one side' or the other, the banker or the punters. 
 With the exception of myself, every man present was, as> I 
 have said, a member of the Raleigh Club. I mention this 
 because the members of the Raleigh are no fools, and are 
 generally considered capable of looking after themselves. 
 When the game ended Major Sellar owed me something like 
 7,000. I gave him and those who were present will fully 
 endorse this every chance to get out, but my luck was in ; 
 I could not do wrong, and my opponent could not do right. 
 I had no wish to win so much, and I felt that my attempt 
 to reduce the amount by giving Major Sellar these chances, 
 had only been the means of increasing it. Hence, the next 
 morning I spoke to one of the party, expressing my feelings 
 on the subject of my winnings, and in the end,, on my own 
 proposition, it was arranged that instead of 7,000 I would 
 call it 3,000 that I had won. For one' gentleman to make 
 this concession to another, under the circumstances, is merely 
 an .act of courteous generosity ; on the other hand, I believe 
 it is unheard of for a card-sharper to forego any portion of 
 his gains when the money is at hand to liquidate his claim. 
 On our arrival in town from Newmarket, on the Friday, I 
 had occasion to call at the Raleigh to see a friend who was 
 there. On entering the hall, I saw him in the now famous 
 gazing-room, and, not being given to hanging about, I went 
 in to him. Several members were present, all of whom I 
 knew. I was asked to have a drink not an uncommon act 
 of hospitality at any club and I had one. I noticed someone 
 prowling about the doorway, and, as he passed to and fro, 
 glancing into the room. It was the now " immortalised " Sir 
 James. Duke. On the following afternoon Major Sellar called 
 at the Carlton Hotel where I then stayed whenever in town 
 and handed me his open cheque for 3,000. After doing so
 
 264 THE AUTOSIOGEAPHY OF __ 
 
 he informed me that had he believed what he had been told, 
 he would have been perfectly justified in refusing to settle. 
 We were then walking up Regent Street, and I suggested that 
 he should take me into the Raleigh and explain what he 
 meant. He said he was sorry, but he could not take me into 
 the club. He was perfectly friendly towards me, but I was 
 quite satisfied there was something wrong somewhere, and 
 I then and there demanded a reason for his statements. He 
 refused, but the more he declined the more insistent I became, 
 until at last, seeing that I was resolved, and would not accept 
 any refusal, he was compelled to tell me what had occurred. 
 
 The idea may have got abroad that Major Sellar, after 
 hearing what Sir James Duke had to say, ran like the gossip 
 of the day from him to me, and repeated everything in breath- 
 less haste. It was not so. Naturally, he was very much 
 perturbed at what he had heard, more especially when it is 
 remembered that he did not believe it. Nevertheless, I had 
 to force him to repeat the statements which had been made, 
 and it was with evident reluctance that he told me the story. 
 I need not state the exact conversation which took place 
 between us, but will condense it by taking the words bodily 
 from my counsel's brief : 
 
 " That on the 16th of October, 1903, Sir James Duke 
 was in the Raleigh Club in the society of Major Sellar, 
 and he informed Major Sellar that the presence of Mr. 
 Sievier in the club was objectionable. 
 
 " That on the day following, Major Sellar asked Sir 
 James Duke, in the presence of Mr. T. Lushington and 
 Mr. Arthur Chetwynd, who it was who had complained 
 of Mr. Sievier, and it was under such circumstances that 
 he uttered the slander as follows : 
 
 " ' It is a great pity you should have anything to do 
 with the sort of man Sievier is. His reputation is known, 
 and he is a card^sharper, thief, and murderer. I have 
 seen Sievier thrown from a boat into the sea for cheating
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 
 
 at cards, and a man was once found' under his window, 
 in Australia, murdered, and it was common repute that 
 Sievier murdered him. 
 
 " ' Sievier made money by Sceptre being beaten in the 
 Derby of 1902. 
 
 " ' Sievier was ordered out of the Jockey Club Stand 
 at Newmarket, and was turned out of it, and this was 
 done at my instigation ; I unmasked him to the Stewards. 
 He was also turned out of Boodle's Club.' " 
 
 Had I been a murderer, or ever been charged with so heinous 
 a crime ; had a man ever been found murdered under my 
 window in Australia ; had I been a cheat at cards, and thrown 
 into the sea in consequence ; had I been a thief, and unmasked 
 by Sir James Duke to the Stewards of the Jockey Club ; had 
 I ever been turned out of Boodle's or the Club Stand at 
 Newmarket; had I made money by Sceptre being beaten in 
 the Derby, I knew all or any of these could be easily proved. 
 Had I been guilty on any one count^-my life has been a 
 thoroughly public one I leave the merest stranger to imagine 
 whether I should have been fool enough I might say mad 
 enough to have brought an action in the public courts ! 
 
 A more vindictive lying statement has never been uttered 
 by any man against another, and my first impulse was to 
 chastise Sir James Duke in the manner he well merited. But 
 the whole thing was: so outrageous, so utterly false, that I 
 determined to seek the " JUSTICE " of my country. 
 
 I did not remember Sir James Duke ever speaking to me but 
 once in his life, and that was after Success had won me a 
 selling race at Brighton. He said, to the best of my memory 
 and it certainly is more accurate than the " noble " baronet's 
 " Well, you might have told me to back it." I did not know 
 him, and took no notice, but, turning to an acquaintance, 
 inquired who he was. 
 
 " That's Duke," was the response. 
 " Who's Duke 1 " I asked further.
 
 266 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 " Sir James Duke ; he's a Steward here." 
 
 " What ! the fellow who received a mixed reception at 
 Lewes, when he rode in one of the amateur races *? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Oh ! " 
 
 And I passed on ; and from that day to the time when I 
 learnt of his foul accusations I had never heard of him again. 
 He might have been dead. 
 
 That he had uttered the slander, there was no manner of 
 doubt, for, apart from Major Sellar, it was confirmed in a 
 letter to me from Mr. Arthur Chetwynd, which ran as follows : 
 
 "Raleigh Club. 
 
 "Dear Bob, David (i.e., Sellar) has told me about 
 matters. The party has said! the same thing to me, and 
 I will stick to you both. Yours, 
 
 "A. C. CHETWYND." 
 
 What Mr. Chetwynd meant by sticking to one, I soon 
 realised was not quite in keeping with the spirit of his letter. 
 When asked to call on Sir George Lewis to confirm his note 
 to me, he shuffled out of it, and in the end I was unable 
 even to put him in the witness-box. Not quite a legitimate 
 return for the advice I gave him to run Sceptre for the Duke 
 of York Stakes, when she beat the horse I trained by a short 
 head! 
 
 Mr. T. Lushington made no statement, no promise and 
 kept it! 
 
 I consulted Sir George Lewis, a writ was issued, and the 
 usual legal preliminaries were gone through. I had arranged 
 a trip to India, but this I was compelled to forego. 
 
 Shortly after this, at the Liverpool Autumn Meeting, I 
 lost 6,000 to a member of the Raleigh Club at baccarat. At 
 one time during the play I was a good winner. There were 
 only three players, the other one being also a member of the 
 Raleigh. It may appear strange that if there was any truth
 
 HOBEET STAN DISH SIEVIER. 267 
 
 or foundation for the slander I am dealing with, that after 
 being a good winner I did not possess sufficient skill to re-tain 
 my gains ; but, on the other hand, left off a very heavy loser. 
 
 The defence set up was the usual farcical denial, and it is 
 only the " alternative " part of a defence that ever need be 
 taken seriously. 
 
 The defendant having denied slandering the plaintiff, then 
 goes on to explain how and why he did so, if he did so, and 
 so on, and so forth. In this case, as I have observed, he 
 denied the slander and alternatively claimed privilege on the 
 ground of being a member of the committee of the Raleigh 
 Club. 
 
 Prior to the hearing of the case all sorts of rumours were 
 afloat. It was common report that, win or lose the case, 
 Mr. Charles Gill had stated .that I should afterwards be 
 prosecuted for perjury, and the defendant and his followers 
 repeated this ad nauseam. As we proceed we shall find this 
 threat was carried out to the bitter end, except that my 
 traducers ignominiously failed to substantiate even a primd 
 facie case- against me. Of this anon. 
 
 In May, 1904, the case was likely to come on at any moment, 
 and when it was discovered that Mr. Justice Grantham was 
 to be the judge I immediately consulted my counsel, Mr. Eldon 
 Banke-s, K.C. I had previously retained Mr. Rufus Isaacs, 
 but he was also engaged upon a long and complicated case, 
 in which he represented the Brighton Corporation, and which 
 came on in another court at exactly the same time. 
 
 We were alive to the fact that Mr. Justice Grantham and 
 the defendant were Sussex neighbours, and I asked Mr. Bankes 
 to apply that the case might be removed from his court. 
 Needless to say, he did not jump at my proposition. Anyhow, 
 he later on gave me to understand that he had seen Mr. 
 Justice Grantham in his room, who assured Mr. Bankes that 
 I should have an impartial trial. God save us!
 
 268 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 THE HEARING OF THE CASE. 
 
 N connection with legal practice and its formalities 
 there are many things which are incomprehensible 
 to the layman, and perhaps one of the greatest 
 enigmas in connection with the law is that high- 
 falutin, misleading term, " special jury." The very 
 qualification " special " at once suggests that a 
 jury is specially got together to try a particular 
 case men of special ability or standing. No such thing. 
 Many an ordinary jury consists of men of far better 
 standing and intelligence than this very incorrectly 
 styled "special jury." Take the "special jury" which had 
 been collected together to try my case. The members were 
 drawn from the neighbourhood of St. Pancras, the foreman 
 being the keeper of a small public-house situated in one of 
 the dingy back streets abutting on Tottenham Court Road ; 
 another was an alien lodging-house keeper living in the vicinity 
 of the notorious Percy Street^and so on. There was not one 
 who had the slightest pretensions to be a knowledgeable 
 man, who could have had any familiarity with the mode of 
 life of those engaged in the case. The whole of these twelve 
 men good and true, no doubt, in their proper places as the 
 case proceeded, were nothing more nor less than astounded. 
 That there could have been so much money in circulation 
 bewildered them ; and how this bewilderment was whetted 
 by the judge's observations, the admission of prohibitive
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 269 
 
 evidence, and his ultimate summing up, will amply demonstrate 
 itself. Then, again, in the face of protests by my counsel 
 Mr. Eldon Bankes, Mr. Charles Gill was permitted to continue 
 his asides to the jury throughout the hearing, and I will 
 especially point to these as occasion arises. Get twelve men 
 lost in astonishment, and what may not happen? 
 
 It was doubtless a case which should have been tried by 
 a Hawkins, or a Russell, or a positive lawyer such as Mr. 
 Justice Channell. 
 
 The first witness called was Major Sellar, who proved the 
 slander and the uttering. In cross-examination it was 
 attempted to prove that Major Sellar had not paid me the 
 3,000 ; and to many of his answers to Mr. Lawson Walton's 
 questions Mr. Charles Gill, in a most unwarrantable and 
 certainly unjust manner, loudly ejaculated such remarks as 
 "Now you have him," "Ah! now you've got him," with the 
 palpable intention of Massing the jury, beneath whose box 
 he sat. A more unfair procedure cannot be conceived, and 
 yet, in the face* of my counsel's protests, it was not checked 
 by the judge. Perhaps he did not hear Mr. Eldon Bankes 
 everyone in court heard Mr. Gill ! During the luncheon 
 interval the cheque Major Sellar had given me was produced, 
 and this set aside the false issue the defence were trying to 
 prove, rather by the aid of " asides " than by the evidence 
 then being given on oath. Major Sellar also swore that the 
 slander was spoken in a most vindictive way. The whole of 
 the cross-examination was based upon the assumption that I 
 had lent Major Sellar money, that he had not discharged his 
 debt of honour, and was, as it were, in my power, for which 
 there was not a tissue of foundation. If the defence honestly 
 believed their slander, why not have asked Major Sellar if 
 he thought he had been the victim of foul play 1 
 
 I then entered the witness-box. I took a long breath in 
 the hope of inhaling a portion of the " impartial " air of the 
 court, with a view of invigorating myself but I found none. 
 It took no observer of men to know which way the weather-
 
 270 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 cock pointed. Somebody appeared to have made a fixture of 
 the indicator, no matter which way the wind might veer. 
 
 I denied the slander in its entirety. Mr. Lawson Walton 
 cross-examined me. Mr. Charles Gill was next him, and 
 my answers were subjected to the same critical comments 
 I may without exaggeration say sneers as had been those 
 of Major Sellar. The first assumption was that I had 
 swindled Mr. Ernest Benzon at cards in Australia. This I 
 denied, nor was my evidence once shaken, nor were any docu- 
 ments produced to refute or weaken it. Since the case Mr. 
 Benzon, who was not in England at the time of the trial, has 
 written me a letter, which I have published in the WINNING 
 POST, and which denied the allegations made by Sir James 
 Duke. But my answers were never taken as evidence 
 by the judge. He accepted the questions as facts, no 
 matter what my reply to them, for in his summing- 
 up I style it such out of compulsory respect he referred 
 to this suggestion of swindling Mr. Benzon in depre- 
 catory terms, without a tittle of evidence to justify him in 
 so doing. Indeed, he adopted this course throughout. My 
 answer on oath was no more received by him as evidence 
 than had it been negatived by other witnesses, but none were 
 called to contradict my statements! Why? Because there 
 were none. 
 
 Then came the question of the cancellation of my presenta- 
 tion at Court. This occurred in 1888, solely through my 
 having broken the cordon of social rules by becoming a book- 
 maker in Australia. Xo other reason has ever been officially 
 or unofficially suggested. In support of this the official letter 
 addressed to me was produced at the trial: 
 
 " Heralds College, February 24, 1888. 
 " My dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of 
 your letter of yesterday's date. The causes which have 
 led to the cancellation of your presentation are shortly 
 these :
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 271 
 
 " Immediately after levee several people came for- 
 ward and testified to the fact that you were engaged on 
 the Turf in Australia as a bookmaker, and that in such 
 transactions you took the name of Sutton. . . . The 
 best that can now be done is to help me in getting clear 
 evidence that you were not engaged on the Turf as I 
 have mentioned, and then I am sure the announcement 
 cancelling your Presentation would be removed. I am, 
 &c." 
 
 What could be plainer 1 ? But Mr. Justice Grantham 
 shrugged his shoulders at the letter, placed it among a bundle 
 of papers, and there it slept until the case was over. The 
 fact that my presentation was cancelled was hurled at the jury, 
 and in his summing-up Mr. Justice Grantham even made the 
 extraordinary statement that " Her Majesty would rather 
 give up her throne than be addressed by such a man." This 
 must have conveyed the idea to the jury that I had been 
 guilty of some heinous offence against my country. Would 
 it not have been more in accordance with what an English- 
 man accepts as justice if his lordship had read to the jury 
 the letter, which clearly sets out the facts? The suggestion 
 that our late revered and beloved Queen, rather than be 
 addressed by me, would have vacated the Throne of England 
 may possibly, by the aid of a powerful imagination, be deemed 
 judicial, but to the every-day man of the world it can only 
 commend itself as the merest clap-trap. 
 
 I was then questioned concerning an episode with which, 
 under the circumstances, I have been reluctantly compelled 
 to deal at some length in my autobiography, and with 
 which my readers are now fully acquainted. It is that of 
 Lord Deerhurst. I see no reason to refer to this matter 
 again in detail, and it is no fault of mine that it was ever 
 brought up again. In this respect Lord Deerhurst has no one 
 to thank except Sir James Duke, and how easily it might 
 have been allowed to pass in silence is shown by the fact
 
 272 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that Lord Deerhurst was in England at the time the case 
 was heard, but was not even subpoenaed by the defence. We 
 were both young men, and it is now over nineteen years ago 
 since we both made this stupid mistake, and the defendant 
 might have had the good grace to let the affair sleep in the 
 peace which the fulness of time had granted it. More espe- 
 cially do I say this as the facts would have assisted, rather 
 than have militated against me. 
 
 I was next cross-examined with regard to an action which 
 I brought in 1892. Mr. Gill asked that the defendant's name 
 should not be mentioned, and the judge allowed this, as he 
 did in every similar instance on behalf of the defence, but 
 on the one solitary application of my counsel that a certain 
 lady's name should be suppressed Mr. Justice Grantham 
 refused. I have refrained from mentioning the names of 
 the gentler sex throughout, and I shall, as far as possible, 
 continue to do so to the end. But in justice to myself I can- 
 not refrain from publishing the facts, together with the 
 names of the parties concerned, in the case referred to. I 
 was asked to dinner at a certain house in Ashley Gardens, 
 and I there met Mr. Charles Henry Farrer, the defendant 
 in the action upon which I was being cross-examined, Mr. 
 Arthur Finch Kemp, both members of the Raleigh ; Mr. 
 Walker (known as Hookey Walker), and Mr. Cameron. I 
 may here observe that, with the exception of Mr. Walker, 
 whom I have not since met, the others to this day remain 
 acquaintances of mine. The party consisted of several, 
 all of whom it is unnecessary to name ; all played roulette, 
 and after a time this game was forsaken for baccarat. At a 
 reasonable hour Mr. Kemp left. I had been keeping the 
 bank, and owed him 45. I also owed various sums round 
 the table. The luck fluctuated, and when it came my way 
 Mr. Farrer played against the run and lost 2,000. He then 
 said he had lost more than he could afford to pay. This 
 must also have applied to " Hookey Walker," for, as I have 
 said, I have never seen him since ! I had a private conver-
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 273 
 
 sation in another room with Mr. Farrer. He explained what 
 I believed was his position, and I agreed to accept a pay- 
 ment of half in settlement of my claim. After this inter- 
 view we returned to the company, chatted for, say, another 
 hour, when I left. He had promised to give me a cheque 
 at Ascot the following day, but when I asked him for it, made 
 an excuse about having forgotten it. The fact was, he had 
 not the amount of his losses at his command. Later on I 
 heard he had made certain statements, and my solicitors, 
 Messrs. Lumley and Lumley, on June 27, 1892, wrote to Mr. 
 Farrer demanding an apology, claiming payment of the 
 agreed reduced amount, or the name of his solicitors, to whom 
 they could send process for acceptance of service on his 
 behalf. No answer was received to this letter, and on July 4 
 a further communication was sent to Mr. Farrer informing 
 him a writ had been issued against him for slander, and it 
 was ultimately served upon him personally. There may be 
 some significance in the fact that he answered none of these 
 letters. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Kemp very rightly wrote to me 
 asking for the 45 I owed him over play on this particular 
 evening. Anyone who knows Mr. Arthur Finch Kemp must 
 be fully aware that he would never ask for a debt of Honour 
 to be paid if he was not quite satisfied that everything was 
 straight and above board. I handed the letter to Messrs. 
 Lumley, and at an interview at their offices Mr. Kemp, who 
 was Mr. Farrer's friend, voluntarily signed a proof of his 
 evidence regarding that evening, and I here reproduce a 
 pertinent extract from it : 
 
 " During the time I was playing baccarat at 's 
 
 house I did not see any cheating at cards there." 
 
 The case was set down, and after weary waiting was due to 
 be heard. On the eve of the trial Messrs. Lumley received a 
 letter from Messrs. Chester and Co., dated November 23, 1893, 
 which was as follows :
 
 274 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 " 36, Bedford Row, London, W.C. 
 
 "23rd November, 1893. 
 
 " Dear Sirs, 
 
 "FAEEEE ats SIEVIEE. 
 
 "When Mr. Farrer made the charges upon which this 
 Action is founded he believed them to be true, but he is 
 now advised that they are charges which he cannot justify 
 or substantiate, and as he cannot substantiate them he 
 feels, as an honourable man, that he must withdraw them. 
 " Having therefore withdrawn the charges it follows thar 
 Mr. Farrer must pay the sum agreed as the amount which 
 he lost to Mr. Sievier, namely 1,000. 
 
 " He has already paid l/3rd of this amount to Mrs. , 
 
 thus leaving 2/3rds for which he is prepared to send you a 
 cheque on behalf of Mr. Sievier. 
 
 " You will be good enough to write us a letter that the 
 Action will thus be at an end, and in due course to 
 forward us for signature the necessary consent for its 
 removal from the List. 
 
 " Mr. Farrer has authorised us to write this letter upon 
 the advice in conference of his Counsel, Mr. Lockwood 
 and Mr. Marshall, that it is the right course for him to 
 take. Yours faithfully, 
 
 " CHESTER & CO. 
 
 "Messrs. LUMLEY & LUMLEY." 
 
 With the whole of the charges unreservedly withdrawn, 
 backed by the advice in conference of such honourable gentle- 
 men as Mr. Frank Lockwood, Q.C., and Mr. Marshall, Q.C., 
 what more could any man capable of accepting a retraction 
 expect ? I agreed to the terms, and in doing so forgave and 
 forgot. I should mention that the hostess had a third share 
 of the bank with me, which will account for this amount being 
 paid to her. Thus the affair ended, except that my solicitors 
 could not obtain payment, presumably on the same score that 
 caused the slanders to be uttered it was not convenient to
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 275 
 
 settle ! In reply to many applications for payment Messrs. 
 Chester and Co. wrote, on December 22, 1893 : 
 
 " We have sent a copy of your letter to our client and 
 urged his immediate attention, and we hear this day that 
 he is, and has been, taking active steps to procure the. 
 sum agreed to be paid by him to your client. . . . We 
 can only ask your indulgence for a further period." 
 
 Still no financial settlement arrived. On January 13, 1894, 
 Messrs. Lumley and Lumley were compelled to apply to the 
 Divisional Court that the sum due be paid within seven days, 
 and this brought about a final settlement soon afterwards. 
 
 Some few years ago I was at the Empire Theatre, and 
 Mr. T. Earle, a mutual friend, came to me and asked if I 
 would speak to Mr. Farrer, as he wanted to apologise to me 
 personally. I agreed. In expressing his regret, which I then 
 deemed quite unnecessary, but no less an act of courtesy, 
 Mr. Farrer admitted he had made unfounded charges, and had 
 been disgracefully egged on by a man whose name I forbear 
 to mention. To all this I swore in Court, and the papers were 
 put in. Mr. Farrer lives. If there was anything he had to 
 testify to against me why was he not called? Until the 
 summing up, not even my enemies could have hoped that this 
 episode could have been put in against me. Yet it was. 
 Indeed, the case was proceeding on such extraordinary lines 
 that I began to marvel if his lordship was not possibly going 
 to send for the black cap. 
 
 During the early part of my examination in chief, I was 
 asked two questions, which I set out with their answers, for 
 on reading them again, in the light of subsequent events, they 
 appear to me to be strikingly interesting : 
 
 " Have you ever been called before the Stewards at all for 
 anything 1 Nothing." 
 
 "For how many years have you owned horses? Twenty-
 
 276 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 four or five years, in Africa, India, Australia, and England : 
 and about none of my horses has there ever been a question 
 of their running brought before the Stewards at any meeting. 
 I believe there are others who have been before the Stewards. " 
 And I looked in the direction of the defendant. 
 
 I will deal now with the two Brighton incidents that of 
 Arthur Eenton and John W. Taylor which the defence 
 suggested were cases against me, but no evidence given in 
 court supported this assumption in any way whatever, nor was 
 any called, though the manager of the Hotel Metropole had 
 been subpoenaed by the defendant. If he was permitted by 
 the judge to put the Vine Street constable, Drew, into the 
 witness-box, as after referred to, the reason for his not calling 
 other witnesses whom he had compelled to attend the court 
 must be obvious. 
 
 Dealing with the matter of Arthur Renton the facts are 
 simple, and have never been in dispute. In 1893 and I must 
 here draw attention to the distant dates of all the episodes 
 which the defendant attempted to convert into dishonest 
 actions I was staying at the Hotel Metropole, at Brighton, 
 which at that time, owing to the novelty of these new palatial 
 coloured glass establishments, was doing a far larger business 
 than is the case to-day. I was acquainted with Renton. I 
 had been playing pool with him on the evening in question. 
 and during the progress of the game he introduced me to one 
 of the players, named Cavanagh. After the pool was over 
 Renton came to my sitting-room, and Cavanagh accompanied 
 him. It was proposed by Renton that we should have a game 
 of cards, and, as I had none, a pack was obtained from the 
 hall-porter, either by Renton or Cavanagh. Renton said he 
 would take the bank at baccarat, which he did. He shuffled 
 and dealt the cards during the whole of the play without inter- 
 mission. It ended in Renton owing me a little over a thousand 
 pounds. As he was leaving he asked me to give him a chance 
 by going double or quits. Those who know me would be 
 surprised if I had not agreed. I have gambled for much
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 277 
 
 heavier stakes, both on the racecourse and on the Stock 
 Exchange, not to mention on the several other chances which 
 help to make life interesting. Besides, I have never been a 
 mean gambler, and : if winning, have not held the loser in my 
 grasp without opening my fingers and thus giving him a chance 
 of escape. We cut the cards, and I won. The next morning 
 Renton breakfasted with me, and, as is often the case where 
 liabilities are involved, he hinted that he could not settle. 
 As it subsequently transpired that he owed the ring a very 
 large sum, methodically dispersed among its members, when 
 he sat down to take the bank at baccarat he could have had 
 no hope of settling had things as it turned out they did 
 gone against him. I merely make this remark en passant, for 
 the man who risks his reputation by playing without having the 
 necessary funds at his command, and loses, invariably resorts 
 to the only possible excuse namely, that something irregular 
 has taken place. But he does not assert this at the card-table ; 
 he does not challenge the winner ; he makes no complaint, 
 but the next day, or the next week, as his position of a 
 defaulter makes itself felt, then, and only then, he suddenly 
 imagines he must have been " sharped." Did it ever occur to 
 Mr. Justice Grantham if it did he kept it very dark what 
 sort of a man is he who will risk incurring a debt of honour 
 without having any hope of paying if he loses ? 
 
 Renton having introduced me to Cavanagh, I was not a 
 little surprised that later, on the following day, he should 
 attempt to connect me with him, though I was fairly 
 acquainted with the contemptible schemes to which a man 
 who cannot pay will resort. The manager of the hotel saw 
 me, and said he could not allow the licence to be jeopardised, 
 and very rightly politely asked me if I could leave before 
 any scandal got abroad. As I was leaving that evening it 
 made no matter, but under the circumstances I certainly should 
 have left in any event. 
 
 On the Monday following, I had an appointment with 
 Renton in town, at the Hotel Victoria, and he arrived with
 
 278 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 a friend and a solicitor by the name of Mr. Popham. Needless 
 to say, this ended in a deuce of a row all round, in the middle 
 of which up turned Cavanagh ! In the end I brought an 
 action for slander against Renton ; but, having previously 
 made inquiries which assured me that Cavanagh was a man 
 of ill-repute, and commonly known as " one of the boys," I 
 waived any claim I had against Renton on account of the 
 card-playing. Throughout my evidence I was continually 
 cross-examined by Mr. Justice Grantham, and on every 
 possible occasion he asked me many questions, which, if 
 shorn of their answers, as was palpably the case in his 
 summing up, must have misled any ordinary jury. As an 
 instance, with reference to the play during this particular 
 evening, I quote the following : 
 
 " Mr. Justice Grantham : Let me see. The date of 
 this incident was almost simultaneous with your bank- 
 ruptcy? Yes, it was. 
 
 "And presumably you had no money to lose? I had 
 not a great deal of money. 
 
 "And how would you have paid if you had lost? I 
 would not have lost. 
 
 " I see. A sort of heads I win, tails you lose game ? 
 No, my lord. I mean I would not have lost more money 
 than I hadi with me. I had money on the table, and I 
 played in a normal way. 
 
 " But what if you had lost ? I would not have con- 
 tinued to play after losing my ready-money. You are 
 assuming, my lord, that I would have played whether I 
 had money to pay or not. That is not the case." 
 
 Whether such ejaculations as "I see. A sort of heads I 
 win, tails you lose game" are unbiassed and likely to leave 
 a just impression on a jury, I leave to any fair-minded person 
 to decide.
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 279 
 
 I swore to the fact that Renton had subsequently apolo- 
 gised to me, that we had shaken hands and dismissed Cavanagb 
 from our minds ; and, further, that I had introduced him to 
 my wife, and he had lunched with us at Epsom. This being 
 so, I believed that the heat and passion which had been dis- 
 played on both sides were amicably ended. To corroborate my 
 statement, I publish the following letter, addressed to Renton's 
 solicitors : 
 
 " 37, Conduit Street, 
 
 "Bond Street, 
 
 " London, W. 
 " 10 January, 1894. 
 "Messrs. Boxall and Boxall, 
 
 " 22, Chancery Lane, W.C. 
 /'Dear Sirs, 
 
 " SIEVIER & RENTON. 
 
 "We thank you for your letter of the 8th inst. The 
 papers) have recently come into our hands, and on perusal 
 thereof we gather that your Client had already withdrawn 
 the slanderous allegations, and under the circumstances 
 we have advised our Client, as the matter is only a 
 question of costs, to give Notice of Discontinuance, 
 which will enable you to take out a Summons to tax your 
 Costs, and there is therefore no necessity to agree terms. 
 A formal Notice of Discontinuance shall be served in the 
 ordinary way. 
 
 "We are, dear sirs, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " LUMLEY AND LUMLEY." 
 
 Messrs. Lumley and Lumley in another letter again set out 
 the fact that Renton had apologised, that I subsequently 
 introduced him to Lady Mabel Sievier, and we had lunched 
 together in my box at Epsom.
 
 280 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Messrs. Boxall and Boxall must have been aware of this, 
 and the matter thus ended. 
 
 In face of the above, on the advice of such excellent and 
 well-known solicitors as Messrs. Lumley and Lumley, Mr, 
 Justice Grantham addressed me as follows, and I append my 
 answer : 
 
 " Mr. Justice Grantham : But you must really see that 
 when this matter comes before the jury it must impress 
 them very much, when there are two cases (one Farrer's. 
 who withdrew everything and paid in full) in which you 
 are charged with being a card-sharper and you do not 
 go on with the action, but pay all the costs I am speak- 
 ing of the action against Renton. Does it not strike you 
 that this jury would have very great difficulty in giving 
 you any damages after you have allowed such proceedings 
 to end in this way 1 No, my lord, because my action was 
 stopped, Mr. Renton and I having made the amende 
 honourable ; we have visited together, we have broken 
 bread together, we have drunk together, and he died 
 a friend of mine." 
 
 Some time after this matter was concluded, as Messrs. 
 Lumley and Lumley state in their letter, I met Renton, and 
 in the course of conversation explained that I had paid his 
 costs, which was hardly " cricket." He stated that he had 
 quite overlooked the matter, and, insisting on paying mine 
 as well as his own, wrote me a cheque for 100 in his rooms 
 in Jermyn Street. That cheque I endorsed, and it was paid 
 through my account in the usual way. But not one of these 
 facts, sworn to in the box and uncontradicted, was ever men- 
 tioned in the judge's summing-up. Arthur Renton is since 
 dead, and his body was made bankrupt. 
 
 Taking the chronological order of things, the next " in- 
 cident" was connected with Mr. John W. Taylor. During
 
 BOSEET STANDI8R SIEVIEE. 281 
 
 the Sussex fortnight which is the time during which the 
 Goodwood, Brighton, and Lewes race meetings are in progress 
 I was staying with my wife and some friends at Brighton, 
 while Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and Captain Baumann (the Ship- 
 wreck) were located close by. Mr. Taylor came round to 
 my house* (I had rented one on the front) and explained that 
 he Had had a very bad week, and asked me to introduce him 
 to Mr. Porter's club, a well-known resort in those days (1893), 
 frequented by many prominent gentlemen on the Turf. 
 Baccarat was played there every evening; and Mr. Taylor, 
 not being in a position as he explained and afterwards con- 
 firmed in a letter to me to meet his liabilities on the fatal 
 Monday, desired to take a chance at winning. Accompanied 
 by Mr. A. Cox and Captain Baumann, both mutual friends 
 of some years' standing, we repaired to Mr. Porter's. There 
 the game of baccarat was played, counters being handed to 
 those who paid for them, while some favoured few could 
 be supplied with them on credit. It was not long before 
 Mr. Taylor lost his "ready-money" supply, and he then 
 began betting with me " on the nod." I frequently requested 
 him not to bet so high, and once asked him to stop altogether. 
 In the witness-box I made a mistake in the amount, and stated 
 it was 3,500 which he lost; and, after so great a laps of 
 time and the many transactions I have had, I think this may 
 be considered excusable. In reality it was 6,000 which he 
 lost to me, at what might almost be called public play in a 
 public room, during this particular week. Mr. Justice Gran- 
 tham, living in Sussex, must surely have heard of Mr. Porter's 
 Club. I had lost 2,000 the previous night to Mr. Wynne, a 
 solicitor, who has since sought clients in a new sphere. At 
 the break up of the evening, or early morning, we Mr. Cox, 
 Captain Baumann, Mr. Taylor, and I walked home together. 
 Such evenings were common enough in those days. So far 
 from there being a suggestion of anything wrong I here repro- 
 duce a letter from Mr. Taylor written to me on the following 
 day:-
 
 282 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 "Hamblin's Hotel, 
 
 " Brighton, 
 "August 6, 1893. 
 "Dear Sievier, 
 
 "Only just got your note, as I have been out for a 
 drive. I am very C.D. to-day and no wonder after 
 sitting up so late. I think I can square the account with 
 the Ring, as no doubt one or two will wait a bit. Many 
 thanks all the same for offering to help me. I will see 
 the cheque to Porter is met, though I am a bit pushed. 
 Yours truly, " JOHN W. TAYLOR." 
 
 This gentleman confessed to being so pressed that he made 
 a point of letting me know that he would meet the cheque 
 he had given for counters and the charges levied for taking 
 the bank, doubtless because I was morally responsible for him. 
 In my evidence I was reluctantly compelled to state that Mrs. 
 Taylor had herself written asking me to let her husband off 
 as lightly as I could, and an appointment was made for me to 
 meet Mr. Taylor at the East India Club. On my arrival I 
 found a note awaiting me, as follows : 
 
 " Cox's Hotel, 
 "Jermyn Street, S.W. 
 "Dear Sievier, 
 
 " Came up to see you. Have just had a wire from 
 my wife. Would you mind coming round here and seeing 
 Captain Baumann for a few minutes, as I may not be 
 back in time, not knowing what she wants to see me 
 about. Yours truly, 
 
 "JOHN W. TAYLOR." 
 
 This was a device to enable Baumann to intervene and 
 prevail upon me to accept as small a sum as possible, and 
 he pleaded so well that, after agreeing to accept half in bills 
 at Mr. Taylor's convenience, I further reduced the amount by
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 283 
 
 500. It was arranged that I should lunch with Mr. Taylor at 
 the East India Club a day or so later, which I did, and there 
 I received the bills and his thanks. Shortly afterwards he 
 served me with an injunction, obtained ex parte, not to part 
 with the bills, and alleged all kinds of things against me ; but, 
 unfortunately for him, I had met an old friend of his, who 
 told me that Mr. John W. Taylor would wriggle out of any- 
 thing if he could. How true his friend's estimate was Mr. 
 Taylor has amply demonstrated by wriggling out of the Stock 
 Exchange by the aid of the hammer ! I had quickly dis- 
 counted the bills with Sam Lewis, and I heard no more of 
 the matter until ten years afterwards, when this was made 
 a " charge " against me. Mr. Taylor's affidavit in support of 
 his injunction had not, indeed it could not have been refuted 1 , 
 as the application was ex parte ; but it was put in as evidence 
 against my denial in the box, and Mr. Justice Grantham 
 accepted it, in face of my swearing that " This man has been 
 kicked out of every club in London, he was hammered on the 
 Stock Exchange, and he is a defaulter on the Turf." If 
 untrue, my statement on oath would be easy to refute, and the 
 penalty for perjury is severe. 
 
 To show what kind of person J. W. Taylor is, as I write I 
 have in front of me a cheque dated October 20, 1903, for 
 474, made out in favour of Mr. J. W. Taylor or order, 
 endorsed by Mr. J. W. Taylor, and payable through the 
 payee's account only. It was paid into the Westminster 
 Branch of the London and County Banking Company. It is 
 drawn by a firm of turf commission agents, whose offices are in 
 Piccadilly. Shortly after Mr. Taylor lost to this firm a small 
 sum something under forty pounds and it was only after 
 many months and much pressure, that he was compelled to 
 disgorge this paltry amount, although he had received 
 winnings amounting to 474.
 
 284 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 THE YOUNG MAN HOEN.' 
 
 WILL now refer to the matter of Ernest Horn, on 
 which I was cross-examined. In the 'eighties 
 every man about town was more or less acquainted 
 with the brothers Horn, and they were identified 
 rather by their overbearing swagger than by any 
 other significance. Each of the brothers had a 
 nickname. One was satirically dubbed "Hunting 
 Horn " his " illegitimate " right to this sobriquet being 
 solely that he was for ever talking of hunting, and 
 "twenty minutes on the grass without a check, boys," 
 without ever having participated in a run except by 
 jogging leisurely along the lanes and byeways. To hunting 
 he was what a small suburban semi-detached villa is to a 
 country mansion ! The other Horn was called " Drinking 
 Horn " which Mr. Justice Grantham at once accepted as 
 incontrovertible evidence that Horn was for ever drunk. Yet 
 the " hunting Horn " had never jumped a fence in his life ! 
 On these lines his brother, " the drinking Horn," would never 
 have had a drink. 
 
 These two Horns were connected with the firm of solicitors,. 
 Horn and Francis not actively, but in many other ways. Horn 
 and Francis acted for them, but at the periods upon which I 
 am compelled to touch Solicitor Horn had blown his last note r
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 285 
 
 and was no more, leaving Francis the sole controller of the 
 firm. Any letters which Francis had written, any affidavit he 
 had prepared, and to which Ernest Horn had sworn, were all 
 pressed by the judge as against me, though without any 
 corroboration whatever, in face of my denial. At this very 
 moment Francis had been struck off the Kolls, and was 
 languishing in one of His Majesty's gaols. After that, 
 whoever refers to Mr. Justice Grantham as being a weak judge 
 must surely be mistaken. It is one of the strongest things 
 I can imagine. 
 
 Indeed, so carried away was the judge that in his summing 
 up he referred to Ernest Horn as " this young man Horn," 
 whereas there was no evidence whatever before the court as 
 o his age, nor was there any possibility of Mr. Justice 
 Grantham being acquainted with it unless in "Drinking 
 Horn's " lifetime, as in the case of Sir James Duke, they were 
 personal friends. I shall refer to this again when I sum up 
 the judge's summing-up. 
 
 It is now about eleven years since Ernest Horn, after tho 
 closing of the Casino, entered the billiard-room at the Hotel 
 Metropole at Monte Carloj and challenged me to play 
 billiards. I may here point out to those who are unacquainted 
 with this rendezvous after the closing of the Casino, that, at 
 the time I am referring to, it was customary for many of us 
 to meet here nightly. The room, a public one, contained two 
 billiard tables, lounges, &c. There were seldom less than 
 fifty in the room from twelve o'clock onwards, and sometimes 
 I have known it to be inconveniently crowded. At the time 
 Horn challenged me there were any number up to a hundred 
 present. We were both well-known men, and the majority 
 of those present were at least acquaintances. A match was 
 arranged, and the interest was such that the second table was 
 not used, but chairs were placed round the room, and when 
 the game started we had quite a gallery. As it was suggested 
 in court that Horn was drunk at the time it does not say 
 much for those present, or for the management of the Hotel
 
 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 Metropole, that they permitted him to play billiards under 
 such circumstances, even assuming that I am one who would 
 take advantage of a man's drunken condition. Horn was no 
 fool at billiards. Our respective merits were well known, 
 and so far from his not being sober, there was all-round betting 
 on the game. I could name at least a dozen who were 
 present. But there are some men whose conceit leads them 
 to believe that they can play for money before a gallery, but 
 it has been my experience that, as a rule, the reverse is the 
 fact. Generally speaking, the man who is solely dependent on 
 himself, and has a fair stake at issue does not play the same 
 game as he does under more normal conditions. This was 
 exactly Horn's case, for in attempting to rise above himself 
 and show himself off as he so dearly loved, he failed, and. 
 failing, fell. 
 
 I gave him a start, which in the second game had been 
 increased according to the correct handicap which the pre- 
 ceding game pointed to. What could have been fairer or 
 more sporting I cannot conceive and I mention this rather to 
 enlighten those who are unacquainted with me. My friends 
 know that I have played billiards, cricket, or any other game 
 on the same lines as I have always run my horses. 
 
 So drunk was Horn that the last game was called 98 70 
 in his favour. If Horn was drunk I must have been incapable ! 
 
 Now, there is one significant thing about this, and I shall 
 touch on it later, but feel I cannot let it even now pass without 
 brief reference. Horn was 98, and required but two points for 
 game. Mr. Justice Grantham, in his summing up, observed, 
 " He (Sievier) allowed Horn to get to ninety-eight." Mr. 
 Justice Grantham's acquaintance with indoor games can be 
 no greater than with outdoor sport. Is it not obvious that if 
 I allowed my opponent in a game, upon the result of which 
 700 depended, to get to 98, when he got to this point he still 
 had another stroke, and if he scored he would win the game 1 
 
 As a matter of fact, he did not score again, and I won. 
 
 The play ended in Horn owing me 700. After it was over
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 287 
 
 we sat in the hall of the hotel chatting. On going to our 
 rooms he asked me to his, and, producing his cheque-book 
 it must not be forgotten that all this time his swagger never 
 left him he said, in effect, " Fill up a cheque for what I owe 
 you, and I'll sign it." I did so, and being in monetary 
 difficulties, I suggested making it out in my wife's name. He 
 consented without demur, asking me to make one out for 100 
 which would be paid at sight, and another for the balance, 
 which he would arrange for. The 100 cheque was paid at 
 Smith's Bank, and the larger one handed to them for collec- 
 tion. Like a great many others who have been in a losing 
 position, Ernest Horn (" this young man Horn ") evidently 
 began to ponder how he could repudiate a liability, incurred 
 publicly under the circumstances I have described. Many 
 bets had been made on the games by the onlookers ; none of 
 these were disputed or left unhonoured. 
 
 I am not making a running commentary on what happened, 
 but recapitulating the facts to which I swore. An attempt was 
 made to suggest in cross-examination that Horn was drugged 
 by me and then inveigled into playing billiards ! Could any- 
 thing be more preposterous? How could a man who was 
 drugged stand up to make a stroke in a public and crowded 
 room? 
 
 The larger cheque was dishonoured on presentation. It was. 
 unlikely I was going to sit still, more especially when Horn r 
 to fabricate some excuse for not settling, gave out that he had 
 been drugged. Unfortunately for Horn, I took the matter up, 
 and it reached such a serious pitch, owing to the lies he told 
 one on top of the other, that I telegraphed to Lord Dufferin, 
 then the British Ambassador at Paris, and wrote fully. The 
 result was that Sir James Harris, the British Consul at Nice, 
 came to see me at Monte Carlo, but Horn, in face of the 
 calumnies he had spread had fled. He never came to Monte 
 Carlo again. And there the matter ended. So far from my 
 being " shown the frontier," as was suggested, and made to 
 suffer all kinds of penalties, it was not until March that my
 
 288 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 wife and I left for Paris, where I then resided. I have often 
 visited Monte Carlo since, have shot at the Tir aux Pigeons, 
 and put up at any hotel I felt inclined to. Now, let us descend 
 to the impossible, and assume it is possible for a man to play 
 billiards under the influence of drugs, why did Mr. Lawson 
 Walton ask me the following question? 
 
 "Was it not within the. knowledge of everybody in the hotel 
 that he (Horn) was in a state of more or less chronic 
 alcoholism 1 
 
 Answer : " Certainly not." 
 
 And if there was any truth in this question, why was I 
 shortly afterwards asked the following, which would have been 
 unnecessary had the former suggestion been the fact? 
 
 " Do you know that the manager of the bank consulted the 
 police, and that an inquiry was held to see whether there was 
 sufficient evidence to show that Horn had been drugged ? " 
 
 Answer : " I never heard so." 
 
 Now, we have it from the other side that the police, at 
 the request of the bank manager, who was not present, and was 
 no party to the matter, held an inquiry, which resulted in 
 their not being able to substantiate any such story as that of 
 idrugging, concocted by Horn solely to evade payment of a 
 :debt of honour. The police at Monte Carlo are for the 
 most part composed of detectives from all countries, and had 
 there been a grain of evidence to be gleaned they would have 
 discovered it. And after this inquiry, what was the end of 
 it all? Horn cleared out from Monte Carlo and I remained. 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham allowed the illegal evidence of 
 Police-constable Drew, then why were not the Monte Carlo 
 detectives called as witnesses I 
 
 And, apart from my answers categorically denying the 
 suggestions which the line of cross-examination assumed, I 
 also swore to the fact that Ernest Horn (" the young man 
 Horn," who in this year of grace would have been fifty-six 
 years of age) had been expelled from the Badminton Club 
 for much the same sort of thing. Yet this was never again
 
 ' EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEB. 289 
 
 touched upon, and the judge held Horn up to the jury as a, 
 lamb who had been slaughtered, without a thread of fact to 
 support such a contention. 
 
 The whole of this fictitious story, in all its incredibility, 
 was launched at me, and though strenuously denied and 
 explained as I have herein explained, the judge discarded 
 the answers and brooded over the questions until he hatched 
 them into fact in his summing-up. 
 
 Then we come to the lying accusation that I had been 
 expelled from Boodle's. I produced letters from the Secretary 
 which clearly proved this was false, and I was not even cross- 
 examined on the point. Nevertheless, it was one of the- 
 charges embodied in the slander, and the judge never once 
 touched upon the subject in his summing-up nor was he 
 likely to, judging from his demeanour from the moment the 
 case was opened. 
 
 Some thirteen or fourteen years ago there appeared in 
 a paper called the "Hawk," which very shortly afterwards 
 ceased to exist, a libellous paragraph concerning me, written 
 by Augustus Moore. I consulted Messrs. Wontner and Sons, 
 a firm of solicitors, whose strict probity needs no tribute from 
 my pen, and they sought the advice of Mr. Charles Gill, then 
 a rising junior connected with the police courts and criminal 
 cases. Mr. Blanchard Wontner and I agreed that I should 
 criminally prosecute the editor, and a judge's fiat was ob- 
 tained. The facts were before Mr. Wontner and Mr. C. F. 
 Gill, but the latter held that my having made a book 
 in- Australia, my presentation being thereby cancelled, and 
 my having just been made bankrupt, would form an in- 
 surmountable barrier to my obtaining a conviction. Mr. 
 Wontner differed, and I decided to consider the matter. A 
 lady, whom I need not name, begged me not to continue the 
 case, and her mother also intervened. I saw Mr. Wontner 
 again, and he strongly asserted his disagreement with Mr. 
 C. F. Gill's opinion, and offered to engage another counsel. 
 But I had to consider a lady, and felt that I had no other
 
 290 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 alternative. In the end a compromise was agreed to, on the 
 undertaking of the editor that my name should not be men- 
 tioned in the " Hawk " again. I do not wish to put forward 
 any such reason as that a man who has just been visited with 
 financial rebuffs, even to bankruptcy, does not possess that 
 vigour which a full purse so much assists, or any other kind 
 of excuse. I merely state the true state of things as they then 
 existed, and they must go for their value at that. But what 
 I complained of was that Mr. Charles Gill, who was at that 
 time my paid counsel, in other words, my paid confidential 
 servant, who, by virtue of the law, is fully protected 
 against divulging anything placed in his keeping in his 
 capacity as a lawyer, should have given any information to 
 the other side, sufficient to warrant Mr. Lawson Walton 
 stating in public court, " I hare the benefit of Mr. Gill's recollec- 
 tion in the matter." 
 
 If this is to be the common practice of counsel, what 
 litigant is ever safe 1 As there are matters upon which we 
 consult our doctors which we should not care for them to 
 trumpet from the housetops, so those who consult a lawyer, 
 do so under the strongest impression that the interview or 
 consultation is on the honourable understanding that it is 
 strictly confidential, and hermetically sealed within four walls. 
 
 But the gravity of Mr. Lawson Walton's astounding state- 
 ment that he was benefiting by the prompting of Mr. C. F. 
 Gill's recollection his recollection of my confidences in con- 
 sultation with him, for which services he had been paid by 
 me did not end there, for Mr. Eldon Bankes had at this 
 juncture to rise and appeal to Mr. Justice Grantham, by 
 " objecting to Mr. Gill making running comments on the 
 evidence in the hearing of the jury." 
 
 If the Judge heard Mr. Bankes he took no notice of him. 
 I leave my readers to form their own conclusions. 
 
 Now let us go to a more congenial clime, and once again 
 turn to Monte Carlo. Horn had long since departed from 
 this world, and his trumpeting was no longer heard on the
 
 EGBERT STAN DISH SIEVIEB. 291 
 
 Riviera. But it had apparently left an echo behind, and this 
 Mr. Lawson Walton reproduced, as we shall see but it was a 
 faint blast. 
 
 In the face of the false suggestions which the defence had 
 previously attempted to establish, namely, that I had drugged 
 a man when playing billiards and then betted with him while 
 he played ! that I had in consequence been " barred " the 
 Principality of Monaco, I was at a later stage asked in cross- 
 examination if I was not again at Monte Carlo in 1901. If I 
 was shown the frontier, as the defence suggested, how could 
 they, in the next breath, reasonably ask me if I was at Monte 
 Carlo a few years later ? The particular time in 
 question was the occasion when I met the Duke of 
 Braganza under circumstances which I will fully set forth, 
 and again I must emphasise' that during the whole of my 
 review of the case I am merely repea-ting the evidence, and 
 any comments on it can be taken for what they, in the opinion 
 of the reader, may be worth. 
 
 The facts are that I had played in the Club Room of 
 the Casino at Monte Carlo one evening in February, 1901 
 (I must emphasise the fact that I had uninterrupted and 
 unchallenged entree to the Club Room in face of the 
 Horn accusations), and had lost my ready money, though 
 I was in a position to borrow had I been so inclined. 
 I did not do so. There were others like myself ; indeed, 
 towards the end of the evening this is frequently a case 
 of being in the majority! Mr. Guy Chetwynd I should 
 have preferred to have withheld his name, but Sir James 
 Duke caused it to be^ mentioned the Duke of Braganza, and 
 I were " in the majority," and we agreed to go over to the 
 Hotel L'Hermitage, a most excellent and high-class house, 
 and have a flutter. We were joined by others, one of whom 
 was a Mr. Burns. The game was baccarat, and th& Duke had 
 the bank for the greater part of the evening, and in the end 
 he lost a fairish amount. In the Rooms he was a plunger 
 quite of the " break the bank " order. He did not depart
 
 292 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 from his practice during the play under notice ; on the 
 contrary, had those punting staked as heavily as he desired 
 he would have lost thrice as much, or more. After the game 
 was over the I.O.U.'s were totted up, and something like 
 75,000 francs were owing by the Duke round the table, while 
 others owed to, or were owed by, the rest of the players, as 
 the case might be. Monte Carlo is rather a whispering gallery 
 than a secret place, and the next day the topic of conversation 
 was the previous evening's play. Like the snowball, the story 
 increased as it rolled on, and francs became magnified into 
 sovereigns. A certain cocotte, who has since joined the ranks 
 of peeresses, intimated to one, whom I need not name, that 
 Mr. Burns, who had been one of the players, was a card- 
 sharper. This travelled at such a rate that it beat 
 all records of wireless telegraphy. Mr. Kalph Sneycl, 
 a friend of the Duke of Braganza, consulted me about 
 it. He had previously seen Mr. Guy Chetwynd, who 
 was a slight loser on the evening, and he denied and in this 
 I concurred that any cheating had taken place. Further, 
 as the Duke had for the most part during the time he lost, 
 dealt the cards himself, such a statement was only worth the 
 consideration usually given to stories which emanate from 
 a cocotte. I agreed that the detectives should be set to work, 
 but nothing could be brought to light against Mr. Burns. 
 What he had won I had paid him at the request of the 
 Duke ; nevertheless, I expressed my readiness to fall in 
 with anything that might be decided upon. As a result I 
 met Count Batthyany, a Steward of the Austrian Jockey Club, 
 and a gentleman whose honour is unquestioned throughout 
 Europe. Mr. Sneyd introduced me, and we discussed the 
 turn things had taken. It may appear superfluous for me 
 to mention it, but there never had been a suggestion made 
 against me, or that I was in any way connected with any 
 wrongdoing, had any taken place. The whole and sole point 
 at issue was whether Mr. Burns was the man his malicious 
 accuser asserted he was. Nothing could be substantiated,
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 293 
 
 and Count Batthyany, without any hesitation, decided there 
 was nothing left but for the Duke of Braganza to discharge 
 his debt of honour. After this, coming as it did from a 
 relation of the Duke's,.! voluntarily offered, and I felt it was 
 only in accordance with what any man should! do under x the 
 circumstances, to write a letter to the Duke, assuring him 
 I wo.uld return him the money I had won, in the event of Mr. 
 Burns ever being proved a cheat to the satisfaction of any 
 one of us. To this moment I have never been asked to refund 
 the money. 
 
 After this interview with Count Batthyany and Mr. Sneyd, 
 I received the following letter, produced in Court: 
 
 " Hotel de Paris. 
 
 "His Royal Highness the Prince of Braganza begs of 
 
 Mr. R. S. Sievier to come and see him at the hotel now, 
 
 as he wants to settle the matter concerning the payment." 
 
 I had quite forgotten to give the Duke of Braganza the 
 
 " indemnity," but remembering it the next morning, I 
 
 despatched it by messenger. The Duke had at the same tims 
 
 sent a note to me, and they must have crossed on their way. 
 
 It ran as follows, and was also produced in Court : 
 
 " His Royal Highness begs of Mr. Sievier to send the 
 few lines he showed him, telling he would refund 
 55,000 francs in case Mr. Burns is the man looked for. 
 This also was agreed with Count Batthyany and Mr. 
 Sneyd." 
 
 In face of this I was asked question after question for which 
 the defence could have no warrant but their own imagination. 
 It was put to me that my " name was known to the Monte 
 Carlo police in connection with card playing with Horn 1 " 
 Billiards by now was turned to cards, and a different phase 
 put on this or that, as a child engaged in making faces out 
 of putty. From first to last it was an attack with nothing but 
 inference for a weapon, but, as I have said, the questions were
 
 294 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 marked down as evidence. But were the documents I pro- 
 duced forgeries 1 Were my answers given on oath a running 
 chain of lies? Had either been the case, bearing in mind what 
 was eventually attempted in another court, the result would 
 inevitably have been a term of imprisonment. 
 
 Just prior to the case coming on, Mr. Guy Chetwynd con- 
 sulted his solicitors, and on their advice communicated with 
 Messrs. Lewis and Lewis, who were acting for me, offering 
 to tender his evidence on oath if it would be of any avail. 
 This was totally unsolicited, and I must, knowing as I do 
 the great majority of moral cowards that exist, both thank this 
 gentleman for his proffered services., and take this opportunity 
 to eulogise his pluck. I cannot do better than publish the 
 proof of his signed evidence : 
 
 " I was staying at the Hotel L'Hermitage, Monte Carlo, 
 and was present when the play took place with the Duke of 
 Braganza. 
 
 " My sister, Lady Anglesey, came out to stay with me either 
 the day before or the day after. 
 
 " Mr. Sievier was staying at the same hotel. I knew him 
 as a successful backer. 
 
 "At Chester races I put 500 on a horse for him which 
 won, and I sent him a cheque for 4,000. His reason for 
 asking me was that he, being so well known as a successful 
 backer, could not get the same price as I could. 
 
 " This is the only transaction I ever had with him. I 
 was in the rooms at Monte Carlo, and lost some money and 
 was going away when I saw Sievier, who was playing Roulette. 
 
 "He asked me if I had been winning. I said 'No.' He 
 said ' I can't do any good either ; let us go out and have a 
 game of Poker or something.' 
 
 " The Duke of Braganza was either sitting or standing next 
 to me, and he turned to me and asked if he might join us. 
 I said ' Certainly. Do you know Mr. Sievier ? ' and I intro- 
 duced him, because I was going to play with Mr. Sievier. 
 We walked up to the hotel and went into a room downstairs
 
 BOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 295 
 
 which is a reading or writing room. Burns and Mr. 
 
 joined us. I knew Mr. as a pigeon shot. I did not 
 
 know Burns. 
 
 " We played Baccarat. The Duke of Braganza started by 
 taking the bank. No money passed, but we gave I.O.U.'s or 
 cheques. 
 
 " When we stopped playing, Braganza said he had not got 
 any money, but must telegraph to Vienna for it. Sievier said 
 ' Don't trouble ; pay at your convenience.' 
 
 " Braganza next day said there was a rumour about Burna 
 being a sharp, and something about a notice having been put 
 on a boat about him. 
 
 " Sneyd came and said to me there was an ugly story going 
 about that Burns was a card sharp. I said ' I don't believe 
 any such thing.' I said the game would bear the strictest 
 investigation, and it was absolutely nonsense to say that there 
 was any cheating about it. 
 
 " Finally there was a meeting between Prince Batthyany, 
 Sneyd, and Sievier. 
 
 " Braganza didn't want to pay Sievier himself after what 
 he had said about Burns, and he asked me to pay him and 
 get a receipt, which I did. I paid 4,000, and there was 
 3,000 still remaining. I think there was a condition that 
 that was not to be paid if Burns proved to be a sharp. About 
 a week afterwards I went to India. 
 
 " The result of my play was I lost to Sievier. 
 " It was never suggested that there had been any cheating, 
 but the only ground for not paying was that Burns was said 
 to be a sharp." 
 
 Having made this voluntary statement of facts, Mr. Guy 
 Chetwynd saw Sir George Lewis, and offered the following 
 additional evidence : 
 
 " About three weeks ago I was in White's Club. 
 " Mr. Sneyd was there playing billiards. He said to me, 
 ' Have you been subpoenaed in this Duke case ? ' I said ' No,' 
 and he said, 'I am just off to see Duke's lawyers.' Later I
 
 296 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 got a message from the porter at White's that Mr. Sneyd 
 wished to see me. I went to White's Club at 6 o'clock to see 
 him. He said, ' I have just seen Duke's solicitors. I am going 
 to give you a word of advice you had better go and see them 
 at once.' I telephoned and made an appointment for the 
 following morning. The following morning I went there and 
 saw Mr. Wynne. He said ' I want to see you about this game 
 with Braganza at Monte Carlo. Tell me your story.' I told 
 him that I had played there. He said 'Of course this case 
 is very unpleasant, but we must get Counsel to extend his 
 protecting hand over" you. We shall keep you out of the 
 box if we can. If you are called you will state all you 
 remember. There was a game. You played and Braganza 
 played, and that is all, and you forget everything else.' I 
 said ' What do you mean by extending a protecting hand 
 over me ? ' He said ' Well, this game takes place, a young man 
 is inveigled into a private room.' I said ' That is not true 
 to start with.' He said 'And then loses a large sum of money.' 
 I said ' Have you ever inquired how much he has lost in 
 Vienna gaming rooms ? ' He said ' We cannot prove that there 
 was anything wrong about the game. We shall not attempt 
 to prove it, but we shall try and prove it by inference to the jury. 
 I said ' In other words, what you want to do is, you want 
 to keep me out of the box, and if I am called you want me to 
 say words which you put into my mouth. I positively refuse 
 to do that which would be unfair to Mr. Sievier.' He said 
 ' Of course you will understand that we cannot prove all this, 
 but it is necessary for us to get as much evidence together 
 as possible to damage Mr. Sievier.' 
 
 " I have often seen Mr. Sneyd since, and he has never 
 suggested there was any cheating. He made no complaint 
 against Mr. Sievier, but, on the contrary, he has told me what 
 a good fellow Sievier was." 
 
 Without a solitary word of comment I leave the reader to 
 form his own conclusion.
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIER. 297 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 LEGAL ELASTICITY. 
 
 9. O matter how petty, every triviality which could be 
 distorted into an incident was theatrically intro- 
 duced into my cross-examination, with Mr. Charles 
 G-ill playing the part of prompter, audible to all 
 in court, except, presumably, the judge. Some 
 thirteen years ago, while my wife was driving 
 through Shanklin, one of those burly, loafing 
 wretches who infest this world, and inflict upon their victims 
 abuse and insult against which the law offers little or no pro- 
 tection, vented his foul language in the presence of my wife to 
 such an extent that I jumped out of the trap and thrashed him 
 on the spot. If every man acted on the impulse of the moment 
 as I did, it is possible these blackguards might exhibit less 
 bravado, or at least not so readily attempt to bully and insult 
 their superiors, more especially ladies. Rather with the hope 
 of levying blackmail than for any other reason, this ruffian 
 summoned me, and the local justices decided that I had taken 
 the law into my own hands, and fined me five shillings ! 
 This incident was actually brought up against me, and I was 
 referred to as a man who had committed all kinds of savage 
 assaults ! But let us imagine that I had committed fifty 
 similar breaches of the law, what had all this to do with my 
 being charged with the crime of murder, with being a card- 
 sharper, and with causing horses to be pulled in a race?
 
 298 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Why did uot the defence rather give us the name of the man 
 who was supposed to have been found murdered under my 
 window in Australia, or the address of the house, or better 
 still, an account of the inquest which must have taken place ? 
 Would not any of these have been more to the point ? But 
 such evidence was impossible, because the accusation was 
 utterly false, without a scintilla of truth to support it, and 
 was the outcome of the malignant imagination of Sir James 
 Duke. 
 
 The questions whether I was a murderer as I had been 
 accused of being, or whether Sceptre had been pulled in the 
 Derby, and so on, were never touched upon by the judge 
 and possibly, in consequence, were forgotten by the jury 
 the vital facts that I had been engaged in horse-racing, had 
 betted and played cards, and that my wedded life had not 
 turned out a success, swamped all other considerations. 
 There was no serious question as to whether what Sir James 
 Duke had stated was true or false ; I had knocked my head 
 against Mrs. Grundy's orthodoxy, and that was quite sufficient 
 for me to be accused of anything my accuser chose to invent. 
 On these lines, and none other, the case went on I refuse 
 to admit that it was tried. 
 
 Then my bankruptcies were hurled at me as though I had 
 committed some criminal offence, nor did Mr. Justice Gran- 
 tham once refer to the evidence that I had, generally speaking, 
 paid all my creditors in full after I had got my discharge. Again, 
 what had the vicissitudes of poverty to do with my case which 
 was at issue? But I am mistaken in describing it as my case. 
 I had ceased to be the plaintiff, and was transformed into the 
 defendant ! 
 
 Then it was attempted to insinuate that I had spent my 
 wife's money. Assuming this to be so, again I ask what had 
 it to do with Sir James Duke's accusations ? I sincerely regret 
 being compelled to refer to it, but my wife had an allowance 
 from me of over l,500 a year at this time. In the case Rex. 
 v. Sievier, which I shall later on refer to, it was proved in the
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 299 
 
 cross-examination of a bank clerk subpoenaed by the Crown 
 from Lloyd's Bank that I allowed Lady Mabel Sievier over 
 a thousand pounds annually. Does this not answer any 
 " insinuation " 1 
 
 But Sir James Duke left no ladies out of the case, if the 
 introduction of their names was calculated to sway th& judge, 
 and, through him, influence the jury. The defendant's solicitor's 
 statement, which I referred to above " but we shall try and 
 prove it by inference to the jury " is indeed significant. No 
 matter at whose expense, without any regard to the feelings 
 of my wife, private affairs, having no bearing on the case, 
 were mercilessly laid bare with the hope of " proving by infer- 
 ence to the jury " that I had ch-eated my own wife ! Whatever 
 husband and wife's private affairs might be, they were foreign 
 to the issue, and with this observation I will leave this 
 cowardly "inference" cowardly if for no other reason than 
 that it involved a lady and had no foundation whatever. 
 
 Nor did the defence refrain from going to any limits in their 
 endeavour to gain an "inference," and even placed a letter in 
 my hands, written by my wife at a period when we were 
 estranged (1898), which she had addressed to Mr. C. S. 
 Pelham-Clinton, then of 4, Wilton Street, S.W. This letter 
 was passed up to me in the witness-box without my wife ever 
 having been consulted, or her consent asked, and such a 
 breach of etiquette, not to say faith, is of so extraordinary a 
 kind that it can hardly commend itself even to my enemies. For 
 Mr. Pelham-Clinton to put Sir James Duke in possession of 
 this letter, and for the latter to attempt to make use of it 
 under any circumstances, without my wife's knowledge or 
 acquiescence, was, to say the least, as ungallant as it was 
 unmanly. 
 
 Mr. C. S. Pelham-Clinton had let his house furnished to 
 Mr. Sawyer, a gentleman who the defence inferred was a 
 myth, but who has been proved to exist when witnesses for 
 the Crown swore to Mr. Sawyer's identity in the case Rex v. 
 Sievier.
 
 300 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 It was at a moment when I was pecuniarily embarrassed 
 that Mr. Sawyer placed this house, which he had taken 
 temporarily, at my disposal during his absence. Not finding 
 the place in what I deemed a desirable state, I left it at the 
 half term, and any further rent was refused. Instead of suing 
 Mr. Sawyer, Mr. Pelham-Clinton sued me, and because I was 
 described on the writ as " Sievier, otherwise Sawyer, other- 
 wise Standish (one of my Christian names), otherwise Savile," 
 it was inferred, and the inference was accepted by the judge, 
 that all these were aliases of mine ! My .denial went for 
 nothing, and a writ which could describe anybody as anything, 
 u-as accepted as evidence. Why, I could bring an action against 
 anyone, and place on the writ aliases ad infinitum, and we are 
 to understand that JUSTICE would hold that this is sufficient 
 proof, even against evidence on oath, that the face of the writ 
 must be Truth ! If so, who is safe ! 
 
 True, as regards Mr. Sawyer, I had at times acted 
 for him, and in this one respect there were some grounds 
 for the inference set up by the defence. I had written 
 letters on his behalf in his name (though none were pro- 
 duced), and assisted him in his business as a commis- 
 sion agent. He had helped me in many ways, trusted 
 me implicitly, and I in return had helped him in his 
 official affairs. The name of Savile I have never used, and 
 that of Standish belongs to me, though I have never used it 
 as a surname. In Mr. Pelham-Clinton's case I was examined 
 in chambers by Mr. Horace Avory, who would have discovered 
 if I had been really Sawyer, Standish, or Savile. But before 
 Mr. Justice Grantham there was no doubt about it ! The face 
 of the writ said so ! But before Mr. Marsham at Bow Street 
 the Crown witnesses, in cross-examination, were compelled to 
 swear that I was not Sawyer, and further that they knew 
 Sawyer apart from me. So much for these aliases. 
 
 In nearly every instance where I had won at cards the fact 
 had been touched upon, nor had it been hastily passed over ; 
 on the contrary, it was presumed I had never lost. Mr. Bankes,
 
 EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIER. 301 
 
 in his re-examination, desired to question me in regard to the 
 many times when I had lost and lost very heavily. But the 
 judge would not allow this, nor would he permit certain papers 
 to be put in and read which would have explained many 
 matters, and which referred most favourably to my conduct in 
 a number of cases, which by inference the jury were influenced 
 into believing were dead against me. In brief, not one of my 
 counsel's objections was allowed, and he was over-ruled upon 
 every point he raised. On the other hand, the defence sailed 
 or drifted where it chose. 
 
 Trivial matters were insinuated against me one after 
 another, and except that these should have helped to show 
 the true weakness of the defence, which clutched at every 
 straw, they call for no comment from me. 
 
 Then because I .sent the sum of 300 to my late clerk in 
 Australia it was implied, and this inference- was strongly 
 supported by the judge, that there must have been some 
 collusion between us, and it was evon suggested that it must 
 have been an amount owing to him out of the sum paid to 
 me by Mr. Benzon. As I have previously stated, Mr. Benzon's 
 letter has been published denying that anything of the kind 
 could have been the fact. Bookmakers' clerks frequently 
 "stand in" with the book, or take a share in a big bet, or 
 are promised a certain sum in certain events. It is the 
 common custom. But this was pooh-poohed, and Mr. Justice 
 Grantham shrugged his shoulders significantly when I swore 
 this was so. Inquiry could so easily have been made. There 
 are plenty of bookmakers of whom the question might have 
 been asked. 
 
 Let me now deal with the statement of Police-constable 
 Drew, which Mr. Justice Grantham allowed, and which after- 
 wards caused a question to be asked in the House of Commons 
 as to whether such testimony was either admissible or 
 desirable. But Mr. Justice Grantham appeared to welcome 
 this forbidden method, and dwelt upon it in his summing 
 up. This police constable swore that he had known me in
 
 302 THE AUTOSIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 the West End for the past ten years, and that my reputa- 
 tion was bad. That such " evidence " should be received 
 in a court of Justice in this country is incredible. It is 
 only admitted against a criminal at his trial after he has 
 been convicted. But what did he say in the brief all too 
 brief cross-examination Mr. Bankes subjected him to? He 
 admitted that for eight of the ten years I had lived in the 
 country ! Then my counsel, as would any lawyer with a 
 belief in justice, remarked that Drew might swear the same 
 thing of him, or of his lordship. On this he resumed his 
 seat. But what effect did this irrelevant introduction have on 
 the jury 1 It was dramatic ! Indeed, it was quite a " Gillian " 
 touch, if Mr. Gill will pardon me saying so ! If Drew was to 
 be called, why was he not asked if I had ever been charged 
 with a criminal offence, or suffered imprisonment? Would 
 this not have been sounder than his mere uncorroborated 
 opinion? And I would ask any sensible citizen, if he wished 
 to inquire into the reputation of a man living a country gentle- 
 man's life, whether he would seek the opinion of a police 
 constable ? 
 
 Before finally disposing of my cross-examination, I must 
 touch upon the volunteer incident, out of which so much was 
 made by Mr. Lawson- Walton after the pointed observation 
 of the judge. Mr. Justice Grantham said : 
 
 "This is the most serious charge which has been made against 
 you. Cannot you tell us what the name of the insurance 
 office was?" I replied: "No, -my lord, I cannot. 1 have a 
 great many details to remember in this case. If your lord- 
 ship will give an intimation that you think this money is due, 
 I will pay it myself to-day." 
 
 This ended my cross-examination, but it was a distinct cue 
 for Mr. Lawson- Walton. 
 
 "This is the most serious charge against you." Those 
 were the words and the conviction of the judge. Very well, 
 let us take this seriously. The whole of my evidence has 
 been given and the cross-examination ended. The inferences
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 303 
 
 surrounding the Horn and Renton affairs, the suggestions 
 regarding the Taylor and the Duke of Braganza incidents 
 everything paled before this serious charge. 
 
 This must, at least from Mr. Justice Grantham's point of 
 view, be looked upon as the very worst thing I have done in 
 my life. On these lines, which the judge himself laid down, I 
 ask my reader to follow the facts closely, and having done 
 so, ask himself if this " most serious charge of all " is, as it 
 stands, or even under any circumstances, inferred or real, 
 sufficiently bad in itself to warrant another man to accuse me 
 of murder ; of being thrown into the sea for cheating at 
 cards. ; of drugging a man when playing him game after game 
 at billiards in a crowded public room ; of having caused 
 Sceptre to be pulled in the Derby, a mare I loved only too 
 well and clung to until my purse held out no longer. 
 
 I had been the means of resuscitating County Cricket in 
 Bedfordshire, and supported all the local clubs throughout 
 South Beds, not to mention several in the north of the county 
 also. I had given 50 to the Luton Football Club, and 
 contributed to the winter game in the same spirit and to the 
 same extent that I had done to cricket. I had sent 
 donations to the local hospitals. I am forced to touch 
 on these matters, for no doubt it was these considerations 
 which prompted my being invited to a farewell dinner, 
 given ac the Town Hall at Dunstable, to six volunteers who 
 were about to depart for South Africa. In an after-dinner 
 speech I said I would insure each of these men's lives for 
 100. I instructed Mr. E. J. Wingfield-Stratford, a gentleman 
 then acting as my secretary, to carry the insurance out, and 
 amongst other sums he in due course received the money 
 from me covering the amount required for the purpose. 
 Beyond this I gave the matter no attention. It appears he 
 corresponded with Sergeant Robert Hamblin, of the volun- 
 teers, who was at that time an insurance agent at Dunstable. 
 I was ignorant of all this, and probably should have been so 
 to-day had not the sergeant in question, during the progress
 
 304 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 of the case, voluntarily addressed himself to Messrs. Lewis 
 and Lewis, acquainting them with his recollection of the 
 matter. He stated that the negotiations were carried on on 
 my behalf by Mr. E. Win gfield- Stratford, now unfortunately 
 deceased, and that he was sure the men were insured through 
 him. He had since then moved from Dunstable to St. Albans, 
 where he now resides, and could not find his books, he having 
 given up the occupation of insurance agent. The company 
 he believed he had insured the volunteers in had since 
 amalgamated with another, and with the short space of time 
 at his disposal he was unable to discover any documentary 
 evidence to support his statement. Nevertheless, it was the 
 statement of an independent witness, of a brother volunteer 
 of the two men who had died in South Africa. Was it likely 
 to be untrue 1 
 
 I had not troubled myself to ascertain with what office the 
 insurance had been effected, and though I now learn that it 
 was with one of those companies which sprang up at the time 
 for this special class of business, I should most probably have 
 forgotten the name had I done so. 
 
 I had forty horses in training, which were valued at some- 
 thing like 80,000 ; quite enough to keep a man occupied 
 without having to attend personally to minor details, which 
 I entrusted to others. The insurance was, I believe, a matter 
 of 36. And because I, under the foregoing circumstances, 
 could not trace this identical amount, the judge ruled this 
 was " the most serious charge which had been brought against 
 me." 
 
 I, who had given 10,000 guineas for a yearling, had jibbed 
 at keeping my promise for this paltry sum ! Though I had 
 given te>n times 36 to the different cricket and football clubs, 
 had defrayed the whole of the expenses of the Coronation 
 festivities at Shrewton by handing 200 to a committee formed 
 to carry out the rejoicings, and supplemented this by sending 
 a cheque of 50 for a similar fund at Newmarket, apart from 
 smaller amounts given to the villages in the vicinity of my
 
 __ EOBEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 305 
 
 home, it was inferred, and by the judge emphasised, that I 
 had failed to pay 36 to insure the six men's lives as stated ! 
 If this be so, then no man can ever do a generous act in the 
 eyes of the law, but h can indeed commit a crime. Nor must 
 it be overlooked that I stated in the box, if the judge in- 
 timated that he thought the sum the insurance would have 
 brought in was due from me, I would pay it that day. He did 
 not say it was. But h dwelt on the incident in a " national " 
 spirit in his summing-up, and Mr. Lawson Walton took the 
 hint and made it the tag of his speech ! 
 
 21
 
 306 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 CHALLENGE TO SIR JAMES DUKE. 
 
 ENTERED the witness-box on the 5th of May, and 
 left it on the 10th, which, exclusive of Saturday 
 and Sunday, made four days in all. What was the 
 reason for this abnormally prolonged period 1 Why 
 was my cross-examination dragged on day after 
 day? Is it not significant? 
 
 When I left the witness-box the judge shrugged 
 his shoulders and looked towards the jury in a manner which 
 I cannot describe in any other way than as unjust. For 
 reasons best known to themselves the foreman stated that 
 they would like Sir James Duke to go into the box. After 
 some hesitation he entered it, and was sworn. 
 
 I here quote verbatim a passage which appeared in the 
 " Winning Post " of November 18, 1905 : 
 
 " It is my intention to deal most seriously with the 
 statements he made on oath. Possibly Sir James Duke 
 might disagree with them, or desire to contradict one 
 or all of them. On these grounds the proprietors of the 
 ' Winning Post ' hereby hold themselves responsible, 
 and guarantee that 1,000 shall be paid to the Queen's 
 Unemployed Fund in the event of Sir James Duke satis- 
 fying a committee of three gentlemen that any statement 
 I am about to make in regard to this evidence is untrue.
 
 EOBEET 8TANDISH SIEVIEB. 307 
 
 The proprietors of the ' Winning Post ' are prepared to 
 nominate a gentleman who is on the committee of one 
 of the leading military clubs in London, for the member- 
 ship of which Sir 'James Duke is not eligible. On the 
 other hand, Sir James Duke is at liberty to nominate 
 a gentleman on the committee of any recognised club, 
 and the two to appoint a third, the hearing to take place 
 in public, or with closed doors, at the option of Sir James 
 Duke. In case of the latter being decided upon, the 
 TT erdict of these three gentlemen, who need never bo 
 named if such a course be deemed advisable, to be 
 published in the ' Winning Post ' in brief, merely stating 
 that I had failed to substantiate what I am about to 
 state, or, on the other hand, that Sir James Duke had 
 not succeeded in securing the 1,000 for the Queen's 
 Unemployed Fund. This will give Sir James Duke not 
 only the opportunity of stultifying myself and this paper 
 in the eyes of the public, but also the chance of being 
 a philanthropist to the extent of four figures without 
 having to provide the money." 
 
 A part of the slander uttered by Sir James Duke to Major 
 Sellar was that a man had been found' murdered under the 
 window of my house in Australia, and that there were ugly 
 stories in connection with this, to the effect that I had played 
 cards with him and then resorted to foul play with the result 
 stated. This is untrue in every particular. I challenge Sir 
 James Duke to produce a tittle of evidence to uphold this 
 wanton fabrication. If there was a scintilla of truth to 
 support this accusation, nothing would be easier than for Sir 
 James Duke, to obtain it. If a man is found murdered, or 
 even let us suppose a case of suicide, it is inevitable that 
 an inquest must be held, and the evidence can be produced. 
 But Sir James Duke's difficulty in this instance is his total 
 inability to prove that a certain thing has happened which has 
 never occurred.
 
 308 THE AUTOSIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 Sir James Duke left Eton in a hurry, and this may possibly 
 account for his visiting Australia at the early age of seventeen, 
 where he asserts that he saw me thrown from a boat into the 
 sea for being suspected of cheating at cards. This accusation 
 is on all fours with the foregoing, except that it is a degree 
 worse when it is considered that Sir James Duke has falsely 
 sworn that he was a spectator of this incident. In the early 
 stages of the case Sir James Duke asserted that this happened 
 at Adelaide, but in cross-examination he was asked the 
 following question : 
 
 " Where did this boat incident happen 1 " 
 
 Answer : " At either Adelaide or Melbourne. I believe 
 the latter." 
 
 This points to an extraordinary weakness in his memory, 
 inasmuch that he could not remember within 500 miles where 
 this incident had taken place, which had so much impressed 
 him at the early age of seventeen. 
 
 He was then asked : 
 
 " Where were you standing at the time 1 " 
 
 Answer : " On the pier." 
 
 There is no pier at either Adelaide or Melbourne, neither 
 city being on the sea-coast, yet it is> recorded on the oath of 
 Sir James Duke that he saw this happen from the pier! 
 Furthermore, though he could distinctly remember it was a 
 pier, he. could not swear whether it was in South Australia 
 or Victoria. There had never been a suggestion that this 
 affair had happened in Melbourne until he was cross- 
 examined; but in any event, as I have already stated, it 
 would be impossible' for it to have occurred in either place, 
 for the only sea which borders either of these cities, exists 
 solely in the imagination of Sir James Duke, for up to now 
 the explorer has not discovered it, nor has the geographer 
 recorded it. 
 
 But I do not hold Sir James Duke to the letter of his 
 statements. I say that such an occurrence as detailed by 
 him never happened in any part of the world whatever.
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEJ'IER. 309 
 
 Continuing, the following question was put to Sir James 
 Duke: 
 
 " Until you went to Australia again, you had no idea who 
 had been pushed into the water 1 ?" 
 
 Answer: "No." 
 
 I think I am right in stating that few men have ever been 
 better known throughout Australia than myself, and it being 
 a thoroughly sporting country, my name was continually before 
 the public ; indeed, I might go so far as to say that I was as 
 well known as the Governor of any one of the Australian 
 colonies. Under these circumstances it is passing strange 
 that when Sir James Duke, as he asserts, saw so prominent 
 a person thrown into the sea, fished out of it, and dragged 
 on to a pier, that he should not have known who that man 
 was, and that in a subsequent conversation which he alleges 
 took place at the club on that day, my name should never 
 have been mentioned. Sir James Duke has asked the world 
 to believe that this extraordinary story, which occupied the 
 attention of the members of a certain unnamed club, in a town 
 the name of which he cannot remember, merely referred to 
 the incident as though it had happened to some strange person 
 unknown, unheard of, and unrecognised. He further stated 
 that he did not know it was I until he saw me on a subsequent 
 visit to Australia ! But he could not accurately fix this, as 
 his answer, " It may have bee>n on my next visit to Australia," 
 implies. 
 
 For an instant let us take Sir James Duke's own words 
 for the foundation of his story. In answer to a question as to 
 whether he had inquired what the row was about, he replied : 
 
 " I was told by a bystander." 
 
 Therefore it is to be rightly assumed that whatever Sir 
 James Duke hears from a bystander, of whom he is perfectly 
 ignorant, he will repeat what that bystander says as being a 
 fact, without any further inquiry. 
 
 He was then questioned as to the document which con-
 
 310 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 tained the particulars which the defence put in, in mitigation 
 of damages. He was asked the following questions : 
 
 " Have you read it in the club ? " 
 
 Answer: "No." 
 
 " Did that document contain accusations of a serious nature 
 against Sievier ? " 
 
 Answer : '"Yes." 
 
 " Was one of the people to whom you showed it Mr. Arthur 
 Chetwynd 1 " 
 
 Answer: "I should think not." 
 
 " Now, I ask you on your oath, did you ever show this 
 document, or tell its contents to Mr. A. Chetwynd?" 
 
 Answer: "Yes." 
 
 Here in the last two answers is an absolute contradiction, 
 and I accept the latter as being the truth. It is a fact that 
 Sir James Duke had a copy of this document which contained 
 accusations against me concerning the many false slanders he 
 had uttered, and I assert, with a full appreciation of the 
 contingency which the proprietors of the " Winning Post " 
 guaranteed, that he read these particulars aloud in the Raleigh 
 Club in the presence of Mr. Arthur Chetwynd and another 
 gentleman whom I need not name, and within the hearing of 
 any members who happened to come into the room. At this 
 time Mr. John W. Taylor, a portion of whose career I have 
 already dealt with, was present as a stranger, he not being 
 a member. 
 
 In Sir James Duke's cross-examination he at one time 
 stated : 
 
 " I never read them [these particulars] to anyone in the 
 Raleigh Club." 
 
 And at a later stage contradicted this by swearing : 
 
 " I was in the club on the occasion when I read the 
 paragraph from the particulars to Mr. Chetwynd." 
 
 It was under these circumstances, that he met Mr. John W. 
 Taylor, with whose experiences of club life and his career on 
 the Stock Exchange my readers are familiar.
 
 BOSEET STANDISH SIEVIEE. 311 
 
 Thus it does not take a very intelligent man to discover 
 that Sir James. Duke's first answers in cross-examination did 
 not tally with those which he gave when pressed by Mr. Eldon 
 Bankes. 
 
 It may be matter of opinion, but I am inclined to think 
 that it would have been more delicate if Sir James Duke 
 deemed it advisable to read these allegations to anybody, 
 that he should not have chosen the smoking-room of a club, 
 where members and strangers were present. This possibly 
 also occurred to him when he was first cross-examined on the 
 subject and denied it, only to be compelled to admit it 
 ultimately. 
 
 Another of the slanders was to the effect that I had been 
 expelled from Boodle's Club. Had this been so, Sir James 
 Duke was in a position to verify this with little or no trouble 
 whatever. For this statement he again relied on the bare word 
 of an individual, but in this case he assumed it was a friend. 
 Had he chosen to make the most ordinary inquiry he would 
 have found that his friend's story was false. This I proved 
 in the box, while, on the other hand, the defendant failed 
 entirely to substantiate his statement. 
 
 As if this were not enough for one man seriously to tell 
 another without any chance whatsoever of verifying his state- 
 ments, Sir James Duke further said that I had been turned 
 out of the Jockey Club Enclosure at Newmarket, and that it 
 was through his instrumentality that I had been unmasked to 
 the Stewards. This is as great an untruth as are the whole 
 of the assertions which I have already disposed of. In the 
 first place I was never in the Jockey Club Enclosure in my 
 life, and had I been, and had the Stewards ordered my being 
 turned out as stated, at least one of that body must have 
 remembered the incident, and would have been available as a 
 witness. Then Messrs. Weatherby must have either made a 
 minute of this extraordinary matter or have had some recollec- 
 tion of it. To have " unmasked me to the Stewards " they 
 must have held some inquiry, or at least a consultation ; and
 
 312 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 bearing in mind that the defence alleged and called illegal 
 and inadmissible evidence, and that this was permitted by 
 the judge, why was not some corroboration of this episode, 
 if it ever occurred, produced in court 1 Because, as in all 
 these extraordinary accusations, there was none to be found. 
 
 Impossible as it appears, I will attempt to take Sir Jamss 
 Duke's evidence as seriously as my imagination will carry 
 me. What does it come to 1 That a boy of seventeen, 
 travelling in Australia, returns to England, and after a lapse, 
 according to his own testimony, of something like twenty-two 
 years, recognises that individual as the man he saw on the 
 Flemington racecourse, and whom he had previously seen 
 thrown into the water! Of that he was perfectly sure, but 
 whether it was within 500 miles of any particular spot he 
 could not definitely swear to. Nevertheless, a bystander had 
 told him something, and in the fulness of time this formulated 
 another something in his mind, which he repeated on a most 
 serious occasion in connection with a series of other malignant 
 accusations. And though he admitted that detectives had 
 been employed throughout England and Australia, and all 
 records of the courts searched, he could not call a solitary 
 witness to confirm a single incident. There were plenty of 
 men in England to whom my Australian career was well 
 known. Mr. Joseph Thompson, Mr. J. D. Marks, Mr. B. S. 
 Thompson, and a host of others were all available as witnesses, 
 and Sir James Duke could have placed them in the box. 
 The reason why he did not is obvious. 
 
 The defence had subpoenaed a valet of mine whom I dis- 
 charged for drunkenness. They placed him in the box, and 
 he appeared as a witness, though his evidence was immaterial. 
 Again, the police-constable Drew, as we are aware, was put in 
 the box. It would be interesting to know whether Sir James 
 Duke first approached Drew, and if so, why? Or, on the 
 other hand, whether Drew voluntarily tendered to Sir James 
 Duke the irrelevant evidence he proposed giving ? But I do 
 not in any way wish to draw inferences, so will merely observe
 
 EOBEBT STANDISH SIETIEE. 313 
 
 that it must be deemed ill-becoming that Sir James Duke 
 and his partisans should have invited this police-constable 
 into the Raleigh Club and entertained him as a guest after 
 he had given his evidence in the box, which they did.* 
 
 Sir James Duke failed to make any response to the 
 challenge I threw out. His enforced silence spoke for itself, 
 releasing the reader from being compelled to draw his own 
 deductions. It may be regretted by some that the chance, 
 faint and remote though it must have appeared, of benefiting 
 the Queen's Unemployed Fund to the extent of 1,000 was 
 not persevered with by Sir James Duke, who, to succeed, had 
 only to prove that a single fact I had stated was incorrect. 
 I should be sorry to imagine that he would not be ready to 
 place what would, in the event of it being decided that this 
 sum should be paid over to this royal and deserving charity, 
 substantially prove to be his valuable services to his Queen 
 and the poor and in cases the starving. But I never held 
 out a thread of hope that he could ever make even the feeblest 
 attempt to accomplish this. 
 
 * The whole of the questions and answers set out are taken verbatim 
 from the report of the case as it appeared in "The Times " newspaper.
 
 314 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXVII. 
 
 THE SUMMING-UP! 
 
 |R. LAWSON WALTON, K.C., addressed the jury 
 before calling witnesses. It was a curious course 
 for him to take, and was one of those legal tricks 
 with which I had not been previously acquainted. 
 Being confident of not .being checked by the 
 judge, he had a very fine opportunity of display- 
 ing that rhetorical power which he undoubtedly 
 possesses. Mr. Eldon Bankes, K.C., replied, and at the close 
 of his speech told the jury that his Lordship would explain to 
 them the points of law. Then Mr. Justice Grantham com- 
 menced what is commonly known as the summing-up. Had I 
 been a blind man I should have pronounced this the final speech 
 for the prosecution of the plaintiff! Throughout. I listened for 
 the " points of law," but I listened in vain. Word by word, 
 sentence by sentence, I waited for a single statement un- 
 accompanied with dramatic gestures, which had played so 
 prominent a part throughout the hearing. 
 
 Patiently I sat, denuded of a vestige of hope that one 
 solitary fact which had been proved in my favour would be 
 touched upon. It required no man of the world to discover 
 which way the judge had inclined from the moment Major 
 Sellar entered the witness-box a child could not but have 
 noticed it. Mr. Justice Grantham summed-up the case,
 
 BOBEItT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 315 
 
 " Sievier v. Duke," and I will now proceed to sum-up his 
 summing-up. 
 
 That one or two judges take very elastic views in their sum- 
 ming-up of a case, more especially when it is one which has 
 aroused public curiosity, is common knowledge, and in this 
 instance it has been generally agreed that Mr. Justice 
 Grantham broke all records, even eclipsing his own reputa- 
 tion. Apart from those who were present in court, the con- 
 sensus of opinion of those who merely read the newspaper 
 reports fully confirms this. 
 
 As I have previously observed, my solicitors, counsel, 
 and more especially myself, had been very anxious to get 
 the hearing removed to another court. If for no other reason, 
 Mr. Justice Grantham had previously convinced me that 
 he was not a judge I should choose to try a case where any 
 prejudice might possibly be introduced. So long as Mr. 
 Justice Grantham lives it will never be forgotten that he, 
 in his judicial capacity as one of his Majesty's Judges, 
 publicly denounced Roman Catholics and their religion. 
 This was a most unwarrantable and undignified pronounce- 
 ment. Worse still, it was uncalled for, and therefore gra- 
 tuitous. It is not the concern of a judge wantonly to take 
 upon himself an authority not vested in him by dictating 
 his unsolicited opinion of a religious sect of which he does 
 not happen privately to approve. 
 
 The bare idea takes one back to mediaeval ages, for if this 
 kind of thing were tolerated the days of the Inquisition 
 might be revived. For centuries it has been England's boast 
 that a man is free to follow that religion in which he believes. 
 It is not for any man to judge another's faith. Each and 
 every man's religion should be reverently respected, and 
 not sneered at and publicly scoffed at, no matter what our 
 inmost views may be. There is a Higher Tribunal to judge 
 these things, and all unbiassed men would safeguard their 
 speech so as not to hurt the sensitive feelings of those who 
 did not happen to think and believe as they. I should say
 
 316 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that, with the exception of Mr. Justice Grantham, not one 
 of his Majesty's judges would discredit a witness because 
 he was not a member of the Church of England, let him "be 
 a Roman Catholic, a Hebrew, or even an idolater. Has 
 Mr. Justice Grantham forgotten that the late Lord' Chief 
 Justice, Lord Russell of Killowen, was a Roman Catholic? 
 
 That his sentences are at times severe in the extreme, as 
 they are at other times light, is amply illustrated by two 
 recent cases. For firing a rick of straw recently, when the 
 prisoner pleaded that "the devil was in him," Mr. Justice 
 Grantham passed a sentence of seven years' imprisonment 
 " to keep the devil out of him " ; while a few weeks later, 
 for a heinous offence, worse than actual cannibalism an 
 offence so revolting that it creates an indescribable feeling 
 of horror and disgust a blind clergyman who pleaded guilty 
 to this terrible degradation, who had for ever ruined the 
 lives of his victims, and had been the cause of his wife com- 
 mitting suicide, and for whom hanging was too good, was 
 sentenced by Mr. Justice Grantham to six months' imprison- 
 ment. It is interesting to conjecture what punishment would 
 have been meted out to him had he been a Roman Catholic. 
 
 Thus the incendiary is pronounced fourteen times as bad 
 as the clergyman who is. guilty of the foulest offence against 
 the canons of nature. 
 
 Early in his remarks the judge repeated what he had 
 previously stated as Sir James Duke left the witness-box, 
 namely, that "he wasi very glad the jury had determined 
 to hear Sir James's evidence." Why was he glad? Why 
 should a judge be pleased that this or that evidence had 
 been tendered? In this instance it was at the request of 
 the jury that the defendant entered the box, otherwise he 
 would never have been heard. It was not a voluntary act. 
 And had I cross-examined him, instead of Mr. Eldon Bankes, 
 I do not think the judge would have been so highly delighted. 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham took up a line which I can only 
 describe as defending the defendant. If my layman's
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 317 
 
 phraseology is not quite in accord with the ordinary legal 
 term I must ask to be excused. He said " he thought he 
 could ask the jury to say whether there was one single 
 syllable in Sir James Duke's evidence to justify the obser- 
 vation that he had been guilty of ungenerous conduct in 
 protecting his own pocket. The only question that arose was 
 whether, in their opinion, the statements made by Sir James 
 Duke were privileged by the circumstances under which 
 they were uttered." 
 
 He did not once touch upon the bona-fides of those state- 
 ments, nor did he for an instant refer to the absolute 
 contradictions which the defendant had made in the box. 
 He failed to point out that had I been thrown into the sea 
 for cheating at cards, first at Adelaide, then possibly at 
 Melbourne, it was not quite certain where, that it was 
 highly improbable that I should have been elected, and 
 remained, a member of the Victorian Club, proposed by 
 Captain Standish, the chairman of the Victorian Racing 
 Club, a position equivalent to the Senior Steward of the 
 Jockey Club, and seconded by the Hon. William Pearson, 
 a member of the Upper House, and vice-chairman of the 
 V.R.C. He did not state that Sir James Duke had said 
 that this allegation had been the subject of conversation 
 at a club, and that, if so, it must have been common know- 
 ledge, and evidence of the fact must have been easily pro- 
 curable. He ignored any reference to the age of the defen- 
 dant at this period, who was then but a boy of seventeen, 
 and who had been sent away from England, and had thus 
 early attended race meetings at Flemington. What this 
 youth of seventen did was to be looked upon as the act of a 
 cherub, but my presence at Flemington was, by inference, 
 referred to in the blackest manner possible. It was not put 
 to the jury that as Sir James Duke had stated that he un- 
 masked me before the Stewards of the Jockey Club in Eng- 
 land, it might appear strange that he did not act in a similar 
 manner in Australia, where the charge would have been ripe
 
 318 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 for investigation, and evidence, if there was any, at hand, 
 nor did he refer to the fact that he had, on his own state- 
 ment, nursed this incident, which he swore he witnessed 
 with his own eyes, for twenty-two years before he made any 
 statement or complaint whatever. Had he been in a posi- 
 tion to substantiate any one of his accusations he could have 
 done so on the spot where he alleges they happened, and 
 my licence must have been at once cancelled by the Stewards 
 who had granted it, the two foremost of whom had actually 
 proposed and seconded me for the leading sporting club in 
 Australia ! The judge did not point out that it was extra- 
 ordinary that the two principal men on the Australian Turf 
 should never have heard of Sir James Duke's murder story, 
 of the cheating at cards, or of my being thrown into the sea. 
 It will be noticed that the judge did not deal one by one 
 with the unfounded and slanderous statements uttered by 
 Sir James Duke ; but the summing up resolved itself into 
 an intemperate attack upon me from first to last, never once 
 dealing with the merits or demerits of my statement of 
 claim. The whole of the facts were ignored en bloc as far 
 as the truth was concerned. The judge advocated that the 
 occasion was a privileged one, and strongly impressed this 
 upon the jury. I would be the last to say that a member 
 of a club should not be privileged to warn a brother mem- 
 ber against an undesirable stranger, but I also say. and most 
 emphatically, that what is told in confidence by one mem- 
 ber to another should be solely honest, straightforward 
 fact, and not a tissue of lies. Xo circumstances, no matter 
 how extraordinary, can be put forward as an excuse for a 
 man solemnly stating to another that which is without a 
 shred of foundation. Had one of Sir James Duke's alle- 
 gations been true in substance and fact, that one would 
 have been sufficient to satisfy any man that I was undesir- 
 able, and there would have been no need to have continued 
 the string of accusations until they stretched to murder. 
 When a man professes to know " too much " against another,
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 319 
 
 it points to one of two things, possibly to both weakness 
 or malice. But the greater the length of the charges, and 
 the more numerous they were, the judge implied, the 
 greater the privilege. 
 
 Then the judge stated that " Major Sellar had introduced 
 Mr. Sievier to this club." 
 
 Mr. Eldon Bankes rose, and, correcting him, said, "I think 
 your Lordship will remember that Major Sellar stated that he 
 did not introduce him." 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham thought " it was a fair inference 
 that Major Sellar had introduced Mr. Sievier. At' any rate, 
 there was no indication in the book as to who had introduced 
 him, and he was Major Sellar' s friend 1 ." A more biassed view 
 than this it would be hard to imagine. I had sworn, and the 
 evidence was before the court, that I had not even entered 
 the club with Major Sellar, that I had driven up with another 
 member, andl that the whole of the members in the now 
 notorious " gazing room " were acquaintances of mine. I 
 had no idea that Major Sellar was even likely to come into 
 the club, which he did some time after I had called. Major 
 Sellar had also testified to this, but the visitors' book being 
 unsigned, that was sufficient for the judge to set aside uncon- 
 tradicted evidence and to introduce any inference he chose. 
 It is a matter of no vital importance, except that it distinctly 
 points to the judge's persistent attitude, which he clearly 
 assumed throughout the hearing. Then he did not ask the 
 question of the jury whether, in their opinion, it was so, but 
 laid down that "the jury knew that Mr. Sievier had been in 
 the company of gamblers, card-players, card-sharpers, and 
 the greatest scoundrels on the earth." This was a monstrous 
 misstatement for any judge to make in his summing up, when 
 it was considered that, during a period of twenty-five years, 
 evidence showed that I had only come into contact with one 
 cheat, the man Cavanagh, whom I had myself denounced. 
 Who were " the greatest scoundrels on earth " 1 There 
 was nothing before the court to justify this. The judge
 
 320 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 could not refer to a single fact to justify it. That I had 
 been in the company of gamblers might be said of any man 
 who mixes with owners of racehorses. Card-players there 
 are in the most respectable and exalted circles, and in spite 
 of the fact that I had played cards and betted over a period 
 of more than a quarter of a century, during which time 
 I had only once come into contact with a sharper, to whom I 
 had that night been introduced, and who within a few days had 
 been pronounced a swindler, the judge informed the jury that 
 they knew I kept the company of sharpers and scoundrels. 
 Bearing in mind that I have lived a great part of my life 
 in hotels, and that my career has been rather of a public than 
 of a private nature, I should have thought that any reasonable 
 judge would have said that I had shown no little astuteness 
 in only once having found myself playing in the company of 
 a cheat in the course of five-and-twenty years. 
 
 As to my being a gambler, this could only have been 
 introduced with a view of prejudicing me in the eyes of the 
 jury. There is no doubt, generally speaking, a strong anti- 
 pathy in England amongst certain classes against gambling, 
 but, on the other hand, there are, taking an average, as many 
 honourable men who gamble as there are in any other walk 
 of life. The judge did not inform the jury that there are more 
 solicitors annually struck off the Rolls for forgery, theft, and 
 criminal offences than there are defaulters declared on the 
 Turf ; yet to belong to the one class is deemed reputable, to 
 be connected with the other a disgrace ! I submit it should 
 not be allowed, or for an instant tolerated, that a judge should 
 have the power to tell the jury that they know this or that to 
 be the case unless the evidence clearly establishes it, and is 
 dealt with by the judge in support of his statement. 
 
 So the summing-up continued. 
 
 Had the jury been composed of men with an open know- 
 ledge of the world, I am of opinion that the judge's " summing- 
 up " was so obviously biassed that their sense of justice would 
 have revolted. But, as I have already shown, they were not.
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 321 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham never once left the jury to form their 
 own opinion, but dictated to them in the most emphatic, if 
 not virulent, manner that I was everything the defence had 
 by inference attempted to prove. Having blackened me in 
 language which no one who heard it could describe as 
 unbiassed, embellished with those dramatic gestures and 
 expressions, of which Mr. Justice Grantham is a past-master ; 
 having besmeared me with filth and rolled me in the mudl 
 with a disregard of a tittle of evidence unique in the annals, 
 of any court (or the record of the most frenzied summing-up 
 of modern times) he then proceeded to deal with the question 
 of damages. 
 
 He said : " But supposing the jury were to say that Mr. 
 Sievier was a man who might be introduced into this club y 
 and that Sir James Duke was wrong, then the question arose 
 as to what damages they should award. The plaintiff, if he 
 had suffered any material damage, was entitled to those 
 damages. If not, the damages would be judged by the 
 character of the man. What damages did they think the 
 plaintiff was entitled to receive because somebody had said 
 he had no right to be in the Raleigh Club 1 " 
 
 The judge directed the jury that the issue resolved itself 
 into whether I was " a man who might be introduced into the 
 Raleigh Club," and this was not put to them until after I had 
 been maligned by the judge in a manner calculated to 
 influence ninety-nine jurymen out of a hundred. But, apart 
 from this, I maintain the judge was wrong in so directing 
 them. Surely the real issue in the case was whetlier Sir 
 James Duke had spoken the truth or lied. Whether I was 
 a fit person to enter the Raleigh Club, or, for that matter, a 
 cabmen's shelter, had nothing whatever to do with the 
 calumnies the defendant had uttered against me, and which 
 were never proved or even supported. Police-constable 
 Drew, as already stated, was entertained by Sir James Duke 
 and his friends as a guest of the Raleigh Club, but he would 
 have little or no prospect of being elected a member at least, 
 
 22
 
 322 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 as I remember the club in the old days. Hence, according 
 to Mr. Justice Grantham, any member could have slandered 
 Drew to an unlimited extent, solely because he was not a 
 man "who might be introduced to the club." 
 
 I never complained that anybody had said that " I had no 
 right to be in the Raleigh Club." My case was whether I was 
 a murderer, a card-sharper, a puller of horses, a man who had 
 been unmasked to the Stewards of the Jockey Club, &c., &c. 
 The judge was monstrously in error in stating that the 
 question of damages rested solely upon somebody's opinion as 
 to my locus standi in regard to the club referred to. He might 
 as well have said that a man once blackballed for a club is 
 ipso facto stamped a blackguard ! 
 
 Nobody can possibly concur in these extraordinary notions 
 of Mr. Justice Grantham, which he has publicly stated in open 
 court. 
 
 Having, as it were, condescended to refer, in a con- 
 temptuous manner, to the question of damages, the judge 
 continued : 
 
 "Now, who is this man? They had heard of his career 
 in Australia, how he had become the father of two illegitimate 
 children in two years, and how he had been divorced for 
 cruelty and adultery." 
 
 As to my having two illegitimate children in Australia, I 
 denied this in the box, and no other evidence, documentary or 
 otherwise, was put forward to rebut it. But assuming I was 
 the father of an army of illegitimates, what had that to do with 
 the slander 1 Take the opposite side of the case ; had my 
 counsel asked Sir James Duke a similar question, would that 
 have been sufficient to prove that all his accusations were 
 lies? 
 
 In regard to my being divorced when I was twenty-five years 
 of age (1885), it is quite correct. I decline to deal with the 
 affair as I might; but I think, after the long space of time 
 which has elapsed, it was not fair to harp on it, nor had it 
 anything to do with the issue before the jury.
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 823 
 
 But the judge dwelt on this incident as though it had just 
 happened, and as though there were extraordinary things 
 connected with it which are not met with in the divorces 
 which take place very day. Does the judge know how long 
 the hearing of this "terrible divorce suit" took? Exactly 
 twenty minutes. If the judge's inference possessed the 
 slightest substance, the newspapers were defrauded of con- 
 siderable copy! Then, I would ask, how long a time is 
 supposed to pass before a man can expiate a mistake ? If 
 an unhappy matrimonial alliance, freedom from which can 
 only be gained by divorce, is to be a matter of adverse comment 
 in the eyes of Mr. Justice Grantham after twenty years, then 
 a criminal offence must be inexpiable even by purgatory ! 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham then proceeded : " Was it for those 
 wretched people they were asked to give a verdict for this 
 man 1 " He did not say that though these circumstances might 
 not redound to a man's credit, yet they had no direct bearing 
 on the legitimate points at issue, and that the introduction 
 of this stale story might possibly suggest how weak were the 
 props upon which Sir James Duke depended to support his 
 slanders. 
 
 Then, inconceivable as it will appear indeed, if I were 
 not quoting from the shorthand notes I should not expect 
 to be believed the judge continued : " There was a lady to 
 whom he had been engaged for four years. Was she the 
 person for whom the jury were to find a verdict?" 
 
 More than sixteen years ago I had been engaged to be 
 married to a lady, and the engagement had been broken off ! 
 What had this to do with the case indeed, what had it to do 
 with anything out of the ordinary common occurrences of 
 everyday life? Such an observation as that of the judge was 
 as ridiculous as it was preposterous ; but the jury were gaping 
 in astonishment, and were floundering in the slough of 
 bewilderment. 
 
 Then he stated, " There was another lady, to whom he was 
 married two days before she was to have been married to a
 
 324 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gentleman with whom she would have lived all her life." On 
 what grounds could he lay it down as an absolute fact that 
 any woman would live all her life with any man? Yet the 
 judge put it to the jury as an accomplished circumstance 
 without any element of doubt. I would suggest that for an 
 individual to be inflated with sufficient dangerous conceit to 
 blindly lead him to pose as a matrimonial prophet is sufficient 
 proof in itself that he is not fitted to uphold the dignity of 
 the Bench. 
 
 He continued in the same vehement strain, cruelly and un- 
 justifiably referring to my wife's private affairs ; but he never 
 once touched upon my children. Why should he so palpably 
 have ignored any reference to them 1 ? Is it not crucially 
 significant? He did not even suggest that it might be for 
 them that the jury were asked for a verdict ! No ; there 
 would have been a true, legitimate ring about that ; so he left 
 them unmentioned and unheeded. 
 
 " How did the case open ? " he went on. " It opened with 
 a wretched story of the plaintiff's career in Australia, of his 
 wife, and about his trading as a bookmaker in a false name. 
 Sir James Duke knew something of that story, and the 
 question was whether he was justified in telling a member of 
 his own club what he knew." 
 
 The judge did not once review Sir James Duke's evidence. 
 He did not point out a single one of the discrepancies with 
 which it teemed. The fact that the defendant had spoken, 
 how or under what circumstances was immaterial, whether 
 true or false, was no question for the jury. Had Sir James 
 Duke told the truth to Major Sellar and others, is it con- 
 ceivable that I should have been ignorant of the gravity of 
 the situation if made public ? Had his statements possessed 
 even a grain of fact, were they not sufficiently stale and 
 forgotten for me to forbear to reopen the chasm which time 
 had filled up ? Better stand on thin ice than not stand at all. 
 But I took my action against Sir James Duke because his 
 accusations were deliberate lies.
 
 ROBERT STANDISR SIEVIEE. 325 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham avoided any reference to his 
 evidence ; on the contrary, he laid it down, without expressing 
 any doubt, that " Sir James Duke knew something of that 
 (Australian) story." Something! Did he define that 
 something? Did he remind the jury that the defendant 
 was then a boy of seventeen, and that there was no 
 evidence to support his statement, which vacillated, with 
 regard to one specific charge, between towns and places 
 covering an area larger than that of the United Kingdom 1 ? 
 That on all the other charges he could make no coherent 
 reply at all! Did he hint that it might be considered 
 peculiar, that according to the evidence, Sir James 
 Duke had allowed twenty-two years to elapse before 
 publicly proclaiming me 1 Or, what was perhaps equally 
 vital, taking into consideration his age, did the judge 
 even suggest that he might have made a mistake? He never 
 even once referred to any of these statements ; had he done 
 so, he knew the case must have been decided in my favour. 
 Again, it was totally incorrect to say that my case opened 
 with a wretched story of my career in Australia ; and though 
 the judge more than once introduced the subject of my wife, 
 was this an episode which could permit of a judge describing 
 a man's career as wretched 1 Certainly I had traded as a 
 bookmaker, but I have yet to learn that the following of that 
 occupation is illegal. A calling which the law permits is not 
 one for Mr. Justice Grantham to decry in his official capacity. 
 Then he solemnly stated that I carried on, this business in a 
 false name. The word false which he introduced clearly defines 
 the temperament of his summing-up. Solicitors of the High 
 Court trade in names other than their own. Would a judge 
 define those as false ? Many a large firm in the City has not 
 a single partner in it bearing its name, and the same applies 
 to banks and many other institutions. On the stage there are 
 few actors or actresses who do not carry on their professional 
 duties under " a false name," and many continue that name in 
 their private life. I was but twenty-two years of age, and for
 
 326 THE AUTOSIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 business purposes my own being a peculiar and very 
 uncommon one I adopted my mother's maiden name. On 
 these grounds it was inferred I was engaged in something 
 nefarious by the introduction of the word FALSE. 
 
 " There was no reason to go into the history of this man 
 in all its particulars, and his relationship with the ' Jubilee 
 Plunger,' Benzon ; but he should have thought that any 
 honourable man would have been sorry to get money out of 
 such as he." I have already referred to Mr. Benzon's letter, 
 stating that all our transactions were honourable, written at 
 a period when that gentleman had had ample time for reflec- 
 tion. I betted against horses with Mr. Benzon in the course 
 of my business. One was Redpath, for the Grand National, 
 who started at a third of the odds I had laid against him, 
 and had he won I should have been in Mr. Benzon's debt, 
 and not he in mine. We had only one settlement, running 
 over a number of transactions, of which Redpath' s was the 
 last. Yet it was inferred by the defence that I had cheated 
 him, and this was suggested by the judge's remarks. I might 
 ask how many thousands Mr. Benzon lost in the Raleigh Club, 
 of which Sir James Duke recently was one of the committee 1 
 
 The judge said that there was " no need to go into the 
 history of this man " ; but as I deal, item by item, with the 
 subjects he dealt with, it will be seen that not a single stone 
 which could be cast at me was unthrown. And of what were 
 these missiles compounded ? Inference. What better instance 
 than that I had traded under a false name, when I had only 
 practised what was common custom 1 ?
 
 ROBEBT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 327 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 THE SUMMING-UP (continued). 
 
 HOUGH Mr. Justice Grantham promised that his 
 summing-up would be brief, he waded on and on 
 through the mire, and left one wondering if he 
 was ever coming ta an end. Wherever there was 
 a stray scrap, no matter how insignificant, he 
 threw out the scraper and heaped it up with a 
 precision and professional finish which would have 
 done credit to the most expert of the County Council's 
 road cleaners. He continued: 
 
 " Then there was the incident where the plaintiff played 
 billiards up to two or three o'clock in the morning with a 
 young man, and sat talking until six or seven doing nothing. 
 If they were doing nothing, how was it he was found drugged 
 or drunk hours afterwards ? " 
 
 Mr. Eldon Bankes : "There is no evidence of that, my 
 lord." 
 
 Again Mr. Eldon Bankes was forced to rise and object 
 to the judge's summing-up because it was unsupported by 
 any evidence. Mr. Bankes might as well have attempted 
 to. have invoked the gods as to have corrected the judge 
 in any way whatsoever, no matter how crucial the point, 
 evidence or no evidence. Seldom is a judge interrupted 
 when addressing the final word to the jury, and it can be 
 taken for granted that counsel is quite sure of himself
 
 328 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 before he protests under such circumstances. There is no 
 judge on the bench or counsel at the Bar who will for an 
 instant believe that Mr. Eldon Bankes would attempt to 
 correct a judge unless h was convinced he was right in 
 doing so not one except Mr. Justice Grantham. 
 
 What was Mr. Justice Grantham's answer to Mr. Eldon 
 Bankes's emphatic statement that "there is no evidence to 
 that effect"? 
 
 He said : " I hold that is a fair statement from evidence." 
 What evidence? I was the only one who gave any evi- 
 dence on the point. I have the shorthand notes in front 
 of me, and there is no evidence whatever to support the 
 judge's audacious assertion that Horn was either a young 
 man or drugged. Before dealing at length with this point 
 I will give the whole of the judge's observations with regard 
 to this episode. After a pause he added : " They (the jury) 
 knew that the man had apparently tried to sign some 
 cheques, and that five or six cheques were missing from 
 his book. There was no explanation of the cheque for 600, 
 and no explanation that the plaintiff was at the bank as 
 soon as the doors were open, and he was able to cash it. 
 Then there was the incident of the young man Horn, ' Drunken 
 Horn.' The jury would be able to form their own opinion 
 of what happened from the plaintiff's evidence. The plain- 
 tiff had demonstrated how this foolish fellow had waved 
 his arms about, challenged him to play billiards, plaintiff 
 giving Horn 25 or 30 in 100, and just winning; then giving 
 him 40, and just winning; then giving him 50, and letting him 
 get to 98, and winning again." 
 
 What could be more monstrous than these misstate- 
 ments? There was not a scintilla of evidence as to Horn's 
 age the question had never been put and it was a gross 
 misdirection to the jury when Mr. Justice Grantham in 
 his judicial position, solemnly described Horn as a young 
 man. Had Horn been alive he would have been exactly 
 twelve years younger than Mr. Justice Grantham, who is
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 329 
 
 seventy years old. If a person who had survived three 
 score years and ten can be fittingly described as an old man, 
 equally so a man of forty-five which was Horn's actual 
 age at the time in question could hardly be truthfully re- 
 ferred to as " a foolish young man," as the judge defined 
 him, with an almost incredible asperity considering the 
 matter of Horn's age had never once been mentioned during the 
 case, and no emdence ivhatever on the subject had been tendered. 
 
 If this was not misdirection it would be interesting to 
 the layman to learn what is. Nor did he end here, but, 
 warming to his subject, he reached the point of ebullition 
 when he described the games of billiards. It is difficult to 
 imagine that he could ever have hoped to have been taken 
 seriously. There was no evidence that I just won each 
 game, and his final remark, " then giving him 50 and letting 
 him get to 98 and winning again " was, in the face of his own 
 words, a gross misrepresentation by the judge. Moreover, 
 it was a misrepresentation of the game and rules of 
 billiards. As I have previously pointed out, any man 
 who knows how the game is scored he need never 
 have handled a cue is aware that when a player reaches 98 
 in a hundred up he is within two of game. He is then en- 
 titled to another stroke, and if he makes the minimum score 
 must win before his opponent can have a chance. But 
 assuming he fails to score, it is no certainty for his oppo- 
 nent to win the game on his next venture, even if he is a 
 Hoberts or a Stevenson ; therefore, apart from Horn having 
 the command of the table when 98, on losing this by his 
 failing to make the winning stroke, he still had the possi- 
 bility of his opponent not making the necessary number of 
 points. Then it must be remembered that on reaching 98 
 points Horn would bring all his ability into play so as to 
 leave, if possible, an easy hazard or cannon which would 
 win him the game. During this time my cue was dead. I 
 "was, as it were, out of the game. In short, Horn had to 
 fail to score to have any chance of losing. Yet Mr. Justice
 
 330 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF 
 
 Grantham seriously stated that I allowed him to get to 98. 
 He might as well have added : " The plaintiff very probably 
 then hit this young man Horn over the head with the butt- 
 end of his cue, and finished the game." There was no more 
 evidence of the one allegation than the other. 
 
 As to a cheque of 600, there never was one for that sum 
 given, but it was undisputed that Horn had lost this amount 
 to me, and that he had given me a cheque for 100 and one 
 for 500. The former was paid that morning, and the latter 
 dishonoured. The statement that I had been able to cash 
 it was utterly incorrect, for the dishonoured cheque was in 
 the possession of my solicitors at the hearing of the case. 
 As to some counterfoils not being filled up in Horn's cheque 
 book, I could, and did, account for two of these, as he wanted 
 to give me two post-dated cheques which I refused, and 
 these were subsequently torn up and thrown into the waste- 
 paper basket. But according to the judge there must have 
 been something suspiciously wrong about that ! What I 
 cannot conceive. Mr. Justice Grantham said, and on this 
 occasion the evidence supported his observation, that we 
 sat talking in the hall of the hotel after the games were over 
 until six or seven in the morning. Yet he instructed the 
 jury that Horn had been drugged. When, and for what 
 reason ? The games were over, and we sat for some three or 
 four hours in the company of perhaps half a dozen visitors 
 chatting in the hall. There was no dispute. All this had 
 been sworn to. 
 
 Even if the judge honestly thought Horn had been 
 drugged, he did not point out it was impossible that this 
 could have happened in the billiard-room during the pro- 
 gress of the games. In the first place, a drugged man could 1 
 not play billiards, much less get within two points of game 
 by scoring 98. Nor is it within the bounds of imagination 
 that a large number of spectators would permit a " drunken 
 or drugged young man '' (aged 45) to play a game of billiards 
 for a large stake of money without at least one dissentient
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 331 
 
 voice being raised, even assuming they did not stop the 
 game being played at all. As a matter of fact, it was sworn 
 to that several present betted on the result, and at one time 
 good odds were laid on Horn winning. Therefore, it would 
 have been a reasonable deduction, assuming Horn was found 
 " drunk or drugged," that it must have been after he had 
 reached 98 and just missed winning the game by not again 
 scoring. It was proved that he sat. talking in the hall with 
 several others for hours after this, so the drug, if adminis- 
 tered, must have been a most impotent one, or have been 
 a deuce of a time in taking effect ! 
 
 And what were the servants of the hotel doing all this 
 time to allow a drugged or drunken man to stagger about 
 the place for some seven hours on end? Why was not even 
 one of these men called to prove that Horn was in the state 
 Mr. Justice Grantham assumed he was? Why, indeed? 
 
 What did really occur? The evidence is quite clear. 
 Horn, when the company in the- hall broke up, went to his 
 bedroom on the third floor a long way up if either drugged 
 or drunk and made out two post-dated cheques for the money 
 he had lost, which I refused, and on my writing out two 
 others he signed them, tearing the others up. I fail to see 
 anything irrational in this. The reason for his giving two 
 cheques- was that he wanted a little time to enable him to 
 find funds to meet the one for 500, which, as I have stated, 
 was never honoured, and is in my possession at this moment, 
 while the one for 100 was. It must appear clear that Horn 
 could not have been drugged up to this period. But if ever 
 he was, what possible motive could there have been? He 
 would have been incapacitated from playing billiards, or 
 writing a cheque afterwards. 
 
 Having lost, and, what is still more to the point, having 
 slept on it, Horn then tried to get out of discharging his 
 liabilities. This was no rare thing with him ; it was a habit. 
 It had been proved that he was expelled from the Badminton 
 Club for much the same thing. Why did Mr. Justice Grantham
 
 332 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 burke this fact, recorded in the books of the club 1 He never 
 failed to trot out skeleton after skeleton and dangle them in 
 all their nakedness before the jury, while here he had some 
 substance to deal with. Why stifle the truth? Echo answers. 
 Nothing else could. 
 
 I regret being compelled to pursue this episode further, 
 but the judge's inaccuracies increased to such a degree by 
 his waving aside the whole of the facts sworn to, that I have 
 no choice. Mr. Lawson-Walton had inferred on behalf of 
 the defence that the Monte Carlo police had made an inquiry 
 as to whether Horn had been drugged or not. But he failed 
 to acquaint the court with the result of their inquiries. The 
 reason is obvious. Had Horn been drugged the police could 
 have given evidence on this point, and it would have been 
 far more valuable and reliable than the mere opinion of a 
 police-constable, which the judge welcomed. Such testimony 
 would have been fatal to me. But it was not forthcoming 
 except when given by Mr. Justice Grantham. 
 
 Again, the judge absolutely ignored the facts which had 
 been proved. What was the upshot of this scandal, made 
 scandalous solely through Horn being a man who, by hook 
 or by crook, habitually disputed and wriggled out of discharg- 
 ing his debts of honour? In the end, after the British Consul 
 at Nice had come to Monte Carlo at the request of Lord 
 Dufferin, to whom I had telegraphed, Horn left and never 
 returned, while I, with my wife, remained. 
 
 As I sit following the shorthand notes of the evidence 
 word for word, I drop my pen and wonder. 
 
 Having passed this " drugged or drunken " allegation, the 
 judge then mumbled something to the effect that " the jury had 
 heard what the inspector had said," but it was in a subdued 
 tone, which gave me the impression that he had possibly been 
 reminded of the inadmissible and false evidence he had 
 permitted in the case, the admission of which was subsequently- 
 censured in the House of Commons. Some good has come out 
 of evil, for such unwarrantable statements will never again be
 
 EOBEET STANDISS 8IEVIEB. 333 
 
 allowed to disgrace England's Courts of Justice, the highest 
 authorities having pronounced that such a course is illegal 
 and unjust. 
 
 Facts, and facts only have been dealt with by me, and so 
 far as I have been able to restrain myself, I have attempted 
 to record them dispassionately. I think I am entitled to say ' 
 that so far not a single allegation was brought home to 
 me, any more than a single one of the calumnious accusa- 
 tions with which Sir James Duke charged me, was proved. 
 The defendant's own evidence showed them without the 
 slightest foundation ; false to a letter. If I am wrong, Sir 
 James Duke has a dual remedy. On the one hand he can be 
 the means of securing 1,000 for the Queen's Unemployed 
 Fund, and on the other he can take an action for libel against 
 me and the proprietors of the WINNING POST. 
 
 Mr. Justice Grantham then touched upon the Braganza 
 incident. The facts I have already dealt with, by pub- 
 lishing the Duke's letters to me and Mr. Guy Chetwynd's 
 (son of Sir George Chetwynd) statement. I will briefly 
 refer to them again. I had played cards in a public room 
 of a hotel in Monte Carlo in the company of four other gentle- 
 men. Some lost, others woo, and among the former was the 
 Duke of Braganza, who took the bank at baccarat. After 
 the game was over not a reflection was cast. We sat smoking 
 and chatting for some time, and then the party broke up. 
 Subsequently a cocotte stated that Mr. Burns, one of the 
 players, was a notorious cheat. No one had detected him 
 cheating, nor had a breath of scandal been connected with the 
 game prior to this. I saw Count Batthyany, with Mr. Kalph 
 Sneyd, who introduced us, on the subject. Nothing definite 
 beyond this cocotte's assertion could be discovered against Mr. 
 Burns. The Duke thereupon discharged his debts of honour, 
 and I volunteered to return the money I had won if it was ever 
 discovered Mr. Burns was the man it had been so irresponsibly 
 assumed he was. I have never been asked to return a penny ; 
 but, on the other hand, about a week after, played baccarat
 
 334 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF . 
 
 in the same room under almost exactly similar circumstances 
 with the Duke of Braganza's brother, who was present at 
 Monte Carlo during the whole of the time ! Nevertheless, the 
 judge laid it down that I was doubtless in the company of a 
 cheat and in collusion with him ! Count Batthyany, a gentle- 
 man whose honour has never once been impugned, and who is 
 a man of the world and was on the spot, decided the contrary. 
 Who on earth was in the better position to form an opinion, 
 or whose judgment in worldly affairs should carry more weight 
 that of Count Batthyany, a member of the Austrian Jockey 
 Club, who was on the spot, or that of Mr. Justice Grantham? 
 
 Going on, in face of his unfulfilled promise to be brief, Mr. 
 Justice Grantham continued : " Then there was the incident at 
 the Hotel Metropole, Brighton, where the plaintiff was again 
 accused of being in the company of a known card-sharper. 
 What would any of the jury have done if such an allegation had 
 been made against them? Would they not have spent the 
 last penny they possessed in clearing their character from 
 such a charge? What did the plaintiff do ? Withdrew his 
 action, and paid the whole of the costs." 
 
 This is a terrible distortion of the evidence. 
 
 It was quite true that a man who I believe was a card- 
 sharper was present, but I was introduced to him by Ernest 
 Kenton that evening in the billiard-room of the hotel. Later, 
 we played cards, and Renton, who had the bank at baccarat 
 throughout, lost a good round sum to me. He breakfasted with 
 me the next morning, and it subsequently transpired that the 
 cardsharper was known to some of the hotel servants. Renton 
 had not the money to settle ; indeed, he was at this time a 
 defaulter on the Turf to several bookmakers, and what he 
 then owed has never been discharged to this day. Like the 
 majority of men in his impecunious position, he was ready 
 to seize any excuse for repudiating his debt. As regards a 
 cardsharper's presence during the game, I agree he was right, 
 and in fact I forewent my claim, but Renton, in his anxiety 
 to free himself through the only loophole open to him, con-
 
 ROBERT STAN DISH SIEVIER. 335 
 
 nected me with the man he had himself introduced me to the 
 previous evening. I brought an action against him. Meeting 
 him in the paddock at Epsom some time after this had been 
 commenced, he came up to me and apologised. He withdrew 
 everything, and so frank was he that I introduced him to 
 my wife, and he lunched in our box at the races on this and 
 the following day. My solicitors addressed a letter to Renton's 
 solicitors, setting forth these facts, adding that as I had 
 accepted Renton's apology the action would be withdrawn. A 
 copy of the letter was produced in Court and put in in evi- 
 dence. I paid the costs at a time when Renton was abroad, and 
 he afterwards repaid me by handing me a cheque for 100. 
 This was the evidence. Yet, in face of this, the judge made his 
 misleading statement, never once stating that my solicitors' 
 letter was the basis upon which this action was settled. Would 
 it not have been fairer to have assumed that Renton was as 
 much in the company of a cardsharper as 1 1 And what 
 grounds had the judge for saying I " was again accused of being 
 in the company of a cardsharper " 1 This was the first time I 
 had been accused of this, unless he, by a stretch of imagina- 
 tion, included the Burns "incident," which occurred years 
 afterwards. There was no other case. Surely it was for me, 
 in consultation with my solicitors, to decide whether I would 
 accept Renton's ample apology or not, and their letter to his 
 solicitors distinctly stated that they had advised, and agreed 
 that I ought. By what right did Mr. Justice Grantham direct 
 the jury that I had acted as none of that body would have 
 done, with these facts and documents before him ? And why 
 did he not refer to this letter, and remind the jury of the true 
 ' ending to the proceedings I had taken. No, the whole of the 
 facts were concealed, and comment took their place. 
 
 Following on the lines palpably suggested by him to Mr. 
 Lawson Walton, the judge retained the Volunteer "incident" 
 for the last. It had nothing to do with the case, but the judge 
 made what I can only describe as a dramatic appeal to the 
 national feelings of the jury. I have dealt with the matter
 
 336 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHT OF 
 
 previously, as indeed I have with all the other " incidents," 
 but this one is so far outside the question which was at issue 
 or rather which in justice should have been at issue that I feel 
 there is no reason to refer again to this irrelevant topic of 
 which the judge made so much. 
 
 The jury retired. What verdict could they possibly be 
 expected to find when subjected to the influence of such a 
 " summing-up " ? They would have had to be men of intellect 
 and education to have withstood such a lengthy and drawn-out 
 misrepresentation of the true facts. They decided as they 
 were dramatically directed, and returned a verdict that the 
 occasion was privileged.
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 337 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 MR. JUSTICE GRANTHAM SUMMED UP. 
 
 O sooner was the case over than Sir James Duke 
 delivered his bill of costs with electrical haste, 
 and I believe in this respect broke all records. 
 I at once instructed my solicitors to have them 
 taxed, and made arrangements to secure the 
 defendant his costs with the same promptitude 
 that they had been got together and delivered. 
 Hence I was pretty busy. Before the taxing master I 
 was faced with as much opposition as I had experienced 
 during the hearing of the case, and when I mention 
 that 500 was allowed by him for getting up the Brief, 
 and only three witnesses were called, this will probably 
 astonish lawyers more than the man in the street, who is 
 unacquainted with the procedure of taxing costs. Though I 
 only had one K.C. and was the Plaintiff, the cost of two K.C.'s 
 were allowed the defendant. I need say no more upon this 
 subject except that a firm such as Messrs. Lewis and Lewis 
 did not succeed in reducing this bill of costs, which they 
 described as excessive, to within many hundreds of their 
 estimate. The pronounced prejudice against me amounted to 
 as great an injustice before the taxing master as before the 
 jury.
 
 338 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 After the verdict, before leaving the court, I asked Mr. 
 Eldon Bankes forthwith to appeal. This he did not do, 
 possibly he did not hear me in the excitement which prevailed. 
 It was on the eve of the Whitsuntide Vacation, and Sir George 
 Lewis was away. In his absence I consulted Mr. Griffiths, his 
 managing and confidential clerk, who I believe is himself a 
 ;solicitor. I had often seen him in place of Sir George in 
 regard to the case. He informed me we had three months 
 in which to appeal. Shortly after this he advised me we had 
 only twenty-one days. Then it was discovered that the appeal 
 should have been lodged within eight days ! This was a 
 thunderbolt. I then saw Mr. Eldon Bankes, K.C., in con- 
 sultation with Mr. Norman Craig, my junior counsel, and it 
 was decided that an application should be made to the Court 
 of Appeal, praying that I should, under the extraordinary 
 circumstances, be given leave to appeal. This is a recognised 
 practice in the High Court, and leave is invariably given when 
 the occasion has arisen through no fault of the applicant. It 
 was refused. Possibly the hearing of the appeal would have 
 created a scandal, the Drew incident alone being sufficient to 
 assure this. With the case standing where it did, I was the 
 only sufferer, and with all respect, I feel that the refusal to 
 grant me the justice I asked for, merely on the grounds that I 
 was a few days out of time, appeared to me to be a harsh and 
 arbitrary decision, more especially when it is remembered that 
 the defendant's costs had been amply secured. Beyond this 1 
 make no comment. 
 
 Since then I have heard many varied opinions as to the 
 manner in which Mr. Eldon Bankes conducted my case. If 
 I have no fault to find with my counsel it is not for others to 
 Attempt to change my opinion, more especially when these 
 gratuitous criticisms emanate from those who merely read the 
 garbled and distorted reports which appeared in the Press. 
 All I complain of is that I had not a fair trial. Mr. Eldon 
 Bankes fought on the lines of a gentleman. Notwithstanding 
 the methods of my opponents, and I use this word in the plural
 
 BOBEHT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 339 
 
 advisedly, for I had not only the defendant but also the judge 
 as my adversaries, I nevertheless uphold his attitude. We 
 were in a Court of Justice presumably ! The utter hopeless- 
 .ness of my counsel being able to convince the jury on any point 
 in my favour was vividly apparent from the attitude which 
 Mr. Justice Grantham took up from the very moment the 
 case opened. The ear of the Court was deaf to my counsel. 
 Had he been Cicero and Demosthenes rolled into one he might 
 -as well have addressed the desert air. Eealising, as I do, the 
 almost tragic position in which Mr. Eldon Bankes was placed 
 by the judge, I feel no other counsel could have done more 
 than he did. One might as well have expected a man in the 
 stocks to run ! 
 
 The hypnotising effects of the result of this case I again 
 repeat I can never style it a trial had not subsided when Sir 
 James Duke, directly or indirectly, through the agency of the 
 Ealeigh Club, advertised in the public Press for subscriptions 
 to assist him to defray the costs, by far the greater part of 
 which I had paid. Though this appeal was most urgently 
 made by his small coterie of followers, the result was a dire 
 failure as far as the public were concerned. 
 
 I do not think it will be considered out of place if I depart 
 Jrom strict autobiography, to which I have hitherto confined 
 myself, and devote a few words to summing up Mr. Justice 
 -Grantham, which I will endeavour to do briefly, without 
 exaggerating the truth or distorting facts. 
 
 Sir William Grantham appears to be a compound of two 
 extremes severity and leniency. Unfortunately, I am afraid 
 that if his various and varying sentences were reviewed, they 
 would generally include the former, while the latter commend- 
 .able qualification has been too often applied to those cases 
 which were undeserving of any mercy whatever. Take as an 
 instance the recent sentence, to which I have referred, of 
 only six months which he gave to a blind clergyman who was 
 found guilty of the most heinous offence against Nature, and 
 -who had been the cause of his wife committing suicide. On
 
 340 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the other hand, a woman "who shot at a man and his son 
 both of whom she accused of having treated her in a manner 
 I need not describe Sir William Grantharn sentenced to seven 
 years' penal servitude. The merits of this case I am not 
 dealing with ; I merely compare the two offences and the 
 sentences. Had I the space or the desire, similar comparisons 
 could be continued ad infinitum. 
 
 In a few words, I should sum up Sir William Grantham by 
 pronouncing him as severe a judge as he is a weak one. His 
 stoical attitude in all criminal cases is in contradistinction to 
 his demeanour as a witness. He has sentenced men to death, 
 as was his bounden duty, without a quiver ; he has sent law- 
 breakers to gaol for long terms of imprisonment ; but on an 
 occasion when he himself broke the law and gave evidence 
 in support of his case, a mere civil one, he wept in the box ! 
 He wept, as others had wept when pleading for mercy before 
 him. What a contrast! On the one side a deaf ear to the 
 plea of the poor wretch in the dock, the starving man or the- 
 homeless woman, in some cases hardened wretches, but here 
 and there a stray one with a touch of nature not yet made 
 callous by the harshness of reverses and the worldly 
 struggle of life : on the one side Mr. Justice Grantham, 
 as a judge, tenaciously holding the conviction that to check 
 crime first offenders should be punished the more severely : 
 that the mercy of a ministering angel is wrong, that prolonged 
 punishment, no matter whether it throws the first sinner into 
 contact with hardened criminals or not, is the only remedy : 
 on the one side inflexibility, a total disregard of the possi- 
 bility that one of these wretched prisoners, man or woman, 
 might be contrite, whose heart-strings might be breaking to 
 reach that goal, the opportunity of doing right : on the other 
 side, Tears ! An extraordinary combination. 
 
 When Sir William Grantham was prosecuted by the Urban 
 Council of his district he had broken the law in a most flagrant 
 manner. He treated the laws of this country in a manner 
 which would have landed the ordinary individual who pays-
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 341 
 
 rates and taxes with a heavy fine and a long bill of costs. 
 What was the result? Beyond that he shed tears in the box, 
 nobody knows. 
 
 With the public for my jury, I ask, is this not an inexplic- 
 able state of things'? That a judge does not always know 
 the law requires no stretch of imagination to believe, or there 
 would be no need for a Court of Appeal and so on ; but for 
 a judge to be ignorant of an Act of Parliament, he is fully 
 aware is no plea to justify him in breaking it. But Sir William 
 Grantham. could not, even if he had so desired, have pleaded 
 ignorance, for he had been served with notices, in face of 
 which he continued, possibly with renewed vigour, to build 
 workmen's cottages which had been condemned as insanitary 
 by His Majesty's officers. 
 
 Though we may not all respect the individuality of this 
 or that judge, we all hold a profound regard for the dignity 
 of the bench, and it is more than a pity that indirectly it 
 received such a rude shock as the result of those proceed- 
 ings. For a judge to pose as immaculate in his ordinary 
 private life is to hold himself up to ridicule, and in this 
 instance I submit, Gentlemen of the Jury, Sir William 
 Grantham scored one of his principal successes. It almost 
 suggests the groundwork for a psychological story, " Tears 
 Which Failed," with a sequel, "Tears Which Succeeded." 
 
 The majority of people entering a court for the first time, 
 look upon a judge with such profound awe that they appear 
 to be lost in bewilderment, wondering if he was not born on 
 the bench, wig and robes complete. As a matter of fact, 
 judges are appointed through so many different channels that 
 it would be difficult actually to state, in some instances, why 
 they were ever elevated to the bench at all. . 
 
 It is to be deprecated that the> political hand, upon which 
 is the finger of party promotion, plays all too prominent a 
 part in this respect. Sir William Grantham owesi his judicial 
 position first to the electors of East Surrey and Croydon, 
 then to the late> " St. Stephen's Review," and finally to the-
 
 342 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Conservative Party, of which he was a unit in the House 
 of Commons. Would it not be a refreshing reform if the 
 lawyers, by ballot, selected those to be elevated to the bench, 
 the successful candidates to be finally approved of by the- 
 presiding judges ? If the House of Commons was not a back 
 stair-case to the Bench, then the legal profession would not 
 be so anxious to obtain seats in Parliament. 
 
 Late in the '70's and in the early '80's Sir William, then: 
 Mr. William Grantham, was closely identified with the " St. 
 Stephen's Review," in its day a powerful Conservative 
 organ. In this connection he held a unique position, 
 almost reaching the ambitious altitude of a Gilbertian- 
 Pooh-Bah. On the one hand a director of the company, 
 and on the other advisory and consulting counsel. Whether 
 as counsel for the company he refused to accept the emolu- 
 ments of a director, or vice versa, I cannot say ; but in deal- 
 ing with the dual positions, I submit, Gentlemen of the 
 Jury, they smack of clashing interests. The layman director 
 might endeavour to avoid an action at law, but this would 
 hardly be the " advice " of an ambitious rising barrister. Nor 
 is it beyond the pale of criticism that a counsel should act 
 as a director on any company, for if it is correct that he should 
 do so, why not go a step further, and, amongst other outside 
 lucrative jobs, become a company promoter right away? 
 Though no doubt the " St. Stephen's Review," with its 
 numerous libel and other actions, was a source of income to 
 him, it had far greater attractions in those days for Mr. 
 William Grantham, who took silk and became a Q.C. in 1877. 
 As I have pointed out, the back staircase to promotion is 
 up the political steps, and supported by the then powerful 
 " St. Stephen's Review," Mr. William Grantham had a very 
 rosy chance of reaching the landing. 
 
 At this time Gladstone and the Liberal Party were para- 
 mount. John Bright sat in the House under a Quaker halo, 
 Joseph Chamberlain was budding into a Fiscal Orchid of the 
 Empire, and Lord Rosebery. arm-in-arm with Lord Hartington,
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 343 
 
 now the Duke of Devonshire, was making himself felt through- 
 out the land. This gave the journal I have' mentioned a great 
 scope for attack, and' the cartoons by Phil May and Tom 
 Merry were as excellent as those of The Snark to-day. This 
 furnished the director-counsel of the " St. Stephen's Review " 
 with a brilliant inspiration. In anticipation of what a Con- 
 servative Cabinet would be, it was proposed that a cartoon 
 should appear in the " St. Stephen's Review " depicting the 
 different Ministers. Mr. William Grantham voluntarily sug- 
 gested, without a tear or a blush, that he should appear as. 
 the Attorney-General, and, Gentlemen of the Jury, under the 
 peculiar circumstances, I respectfully submit this was a legi- 
 timate business proposal. Possibly it was more ambitious, 
 than after results warranted, but it was no less cute for all 
 that. Nor were this young man's pushing proclivities, for a 
 second checked ; indeed, they appear to have been encouraged,, 
 for at a later period he promoted himself, in his mind's eye, 
 by proposing that he should be depicted in a subsequent 
 cartoon as the Lord Chancellor. So attached was he to these 
 caricatures that he took many of the originals away with 
 him from the offices of the paper, and probably is the happy 
 possessor of them at this moment. Possibly they are now 
 heirlooms. 
 
 Nor did the predominating influence of the " St. Stephen's. 
 Review " end here, for its columns continuously, almost regu- 
 larly, contained notices in fulsome praise of Mr. William 
 Grantham, Q.C. Naturally directors, or in this case one of 
 their number, would help to encourage their consulting 
 counsel ! This might be passed by without severe reflection if 
 the subject always emanated from, or was inspired by, the 
 Editorial staff. But such was not the case. At times many 
 of the puffs were written by Mr. William Grantham himself, 
 and these< eulogistic paragraphs duly appeared in the " St. 
 Stephen's Review." I submit, Gentlemen of the Jury, that 
 this was playing the political game somewhat strongly. Was 
 it not juggling with the electors, who would read the state-
 
 344 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ments with the confidence inspired by honest criticism? If 
 Sir William Grantham's memory fails him, I refer him to the 
 late Editorial Staff, either singly or collectively. I undertook 
 to be brief. I hope I have fulfilled my promise.
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIEE. 345 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 THE AFTERMATH. 
 
 T is not my desire though I admit it has frequently 
 been a great temptation to diverge from the 
 practice I have observed throughout my auto- 
 biography of recapitulating the facts to the very 
 letter, and as far as possible without comment. 
 But where the surroundings are of common know- 
 ledge and of recent occurrence, I feel I shall be 
 pardoned if I here and there make a critical observation, which 
 my reader is, of his own knowledge, in a position to concur 
 in or dissent from. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I strongly maintain that the 
 verdict in my action for slander was in truth the ukase of Mr. 
 Justice Grantham, to which the jury were compelled to bow. 
 I have already stated that at least two of "my fellow-country- 
 men " were aliens, who kept " lodging " houses in a .most 
 notorious street off Tottenham Court Road. That " such " 
 should follow as sheep the bell wether is not surprising ; but 
 it was astounding, I feel sure, to the great majority that, 
 after this verdict, without calling upon me for any ex- 
 planation, or giving me any notice directly or indirectly, 
 officially or unofficially, the Stewards of the Jockey Club 
 should have warned me off Newmarket Heath. I am left to 
 conjecture a reason none has been vouchsafed me. Though 
 I was one of the most prominent owners of recent years, who 
 had never once been called before the Stewards of any
 
 346 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 meeting the world over, in regard to the running of my horses 
 during a period of close on a quarter of a century, I received, 
 without a shadow of warning, that formal notice, which carries 
 with it the most severe sentence the Stewards of the Jockey 
 Club have in their power to pronounce. I have always main- 
 tained, and do so to-day, that an owner who enters into the 
 sport, at once places himself in the hands of the Jockey 
 Club, and that any decision of its Stewards, no matter how 
 it may be resented, must be accepted as final. There is no- 
 appeal that I am aware of. And it is obvious that, unless an 
 appeal were heard by the members at one of the club's 
 meetings, any other course would be futile. Even assuming, 
 this was permissible, it is by no means probable that the club 
 would stultify its Stewards. Yet against this, where a man's 
 honour, his social existence, is at stake, I submit he should 
 at least have an opportunity given him of vindicating his 
 character if it lies in his power. True, he can appeal to the 
 law of the country ; but in England, and I say so deliberately, 
 with a full knowledge of the force of my words, in our Courts 
 of Justice an ounce of prejudice will outweigh a ton of fact. 
 Yet I maintain that no owner, without the gravest possible 
 reason, should appeal to anybody outside the Turf tribunal ; 
 but even if these were not my views, I was struck when. 
 I was down, and had no opportunity of appealing for help, 
 alien or otherwise. 
 
 There is one crucial point which must not be overlooked, 
 and it is that Mr. Charles Gill is the advisory counsel of the 
 Jockey Club. He appeared against me in the action for 
 slander. During the progress of the case I had grave cause 
 to charge Mr. Gill with what I consider, and what every man 
 I have consulted, including many of the legal profession, alsa 
 considers, a gross breach of confidence. Though it is in my 
 power to adversely criticise him outside these particular 
 matters, I refrain from so doing, having not the least desire 
 to create a prejudice against him. Hence it is with some 
 disinclination that I say I believe, and have very strong
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 347 
 
 grounds for my statement, that Mr. Gill, as counsel to the 
 Jockey Club, used his utmost influence against me. It would 
 take a very strong contradiction from a high quarter to 
 convince me to the contrary. To hope I am wrong would 
 cause me to feel I was hoping against hope. 
 
 On this point my information is so trustworthy that a 
 review of some of the surroundings cannot fail to be 
 interesting. Some time before my action against Sir James 
 Duke commenced both Mr. Gill stated and the defendant 
 boasted that, no matter what the issue might be, I should 
 afterwards be prosecuted for perjury. This is edifying, having, 
 regard to subsequent events, which I shall deal with later. 
 It was as much common comment at the Garrick Club, which,. 
 I believe, claims Mr. Gill as a member, as it was at the 
 Kaleigh a club Sir James Duke does not patronise with such 
 regularity as was his wont prior to my autobiography reaching 
 a certain stage, which placed him on the public platform in 
 the searching rays of the limelight. Therefore that secrecy 
 which usually covers most cases before they are heard was 
 not observed on this occasion, and the possibility that con- 
 siderable prejudice might affect the result by the aid of open 
 boasting is the only reason I can assign for this extraordinary 
 state of things. As consulting counsel of the Jockey Club, 
 Mr. Gill could hardly be expected to have an unbiassed and 
 unprejudiced opinion of me. On my side I can unhesitatingly 
 declare I have no prejudiced opinion of him, for I have no 
 opinion of him at all. Hence I hope, even if I do not trust, 
 that he will accept what I am going publicly to put to him in 
 as fair and open a spirit as he can conjure up. 
 
 It will not be surprising if I have a very pronounced 
 feeling that as the Stewards are strong, so should they be 
 merciful within reasonable limits of their laws always 
 granted. Anomalous as it is, on the one hand a man is visited 
 with the extreme penalty without being given a hearing or 
 a shadow of intimation of the reason ; on the other, if a man 
 is a cheat, and commits the vilest offence against the canons
 
 348 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 of racing by causing his horse to be pulled, he is given an 
 opportunity of answering the accusation, and no obstacles 
 are put in the way of his defence. I may be wrong, but, with 
 all respect, I do not think the creation of this precedent can 
 commend itself to men generally, and to say that the Jockey 
 Club is unanimous on this point would be totally incorrect. 
 At the time, my legal case created great excitement in 
 racing circles, and I am rather inclined to think that to this 
 I owe the extreme sufferings I have ben compelled to expe- 
 rience. The calm deliberations which would prevail to-day 
 might award me a different fate. Is any verdict of Mr. 
 Justice Grantham immaculate? 
 
 I think I have a right to attempt to discover, if pos- 
 sible, where undssirability on the Turf begins, and how 
 far an owner can go without reaching the limits which would 
 declare him "an undesirable.'' On these grounds I addressed 
 an open letter in the columns of the "Winning Post" to 
 Mr. J. B. Joel, of Grosvenor Square. I proved beyond doubt 
 that his name was Isaac Joel and that John Barnato were 
 assumed names. How far the laws of racing apply to this 
 it is not for me to dictate. I also proved that he was an illicit 
 diamond buyer, a thief's accomplice, and a fugitive from 
 justice, having estreated his bail in one of His Majesty's 
 Colonies for many thousands of pounds. I further proved 
 that he incited and engaged a man to beat and maim me, 
 offering this desperado a minimum of 200 as a reward, with 
 an increasing scale according to the limbs he broke, and that 
 it was even suggested that vitriol should be thrown over me 
 as I passed through Lewes Station on my way to Eastbourne, 
 where I then resided. I published the numbers of the bank- 
 notes he gave to the man to commit these deeds, which were 
 worse in every criminal degree than the charges brought 
 against Hugh Watt, who is now undergoing five years' imprison- 
 ment. I also published the letter he sent to the ruffian he 
 employed, and every detail. Erery word I caused to be made 
 public was supported by documentary evidence, and the papers sub-
 
 EOBEST STANDISH SlEVIEE. 349> 
 
 stantiating these statements are in the custody of my solici- 
 tors, Messrs. Wontner and Sons, and if further proof were 
 needed the "Police Gazette" at Scotland Yard will bear 
 testimony to the fact that this owner of racehorses, a member 
 of the majority of the racing clubs around the metropolis, 
 is a thief of the worst kind. 
 
 In reply to my publishing these facts what did this man, 
 Ike Joel, 'do? He consulted Mr. Charles Gill, K.C. ; and it 
 must be surmised that he advised him he could take no action. 
 But did Mr. Charles Gill report him to the Stewards of the 
 Jockey Club as being an undesirable? If not, then a man 
 who commits a felony, and has been concerned in crimes of the 
 blackest kind, is either not undesirable in Mr. Gill's opinion, 
 or, for some reason best known to himself, in this instance 
 he extended to Joel the hand of clemency ! 
 
 On these grounds may I not ask where undesirability 
 begins 1 
 
 Whether Isaac Joel, of Grosvenor Square, should be 
 arrested to-day and conveyed to South Africa to stand his 
 trial, or whether the boasted equal justice of the laws of 
 England has been tarnished and disgraced is no concern of 
 mine ; but I should not be human if I did not express myself 
 as feeling that I have been dealt with precipitately in regard 
 to the laws of racing I may say, mistakenly so. Yet I would 
 sooner have never written a line of my life if one of my 
 thousands of readers is led to imagine that, generally speaking, 
 I do not thoroughly uphold the authorities of the Turf. The 
 Jockey Club is the foundation and the pillars which support 
 the Turf. It controls its honour, and that one word defines 
 the Alpha and Omega of its duties. The one solace I have 
 and having been a sportsman all my life it is a great one is 
 that I believe I have suffered only through the adverse verdict 
 in a case where I had not a fair trial, on the contrary, no trial 
 at all. 
 
 The contagion I can call it nothing else spread among 
 the credulous and the enemy's camp with all the virulence of
 
 '350 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 an infectious disease, and I received as many as twenty-two 
 writs, or summonses, for outstanding accounts in one day. 
 The fever reached a high temperature ; but on the other hand, 
 I discovered who were my real friends, and that, if anything, 
 their number had increased in the time of need. I was the 
 Tecipient of hundreds of letters and telegrams from all parts 
 -of the United Kingdom, and from all classes of people a 
 strange contrast truly ! Several, and among them some whom 
 I hardly knew as acquaintances, offered to, and did, put their 
 lands in their pockets to help me to stave off the dead set 
 Trhich was being prosecuted to its bitterest end against me. 
 
 The local tradesmen at Shrewton made no rush at me, 
 -and I desire here to express my great gratification for the 
 courtesy they have always shown me. Not quite the same 
 -were those of the Cathedral city of Salisbury. From their 
 number, however, I must except Messrs. Foreman, tailors and 
 livery makers, and Messrs. Hart, the fishmongers. Strange 
 as it may appear, some of the first to join in the scramble 
 to get their money were those who had received hundreds and 
 hundreds of pounds from me. One of the early birds to issue 
 .a writ was the Carlton Hotel, where I had had a running 
 account for years, the total of which now causes me to reflect 
 -on my folly. In the face of the large accounts which the 
 proprietors had been paid, they joined in the chase of the* 
 quarry, which was being hunted by a pack of all sorts, from 
 the sleek greyhound to the gutter mongrel, and they wrenched 
 for the comparatively small sum of about 70. Then came 
 Mr. Douglas Baird, a member of the Jockey Club, who caused 
 a bankruptcy petition to be served on me for a sum of about 
 80 due for a stallion's fee, at a time I was lying dangerously 
 ill, and in such a serious state that my medical adviser had 
 to call in two specialists. This was the reply I received to a 
 letter stating how seriously ill I was and asking for time. I 
 was between two extremes I was either shown no mercy ; or, 
 on the other hand, every sympathy. Messrs. Fieldings, 
 the money-lenders, were most generous towards me,
 
 KOBEBT STANDISH SIEVIER. 351 
 
 and have extended to me that leniency which has enabled me 
 "to secure my indebtedness to them. I especially mention 
 this firm, for, as a rule, their calling is erroneously abused. 
 To say my West End tradesmen did not extend to me the 
 credit I desired would be to say that the traditions which 
 have surrounded their old-established businesses had ceased 
 to exist. Had it not been for this the evil designs of my 
 enemies would have been accomplished, and the hidden hand 
 which has pursued me would have completed its work. Who 
 has guided this hidden hand, and to whose arm it belongs, I 
 -cannot say ; but I have more than a shrewd suspicion that it 
 is connected' with one whose name appears in the pages of 
 "Burke." 
 
 What my enemies could not understand was my not going 
 under and sinking once and for ever beneath the surface until I 
 touched the bottomless quicksands. They could not imagine 
 why my hair did not turn grey, or fall off altogether, how my 
 eye retained its normal state, and why a hump did not protrude 
 on my back ! They declared, if anything, I looked fitter than 
 usual I believe I did. I had through all their malicious 
 attacks one mainstay I was innocent of the charges brought 
 against me. If a man cannot show fight under these circum- 
 stances, no matter how he may be pressed into a corner, then 
 he is a coward, unworthy of the title of "man." I do not say 
 I have led that life which the'hypocrite professes ; it is fairly 
 before my readers, and they can judge for themselves, /in 
 angel may pass muster in his own sphere, but a man who poses 
 as one upon earth, and who has never been proved to have 
 fallen into temptation, is either a man who has been a schemer 
 and a cheat, or nature has tragically incapacitated him from 
 the enjoyments of this life the latter are as scarce as the 
 former are plentiful. 
 
 Knowing the true state of things as I did, this was the 
 incentive which caused me to set my teeth and face the false- 
 hoods of my tormentors, who, for the moment, had been trans- 
 formed into little saviours of society. Where are they to-day ?
 
 352 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Xot one, not even the All Baba of the gang, dare come 
 forward. 
 
 My excommunication from the Turf meant much more than 
 the casual observer might imagine. I had laid out thousands 
 of pounds in bloodstock, and a compulsory and hurried sale 
 carries with it a loss hardly realisable by any except the 
 professional. I had also spent large sums on my establishment 
 at Shrewton, and it now has the deserved reputation of being 
 the best of its kind in England. This had to be closed 
 immediately, but labour has had to be employed to keep the 
 rust away. With a stroke of the pen the whole of this money 
 was sunk, except what the horses might realise at a hurried 
 auction. 
 
 A racecourse was the only place to sell them, and I was 
 debarred from being present. So useful a horse as Colonel 
 Wozac went for 280 guineas, Sophron- 250, Brother Bill 400. 
 Cherry Ripe the same, and so on. The stud, which I had only 
 just succeeded in getting together, and in which I took an 
 enthusiastic pride, fared even worse. Brood mares with foals 
 at foot, and covered by stallions whose fees were from 200 to 
 300 guineas, fetched small prices, and as an instance one of 
 the foals realised, as a yearling, one hundred guineas more 
 than he and his dam, covered by Persimmon, fetched when 
 I was compelled to sell! Thus, apart from being cut off 
 from a sport with which I have been associated all my life, 
 and which as an owner I never abused, I lost a very large sum 
 of money, which it would be difficult to estimate, though it 
 runs into thousands of pounds, while the establishment at 
 Shrewton, which will for ever be associated with the name of 
 Sceptre, remained on my hands empty :
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 353 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 PERSECUTION. 
 
 AVING been ruthlessly condemned by the subtle 
 influence of the " hidden hand," I retired to my 
 home at Shrewton, where I hoped, after a brief 
 rest, to determine on the future. Everything 
 had been suddenly taken from me. My property 
 had been reduced to rubbish-heap value, and I 
 was left a scarecrow a thing of tatters. This 
 estimation of me by my enemies was hardly, however, 
 realised, for I found I had not lost a friend, but, on the 
 contrary, received much sympathy expressed and practical 
 from all kinds of people, many of whom I had never met. 
 But the hunger of my tormentors was not appeased, and the 
 threats which were made before the civil action commenced 
 were being put into operation. The Treasury had been com- 
 municated with, and every possible unfair influence was being 
 used against me. Not contented with my being struck down 
 by a foul blow, and afterwards cut aloof from a sport which 
 I upheld as honourably and traditionally as any man now 
 running horses, underhanded, or, at least, unprofessional 
 means were resorted to, and a ridiculous charge, reeking with 
 vindictiveness and malice, was got up against me and laid 
 before the Public Prosecutor. The almost unanimous feeling 
 of sympathy which the large majority of sportsmen extended 
 to me had to be met in some way ! Down, and kicked when 
 down, not alone did my enemies make every possible effort to
 
 354 THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF 
 
 keep me there, but they attempted by cunning trickery to go 
 to extremes, and if possible dishonour my children, and for 
 ever ostracise them from that society which by birth they have 
 a right to claim. 
 
 As I have already stated, in different words, if an ounce 
 of prejudice lurks in the corridors of the Courts of Justice it 
 creates a Satanic influence against its victim. In my case a 
 weighty quantity must have been introduced into the offices 
 of the Treasury. Its officials were forced, rather than 
 encouraged, by the merits of the legal aspect of the charge, 
 to do something. It was suggested that I had given false 
 evidence in an inquiry held in Chambers in connection with 
 my estate. In other words, that I had cheated my creditors. 
 The sole grounds for this allegation were that, in an affidavit 
 which I made to gain a right-of-way across a property I had 
 subsequently rented, my statements did not exactly tally with 
 those which I had sworn to when I was examined, and to show 
 the skimble-skamble way in which the case was got up against 
 me, dates had not been considered, or if they had been then 
 the disgrace which redounds on those responsible for the 
 prosecution is increased. Though the document and my 
 evidence were before the Treasury, it appears it did not deem 
 these sufficient, and they therefore put Scotland Yard in 
 motion to make inquiries, and get up evidence against me by 
 scouring Bedfordshire, where I had resided. In the course of 
 these operations several of the witnesses who were subse- 
 quently called for the Crown were intimidated by being told 
 terrible stories about me, even to saying that my children were 
 illegitimate. Many of the witnesses are ready to come forward 
 to-day and swear on oath to the truth of this. One of their 
 number has since been made a Justice of the Peace. Was the 
 hidden hand not still at work? 
 
 To say I was absolutely ignorant of what was going on would 
 be incorrect, for I had received an anonymous letter, which on 
 inquiry I discovered proved to contain the true facts of the 
 situation. What did I do? Nothing. I could only wonder
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIER. 355 
 
 when I should be left in peace, when the carrion would 
 satisfy itself, and leave my torn and beaten flesh alone. 
 Metaphorically I had been reduced to a skeleton. But my 
 spirit had not been broken. My courage, if I ever had any, 
 had been redoubled. The occasion demanded it. 
 
 When the Treasury take up a prosecution a man is at once 
 half condemned. Rightly or wrongly, it is assumed that the 
 Public Prosecutor would not take upon himself the grave 
 responsibility of applying for a warrant for anyone's arrest 
 unless he was fully satisfied that there was at least a prima 
 facie case to go on. Therefore, assuming that this public 
 servant carries out his duties in a just and capable manner, 
 the presumption' that a culprit has already one leg in prison, 
 as soon as this official points his finger at him, is not an 
 exaggeration. 
 
 No matter how independently strong a magistrate may be, 
 it would be unreasonable to assume that he would, at least in 
 the early stages of the hearing, for an instant imagine that the 
 Public Prosecutor had made an egregious blunder, any more 
 than, with these influential surroundings, he would look upon 
 the accused as possibly being innocent. Apart from the great 
 facilities which the Treasury have at their disposal by setting 
 ia motion the whole of the machinery known as Scotland 
 Yard, it has all the power of the law and its myrmidons, from 
 the Attorney-General downwards, to call to its assistance, and 
 when once it decides to take action the result depends not so 
 much on the case for the prosecution as on the accused being 
 able to prove his innocence. As a comparison, let one bring 
 a civil action against the Government for damages in regard 
 to an accident for which it is responsible, and, if successful, 
 compare them to those which would have been assessed had 
 the action been brought against a railway company or an 
 employer of labour. 
 
 It must not be overlooked that immediately the Treasury 
 calls in the assistance of the police it means that the dotec- 
 tive, generally speaking, will only report that which will
 
 356 THE A UTOBIOGRAPH Y OF 
 
 assist in the condemnation of the accused, and anything in 
 his favour will probably be smothered. This is dubbed 
 "getting up the case." During its progress nothing except 
 a miracle would cause the police to relinquish their exertions. 
 Where is there- any justice in this system, carried on without 
 a vestige of a desire to help a man to prove his innocence 1 
 Only his guilt will suffice. When the cases are being " got 
 up," there is no more independent justice dispensed than one 
 may expect in Hades ; on the contrary, the more difficult 
 it becomes to gather evidence against a suspected person, 
 especially if that person is a public man, the keener becomes 
 the detective's nose, and if there is no scent he will, if 
 possible, create a stink. I am writing from experience, 
 calmly and with full deliberation, and I assert that the general 
 practice of the police in only offering evidence which will 
 condemn a man, and stifling points which might prove the 
 charge to be false, is a crying scandal. Take the very last 
 day of my case. I asked one of the detectives what witnesses 
 they were going to call. What was his reply? 
 
 "We are not going to call any more witnesses for the defence." 
 Was this not a monstrous thing to say 1 If so, how much more 
 monstrous was it to put it into force? 
 
 And what happened after the charge had been heard, and I 
 was acquitted? I had, under the dramatic circumstances 
 which involved me, been courteously treated by Inspector 
 Arrow. He had not caused me to suffer the indignity of being 
 thrown into a cell and subjected to unnecessary pain and 
 annoyance. Before leaving the court I crossed over to him 
 and thanked him for the consideration he had displayed. His 
 reply astounded me. He said, "You have nothing to thank 
 me for, Mr. Sievier ; if I could have got you convicted I should 
 have." 
 
 If the Public Prosecutor does not belie his responsibility 
 to the public, and if Scotland Yard is to hold its head up, I 
 submit it should be a greater satisfaction to either and both 
 to be in a position publicly to state they had made a mistake
 
 HOBEItT STAN DISH SIEVIEB. 357 
 
 rather than to be able to prove a man's guilt. What does ; t. 
 imply when the Treasury refuses to call evidence which would 
 bring this much-desired ending about? It means, that the 
 Crown insists on a man's guilt, and demands his incarceration, 
 though it holds in its grasp the Key of Freedom to which the 
 victim is entitled. 
 
 And the innocent victim probably pays rates and taxes, 
 which go to make up the salaries and wages of his prosecutors ! 
 
 As I have remarked, I was not totally ignorant of what was 
 going on, and after five or six weeks' " consideration," during 
 which period I feel convinced considerable influence was 
 brought to bear on the Treasury, a warrant for my arrest was 
 applied for and granted. It may be a peculiar coincidence 
 that a Sunday should be the time chosen for its execution. 
 This would at least have entailed one day's imprisonment, as 
 bail could not have been granted until the Monday, when I 
 appeared before the magistrate. But as the officers of the 
 law were driving towards Shrewton to put this into effect, 
 I received a telegram, which acquainted me with the fact 
 that something was wrong, and when my little girl came 
 running towards me in the garden, telling me two gentlemen 
 were in the house and wished to see me, my suspicions were 
 aroused. A friend was with me, and, after consulting him, 
 it was decided he should interview them. This he did, while 
 I remained well, elsewhere. The "two gentlemen" 
 attempted to conceal their identity by stating they had called 
 with the hope that I would .show them over the stables, one 
 giving the name of Captain Kobinson. Their demeanour did 
 not deceive my friend, who returned to me. Not being 
 inclined to spend a solitary Sunday, I sent him back to say 
 I would meet them at Scotland Yard on the following day 
 at one o'clock punctually, and, jumping into the saddle, I rode 
 off across country, making arrangements that my friend should 
 meet me later with the aid of a motor-car. On his return 
 to the visitors Inspector Arrow ceased to conceal the reason 
 of his call, and, finally accepting my friend's undertaking for
 
 358 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 my giving myself up as agreed, returned to London with his 
 confrere. I am only too glad to state that Inspector Arrow 
 displayed every courtesy towards my friend, and that he in 
 Ho way made himself offensive or obtrusive to my guests, 
 being evidently satisfied that he had been told the truth. 
 Naturally, and it was his duty, he took all precautionary 
 measures for my arrest if I was seen, and he called on the 
 local police all along the line, and sent messages to various 
 railway stations. From a small plantation about a mile off, 
 mounted on horseback, I saw him drive away. 
 
 I then rode leisurely across the downs until I reached the 
 house of a brother trainer. I had no secrets, and told him 
 the facts. He telegraphed to Salisbury for a motor-car, 
 and before long my friend arrived with a change of clothes, 
 for I had been playing tennis but a few minutes before " the 
 visitors " paid me their call, and had ridden away as I stood. 
 On my friend's return, I sent a message to my wife that I 
 should be back about midnight, and then continue my journey, 
 catching a train at Swindon which would land me at Pad- 
 dington about five in the morning. 
 
 On my return I took every precaution not to run into the 
 arms of the local sergeant, and, taking a back road, made my 
 way to the house through the pleasure grounds, hidden by 
 shrubs and laurels. A few cheery words, and I went upstairs 
 to bid " good-night " to my children as they slept, and once 
 more leaving my home, made my way to the motor-car, which 
 was hidden in a clump of trees, and set off full speed towards 
 Swindon with an old friend of mine. On reaching London, 
 I went to his chambers, and after performing my ablutions 
 and having had breakfast, I drove to a friend's to arrange 
 for bail, and then to my solicitors, instructing them to appear 
 for me. 
 
 As Big Ben struck one I walked into Scotland Yard with 
 my friend, who had made himself responsible for me. In- 
 spector Arrow stood at the door to give us "welcome." I 
 again have pleasure in remarking that I was treated in a most
 
 EGBERT STANDISH SlfiVIEB. 359 
 
 courteous manner. After being detained in one of the spacious 
 offices, I was driven in a cab to Bow Street. Formal evidence 
 of arrest was given, and then the question of bail arose. Mr. 
 Blanchard Wontner, who had assured me this would be 
 nominal, explained that I was charged with having committed 
 perjury some five years previously. He stated that it was a 
 stale charge, and in the whole course of his experience he 
 had never heard of anyone being charged with such an offence 
 after so long a lapse of time. In fact, it was a record in the 
 annals of the criminal law. He proposed myself in 200, and 
 another surety in the same amount. Mr. Bodkin, who ap- 
 peared for the Public Prosecutor, made no observation. Now 
 comes what I have always looked upon as. the most extra- 
 ordinary incident of this case. The magistrate, Mr. Marsham, 
 with little or no argument or comment, fixed the bail at 
 12,000, myself in 6,000 and) two sureties in 3,000 each. 
 Such bail has seldom been demanded, and only in such cele- 
 brated cases as that of Whittaker Wright has it been heard of. 
 But it was no good ; there was that indefinable something be- 
 hind it all, and I had to suddenly find this or go to prison, 
 pending the hearing. I say unhesitatingly that requiring 
 enormous bail was unfair, and out of all proportion to the 
 reasonable discretion which is vested in a magistrate, and 
 was significant of a premeditated arrangement between 
 the Treasury and him. At the very same court and 
 time, before Mr. Fenwick, a man was charged with 
 perjury, he having attempted to defraud a railway 
 company by swearing that he had sustained injuries 
 which was untrue. He was liberated on 200 bail, and was 
 granted his freedom on^ these recognisances up to the day 
 be was sentenced to nine months' hard labour! I leave my 
 readers to draw their own comparisons. 
 
 The bail was forthcoming at once, Mr. Robert Topping and 
 Mr. Clarke-Frost being my sureties. 
 
 To go through the evidence of each individual witness for 
 the Crown would be monotonous and futile, but among the
 
 360 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 early ones was a Mr. Marchant, who swore that he had played 
 two or three cricket matches at Toddington, and had cold 
 beef and shandy-gaff for lunch. He knew nothing else, nor 
 was he asked anything further by Mr. Bodkin. Mr. Avory, 
 K.C., who, with Mr. Elliott, defended me, rose to cross- 
 examine him. I give the colloquy in full : 
 
 " What are you here for 1 " 
 
 Answer: " I don't know." 
 
 "Nor I either," and Mr. Avory sat down. 
 
 And so the case went on. There was not a single witness 
 called who did not help to prove that my statements when 
 I was examined in Chambers were true. Indeed, as the 
 inspector said on the last day, " We are not going to call any 
 more witnesses for the defence." But I must draw attention 
 to one fact, and that is the attempted suppression of the 
 evidence of the under-manager of the City and Midland Bank. 
 A clerk, who was not engaged at this particular branch at 
 the time in question, was subpoenaed by the Crown in place 
 of the previously subpoenaed sub-manager. The latter' s evi- 
 dence we knew would be a satisfactory answer to the sugges- 
 tion the Crown wished to make, while the clerk's thorough 
 want of knowledge of the facts would leave a stigma behind. 
 It was not until Mr. Avory made an appeal to the magistrate 
 that the Public Prosecutor should be compelled to call the 
 sub-manager that this course was agreed upon. Yet his 
 evidence had been taken by the Crown, and was in the offices 
 of the Treasury ; and it was this witness who admitted that he 
 knew Mr. Sawyer apart from me, as I have before mentioned. 
 
 Then Lloyds Bank were subpoenaed ; but for what reason 
 I cannot imagine. Their representative merely proved that 
 I had won 35,000 when The Grafter won the City and Subur- 
 ban, and 40,000 when Diamond Jubilee won the Derby, and 
 that I regularly allowed my wife over 1,000 a year. Being 
 a customer of Lloyds Bank, I think the latter should have 
 informed me of what was going on, for they were not to know 
 it might not be serious to me ; and I state this more strongly
 
 EGBERT. STANDISH SIEVIER. 361 
 
 when I remember that the manager, Mr. Mackworth Praed, 
 had been my guest at Toddington Park on more than one 
 occasion. 
 
 After five tedious remands, which ran over as many weeks, 
 ihe Crown offered no more evidence. The magistrate then 
 invited Mr. Bodkin to make the usual speech for the prosecu- 
 tion ; but in response he only shook his head negatively. 
 The Public Prosecutor, after his witnesses had* been heard, 
 was left in the helpless position of not being able to even ask 
 for my being committed for trial ! Then why did he not rise 
 and ask for my acquittal 1 Why did he not fearlessly announce 
 that the officers of the Crown regretted they had made a 
 mistake 1 Are they infallible 1 
 
 The innocent victim has no recourse against the Treasury. 
 H can get no damages ; he is not even allowed costs costs 
 the outcome of itsi mistakes ! Mr. Avory went through the 
 evidence and my examination under oath. Each witness in 
 turn had corroborated what I had stated. Had I been called 
 on to put in a defence, the witnesses called for the prosecution 
 would have established my case. Why was the case ever 
 brought? Why? The magistrate dismissed it as being one 
 in which a jury would never convict. It is, indeed, rare that 
 a Treasury prosecution so utterly collapses, and a man's 
 innocence must be clearly and wholly proved before a magis- 
 trate refuses to send a case for trial. The Treasury had not 
 even shown a prima facie case against me. 
 
 Apart from the anxiety which these five weeks brought 
 with them, and the tedious delays of seven days' adjourn- 
 ment, it cost me over 1,000, without any legal claim to be 
 able to recover a penny of that sum. Why, with all the 
 machinery and power at its command, should Government 
 officials be exonerated from liability? Had they carefully, 
 or in the ordinary way of business, compared dates the action 
 would never have been brought. Yet perhaps the most 
 significant thing of all is that the three persons who should 
 have been the principal witnesses had the prosecution been
 
 362 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 sincere were never called, nor was their testimony taken in 
 any way whatever, while the fixing of my bail at 12,000 is a 
 scandal. Again echo answers, Why? 
 
 I must thank Mr. Avory, and no less Mr. Elliott, for the 
 able way in which they defended me ; nor can I let the 
 opportunity pass without acknowledging the good service 
 Mr. Blanchard Wontner rendered, and the personal sympathy 
 he extended to me. 
 
 After the case of Sievier v. Duke, certain papers published 
 long articles about me, and I denounce them and their writers 
 as cowardly. But when I was pronounced innocent not one 
 of them had a word to say. So much for a minority of the 
 Press. Yet I had no little consolation, for when the verdict 
 reached Shrewton my friends there rallied, and the village 
 band paraded the streets playing various airs. If my 
 detractors would not own they were beaten, at least my friends 
 and neighbours rose to the occasion. 
 
 What was I to do 1 
 
 I had been faced with this perplexing question before, as 
 my readers may have observed. 
 
 I decided upon starting a newspaper, made the necessary 
 arrangements, named it the "Winning Post," and its history 
 is common knowledge. I thank my friends and the public 
 generally who have so heartily come forward and supported 
 me, with the result that I can now claim more than 100,000 
 readers weekly. It will always be a great gratification for 
 me to remember that in the hour of need an unbiassed public 
 joined hands and pulled me out of the slough of despond into 
 which I had been unfairly cast. 
 
 Eetaining a strong affection for all sports, and clinging to 
 old associations, I was impelled one day last winter (1904-05) 
 once more to visit my old home at Shrewton. As I walked up 
 the deserted drive all seemed so lonely as compared with the 
 days not so very long ago. A lifeless house, which but a few 
 months earlier was full of life, made merry with children's 
 Laughter and the gaiety of an open door, was a melancholy
 
 ROBERT STANDISH SIEVIEB. 363 
 
 contrast. I rang the bell. I listened to the grating noise 
 which the caretaker made in unbolting the door, the chain 
 fell with a clank, and I entered the empty hall. The only 
 welcome I received was her curtsey, but it was a welcome 
 nevertheless. Reminiscences passed through my mind, the 
 whole of the time of my residence flashed before me, and I 
 stood looking out of a window on to the terrace which runs 
 in front of Elston House. With the exception of two 
 gardeners, not a man was on the place. Before I had left I had 
 kept over fifty people in employment. Opening the window, I 
 went through the gardens, and wended my way to the stables 
 stables which have earned for themselves a name in Turf 
 History, and will live long after we have all passed the 
 Winning Post of life. I went through the boxes, picturing 
 in my mind's eye the different horses that once stood there 
 mine, and trained by me. Last of all I entered Sceptre's 
 box. The winter leaves blew about my feet, my eyes became 
 a little dim, and with a lump in my throat I went out into 
 the open. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 THE 
 
 XMftS NUMBER 
 
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 The Winning 
 Post Annual 
 
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 DECEMBER NEXT.
 
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 Edited by 
 
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 LIST OF SUBJECTS: 
 
 H.M. The King. 
 
 H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. 
 
 Mr. W. B. Purefoy. 
 
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 " The Inevitable " (J. B. Joel). 
 
 A Losing Owner. 
 
 " Always Merry." 
 
 Lord Durham. 
 
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 Mr. " 'Arry " Barnato. 
 
 Sir T. Lipton. 
 
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 Looking for a Buyer (Lally). 
 
 "Tallyho " (Mr. E. C. Clayton). 
 
 H.I.M. The German Emperor. 
 
 Politics and Sport " (Lord Stanley). 
 ' Labby." 
 Mr. R. "Topping. 
 : Teddy " Roosevelt. 
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 Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- 
 
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