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ANOTHER ENGLISH BOOKIE OF RENOWN John Jackson of Fairficld a Mighty Plunger and j AilAround Sportsman The greatest sportsman and best fellow of all the English bookmakers half a century ago was John Jackson Mock oFuiriield writes Thor manby SportsmanI iu the London Sportsman I shall never forget the memorable day when islanding on Newmarket Heath as the field of thir ¬ teen came tearing along in their fierce struggle for the Two Thousand Guineas I heard close behind me a stentorian shout of Glasger wins There was no mistaking that voice it was like the roar of a sixInch Long Tom booming loud and distinct above the din that raged around Giasger wins Yon could hear the thunder tones rolling far and wide over the Heath for no voice like it in vol ¬ ume force and penetrating power has ever been heard before or since upon an English race course Leviathan Davis was a piping treble to it GlaS ger wins It rang out like the trump of doom with one final bursting blast as Aldcroft sent the white and crimson to the front and General Peel shot past the judges box the winner of the first and only GlasgowA classic race ever won by the Karl of Glasgow A line specimen of a hard powerful Yorkshire man did John Jackson look that day as he strode about with his betting book in one hand and his favorite short stick in the other ready as one of his friends said of him if there was a row or a scrimmage of any kind to project himself violently info the middle of it as a bottle holder or commen ¬ tator For Jock oJairticld loved a light of any kind Everything in the shape of a contest had an irresistible fascination for him a foot race a horse race a cock light a bruising match seemed to send his blood dancing through his veins with excitement and delight It is of course as one of the great magnates of the betting ring a very Napoleon among pencilers that John Jackson was best known but he was something far more than this Ho was a keen enthusiastic sterling allaround sportsman a firstrate judge of a nice horse a greyhound a shorthorn or a ram as acute a critic of cricket as of joekeyship as much at home in the hunting field as tt the Subscription Rooms never more in his element than at the ringside cheering on liis idol Toin Sayers to victory a man take him for all iu all who has had but one equal iu line and that was John Gully GullyJohn John Jackson was born in the year 1S27 at Tunstall near Catterick where his brother I be ¬ lieve still farms the paternal acres for the father was n small farmer and young John was bred to the same calling But from the very earliest period of his life love of sport dominated every other feeling or wentiment in the lads breast Nothing could keep him to the plowtall when there was a race meeting a steeplechase or a cricket match anywhere within five and twenty miles Iu vain his father a grim parent of the severely Roman type leathered him soundly It had not the slight ¬ est effect on John JohnTo To Jovn of sport for its own sake was added the true English craving to back his fancy lie must bet hut young as hi was ills financial in ¬ stincts were strong he would do the thing methodi ¬ cally So Master John borrowed 25 from a friend of his a saddler In Cattcrick and having changed that sum into half crowns that coin being the standard of wagering In those parts John set manfully off to a big cricket match Iu the neigh lM rhood and made his first book It speaks well for his astuteness that lie doubled his 25 repaid the loan and found himself with unluimpcrcd capi ¬ tal of 25 But Jupiter Tonaus wasnt Ills father in a rage when he heard of It and didnt lie just come down UJKHI that saddler waled him with the buckle end of one of his own twoInch straps till Ihe man was black and blue and had to pay 50 afterwards to square the matter But John went on and prospered and he had rare natural gifts as an arithmetician a genius for figures in fact and would have made a splendid chancellor of the exchequer exchequerJohn John Jacksons connection with the turf dated from Flying Dutchmans year at least it was then that he lauded his llrst great coup The Dutchman was a gold mine to him and at tlie closo of ISIS he found himself with 50000 to his credit at the bank With that comfortable nest egg as a ftiuii datfon lie went ahead gaily and worked ills Avay iii to the top of the tree among the members of the ring in quick time Il Kvas early intrusted with the commissions of tlie Middlcham and Rich ¬ mond trainers and his reputation as a safe man was speedily established It was Jacksons rule always to stand on good horses and in the long run he found It pay His biggest success I think was with Ellington for the Derby of 185G when he cleared upwards of 200000 His extraordinary partiality for Lord Glasgows colors was a hobby fofy fofyhlch hlch tie sometimes had to pay dearly but General Peels victory in the Two Thousand made jTHpifor many disappointments and I suppose no one wlip saw him on the Derby Day of 1834 will ever f forget his ecstasy of delight when lie saw Blair Atiol and General Peel coming In alone at tho Jfcjlsli JforJtue great race His memorable exclama tlon on that occasion probably still lingers in the It was In the hroail racy unshackled Doric of UK North Killing lint unfortunately of a nature that will not hear setting down in print He won 100000 on Blair Atliol hut would have netted double that amount on General Ieel Then lie pur ¬ chased the estate of Failfield for a large sum from Mr Ileury Thompson and went iu as hotly for breeding bettingThe s for betting The worst perhaps the only really serious facer lie ever received was in Lord Lyous year Up to that unlucky season Jackson had had an almost uninterrupted run of good fortune and despite his lavish and reckless expenditure lie was known to be wortli upward of 0000 But lie was hard hit by the win of Stockwell and no mis ¬ take Humor would have it that Air Jackson had failed to settle in full over that Derby and that lie owed 3 000 to Mr Sutlou the owner of Lord Lyon I5nt that gentleman himself Ihitly contra ¬ dicted the report and publicly announced that Mr Jackson had paid up every farthing on settling day It was a cruel libel upon Jackson who never failed to settle with any man in his life and who Jhotigh enthusiastic about his winnings was absolutely indifferent to his losses lossesA A man of restless energy and most excitable temperament Jackson was never happy unless he was engaged in some kind of a contest political or sporting it was all the same to him lie dearly loved a hardfought election and Sir Frederick Mllbanko the liberal member of parliament for the North Hiding used to say Jock o Fnlrlield was worth his weight lifty times over in canvassing solicitors With the Uedale and Sir Charles Slings bys hounds lie was a tremendously hard rider and one years pounding match for 000 a side was arranged lietwceu him and Sir Frederick Johnsloiie in other words a game of follow my leader on horseback whichever failed to follow to lose the match It would have been a desperate break ¬ neck race for Jackson had six hunters np at the time among them his celebrated Barney at Rarn ton with whom he had leapt a flight of double posts and rails sixteen feet measured from tin inside witli the Itedale Sir Frederick had just leapt a milldam in the Burton country and done other deeds of daring So the probability is that one if not both of them would have been brought Ijome on a stretcher George 1ayne was to be umpire but somehow the match fell through to the partiesWhatever great relief of the friends of both parties Whatever he did was always done in the spirit of a true sportsman He cared far more for sport than for filthy lucre and as an illustration of this excellent phase of Ills character 1 may give the following anecdote Jackson had hacked Lord Zetlands Vedette for tho Two Thousand Guineas of IS but the son of Volti geur was so shaky on the pins so frequently re ¬ ported lame that he dared not stand the money A friend laid it all on him and Jackson stood to win heavily against Vedette To his surprise tho horse won in a canter hut when he saw the spots coming in ahead of everything the bighearted York shireman raised a mighty shout of delight that made the welkin ring again and went up and patted the winner as proud as if lie had won a hatful of money instead of being some thousands to the bad badJackson Jackson had entered the sporting world with th constitution of a horse hut the pace he went at soon wore out his natural vigor The fiery restless spirit within iiini fretted the body to decay I hlnk the excitement produced by Ix rd Lyous vic ¬ tories really gave him his deatli Idow At any rate the first symptoms of his fatal illness showed themselves towards the close of that year He upent the next winter at St Leonards On the Tuesday before the York meeting of 1S 5S his stud of twentyfour yearlings was sold and he appeared at tlie sale in a bath chair but the change iu his appearance was appalling He seemed shrunk ta nothing He said himself that he did not believe lie weighed six stone lint something of the old reckless gaiety Hashed out when he found that his yearlings had fetched 142500 which was 2O000 more than he had expected He knew however that he had not long to live and asked all his old friends particularly to come and say goodby to him that week as they were never likely to see him again The brave old Yorkshire heart in him kept him from breaking down lint it was a sad leave taking takingThree Three months later on January 20 1SC9 la passed quietly away only fortyone years of age but lie had seen more life in those twoscore vears than most men who live to eighty John Jackson won and spent his money like a dashing sportsman yet lie died rich for after all his debts were paid there was 200000 left He had his faults no man is without them but he was sound to the core and a gallant generoushearted Englishman lies buried under the turf that covers Jock o Fairficld
