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STRANGE BETS AND BETTORS. Titled Men and Their Curious Wagera at Whites Notorious Resort in London. Undoubtedly the most notorious resort in the world is Whites, of London, Eugland, for 200 years the headquarters of titled bettors and other gay followers of the game of chance. The betting book at Whites is a most interesting volume, for it contains a record of all the wagers made there for nearly two centuries, and there Is a great variety, mainly the offspring of the singular whiins and caprices of several generations of members of the old club. In the second half of the eighteenth century the fyassion for making wagers reached its height. Men staked their money on anything that happened or suggested itself, no matter how trivial it might be. The duration of a mans life and the increase in well known families were never failing subjects for bets and they completely overshadowed those placed on sports and athletics. A history of the club has been published, and as a sort of a supplement the items of the betting book came out, and It proved to be the best part of the work. One of the best known members of Whites was Lord Montford, a typically reckless gamester of the period. In hisxlay the gambling spirit at the club was at its zenith, and in the old book "there are no less than sixty of his wagers recorded, aggregating 1,000, and marriages, births and deaths were the events upon which nearly the whole of the sum depended. Evidently sporting matters did not appeal to his lordship. Under the date of November, 1754, a bet is recorded which is the most tragic in the whole book. It reads:. "Lord Monford wagers Sir John Bland 100 guineas that Mr. Nash outlives Mr. Cihber," the latter being the. noted actor and poet, and the. former the famous character. Beau Nash. The bet was -never paid, for below it is the significant entry: "Both Lord Montford and Sir John Bland put an end to their own lives before the bet was decided." Lord Montford supplied the first of the tragedies by committing suicide on New Years day. 1755. after having spent the last of his fortune. lie had squandered a vast amount of money extravagantly, but the worst blow came when two of his greatest friends Lord Gage and Lord Albemarle died on the same day. It" was the general opinion that they paid Lord Montford an annuity, but anyway lie became more reckless than ever, for he even went so far as to stake his life that the Duke of Newcastle would secure him a government appointment. He wanted to be" Master of the, Royal Hounds or else Governor of Virginia, and in both jobs he was disappointed. The blow was sore, and immediately Lord Montford aroused suspicion by inquiries as to the easiest method of self-destruction. He spent his last evening at Whites and it was the last day of 1754; he ate supper and afterward played whist till the advent of the new year. Next morning Lord Montford sent for1 witnesses and a lawyer and had his will drawn up. He then asked the limb of the law if a man shot himself would his will hold good. On being informed that it would Lord Montford told the lawyer to wait a .while, and stepping into the next room, shot himself. Sir John Bland, the second party in the famous wager, shot himself in September of that same year ou the, road from Paris, to Calais. According to the history of the club Lord Lincoln made the following comment on the death of Lord Montford: "Well, I am very sorry for poor Lord Montford, but It is the part of every wise man to make the best of every misfortune. I shall now have the best cook in England." He was forestalled by the new Lord Montford, who retained the services of Joras, the chef in question. The very oldest bet in the book reads: "Oct. ye 5, 1743 Lord Lincoln bets Lord Winchilsea 100 guineas to 50 guineas that the Duchess Dowager of Marlboro does not survive the Duchess Dowager of Cleveland." The vitality of the Duchess of Marlborough was then a common topic, and "Old Sarah," as she was familiarly called, was the subject of more bets than one among the members of Whites. Two years before the date of the bet the old woman was very ill, and one day she lay for hours without speaking until she heard the dictum of the physician that she should be blistered or she would die. Instantly she woke up in the bed and shaking her bead in an emphatic manner said: "I wont be blistered and I wont die," and neither did she till toward the close of 1744. Coming down a little later there is a bet recorded under the date of May. 1815. and it has more or less of the sporting character. The entry says "Mr. Bou-verie bets Mr. Butler 200 guineas to 15 that lie does not name the winner of the Derby, the Oaks and the new Bishop." It was not ever known that the good gentleman knew he was classed with horses. That was the rear of the battle of Waterloo, and there is an entry that "Mr. Mills bets Mr. Raikes four ponies to one that hostilities commence between England and France on or before the 14tli of August. 18115," and this same bet Is followed by a wager of 200 guineas between Sir Joseph Copley and Mr. Haikes, the conditions being the same. Sir Joseph having previously wagered Mr. Raikes 100 guineas to 25 that war would break out on or before May 2!. The unsettled state of things at this particular time provoked lots of betting on the same line, as, for instauce, "Sir Berkeley Paget bets Lord Sefton 10 that Bonaparte is not at the head of the fuineas rench government on the d of August. 1S16." Waterloo definitely settled this bet. as well as a lot of others in the same line. , A great spendthrift and gambler of this period was Sir George Talbot. In April, 1810, he made his one hundred and fiftieth bet, his first wager being recorned at Whites in 1809, and that was before he got the title. The bet which was his century and a half was: "Mr. Butler bets Sir George Tallwt 20 guineas that he is not in the room at Whites, with Napoleon in the course of the next two years." , . . The footnotes to wagers are nearly always more or less laconic, but they are very often significant. One in particular tells the tale that the debts of the famous Beau Brummel are still unpaid, and under a 25 guinea wager of Colonel Cooke those who may. read are informed that the colonel "Is a bankrupt and pavs one shilling in the pound." The note to a bet of Lord Alvanley "that G. Talbot does not die a natural death N. B. Tinct, Canth, a drawn bet." looks very much like a medical prescription. . The straitened circumstances of a certain baronet also caused a lot of bets. Lord Alvanley made a bet of five guineas with Sir Joseph Copley "that a certain baronet understood between them is very much embarrassed in his circumstances in three years from the date thereof." By this it meant that Sir Joseph was to be a loser if the nobleman in question was seen to borrow small change from the waiters and other servants around the club. Perhaps the same unfortunate baronet was the subject of another bet recorded in the betting book, which says: "Mr. Me-tliuen bets Colonel Stanhope ten guineas to one that a certain worthy baronet understood between them does not of necessity part with his gold ice pails before tills day twelvemonth. The Ice nails, being fouud in a pawnbrokers will not entitle Colonel Stanhope to receive ten guineas." Another event that created a lot of wagering was that Lord Stewart would marry Lady Vane Tempest on or before a given date. One bet in particular had a sporting flavor, it being that "Mr. Broderick bets flftv guineas with General Mackenzie on bir John Shelley winning the Derby aeainst Lord Stewart being married to Lady Frances Vane Tempest in six months from this date." When King George IV, ascended the throne the movements of Queen Caroline began to attract attention and there was considerable speculation on the subject of her return. On January 29, 1820. a week after the old kings death. Mr. Raikes bet Horace Beckford that a certain person would be in England six months from the date. Several bets on the same event were made and the queen came back on January 0, 1S21. Horace Walpole, who was a member of the club, makes allusion to the bets in his letters. Hp says: "One of the youths at Whites has committed a murder, and he intends to repeat it. He betted l.uOO that a man could not live twelve hours under water, hired a desperate fellow, sunk him in a ship by way of experiment, and both ship and man have not appeared since. Another ship and man are to be tried for their lives, instead of Blake, the assassin." This item gives a true Idea of the recklessly sporting character of the men who frequented Whites.
