view raw text
NOTABLE SPORTSMEN WHO WERE BLIND. Thormanby Spins Somo Interesting Yarns About the , Extraordinary Talent of Some. I once heard the late Professor Fawcctt, who, as s a young man, had the sight of both eyes destroyed 1 by shots from his fathers gun, say that he knew certain parts of the River Itchen so well that, if 1 placed in particular spots and told where he was, ; he could throw a fly with unerring dexterity into o a pool where he knew a trout lay. And not only y that, but so quick was his ear that when a fisli rose he could tell by the splash exactly where to throw v his fly. I have often seen him at Cambridge rowing in the "Ancient Mariners Eight," with brother Dons of if aquatic tastes, and keeping stroke and time with i. the liest of them. I have seen him skating, too, hut then he always had a companion to pilot him. Probably most Yorkshire men are familiar with h the name of John Metcalf, "Rlind Jack of Kuares-horough," i- who is generally cited as the most extraordinary instance of a sightless sportsman on .. record. Metcalf was attacked by smallpox at the age of six, and eventually lost his eyesight. Yet !t he was an enthusiastic lover of coursing, steeple-chasing and hunting. He rode wonderfully straight it to hounds, guided by his acute sense of hearing and the occasional warnings of a friend who kept iiear him. Rut his greatest feat in the saddle was IS his memorable match with another Yorkshire sportsman, three iuiles on the flat, owners up, for ,500 0 a side. Metcalf, who hud a small stud of his is own at this time, rode his own horse; betting i was ls "0 to 1 against him, because It was thought the ie shape of the course, a circular one, would be f.utal nt to his chance. They had to ride three times around id the course to make the three miles. There wbre re posts at intervals, and at every one of these MiU-calf t- stationed a man with a bell. The sound of tJje je bells guided him and enabled him to keep tlcp te course. And the end of it was that he rode in aV t easy winner. Rut Ulind Jack was also a remarkable runner, r, as the following anecdote will prove. It was the week lRfore the York spring meeting in 1742. when the well-known Colonel Mellish, being at the Dragon in Hotel, Harrogate, met Uaptaiti StanclIITe there, l, w! Cil so tr g: w and q. re m w je in tl the w f for a b tl as a: a ci h he . j, in , t to jj lie 0 of t i j. 0 of v f i it j, it v r, j, r, o a a h 0 , Y j r t, j t j a . 1 j j . j J j , , , j , , a . a j , , j , j , . , . , j . . j j , s 1 1 ; o y v of if i. h .. on !t it IS 0 his is ls the ie nt id re t- tJje je tlcp te aV t r, in l, whose groom was rather a celebrated runner. Metcalf, happening to be at the Dragon tap, heard some talk about the grooms powers as a pedestrian, when lie said he would run him himself from Qii where they stood to Knaresborough Churchyard gate, if any one would back him. This Mellish, who had often heard of Rlind Jack, offered to do, there and then backed Metcalf for 50 against Captain Staneliffes groom. The men soon got t ; ready, the groom in running costume, but Metcalf made no preparations. A tall, heavy-made man,. with a slouching walk, it looked even had he not been blind, as if the odds were 100 to 1 against me him. However, they were started. Eyes taking the . lead. No Eyes at the same time keeping close be- j hind. All at once Metcalf was seen to deviate to , right, and soon got into another direction, when most of the people, thinking it was all over, 1 turned back. The groom kept on straight for the ner bridge over the Swale, while Metcalf had also mnde the river, into which he plunged, clothes and all. and, swimming across, reached the goal long before his opponent. The way he had taken was three-quarters of a mile the nearer one. Rut Jack Metcalf not only distinguished himself : a horseman and a runner; lie was also a capital j n hand at IhiwIs. He managed in this way: A friend and confederate was stationed close to the jack , and another midway. They kept up a constant conversation, and from the sound of their voices hi guessed the distance. His dexterity at cards, too. was wonderful. Rut perhaps his most extra-ordinary so and achievements was as n boxer. He was a . man of magnificent physique, six feet two inches by " height and very finely made. His want of sight, J-however, might well have been thought a fatal bar or A, his ever attaining pugilistic laurels. Yet it l" was not so, and among other feats with his fists out , fairly thrashed in six hard-fought rounds a man as big as himself and reckoned the champion j" the neighborhood. Metcalf was a soldier, too, and served all through jr the campaign of 1745 against the Jacobite Preten- je der, played the fiddle he was a first-rate music- 1, inn at the head of his company after the fashion j, bill the Highland pipers. On his return from the -jj wars he became a trader. In 1751 lie started the a, and first stage coach, or "stage wagon" as they called tL then, between York and Knaresborough, driving , himself, twice a week in summer and once in winter. Eventually he became a. contractor for j road-making, and it was in this capacity he made tl his fame and fortune, for his engineering skill was . not remarkable. Finally this wonderful blind sports- j man died at Spofforth. near Wetherby, on April t 27. 1810, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. t. Jack Metcalfs exploits, however, were rivaled by notable Scotsman named McGilvray, who, despite J.. his blindness, was both a first-rate jockey and an. excellent judge of horses. When examining a horse n he was guided entirely by feeling all over the ani- ;, mals frame, but so well did he know the good t points and the bad ones in a horse that he never J",, in made a mistake. " Of his remarkable gifts in this respect the fol- j he lowing story is a proof. Mr. Rirnie, an owner of ol on race horses and a coach proprietor in the south of j; Scotland, picked up a fine bargain at Edinburgh i,i Hallow Fair, the great equine mart of Scotland. Kl On his way home with his purchase he put up at 0. of the Rlackshiels Inn, Fala, kept by McGilvrays father. Mr. Rirnie. while sitting at his dinner, asked Willie McGilvray to go and examine his a urchase. at the same time extolling the handsome lr figure, the spirit and the docility of the animal. s In half an hour or so young McGilvray returned, f, and, on being asked to give his opinion of the ii j, purchase, replied the horse was everything that ; tl ci uld be wished for, had he been able to see with tl both eyes. "How do you know he does not see s with both eyes;" the owner asked. "I have passed 0 my hand over and over the right side of his head," a was the reply, "and his eyelids never flinch; but c when I do so on the other side they close instant- K ly." It was found that the horse was really blind t; on the right side, and it was a blind jockey. who j, discovered an imperfection which the purchaser, first-rate judge, had failed to detect. y As a jockey McGilvray was guided, when he rode t race, by his knowledge of two or three race a at courses and, as he never went upon unknown ground, , his lack of sight did not appear to be much detriment. At least, he won as many races as most f jockeys in Jhe north, with the exception of Tommy c Lye, whose relationship to the Dawsons at all times e secured him good mounts. The blind man naturally i trusted much to his acute sense of hearing, which frequently informed him when his opponents horse a had shot his bolt by the tune his pipes were playing. . McGilvray, in addition to his race-riding, did a t small trade in cattle and in watches, of which he i was accounted a rare good judge. j A blind man was pointed out to me when I was v in Lincolnshire in 1859 as the hero of some extraor- t dinary feats of horsemanship. His name was An- drews, and he was generally known as "Rlind , Tommy." On February IS, 1S50, he rode a blind horse from Stamford to Spalding, twenty miles. Starting from the Olive P.ranch, Stamford, at S a. . in., he arrived at the White Horse, Spalding, at 12:30, started for his return journey at 2:30 p. m., . and reached Stamford at 7:30 p. m., the whole journey being accomplished without a guide. ,. Rut this feat was far eclipsed by another which he achieved on March 12. 1850, when he rode a blind 1 horse from the Royal Hotel, Peterborough, to the f White Hurt, Wisbech. He started from Peterbor- ough at 10 a. m., went through Thorney and reached : Wisbech at 4:10 p. m., left Wisbech next day at 1:30 p. m.. and arrived at Peterborough at C p. in., accomplishing the whole distance as before without j a guide. Six years later, in May 1S02, this wonder- i ful blind man rode a donkey from the Hare and Hounds at Wisbech through Thorney and Thurlbey, in Lincolnshire, a distance of thirty miles, all j through the Fen country, with dykes on either side , of the road, in twelve hours without a guide. An- drews was a crack sprint-runner, too, and beat the 1 well-known professional George Maxey, in a hundred yards race on the Thorpe and Peterborough road for : a stake of 25 a side on August 13, 1850. In 1S0S my old friend, Mr. C. A. Wheeler, wrote . to Mr. Lloyd, the then postmaster at Stamford, to ; inquire whether Andrews was still living, and in ; reply Mr. Lloyd wrote as follows: "The person J you refer to is well known here and all around this ; neighborhood as Rlind Tommy. You ask whether : the extraordinary stories of his riding feats are true. : I can assure you that they are quite authentic, and persons in this office and elsewhere can vouch for : their accuracy; I saw him on his journey to Spalding in 1850. Tommy is still alive and during the fair here on March 27. 1S0S, he went into a public ; house and challenged the company to play any two ? at dominoes, his partner being a ticket collector at t the Midland Station here, who gave me the informa-. " tion. Tommy ami his partner won the game. He ? is really an extraordinary character; lie will find j out any house or place he wants; he seems to find 1 the particular doorway by stamping his foot. I may " add that, about the time of his journey to Spalding, a traveler who had lost his way was guided by " Tommy with a lighted lantern across the country from Thurlby to a village almost a mile and a half f distant." Lieutenant James Ilolman, the blind traveler, deserves - mention in this connection, for he was a keen sportsman with both rod and gun after he i had lost his sight, which he did at the age of f twenty-five. It is said that his hearing was so J exact and acute that when a covey of partridges s or a pheasant got up he would three times out of f five down his bird. This is the only instance I I know of a blind man attempting to shoot. Lieutenant - Ilolman traveled twice round the world, and I published the narrative of these two expeditions, besides a graphic account of his travels through li Russia and Siberia. All these journeys were under-. - taken after he had entirely lost his sight. It is s related that on one occasion he was attacked by a ii polar bear, which he shot, although he had nothing 5 but his ear to guide his aim. Rut this can only be e regarded as a piece of sheer luck. The mere fact, however, of a blind man having the nerve to carry " a gun is remarkable. And for a man who, after r losing his sight, to make up his mind to travel, in II days, remember, when there were no Cooks per-e " sonaily conducted tours, and none of the modern " luxury and ease of traveling, is a proof of singular confidence in his own powers of getting about without the aid of eyes. Most if not all of his jour-neys , " were of the nature of exploration expeditions in regions little known, and consequently he had , to rough it in a fashion which might well have e , tested the powers and resources of a man with per- " feet sight. His skill as a fisherman I do not take ;e much account of, because it was not, like Profes-ie sor Fawcetts, fly-fishing, but his shooting feats, I must confess, moved me to unbounded astonish-L ment. The late Mr. Kavanagh, long a well-known mem-ig ber Of the House of Commons, though not blind, suf-t fcred from physical disabilities which might have rc been thought more fatal to the enjoyment of sport rt than the loss of sight. He had neither arms nor r legs, yet he hunted and shot and drove; and in all 1 these was an adept. He was fastened on horseback in a kind of basket arrangement, and guided his is horse partly with his teetli and partly by hooks fs attached to his stumps, which readied some six x inches from each shoulder. In shooting a wooden ;n ann was attached to the left stump, which gave u him a rest for his gun. Sir William Maxwell, of Monreith, the owner of Bf Filho da Puta, winner of the St. Leger of 1815, lost st his arm in the Penlsular war, yet, after that mis- s- hap, was one of the best game shots of his day. y. He had a gun specially made for him, and was an-le :i- Vother instance of a plucky sportsmans determina-n tVloii not to be deterred by physical disability from in Virsuing his favorite sport. Thormanby, in Loudon m iortsmau.
