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STORIES OF ENGLISH TURF NOTABLES Hat Bos Containing 20003 Pounds lost for a Week Is Returned to Owner Intact Tliis anecdote brings to my memory a somewhat similar one of which Mat Dawson was the hero which I give in the words of the friend who lias kindly supplied me with it When Mat trained for Lord John Scott his brother the duke paid him a visit and as a matter of course lie took him the duke down to see his stud Mat lielng in Attend ¬ ance Lord John leading the way from l ox to box describing each one as he went along always cry Ing Wattle I think this one will win the Derby and so on until presently Wattle and Mat fell a little behind The Mat taps him on the shoulder Now Wattle when his lordship Roes to bed to ¬ night slip down and I will give you a glass of toddy Wattle accepted What acceptedWhat transpired deponent raycth not but next morning Wattie let the cat out of the bag with a hearty laugh and then Matthew Dawson discovered to his horror and mortification that lie had been hobnobbing with the Duke of Uuccleuch but Wattie gave him a firm shake of the hand saying he was the right man in the right place and a jolly good fellow fellowAnd And the mention of Mat Pawson reminds me of a curious story of which his brother Tom of Turp gill was the hero heroWhen When Ellington won the Derby in 1S5G Tom Daw son of Tupgill Who trained the colt won about 20000 pounds On the Monday after the race he went to Tattersalls to receive his money The whole of it was paid to him in bank notes After the settling he dined and took the train for home first having packed his bank notes in an old leathern hat case without any lock but simply tied with a piece of string Mr Dawson fell asleep in the train and when the guard who knew him well awoke him at Northallerton and told him he must change carriages Mr Dawson got out of the train leaving the old hat case behind behindRESORTED RESORTED TO CAMOUFLAGE CAMOUFLAGEIn In those days telegraphy was not quite so simple a matter as now and Mr Dawson did not recover his hat case for a whole week during which time it had traveled to Kdinburgh Aberdeen and various other places Ultimately it came back to the right fill owner with the string neither cut not untied and with all the bank notes safe inside I need hardly say that Mr Dawson with that astuteness that rarely forsakes the professional turfite look particular can not to display the slightest anxiety about his hat case but merely informed the station master that he had preserved the article for a good many years and as there were some papers in it which could not possibly be of use to anyone but himself he should like to recover it 1 will bring these random recollections to an end with an amusing adventure of Mornington Cannon and Cordelier on the Cesarewitch day of 1891 As the horses that afternoon were leaving the bird ¬ cage to contest the Autumn Handicap one of the fiercest storms known at Newmarket for a long time swent over the heath The hail stones came down like pistol bullets and Cordelier maddened at the tempest swerved made for the rails and ran through them getting his head under the second liiis of posts and sending Mornington over the rails and right into a carriage the door of which was at the moment open openTwo Two ladies were inside and on the front seat lunch was still uncleared The popular young jockey pulled himself together a bit and assured his as ¬ tonished hostesses that he was not hurt and at once accepted their kindly suggestion of a glass of wine Mornington had been fasting hard to ride Victorious at 7st 12 Ibs so hard indeed that it is believed that he could have actually ridden 7st 10 Ibs that day and he had not had time since the Cesarewitch to lunch He therefore took the opportunity of observing that he was hungry hungryThe The ladies though they had not precisely invited him to come in were delighted to entertain him and so while the other jockeys who had weighed out for the race were being drenched windsmitten and battered by hail stones at the post Morny Cannon sat dry and comfortable in the carriage regalinjj himself with chicken and champagne in boots anil breeches As Morny afterward remarked it was rather an odd way to call on ladies in a carriage at lunch time over rails and head first but alls well that ends well Thormanby in London Sportsman
