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WHY ARCHER KILLED HIMSELF Disappointment Over Loss of Cambridgeshire and Much Wasting the Causes Fred Archer the great English jockey was a genius in his way He killed himself in a fit of depression in 1880 after a year of spectacular triumphs triumphsHe He had won the Epsom Derby and St Legcr on Ormonde and Ormonde and Archer were it is no exaggeration to say the talk of the world worldRut Rut the constant wasting was beginning to tell He looked haggard and old In November of that year he crossed with a fellow jockey Harry distance to Dublin where he got the wildest re ¬ ception He won at The Curragh on Cambusaiore for the LordLieutenant carrying 124 pounds poundsMentioning Mentioning to distance that he intended to ride St Mirin in the Cambridgeshire the former re ¬ marked 1ou dcnt mean to say you intend to ride 118 pounds next week weekIm Im going to ride 118 pounds and whats moro Ill win too he answered answereddistance distance warned him of the dancer and Archer petulantly replied repliedNever Never mind whether I go out or not I shall do it itArcher Archer returned to Newmarket and on the fol ¬ lowing aiimday won the Free Handicap on Or ¬ monde carrying 12S pounds The next day he rodo four winners including a walkover on Ormonde Then he proceeded to starve himself and lived entirely in the Turkish bath until the following day when he was to ride St aiirin aiirinlie lie was beaten for the Cambridgeshire a head by White on The Sailor Prince The defeat was a tremendous blow blowAfter After Newmarket Archer went to ride at Lewns and everyone was struck by the look of suffering on his face He finished second on Jlohawk and was unplaced on Tommy Tittleinouse his last mount mountTelling Telling his friends he had caught a chill and was going home to nurse himself he returned to Newmarket He grew rapidly worse and in a de ¬ lirious state on the morning of November S he took the revolver which lie always kept by his side and shot himself himselfOf Of Archer his friend and contemporary Harry distance himself a great jockey and a great judge of good riding said saidArcher Archer had nerves of iron beautiful hands a good head and an extraordinary eye for seeing what was happening in a race He was the best man at starting I ever saw If ever he was within two lengths with his horse the starter might drop the flug with perfect confidence Generally speak ¬ ing by the time the runners got together he was waswith with them and very often ieadingi
