1903.

Fast Play by Chicago Amateurs. December 29, 1902, to March 18th.—Thos. Foley’s annual winter handicap. Six ran past 40.

W.R.Av.
Conklin, 3006587.30
Rein, 250107412.50
Harris, 2154447.17
Brown, 2154467.97
Lang, 2152243.47
Kent, 2156506.94
Cochrane, 1904324.22
Miller, 1654564.23
Adair, 1503234.29
Ballard, 1506203.75
Hale, 1506374.84

G. E. Spears vs. Wm. Ryle. Kansas City, January 12–14th, Minneapolis, January 19–21st.—At 14:2. S., 3000—7.—75; R., 2447—45. April, 1904: S., 1800—73; R., 1493.

Third Tournament for “Brooklyn Eagle” Gold Cup. Brooklyn, N. Y., February 2–13th.—Under patronage of Hanover Club, 300 points nightly, 14:2. Game that directly caused a tie: W. P. Foss, 300—10.—67; E. W. Gardner, 280—31. Play-off, February 14th—F., 300—15.—73; G., 149—38. Tie of four not played off. Average of tournament, 7.87.

W.R.Av.G. A.
Foss58218.7512.13
Gardner55812.  8.72
Conklin35910.346.80
Poggenburg2719.387.51
Stark2477.696.77
Townsend2598.577.41
Mial2798.117.31

Gardner lost only to Foss, and Foss to none but Conklin, who then made his best average.

Of the three—Townsend, Gardner, and Foss—having an equal lien upon this championship, the last declined to compete in the tournament of 1904, which see.

Townsend vs. Conklin. Knickerbocker Academy, Brooklyn, N. Y., February 16–19th.—14:2 for a jewel trophy offered by Frank A. Keeney. T., 1000—7.11; C., 918. Neither surpassed his high run in tourney that led to the match.

First World’s Championship of 18:2. Grand Hotel, Paris, France, February 15–20th.—Tournament for emblem and $1,000 in cash, both given by the B. B. C. Co., and added to entrance fees and net receipts. Average of tournament, 17.47. Games, 500 points up.

W.R.Av.G. A.
Cure211320.8319.76
Sutton220031.2520.81
Vignaux213623.8122.29
Slosson071 8.49

Weeks before play began, the four entered into a parole agreement to play off ties, as well as to divide the net receipts equally. Months before that, the first three had signed a document requiring all ties to be determined by the general averages, and specifying as prizes only the emblem, the given money, and the entrance fees. At the conclusion of the final game (Vignaux vs. Cure), it was announced that ties would be played off in the same hall, beginning February 25th. Vignaux declined to play off, claiming to have won on general average, and carrying the case into court. Litigation lasted nine months, the claimant being awarded the championship in his first suit, but denied the equal share in the receipts forming the basis of his second.

All matches are for the jeweled emblem and $500 a side, 500 points up. The first was also the last of this series.

Vignaux vs. Sutton. Grand Hotel, Paris, January 29, 1904. V., 500—19.23—148; S., 496—128.

Another Tie in General Averages. Yearly championship of the N. Y. A. C. at 14:2, closing February 26th.—Dr. Walter G. Douglas had for years been the club’s champion at both caroms and pool (beaten at the latter this year), and the tournament of 1903 is given only because of the rarity of an exact tie in general averages, which might not have occurred, however, had not Percy Gardner forfeited to J. V. B. Rapp.

W.R.Av.G. A.
Douglas3324.804.41
Rapp2385.214.41
Kinsman1223.332.86
Gardner0152.421.94

Philadelphia Amateur Championship at 14:2. Hall of Philadelphia A. C., closing March 27th.—Won by T. Mortimer Rolls, Belmont Cricket Club, who had also won in 1902, when this championship was instituted by the Schuylkill Navy. R. won by 7—0, and in one game averaged 4.79. With 5—2, J. E. Cape Morton (av., 4.38) and C. A. Shedaker tied for second and third, Morton losing play-off by 250 to 162. Over 4,000 persons saw the tourney in whole or part.

Armless Sutton vs. Gallagher. Given 300 in 1500 at Clarence Greens, March 16–20th, and 600 in 3000 at Maurice Daly’s, March 23–27th, and losing by 653 in N. Y. City, but by only 89 in Brooklyn, George H. Sutton made first formal appearance in the East.

Amateur Championship of Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. West Hotel, March.—14:2 on 4½ × 9. Parker won by 6—0, with highest single average, 5.72. Thayer was second. Huyck made highest run, 51.

Amateur Championship of France and Belgium. National Academy of Amateurs (El Dorado), Paris, France, March and April, games 400 points, 18:2. Eight entries, MM. Rérolle, Rasquinet, R. Maure, Lejeune, Fouquet, Naves, Nélys, and Comte de Drée. First and second winners were Rérolle of Toulouse, and Rasquinet, then an army officer in Brussels. One scored 2800, not losing a game, and the other, beaten only by Rérolle (400 to 391), 2791. Against Rasquinet, opponents scored 2319; against Rérolle, but 1485. The highest runs, allowing only one for each player per game, were 109, 103, 87, 73, 73, 61, and 55 for Rérolle, and 91, 67, 63, 42, 41, 30, and 27 for Rasquinet. In single winning averages, Rasquinet reached double figures but twice, viz., 10, and 10.50, while Rérolle reached them in every game, viz., 11.70, 14.60, 14.80, 14.80, 15.30, 17.30, and 33.33 (Lejeune in this game scored but 64 altogether). The general averages, as forwarded from Paris, were 17.40 and 10.10 for Rérolle and Rasquinet; but their single averages, as forwarded, together with their total points per game, show their general averages to have been 15.91 and 9.83.

Pittsburg, Penn., Handicap. Great Northern Room, April and May.—At 4.2, and probably on a 4½ × 9. Bennie (185) tied Poland (170), 5—1 in games each, for first prize ($100), and won play-off. Phillippi (185) beat English (200) for third and fourth after tieing at 4—2. English, who won the series in 1892, this year made best winning average (5.56), first against Poland and next against Jack. Powers and Miller were the other two players.

Pacific Coast Class B Amateurs. Jas. F. Morley’s Rooms, San Francisco, June and July.—14:2 championship. Won by Frank Pecchart, Frank Coffin second. The pair having tied, P. won play-off by 200 to 127, averaging 5.26.

Chas. Ferris vs. Al Taylor. West Hotel, Minneapolis, October.—Three nights of 14:2 on a 4½ × 9, purse game. F., 1200—19.67—112; T., 1008—105.

High Amateur Averages. Maurice Daly’s, N. Y. City, ending October 26th.—Ferdinand Poggenburg and Dr. L. L. Mial going 300 to Wm. Gershel’s 250, doubled games of 14:2.

W.R.Av.G. A.
Poggenburg411917.6511.11
Gershel2338.935.97
Mial051 7.86

Championship of the Northwest. Fargo, N. D., Duluth and Minneapolis, Minn., ending November 13th.—For cash prizes and a challenge emblem presented by the B. B. C. Co. Doubled games of 14:2, 300 points, on a 4½ × 9 table. Average of tournament, 10.03.

W.R.Av.G. A.
W. F. Hatley68821.4313.81
F. Billiter59413.6410.67
G. Spears56715.  9.89
C. Peterson37014.2910.04
C. Ferris19117.659.06

J. W. Carney vs. George Kenniston. Hoffman Billiard Parlors, Los Angeles, Cal., November 18–20th.—Purse game, 14:2. C., 1000—7.60—50; K., 953—45.

McLaughlin vs. Gillette. Daly’s Room, N. Y. City, December 1–3d.—Purse game, 18:2. McL., 1000—13.16—100; G., 485—38.

Brooklyn Amateur Tournament at 14:2. Keeney’s Knickerbocker Academy, ending December 14th.—200–point games. Won by C. B. Barker, who made high run and average—41 and 8.70. In playing off ties for second and third prizes, C. E. White beat Dr. H. D. Jennings. Other contestants were Frank Boyd and L. A. Servatius.

Amateur Tournament at 14:2. Metropolitan Academy, N. Y. City, games of 200 points, ending December 15th.—Won by L. A. Servatius in playing off ties with Messrs. Bennett and Farley. Servatius averaged 4.65 in defeating Farley. J. H. Millette made high run—39.

Eames vs. Cutler. Hub Billiard Parlors, Boston, November 3–5th.—400 points nightly, 18:2, $250 a side. E., 1200—15.19—124; C., 1021—84. The remote cause of this contest was that Cutler, having withdrawn from the amateur ranks, had the year before, in Boston, while Eames was in Denver, Col., played and won from Thomas, formerly of Montreal, a balkline match of multiple nights announced as for the championship of New England.