All mankind will attend exhibitions of skill and prowess, and although prize-fights are illegal, you never can suppress the spirit which engendered that form of competition.
I spent sometimes, with many eminent spectators, a quiet hour or two at Tom Spring's in Holborn, and met many of the best men there in all ranks and professions, always excepting the Church. After one of these entertainments I was travelling with John Gully, once a formidable champion of the ring, and at that time a great bookmaker, as well as owner of racehorses—afterwards presented at Court to her most gracious Majesty the late Queen—and Member of Parliament. We were travelling on our way to Bath, and as we approached a tunnel not far from our destination, Gully pointed out a particular spot "where," said he, "I won my first fight;" and so proud was he of the recollection that he might have been in a picture like that of Wellington pointing out the Field of Waterloo to a young lady.
This knowledge of the world, seen as I saw it, was of the greatest use in my profession. If you would know the world, you must not confine yourself to its virtues. There is another side, and it is well to look at it. I thought on one particular occasion how useful a little of this knowledge would have been during a certain cross-examination of Arthur Orton in Chancery by a member of the Chancery Bar. He put this question and many others of a similar kind,—
"Do you swear, sir, that you were on board the Bella?" in a very severe tone.
"Yes, sir," says the Claimant, "I do."
"Stop," says the advocate; "I'll take that down;" and he did, with a great deal besides, his cross-examination materially assisting the man in prolonging his fraudulent claim.
I was engaged in the Brighton card-sharping case, upon which so much stress was laid by the Claimant as proving his identity with Roger Tichborne, Roger not having been in the matter at all. I was counsel for one of the persons, the notorious Johnny Broom, who was indicted for fraud, and whose trial ought to have come on before Lord Chief Justice Jervis. He was not a good Judge, so far as the defendant was concerned, to try such a case, and that being Johnny's opinion, he absconded from his bail. The Lord Chief Justice had a great knowledge of card-sharping and of all other rogueries, so that he was an apt man to deal with delinquents who practised them. Conviction before him would have been certain in this case. He was, in fact, waiting for Johnny, as it was a case of great roguery, and intended to deal severely with him.
You may imagine, then, how angry he was when he heard that his man had flown. But there was one consolation: the Broom gang consisted of a number of men who acted on all occasions as confederates when the frauds were practised. Two of these rogues were also indicted, and placed on their trial at this assize.
A Mr. Johnson appeared for the prosecution, and in opening the case for the Crown, in order to show his uncommon fairness, was so impartial as to state that he could find no ground of complaint in respect of the cards, which, he said, had been most carefully examined by the Brighton magistrates.
Who these Brighton magistrates were I never heard, but probably they were gentlemen who knew nothing of sharpers and their ways, and whose only experience of cards was a quiet rubber with the ladies of their household. However, such was their unanimous opinion, and upon it the counsel for the Crown informed the Lord Chief Justice that he had no case so far as the fairness of the cards was concerned.