Championship of Ohio. Mozart Hall, Cincinnati, April 21–26th.—4½ × 9 table. Seven contestants, these four being prize-winners: John A. Thatcher, 6—0, $200 and medal; Tony Honing, 4—3, $125; Harry Bussey, 4—2 (beaten by Honing in play-off), $75; and West (beat W. De Long in play-off), $50. Championship competition ended with tournament.
1885.
Second Massachusetts Championship. This was the pioneer prohibition one, Yatter and Campbell being barred. Boston, January 12th to February 13th.—4½ × 9 table. Jas. O’Neil 9—0, Fred Eames 7—2, E. H. Marshall 6—3, and Chas. Barnard 5—4, were prize-winners. Best average, 3.45, was by Eames, whose 22 tied W. G. Gilman’s for high-run prize, won by G. in playing off. Emblem was held successively by O’Neil (forfeited through illness), Marshall, O’Neil again, and Eames finally.
Sexton vs. Slosson. Irving Hall, N. Y. City, May 6th.—$2,550 ($1,500 staked on Slosson against $1,050 on Sexton). Sexton, 500—4.42—30; Slosson, 486—35. (See 1866 and 1887 for this match average surpassed.)
1886.
Bookmakers’ Handicaps. The Reeves-Johnson match of 1883, which was a heavily speculative event, led to a series of bookmakers’ tournaments in this city, February 8–18, 1886; January 31st to February 14, 1887; January 23–27, 1888; and January 14–22, 1889, the winners of which severally were Chas. Davis, Joseph Cotton, Davis again, and David Johnson. The last-named was at “scratch” in two out of four, and Davis always at “scratch” except in the third, when Reeves, playing 170 to his 150, tied him, but was beaten in the play-off. All but the 1887 tournament were on a 4½ × 9.
Only Real Sweepstakes Known to Billiards. Two of the foregoing bookmakers’ handicaps—those of 1888 and 1889, Davis winning one and Cotton the other—were genuine sweepstakes. Entrance fees may combine to form stakes, but not sweepstakes when portioned out.