Remarks.—This last hit was an electric shock to the backers of the Caulker, many of whom were naval men. Not a few of the travellers, too, were disgusted at so short a fight after such a long and weary journey. “How we have been gammoned,” said those who had been persuaded to lay the odds on Bowen; “this man a terror to all the dock-yard men and milling ‘salts’ in the neighbourhood of Chatham? If so, what a prize Josh. must be!” When Josh. met the Caulker the first time he was a stripling of ten stone four pounds; he was now over twelve stone, had learnt much, and by his in-fighting set at nought the Caulker’s great length of arm. Large sums of money were lost throughout Kent upon the Caulker. A bright moon and pleasant air, after the day’s storm, rendered the ride home doubly pleasant to the winners.
Josh., ever anxious to be doing, addressed the following to the editor of the Weekly Dispatch:—
“Sir,—
“I wish, through the medium of your paper, to inform Mr. Martin that I am ready to fight him for one or two hundred pounds, either before or after his fight with Randall. Should he accept this challenge, I am ready, at any time he shall appoint, to meet him at Mr. Holt’s, Golden Cross Chop House, Cross Street, Long Acre, to make a deposit; should he refuse (having been once defeated by him), I must, to use the language he so generously adopted when challenging Randall, pronounce him ‘a cur.’ I also wish to inform the sporting world that the challenge to Ned Turner, which appeared in your paper of last Sunday week, as coming from me, I know nothing of; and be assured the John Bull Fighter, as I am termed, possesses too much of a John Bull heart to exult over a defeated pugilist; and Messrs. Old Tom and Old Time having made great inroads upon the constitution of poor Ned, it was farthest from my thoughts to give a challenge, which I know his proud heart could not brook, nor his health admit him to accept.
“I am, sir, your obedient servant,
“JOSHUA HUDSON.
“Golden Cross Chop House, May 4, 1822.”
A month or two subsequently, Bill Abbot having dared Josh. to the field, he inserted the following as an answer to Abbot’s challenge:—
“Sir,—
“With reference to your letter of Sunday last, I shall be happy to accommodate you for fifty a-side, and any day this week you will find me or my money at the Cock and Cross, Red Cross Street, London Docks, to make the match. If your friends will back you for £100, I wish to say my money is ready, and in that case I will wait upon you to make a deposit of £20, as far West as you may appoint. I went the other evening to Mr. Belcher’s, and did hope to have found you, or some friend, to have made the match; but was there informed by one of your backers it was a mistake.