“Sir,—Seeing a challenge from Bendigo this week, I shall be happy to meet him on his own terms, £200 a ride (in which I heartily hope he will not disappoint me). I will meet him at my own house, on Tuesday evening next, to stake not less than £20 as a first deposit. Should this challenge not be accepted, I will fight Bendigo, Tass Parker, and the Tipton Slasher, once each within six months, for £200 a side, and shall be prepared to deposit £60—viz., £20 each match—as the first deposit, any time at my house, or at Tom Spring’s, the Castle Tavern, Holborn. Should this not be ‘a go’ within four months, I shall beg most respectfully to decline the Ring altogether.
“B. CAUNT.
“January 21st, 1844.”
By many it was thought that the severe accident which had occurred to Bendigo, and occasioned a forfeit by him of £75 to Tass Parker, had placed another contest between him and the ponderous Ben out of the question. This did not, however, prove to be the case. At a sporting dinner at Owen Swift’s, at which, besides a full muster of Corinthians, Tom Spring, Peter Crawley, Jem Burn, Frank Redmond, Tom Oliver, Dan Dismore, Bill Jones, and many of the “professionals” were present, the matter of the Championship was formally discussed.
Therein, with the consent of Caunt, Bendigo was matched to fight him for £200, Caunt’s subscription belt, and the Championship, and the Tipton Slasher staked £10 as a first deposit to fight the winner. How the first of these events did come off (unsatisfactorily), and how the second did not come off at all, are fully recorded in the lives of Bendigo and of William Perry. Suffice it here to say that Caunt lost his third battle with Bendigo by falling without a blow. (See Chapter I., [page 28], ante.)
A fearful catastrophe, by which the Champion suffered a heavy domestic bereavement, occurred during Caunt’s temporary absence from London on a visit to some country friends in Hertfordshire.
By a fire which suddenly broke out at the “Coach and Horses,” St. Martin’s Lane, of which Caunt was at this time the landlord, two of Caunt’s children, and the servant by whom they were attended, were burnt to death. The facts of the case will best be gathered from a condensed report of the evidence at the coroner’s inquest, held at the Board Room of St. Martin’s parish, on the Thursday following the melancholy event.
The jury having viewed the bodies of the unfortunate victims, the first witness called was Mrs. Anne Tomlins, who identified the bodies as those of Ruth Lowe, aged 18 years, Martha Caunt, aged 9 years, and Cornelius Butler Caunt, aged 6 years, the two latter being the children of Benjamin and Martha Caunt, and the former a cousin of Mrs. Caunt.
Susanna Thorpe was next examined: She said she came to town on Sunday last, on a visit to Mrs. Caunt, who was her cousin. Mrs. Caunt and herself were in the bar when the clock struck two on Wednesday morning, shortly after which they both went upstairs to bed. Ruth Lowe and the children had gone to bed some hours previously. Mr. Caunt being away in the country, Mrs. Caunt asked witness to sleep with her. Witness consented to do so, and had already got into bed herself, when she heard Edward Noakes, the cellarman, who slept upstairs, give an alarm. Mrs. Caunt had not got into bed when this happened, and she immediately opened the door, and found that the furniture in the middle room, on the second floor, was on fire. Witness got out of bed, and went downstairs with Mrs. Caunt to call for assistance. Witness saw fire and smoke in the middle room as she crossed the landing to go downstairs.
Coroner: Does it occur to you how the fire originated there? No, sir. I was in that room just before I went to bed. I went to fetch my nightdress, which I had left on a chair near the window, having slept in this room on the three previous nights. I had a common candlestick in my hand when I went into the room. There were two beds in the apartment. I passed them both, but not closely, and I have no recollection of any circumstance which might account for the origin of the fire.