Ten Years Ago—and Now

Writing elsewhere more than nine years ago, the present editor of The Billiard Player commented on"the sudden.rise into billiard fame of two quite young men, in the persons of T. Newman, of London, still only 19, and W. Smith, of Darlington, understood to be 25 or thereabouts. "A year ago"(he added) "both were comparatively unknown. Newman was playing in single session matches, as opportunity offered, and Smith was still at work on a linotype machine in a newspaper printing office. Newman has grown up to billiards from childhood, as so many other professional billiardists have done, through the channel of the hotel room; Smith has turned to the vocation from an industrial handicraft as Burns turned from the plough to poetry. But both might have remained for many years to come in comparative obscurity as to professional billiard playing if something had not happened. Exactly what did happen was this.

Smith was wisely hit upon to oppose George Gray (with a liberal start conceded) in some local exhibition matches, and beat the hitherto invincible young Australian actually on points; and Newman, being selected by John Roberts to take the place of Gray, when the latter backed out of an agreement to "star" with the great player, put up a series of brilliant performances against the veteran, which greatly interested and impressed the world of billiard lovers. Thus each youth got his chance of a lifetime at an early stage in his billiard career and was able to render an exceedingly good account of himself. Now Newman is to tour Canada with John Roberts in lieu of George Gray, and Smith will also find himself in first class English billiards next season.