"When he had won the championship from Jacob Schaefer and beaten all the other foremost players in this country (the USA,) Ives looked round for new worlds to conquer. He made a trip to England and spent several weeks studying the English game. John Roberts was the English Champion then, and in April 1893, Ives challenged him to a match at 6000 points. Articles were signed and they were to meet during Derby Week the following June.
Returning to this country, Ives obtained an English table, 6ft x 12ft, with six pockets, and spent several weeks in secret practice. When he sailed for England, he told his friends in New York to bet any amount on him, that he had solved the English game, and would beat Roberts without difficulty.
Everybody thought he was depending on the rail nurse, (running nursery cannons along the cushion,) which he had perfected to a remarkable degree, and the wise ones pointed out that the rail nurse was much more difficult on the English table, where six pockets break the continuity of the rails, than on the American table. And Roberts had so much more experience with the English game that few sporting men gave Ives more than a passing chance. But Ives had one backer who accompanied him to London and offered the book-makers all the money they would take, until London sportsmen began to suspect that Ives had something up his sleeve. Here is what happened; for the first three nights Roberts won handily, rolling up 1,000 points each night against Ives's 689, 981, and 573. Then on the fourth night Ives ran the balls along the rail to the corner pocket and by careful nursing and close manipulation squeezed them into the jaw where they lodged fast. Then he played his cue-ball back and forth, back and forth, while the referee grew hoarse from counting. He ran 2,540 points in that position, and only broke them up when the finish of the game was in sight.
It was in Ives's nature, then, to turn around and teach the rail nurse to Roberts and give him a return engagement in this country. They played two more matches and broke even."