THE experiment that is at present being tried by Charles Dawson—that of organising a capable "company," and playing a series of tournaments in some of the chief provincial towns—is not a new one. The idea was first conceived and carried out by John Roberts, who opened at Birmingham towards the end of January, 1884. The other players were W. Mitchell, T. Taylor, J. North, G. Collins, F. White, H. Coles, J. G. Sala, F. Bennett, and W. Timbrell, seven of them assisting the "star" in each town visited. The now obsolete "all-in" game was played, the heats were 500 up, and Roberts owed from 100 to 150 in each tournament.
EXCEPT upon the first day, when he was far from well, Roberts played an extraordinary game at Birmingham. His chief breaks during the week were 407 (132 spots), 506 (143 and 13 spots), an unfinished 525 (79 and 90 spots), and an unfinished 601 (106 spots). In estimating the value of these efforts it is important to remember that he only had six hundred to score in each heat, so, to possess any chance of making a big break, he had to jump into his stride at once. He and North each won six out of seven games, but when they played off the tie, a solitary red winning hazard was all that the Bristol man could achieve in the way of scoring.
I REMEMBER talking over this tournament, shortly after it was concluded, with one of the players who took part in it, and he seemed to think that Roberts possessed a somewhat unfair advantage over the others. "We, all of us," he observed plaintively, "enjoyed ourselves during the week, all except John, and he never did anything but read the Sportsman and drink soda and milk." This struck me as a quaint excuse for the shortcomings of the speaker and his fellows, but I could not persuade him to accept my view— that the only man of the party who really took care of himself, and stuck closely to business, was the man who deserved to win.
IT is possible that Roberts was not quite so careful of himself after the opening week, as his play was not so consistent during the remainder of the tour, though he accomplished several more remarkable performances. Sheffield was the second town visited, and here, as was only appropriate, the Sheffielder, William Mitchell—he was born in Derbyshire, by the way—pulled through. His best performance during the week was witnessed in his heat with North. The scores were called, "490 to 150" in favour of North, who, therefore, only required ten points to win, but Mitchell never knows when he is beaten, and, soon working his way to the top of the table, ran out with an unfinished 350 (106 spots). He and Roberts tied with five wins each, and the latter was defeated when they played off for first prize.
THE week at Leeds proved a terrible failure financially, but it was memorable from the success of poor Shorter, whose early and lamentable death, which occurred in Australia in the following year, deprived the billiard world of one of its brightest ornaments. Unfortunately, he was never really fond of the game, and it was almost impossible to get him to practise, but the daily play at Birmingham, and Sheffield had done him an immense amount of good, and he only lost one game at Leeds.
ROBERTS and Shorter were again to the fore at Liverpool, where each secured six games out of the seven, the top weight winning easily when the tie was played off. During this week Roberts achieved the remarkable feat of winning a love game from T. Taylor. Each gave a miss, and then the crack went out with a brilliant contribution of 624, which, continuing the break by general request, he increased to 692 before failing to pocket the red ball.
AT Manchester, where the tour concluded, Roberts owed 150, and started off in marvellous form. He made a break of 442 in his opening heat, and, when he met F. White, eclipsed this with an unfinished 612 (25 and 171 spots), his opponent merely troubling the marker to the extent of one cannon. After this, however, he fell off in his play, and North, who performed very consistently all through the tour, accomplished the unusual feat of winning all seven games.
THE fact that Roberts never repeated the experiment of a provincial tour seems to show that it was more successful as a grand exhibition of the game than from a monetary point of view, and I must confess to being dubious if Dawson's present trip will pay, especially as I fancy there was more money in billiards sixteen years ago than there is now. His pyramid handicaps are, however, a complete novelty, and these ought to draw good "houses."
THERE is nothing more attractive than a really hard fought battle at pyramids between two very high-class players, and such a thing has not been seen since John Roberts, the late William Cook, and D. Richards used to occasionally contest the championship. Of course, an evening's exhibition is frequently wound up by three or five games of pyramids, but, as it is an unwritten law upon these occasions that neither man shall play for safety, and safety is the backbone of the game, it follows that we never have the opportunity of seeing a game of pyramids, but merely an exhibition of brilliant hazard striking.
HAD not the pyramid championship been apparently allowed to lapse many years ago, it seems pretty certain that the late Hugh McNeil would have made a big bid for it, as he was one of the most marvellous winning hazard strikers ever seen. He was always ready to accept £40 to £1 that he took all fifteen pyramid balls, and, I believe, brought off these very useful odds upon more than one occasion. His modus operandi was to "smash" the pyramid—using the heaviest cue he could get hold of— and to trust to fluking in a ball or two, and leaving the others well scattered all over the table.