80 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



of his native village. His father owned some smart 

 racing ponies, and ran them with signal success for 

 many years. Young Jackson as he grew up would 

 naturally be mixed in these contests, and the sport 

 of gambling which marked his after life was thus inbred 

 from earliest boyhood. He was a prominent figure at 

 the local coursing meetings, took part in all the cricket 

 matches, being accounted a good man either in attack 

 or defence with ball and bat. A fine athletic young 

 fellow, he distinguished himself as a pedestrian, and as 

 a fearless rider to hounds, ready at all times to put on 

 the " mittens," or even to fight it out with nature's own 

 weapons. By the time he attained man's estate, " Jock 

 o' Oran " was regarded as a hero in the district. Withal 

 he was a generous, good-hearted fellow, ever ready to 

 indulge in or wager on any sporting event. It is related 

 that his first bet of half-a-crown was invested on 

 Inheritress on Middleham Moor, where races of the 

 " flapping " order were wont to be held at stated periods, 

 though records are extant of race meetings taking place 

 there well back into the eighteenth century. At the 

 coursing re-unions in the Yorkshire district, he came 

 into prominence as a penciller, beginning, as many Turf 

 leviathans before him had done, with a " silver book." 

 Step by step his " bank " increased, until at last he was 

 able to enter the charmed circle of the ring, and take 

 his stand alongside the principal pencillers of the 

 day. First among the Ring celebrities of the period to 

 note the dash and pluck of Jackson was the leviathan 

 Davies. With all his apparent frankness and bonhommie, 

 Jackson had the power of remaining as dumb as an 

 oyster when any stable secret of importance was 

 imparted to him. This astuteness and the power he 

 was gradually acquiring in the Ring brought him a 



