178 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



and my belief is that Mrs. Merry weather was, 

 if not the " inventor " of the method of sending 

 the names of different horses to different batches 

 of appHcants, one of the earHest tipsters to adopt 

 and systematise the plan. Trading as she did 

 under three or four noms de plume, she speedily 

 accumulated a long list of names of persons who 

 backed horses ; so that when she adopted another 

 name and changed her address, she could send 

 circulars to former customers stating that, from 

 private information which she had received, she 

 believed Mr. Brown Jones (or any other person) 

 was anxious to find out the winner of the Derby 

 (or whatever race might be on the tapis), and 

 that, on receiving half-a-crown, a rare double 

 event would be forwarded to his address. 



One of this woman's most successful hits was 

 reported to have been made in the character of an 

 invalid jockey's wife, her circular on that occasion 

 being worded as follows: "A jockey's wife, her 

 husband being unable to ride now in consequence 

 of having sustained a paralytic shock of the 

 lower limbs, does not ask for charity ; but being 

 anxious for the sake of her young children to 

 earn a living, will be glad to hear from gentlemen 

 who take an interest in racing. Her husband, 

 having been a noted trial-rider, knows well the 

 form of all the horses now running. Address, 

 Sarah Chiffman, 94A, Great Pulteney Street, 

 Golden Square." This advertisement, I was told, 

 was looked upon as being genuine, and also that 

 half-sovereiens, to cover letters from the date of 

 its issue to the day of the Cambridgeshire, were 

 liberally contributed to the wife of the unfor- 

 tunate horseman ; many people connected with 



