204 CANADIAN TURF EECOLLECTIONS 



HOW A LOBSTER STOPPED A GRAND TRUNK 



EXPRESS. 



It was early in the 70 's that what I'm going to talk 

 about took place and the party around whom the story 

 centres was poor Sam Page, now deceased. At the time 

 I speak of Quimby and Forbes were looked upon as the 

 official pool-sellers of the country and, commencing to 

 feel their oats, as it were, they started to dictate to the 

 Turf Clubs and wanted everything their own way. The 

 result was that several clubs broke loose and Sam Page 

 was engaged to sell pools at those meetings. 



One of these associations was Decker Park, Montreal, 

 then under the control of L. W. Decker, the proprietor 

 of the Albion Hotel, and it was arranged that Page 

 should be on hand to sell pools in the office of the 

 "Albion" at 8 p.m. on Monday evening, the races start- 

 ing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Now, the better to understand 

 what follows, I will explain right here that Sam Page 

 was one of the heartiest feeders I ever met. He was also 

 a good judge of when dishes were properly prepared and 

 he never allowed himself to be hurried at his meals. No 

 matter what important business was on hand poor Sam 

 would concentrate his whole mind on the meal before him, 

 and no matter who waited it was utterly impossible to 

 hurry him along. 



At the time I am speaking of there was no Sunday 

 night train to Montreal, so that it was necessary to leave 

 on Saturday night if Page was to be on the ''block" on 

 Monday evening. I had also promised Decker to get 

 down on the Monday, so took the Saturday night train 

 also. Arrived at Cobourg, where was one of the chief 

 restaurants on the road, we both went in for supper. 

 There were very few through passengers that night and 

 only one other person beside the conductor, Page and my- 



