THE WATERLOO CUP 45 



Mr. R. A. Brice, of Witham in Essex, was chosen to succeed 

 Mr. James Hedley, whose health does not at present allow of 

 his undertaking the duties. No fewer than twenty-four consecu- 

 tive Waterloo Cups has Mr. Hedley judged— from 1874 to 

 1897 inclusive— and this constitutes a wonderful record. That 

 Mr. Hedley was a perfect master of his work, there were never 

 two opinions among coursing men, and probably there never 

 was any other judge of this particular sport in whose in- 

 tegrity and ability the public had so much faith. He knew 

 thoroughly well the value of good and bad work in greyhounds, 

 he never gave a long undecided course, and his nerve was of 

 the strongest. We remember on one occasion, when Mr. 

 Hedley had only been judging a year or two, his taking office 

 at a miners' meeting in the county of Durham. Now these 

 miners-who nowadays are so ably controlled by Mr. Thomas 

 Snowdon and the North of England Coursing Club-were, 

 nearly thirty years ago, a very rough lot, who indmed greatly 

 to the ' win, tie or wrangle' school. They thought nothmg 

 of ' bo-hooing ' the judge when a popular favourite went down, 

 and it is beyond question that some of their earlier judges 

 occasionally gave decisions which would please the crowd, 

 whether they were right or not. On the occasion we refer to, 

 a well-backed favourite had just failed to raise a flag, and 

 immediately afterwards Mr. Hedley had to ride right past the 

 crowd, as they were changing the beat. As he approached, 

 some of the roughest of the spectators drew out threatemngly, 

 and there was a loud shout of 'Pull him off his horse ! 

 with a deal of strong language. The judge took httle notice ; 

 but when two of the noisiest took hold of his horses bridle 

 he raised his heavy whip and promptly laid one man's head 

 open, while the other, as he tried to bolt, received the lash of 

 the hunting crop full in the face. Confidence was at once 

 restored, and we have an idea that Mr. Hedley was never 



jeered at again. , , r- ■ q q 



Among the sixty-four who contested the Cup m 1898 



puppies were in a minority, only twenty-one of that age being 



entered for the stake, against six third season, two fourth 



