Saturday.
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
March 18, 1939.
KING OF GAMBLERS IS DEAD
Man with Poker-face Had £1,000,000 Bets a Year "POKER FACE" Parker, of Northampton,
would bet £1,000,000 a year—and never turn a hair.
•
"No man can do that for long," they whispered on the race-courses of England. "It's too much for any man's nerves."
But he'd-mile over the rin
They were right. "Poker, done." Face" Parker died at Northamp-of his champagne gloss and reply:
ton recently-victim of the norve disorder which had kept him off the race-courses for the past 18 months.
The strain of maintaining that "poker face" killed him. He would win thousands, lose thousands, but only he atat the bookles would know. "You'd think he was betting in
"Oh, Just so" EO,"
Parker, who was 67, also backed boxers and way interested in bil- lands. He stood for Parliament in
Northampton eat, but was de-
fealed.
"Fred Parker was a great person- ity," the secretary of the Victoria Club said. "He was the born backer, He could win or lose thousands, but at the end of a day's racing you
obsafd the admiring all-tune would never know. He was chair- punters. But Parker's stakes would man of the club for 12 years, but re- cause the big bookles to wonder
Fred Parker, ex-Mayor of North-smed about 18 months ago."
cumpton, director of Northampton Football Club, formerly chairman of
And a bookmaker friend said:
Poker Face' lived on ils nerves-
the Victoria Club, London, and it was bound to get him in the end."
member of Tattersall's Committee, was one of the great backers of the time.
PLACED BETS FOR ROYALTY
And, although his nerves were shattered, he remained so to the end. In the home in which he died he avidly read the racing papers; talked over the horses' chances.
Parker was one of the old school of He will be missed in the backers. rings..
Councillor Sent
To Prison
SEVENTY-YEAR-OLD Rich-
Parker with his Immoblie fare. ard Morrin, Bettws-y-Coed his military bearing, and his spruce
on every coal merchant, charity worker,
appearance was known
race-course in the country. He was chapel precentor and councillor, of professional collapsed in the dock at Caer-
one
of a
Froup
backers known as the " Four."
It was reputed that their turnover narvon Assizes recently when 2012 into millions a year. Parker, sentenced by the Lord Chief perhaps, was the biggest of the four. Justice to nine months' im-
He was what the racing world knows prisonment in the second divi- as a commissioner, placing. bela for owners and trainers, and. sometimes for royalty.
On the outskirts of Northamp- ton he had a magnificent house, named after barse
1
which brought him one of the biggest
coups of his life.
sion.
ever
"One of the saddest cases before this Court" was the comment
of prosecuting counsel.
voluntary
Anny Morris's many duties was the weekly collection af money paid In twopences by sight-
Parker was born to rumble. Sonera at the famous Swallow Falls.
Thousands of pounds had passed
PAID BY WIFE
of a Northampton printer be weat through his hands into the Council's into an auctioneer's office; then account. turned to racing. He owned some horses but they never had much suc- cess. It was said that he was a fine Judge of horseflesh. Be liked the horses apart from his stukes. HE'D NEVER TELL
An impressive ecene in St. Peter's following the death of His Holiness Pope Pius XI. His Ho- lines died early on the morning of February 10 and that afternoon the body was taken in a procession to the Sistine Chapel and placed on a high catafalque draped in red and gold, there to remain with Vatican guards keeping vigil and the darkness only illumined by the light of candles,
The Counell, it was stated, haddock and confessing to these crimes.
full
to cheque for the
"You have used your power accepted a amount from Morris's wife,
commit a series of offences conducted Lord Hewart, passing sentence, with forethought, calculation and
contrivance told Morris:
whleh might have perfectly
At the end of a day's encing friends i " Is deplorable to see a man of thrown suspicion
would ask Parker "how he had your years and récord standing in the innocent parly."
отп
By every let
Produce of Australia,
the World's best
healthy
Because
Library, Supreme
In the Spring Fashion Picture
Enchantingly New
Swiss Organdie Neckwear
ORGANDIE JABOTS
from $2.50 to $3.95 ca.
ORGANDIE COLLARS
from $2.25 cach
LACE COLLARS
from $2.25 each
EMB'D NOVELTY POSIES
from $1.95 to $3.95 ea.
STRING BELTS
A smart selection in the newest designs and all the latest shades just received.
Priced from $2.50 each
1
'Parson' Blackmailed whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co., Ltd.
Dying Men
master
FROM a flat in Upper Berkeley-street, Mayfair, a
blackmailer, posing as a elergyman, struck terror into the hearts of wealthy men, two of whom are said to have broken down, under the strain and died.
With clerical intonation, which he learned as novitiate in a monastery, and clerical garb, 36-years-old Raymond Mullineux became one of the most dangerous men known to Scotland Yard in the backmail "racket.' Recently, at the Old Bailey, he was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude for de- manding money from a "Mr. A," of Enfield.
“Mr. A," who was said to have paid Mullineux £1,300, is now dead. His depositions were rend.
Idim. sympathy for
persisted in bombarding him for money. ለ
Mr. Anthony Hawke (prosecuting) friend opened a letter and the matter said that last year "Mr. A" met a came into the hands of the police, buy in the Haymarket and took him!
Justice
home.
In June Mullineux called on "Mr.
Passing sentence. Mr. Slagleton said: "It is impossible to imagine a worse case of its kind." le added that there was a Rev,
A by the Rev. R. A. Francis," said Roger Francis of Aldershot, and
the boy had got into trouble and should be emptinsised that he had
that £200
would be necessary to nothing to do with the case.
save him from prison. "Mr. A" gave him £160. That was followed by further demands.
"Mr. A went to the Channel Islands for a holkiny, Mullineux turned up there, still dressed as a parson, and extracted a further £10. Thereafter Mullineux abandoned, the pretence of being a porson, and threatened "Mr. A" In the name of "Morgan."
Eventually, un November 23. Mullineux gave "Mr. A" a signed
read: which note,
"Indmlt threatening you with exposure over a certain foolishness unless you give the sum of £1,000, 1 have already extracted E1,130." When "Mr. A" was taken away toj hospital, and even while he was on his death-bed, Mullineux, expressing
Plea For A Family 'Pub,' By A Vicar THE lost art of drinking is deplored by the Rev. Cecil of good.
Clark, vicar of St. Gabriel's, Aldersbrook, Wanstead, E., who cows. Sweet,
wants to see public houses as wholesome, sunny pastures.
centres, with Scrupulous cleanliness, Careful selec-family social
Free reasonable licensing hours to tion and pasteurisation of all cream. dom from chemical preservatives or colouring matter: prevent people "gulping." Richness in vitamins. A piquant Individuality and deli- cious flavour. Keen Covernment inspection from the herd to the shipper.
All combining to give the highest level of perfection as a manufactured product, and explain its wonderful prize- winning record and daily increasing use.
BUY ALWAYS “AUSTRALIAN BUTTER” OBTAINABLE FROM ALL LEADING COMPRADORES.
AUSTRALIAN BUTTER
In his parish Mr. Clark has no publle-house, although thero is an off-lgence.
"I like a drink myself," said Mr.; Clark. "Drinking, is n good English tradition, as old as man himself.
SLIPPING ACROSS
"I think that a universal closing: time of 10.30 in the summer is quite early enough. ; Slipping across the bridge to gulp down. a 'quick one' makes it undignified and deplorable.
"Public-house family social.centres should have special children's rooms, and he part of the social education of young people.Afiar -all; they will drink, so why not teach them to do it. correctly?
Try Maybelline's fa- mous Solid-form Max-
cara or popular new Crean form Mascara, and Eyebrow Pencil. See how much more they can add to your personal levelincast
Obtainable at all cosmetic counters Sole Distributors: UNITED TRADERS Hong loat
Maybelline
THE BLEW PRENON REMEDY. THERAPION.N6.1 THERAPION NË.. THERAPION NG3
*WAS COPS# 21000
ON,LE OLERO'S PILLê for the kivon
JUST TURN THE TAP
THE HOT WATER IS WAITING
FOR YOU..
SADIA
AUTOMATIC
ELECTRIC
WATER HEATERS
· provide scalding hot water at all hot taps in the house with- out waiting, without labour of any kind, at any time of the day or night.
INSIST ON SADIA
FOR COMPLETE SATISFACTION
SEE IT DEMONSTRATED AT OUR SHOWROOM ·
St. George's Building.
Chator Road, (1st Floor)
C. E. WARREN & Co., Ltd.
CANTON AGENTS
for the
Hongkong Telegraph
·WM. FARMER & CO.
Victoria Hotel Building. Shameen, Canton. Tel. 13501