Page 102 - Reading Mercury

and being deserted by that steady coolness he had, thro’ the whole battle, preserved, it
not only threw him, in some degree, off his guard, but he unluckily struck his
antagonist a blow, that was by the connoisseurs deemed foul and decisive. In the
general clamour, Ward was taken from the stage, as victor, very little hurt; and
Johnson, much bruised about the head, set off for London, in two hours after. The
money deposited was not given up, nor will it, till an appeal has been made to the
Newmarket Club, for a final decision.---it was universally allowed, that greater skill
will never be displayed on a similar occasion; and it is well worthy remark, the most
trifling dispute or altercation did not occur either in the town or neighbourhood.
Immediately after the battle, Reynolds (second to Ward) declared himself ready to
fight any man in England for 500 guineas; and wished every person present to
remember, and communicate his challenge.
On the above occasion, carriages of all kinds, and horsemen of all denominations,
continued to pour in to the town of Wokingham, from nine o’clock, to the time of
setting to; the carriages amounted to upwards of a hundred in number, and saddle
horses were left in every part of the neighbourhood; the sums received at the different
places of admission for the fight, amounted to nearly an hundred pounds.
The nimble fingered gentry from London were numerous and successful; in the
general hurry and confusion, very little pity was excited, by the lamentations of
different parties, for the lots of notes, cash and pocket handkerchiefs.

th
Mon 12 Feb
READING
We are informed, from undoubted authority that the umpires in the dispute
concerning the battle lately fought in Wokingham, between Johnson and Ward, have
come to the determination that it was a drawn battle.

th
Mon 26 March
WOKINGHAM MARCH 17, 1787
OLIVE HOULTON, (relict of the late Ephraim Houlton) GROCER, TEA DEALER,
&c. Broad-street takes this method of returning her sincere thanks to her friends and
customers for their past kindnesses, and as she now has declined half her business in
favour of her son, Robert Houlton, they, with due submission, jointly beg a
continuance of their kind support, which they will exert their utmost ability to merit,
by the most diligent attention to their favourable commands.
N.B. Grocery, Teas, Cheesemongery, Flour, Meal, Malt, Hops, &c. wholesale and
retail, on the most reasonable terms.

nd
Mon 2 April
On Sunday last, eleven prisoners in our gaol, under sentence of transportation, were
conveyed in coaches to London, and lodged in Newgate, from whence they will be
removed to Portsmouth in a few days, and put on board the ships that are nearly ready
to sail for Botany Bay.---Soon after the prisoners were put in Newgate, an affray arose
between them and some of the old inhabitants there; one of the turnkeys, in
endeavouring to quell the riot, gave Ballard (one of the convicts from hence) a most
terrible wound on the head, and many of the others were much hurt, before they could
be brought to order.
The night previous to the removal of the above prisoners, Wm. Green, John
Armstrong, alias Duncle, and John Musto, three convicts who were to have
accompanied them, found means to affect their escape from our gaol. The Keeper,

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