The 'Cork Card Case' Pike (Joseph) & Beamish (Richard P...

Hammer

€420

The 'Cork Card Case'

Pike (Joseph) & Beamish (Richard Pigott)
Cheating at Cards, Three large documents (printed, with manuscript notes) in the case of Pike V. Beamish 1894.

· Minutes of special meeting of the general committee of the County of Cork Club, 16 Dec. 1893 (44 pp)
· Brief on behalf of the defendant (56 large ff)
· Pleadings (34 pp)

Joseph Pike of Dunsland, Glanmire, Chairman of the Cork Steamship Co. and a former high sheriff of the county, was (despite his Quaker upbringing) an enthusiastic and suspiciously successful card player. One of his favourite venues was the Cork County Club, of which he was a trustee. Richard Pigott Beamish, a fellow trustee, being made aware of rumours that Pike was cheating, demanded that the matter be investigated by the club committee. Pike sued Beamish for libel, and the case was heard at the Four Courts on 8 May 1894. The proceedings were followed avidly by members of the gentry, both in and out of the courtroom. After a hearing that lasted ten days, the jury gave its verdict, deciding with admirable impartiality that Pike was innocent of cheating and Beamish was innocent of malice. 
(See John Welcome, Cheating at Cards, London, 1963, pp 161-233.) Unusual and interesting lot, w.a.f. (1)