UC-NRLF

SB 277

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

TALES OF THE TORF-M II

WET SUNDAYS

BY

W. H. GOCHER

Between the heats men talk and read

Of action, pedigrees and speed;

While form and color, style and weight,

Cut in with courage, mouth and gait.

These when combined in one, endorse

The composite — a racing horse.

To run or pace select the daisy cutting glide,

To trot seek ample fold and the four-cornered stride.

To win hold hard, my friend, you're hunting touts and mirth,

Walk-overs are the only certainties on earth.

PUBLISHED BY

W. H. GOCHER, HARTFORD, CONN.
1903

Copyright 1903,

by
WILLIAM HENRY GOCHER.

PRESS OF

WlNN & JUDSON,
CLEVELAND, O.

SF337

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Champ Frontispiece

Nelly Gray 26-26

John E. Turner 43-44

Oiney Dashed Away 81-82

Guy, 2:093^ 113-114

Alden Goldsmith 133-134

James H. Goldsmith 191-192

John Alden Goldsmith 237-238

Lou Dillon 297-298

Old Bill 305-306

Dexter 359-360

The Moonlight Drive 373-374

Tom 391-392

The Little Brown House Under the Hill . . 397-398

INDEX.

PAGE

Beginning, The 7

Bill Hood 98

Champ 354

Charlie Sing 84

Confession, The . i 401

End, The 403

Fickle Gamey 383

General, The 32

Getting Even 350

Goldsmiths, The 116

Alden Goldsmith 116

Dutchman 120

Volunteer 129

Goldsmith Maid 132

Developing the Volunteers 138

Huntress and Bodine 140

Three Mile Record 142

James Goldsmith's First Race 144

Gloster 145

1874 ......'• 151

James H. Goldsmith's First Campaign 152

1875 154

1876— Bateman 158

1877— Powers 162

1878— Driver 166

1879— Alley 171

James Goldsmith Expelled 173

John A. Goldsmith in the Sulky 175

1880— Unolala 177

1881— Two Mile Heats 180

Volunteer above Price 183

1882— Flora Belle 187

1883 190

Driver's Career 194

1884— Walnut 196

1885 198

Death of Alden Goldsmith 200

1886— Domestic . . 203

INDEX. 5

Goldsmiths, The — Continued. PAGE

1887— Walnut Grove Farm Sale 204

Volunteer Tribe 208

1888— Company 212

1889— Star Lily 217

1890— Pamlico 223

1891— Mambrino Maid ' . . ' 228

Death of James H. Goldsmith 231

1881— John Goldsmith Goes West . . 234

1882— Sweetness 235

1883— Director 239

Electioneer— Guy Wilkes ... 243

George Wilkes 245

Dolly Spanker 256

George Wilkes Tribe 257

1884— Guy Wilkes 263

1885— Anteeo 265

1886— Shamrock 266

1887— Sable Wilkes . 269

1888— Yolo Maid 270

1889— Lillian Wilkes 272

Victor 274

1890— Freedom 275

1891— Vida Wilkes 278

1892— John A. Goldsmith Comes Bast 280

1893— Oro Wilkes 283

1894— Mary Best— Alar 288

Death of John A. Goldsmith 292

Johnny's Colt 345

Luke Lightwood Legacy, The 321

Jewed 328

Flushed .... 338

Note, A 6

Oiney O'Shea 58

Old Bill . . 300

Old Favorite, The 114

Queen, The 297

Tom 338

Tout, The 346

Yankee Trade, A .315

A NOTE.

The title of this book requires an explanation. Since I have been
able to own a horsey a matter of about twelve years, I have made it a
practice to go for a long drive on Sunday afternoons, as it is the only
time a wage earner, which I have been since a boy, can call his own.
In Cleveland my outings were taken behind a little brown mare named
Juda, whose memory will always be green in the family; Tirzah, by
Dictator, and The Hawk, a harum scarum gelding that was all his
name implied. After coming to Hartford, in 1896, I purchased the
bay mare Bessie Wilkes, 2:33, by Wilkie Collins, and in the past seven
years I have driven her over twenty-five thousand miles, an average
of about ten miles a day, over the roads of Connecticut. In that time
I also had many a drive behind her stable companions, the airy gaited
pacer, Touch Me Not, 2:13^, by Pocahontas Sam, and gallant old
Guy, 2:0924 , the war horse of the Mambrino family of trotters.

Those who study the weather will remember the batch of wet
Sundays which were placed on record during the spring and summer
of 1902. They cut off my drives and while Bessie Wilkes and Guy
stood in their box stalls munching hay and stamping at flies, I wrote
and revised the most of the material in this book. It was, in a
measure, a holiday jaunt wheeling about among memories long since
relegated to the garret. While recalling the old days, the dripping
eaves and muddy roads were forgotten and as

" Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary,"

I present them in the hope that under similar conditions those who
love a good horse and enjoy driving or riding on the road or on the
turf may find in them at least a flicker in the window of cheerfulness
when the rain is falling and the clouds hang low.

W. H. GOCHER.
HARTFORD, CONN.,

NOVEMBER i, 1903.

THE BEGINNING.

'Twas on the famous trotting ground,

The betting men were gathered round

From far and near; the "cracks" were there

Whose deeds the sporting prints declare.

There, too, stood many a noted steed

Of Messenger and Morgan breed!

Green horses also, not a few,

Unknown as yet what they could do.— Holmes.

It had been a severe day. Colonel Edwards had
kept the ponies going from one o'clock until seven and
when the last heat was decided there was scarcely
enough light left to distinguish the horses as they
passed under the wire. All of the races were badly
snarled. Betting ring and bad actors, did you say?
Well a little of both possibly, although it is not well to
admit too much in these days of adverse legislation
and investigation committees. For the present pur-
pose it is enough to say it was a hard day for the scrib-
blers who are expected to get their stories on the wire
or on the city editor's desk before nine o'clock and
write them on an empty stomach.

On this day in particular there was very little
victuals to be had. Being forced to skip lunch on ac-
count of the hour at which the first race was called,
the only refreshment which came my way was a
chicken sandwich and a meat pie and by that I know
it was Thursday, the big day, as for twenty-three
years Miss Walton had on each Thursday of race
week sent the Cleveland judges a basket of meat pies.

8 THE BEGINNING.

If you were in favor with the Colonel you were given
one — two, did you say — no never, that was not on
record except the year that Jim Oglesby brought a
great unknown from the far west as a driver. He
slipped into the^ stand while the Judges were discuss-
ing the advisability of postponing on account of a
slippery track and before he was noticed filled a Mis-
souri vacuum, commonly called a stomach, with a
bunch of the revered meat pies from the slate-colored
mansion at the lower end of Gordon Park.

The races went on, but the Colonel stormed ter-
ribly and Oglesby's driver — Oh, that I could but place
his name on record, as he is an only of the onlies and
his record will never be beaten, as the old mother
earth has like a great morass swallowed about all of
those who figured as leaders in the amusement world
of Northern Ohio at the period covered by this story.
Their obituaries have been written and so it will go on
while the old world wags. Some one possibly still un-
born will rattle off a line or two about you and me, only
to be forgotten like a puff of dust on the road. Others
will yell themselves hoarse possibly from the seats
which we once occupied in the grand stand or discuss
the chances of the field and favorite in the betting ring.
Like the line in Tennyson's Brook "Men may come
and men may go" but the ponies go on forever.

A broiled black bass with French fried potatoes
and a cup of hot coffee in one of the stalls at the Oys-
ter Ocean on Bank Street soon made the dust and
confusion of the race track seem like a memory and as
I rang for a cigar — I smoked in those days — the com-
motion of a party in the next stall attracted my atten-
tion. With my heels on the table and a chair tilted

THK WINNERS. 9

against the wall, I made up my mind to hear what was
being said, as from the way they were ordering wine I
knew that they had been winners and might possibly
give a reporter a hint or two as to how such fruit is
gathered in the harvest field over which Fjank Herdic
and William Riley presided as separators — that is,
separating one body of wise men from their money
and giving it to another, less the commission.

As near as could be made out, some one in the party
was urging one of his associates to tell them how he
ever drifted into racing and he refused point blank to
make a confession unless he was given permission to
tell the tale from the beginning, "from the knicker-
bockers up," as he expressed it between a "here is
looking at you" or "death to the crows." A husky
voice suggested that he cut in at the long breeches,
but it was always No ! No ! As I listened I began
thinking of the beginning of things from my own
standpoint. Did you ever pick up the trail of your
life step by step and try to discover the first shred of
memory dangling among the cobwebs of the dead
past and from that shadow trace the part which the
fairy finger of fate has played in moulding your
career? In many particulars the lives of nine hundred
and ninety-nine out of every thousand are shaped by
circumstances which existed before they were
born, and for the odd one who rises above them
the world has reserved turmoil and trouble, fame and
possibly fortune blasted with the sleepless spirit of
ambition, which like the Dead Sea fruit looks fair
when afar but "melts to ashes at the touch." This is
the beginning and the going on of man, said I, as I
listened to the rattle of the glasses in the next stall and

10 THE BEGINNING.

watched the smoke of my cigar melt into thin air as it
floated towards the gas jets over the table. After two
more small bottles and a lot of talk which is not ma-
terial to the story every one in the next stall consented
to hear th£ tale of the party importuned from the
"knickers up" and this is what I now recall.

"I was born in an inland village that never heard
the whistle of a steamboat or a locomotive or had a
race horse of any description within its limits. The
mail and travellers came in on a stage and ninety per
cent of the people born there were never ten miles
away from home during their lives. How my parents
happened to locate there is more than I know, but be-
fore I was old enough to learn the ways of the world
they packed all they owned on a couple of wagons and
pointed the horses for a town nearer the edge of civil-
ization and industry. I wrill call the stopping place

Z , which will do as well as any other name, as I

can see that all of you are rusty on geography. Z—
was on a wood burning line of railroad, while the
small stream that turned the grist and saw mills also
carried an occasional steamboat whose whistle
brought half of the population down to see the freight
rolled on or off the wharf."

"Fizzle," came the voice of the husky man who had
held out for the "pants up" story. "Fizzle, I say.
Cut it, my lad. Steamboats ! have plenty of them on
the Cuyahoga. It's ponies we want, ponies! ponies!
understand."

"Probably you had better tell it yourself," rejoined
the reconteur, but as it was followed by a dozen "go
ons" his huskiness was down and out after the ex-
change of compliments and a general lighting up, for
another spell of listening.

THE FIKST HORSE. 11

"What memory I have left runs back to Z .

What I know of prior to that was told me later in life
and the first stop is punctuated with a horse."

"I knew it, I knew it," growled the husky one while
the balance silenced him with a genial 'dry up,' a
term a trifle out of place in that party, thinks I. With-
out noticing the interruption, the siory teller pro-
ceeded.

"At the time I was between two and three years of
age. The horse was a little brown mare that my
father drove in his business, and while she did not
have any speed, she was all that could be asked for.
When I shut my eyes I can see her now, smooth made
with a short neck, heavy mane, pointed ears and a
playful toss of the head when you spoke to her. That
old mare and I were friends, boys, and when they laid
her away under the sod, as the governor said no dog
should ever pick her bones, I cried like a baby. For
our business she would not be worth thirty cents ex-
cept to pull the traps from the track to the cars, but
with all your worldly ways and wise looks I reckon
each of you had a first horse if you only take a little
time to think of it.

"The next horses that I recall appeared on a placard
advertising a condition powder or something of that
sort. It was nailed to a post in the village grocery
and as I with the other boys dodged in and out to ex-
change pennies for candies and marbles, I in time
learned that the names of three of them — there were
five in the group — were Flora Temple, the switch
tailed queen of the trotters, Dexter, the white legged
champion, and the old war horse, General Butler.

12 THE BEGINNING.

"General who," broke in a voice with an unmistal
able Southern drawl. "Did Ben ever have a trottt
named after him?"

"Did he," said husky voice, "well I should remarl
Never heard of 'the contraband' that was mixed u
in the murder in Chicago?"

"Never," said the Southern voice. "Reckon \\
had all of Ben Butler at New Orleans that we coul
tolerate without naming race horses after him, or rea(
ing about any that were."

This remark made the occupants of the stall roa
and when it subsided, husky voice suggested that c
the story teller of the party had not as yet graduate
from his "knickers" he might air his knowledge of tli
old time trotters before turning out any more jun
from his reminiscence factory. This appeared to t
agreeable to all, as in a minute or two the following i
reference to General Butler came to me through th
partition :

"General Butler was a ragged looking black gelc
ing that was foaled over on Long Island in 1853 an
began trotting about the time that the war broke ou
As his front legs looked a trifle shaky very little wa
done with him until he had arrived at what was the
called maturity, seven or eight years old, but when h
did get under way the General made a reputation i
short order and was from the start among the fin
flight of trotters. The frisky Widow Machre
trimmed him in his first race, but as the General di
not have a name then the loss did not count. His fin
up and up race as General Butler was, I think, in 186
against Lady Suffolk. Hiram Woodruff drove hii
and won. The following year, when Butler an

GENERAL BUTLER. 13

Farragut were making it interesting for our friends at
the mouth of the Mississippi River, the black gelding
caught the eye of Harry Genet, who was so well
pleased with him after he made General McClellan
trot a fourth heat in 2 \$2l/> to wagon, that he paid the
owner's price and placed his new star in charge of Dan
Mace.

"The General's first start for Genet was in a purse
race to wagon against Panic, who was considered in-
vincible. The betting was 20 to I on Panic and all
you wanted of it. Genet and the balance of the Tweed
ring who were in touch with his secret took
enough of the General Butler end to make it interest-
ing and then pulled off the race in straight order, the
first half of the second heat being trotted in 1:11.
That clip was what could be termed tapping at the
championship door in those days and in a short time
Genet found a few wigs on the green.

"At this time the brown stallion Robert Fillingham
stood without a competitor in the public estimation.
Flora Temple was no longer on the Island, George M.
Patchen was in the stud and Ethan Allen was not fast
enough to exercise Eph. Simmons's son of Hamble-
tonian and Dolly Spanker, who at a later date estab-
lished a world wide reputation as a stock horse under
the name of George Wilkes. In order to keep the ball
a rolling Harry Genet offered to match General Butler
against Robert Fillingham, his horse to go to saddle
and the stallion to harness. Eph. Simmons made the
match and the pair went in what was called the best
trotting race ever seen on Long Island, General Butler
winning in 2\2il/2, 2:23, 2:27, after Robert Fillingham
gathered in the second heat in 2:24^.

14 THE BEGINNING.

"The day before the race was trotted Harry Genet
met the owner of the gray gelding Rockingham, and
before they parted they agreed upon three $1,000
matches, the first to wagon, the second to harness and
the third to saddle. Rockingham was a Massachusetts
product, and I mention him here as these matches had
considerable to do with putting Budd Doble on his
feet as a trainer of record-breaking trotters. Rock-
ingham passed from Massachusetts, where he was
known as the "Granger colt," to Philadelphia and be-
came one of W. H. Doble's pupils. He was a winner
for him to harness and Budd, who was then twenty
years of age, gave the lofty going gray all of his saddle
work. When General Butler and Rockingham met
in their race to wagon the black gelding was the favor-
ite, but his backers' patience was tried, as two firsts
were entered on the book for the gray before Butler
settled down to business and won. He had plenty of
speed, as in the third heat he trotted a half in 1 113, but
was unsteady. Sam McLaughlin was employed to
drive Rockingham in the race to harness. It proved
a very unsatisfactory affair. Rockingham won the
first and third heats and Butler the second and fourth.
The Judges then decided to carry the race over to the
following day, when Rockingham pulled it off in
2:25^4, his harness record. In the saddle race Budd
Doble had the mount on the gray and gave him his
record of 2:22*4 in the second heat. Dan Mace
showed him the way to the wire on the next trip in
2:24^2. It was then supposed that Butler would go
on and win, as he was known to be a laster, but Budd
had a little more speed under him than was looked for,
as he came back with Rockingham in 2:23^ and

ROCKINGHAM. 15

placed the odd event to the credit of the Philadelphia
party. Budd Doble's riding in this race attracted the
attention of Hiram Woodruff, and later on when Faw-
cett and Trusell purchased Dexter he recommended
him as the trainer for the horse, which was the pride
of his last days and the fastest trotter he ever drew a
line over.

"You all know the balance, and as Budd Doble is
now nicely started on the way to fame, I will skip four
years and appear with General Butler at Chicago.
This was in 1866, the year that Dexter and George M.
Patchen, Jr., were hippodromed from Long Island to
Milwaukee and back to Philadelphia. General Butler
was at the time under the management of William
McKeever, a New Yorker who had been brought up
in the butcher business, but who became enamored
with the gay going trotters and in due season ex-
changed the apron and cleaver for a driving cap and
whip. When Dexter and George M. Patchen, Jr.,
were shipped west he went along with General Butler,
starting him at Syracuse, Buffalo and Cleveland, at all
of which places he was defeated by Dexter, the race at
Buffalo being a memorable one, as on that occasion
"white legs," as Dexter was called by his admirers,
trotted three miles in 2:21^, 2:26, 2:18, the last heat
being a quarter of a second faster than his mile to
saddle against time at the Fashion Course the preced-
ing October, and a second faster than his second heat
in the race on the same course in July, when he de-
feated General Butler and Toronto Chief.

"When Doble, Eoff and McKeever arrived at Chi-
cago in September they found that two races had been
arranged for Dexter, the first being with George M.

16 THE BEGINNING.

Patchen, Jr., and the second with General Butler,
The race with Patchen was the first called, and as the
California stallion was beaten easily in 2 130^ on the
first trip the spectators expressed their indignation in
very plain terms. In order to smooth out matters
Doble went on regardless of his traveling companion
and trotted two heats in 2:24^/2, 2:28. Three days
later Dexter was brought out again to meet General
Butler over the cinder track of the Chicago Driving
Park and lost his only race that season. The first
heat was trotted in 2:33^. Dexter won it. Butler
then won two heats in 2 127, 2 126^, after which Dexter
was drawn.

"Two weeks to a day "after this race, or to be more
accurate, as this is a momentous event in the annals
of harness racing, September 22, 1866, General Butler
and Cooley met in a $5,000 match race at the Driving
Park. Before the race the Western horse was a pro-
hibitive favorite, five to one being laid on him so long
as the Eastern people would take the Butler end of it.
Rain had put the track in bad condition, but as Cooley
was known to be at home on any kind of footing, that
but added to the confidence of the favorite's admirers,
and it looked as though the Chicago people considered
him the only horse in the race.

"William Riley drove Cooley, while Sam Crooks
had the mount behind General Butler. In the first
heat both horses were up and down all the way, the
lead alternating according to the breaks. From the
distance to the wire it was nip and tuck, Cooley win-
ning by a neck in 2:38^. Both of the horses were
very unsteady in the first quarter of the second heat,
but when Cooley settled he went on about his business

GENERAL BUTTER AND COOLEY. 17

and won by a dozen lengths in 2:37^. The backers
of General Butler now began to talk a little and said
that 'the contraband' was not properly driven. In the
hope of saving the day William McKeever took the
mount. Getting away in front he took the pole and
won the third heat in 2 132 by twenty lengths, his horse
never leaving his feet in the mile. This showing cre-
ated considerable excitement. It was almost dark be-
fore the horses were given the word for the fourth
mile. Both of them were unsteady and when
near the wire it looked as though Butler fouled his
competitor, but the judges placed them as they fin-
ished, Butler first by half a length and the time 2 133^.
"The deciding heat was trotted by moonlight. As
the pair vanished. in the darkness Butler was a length
in front. As it was impossible to follow them around
the track the crowd waited for the pair to appear on
the stretch. At length a shout was raised and Cooley
€ame under the wire. Close behind came General
Butler galloping with an empty sulky. He disap-
peared in the darkness and made two more circuits of
the track before he was caught and led to the stables.
The crowd gathered around the judges' stand, some
clamoring for a decision and others wondering what
had become of McKeever. In a short time the judges
announced that McKeever was on the back stretch
and supposed to be dead. Riley, the driver of Cooley,
told the judges that McKeever had run into the fence,
upset his sulky and that he had to stop Cooley to
avoid running over him. Later on the body of Wil-
liam McKeever was found lying on the track about
twenty rods from the half mile pole. He was carried
to the residence of a physician, where it was found

18 THE BEGINNING.

that his skull was fractured, and as he died without be-
coming conscious it was impossible to gather the de-
tails in connection with the only tragedy of this char-
acter ever seen on a trotting track. The mystery was
partly solved by finding a board some ten feet long,
six inches wide' at one end and something wider at the
other, which was lying near the spot. One end of it
was covered with blood and a piece shivered from the
end.

"It has always been believed that some person or
persons, whose identity was never discovered, pulled
the board from the track fence and standing on or in-
side the rail held it so that the horse or driver would
run against it. The blow, probably intended for the
horse, was sustained by the driver with the fatal result
as stated. Several parties, including Riley, the driver
of Cooley, were arrested, but as there was no evidence
they were discharged."

"Rather fierce racing," came the easy drawl
through the partition of the stall and which I credited
to the New Orleans member of the party. "Reckon if
old Ben had been there he would have found the man
even if he had been forced to run all of them through
a seive."

"Think so, do you?" remarked his huskiness. "Well
probably you know, but if no one objects, I move that
the. orator as soon as he has taken a breath or two
spiels a trifle on the text. That plank business made
me feel a trifle creepy."

After a slight interruption, during which I aroused
myself enough to relight my cigar, I again heard the
familiar voice swing into line with the remark :

THK FIRST RACE. 19

"In the town of Z there was a square plot of

about two hundred acres off to the north end that was
called 'the commons.' No one knew who owned it,
except possibly the tax collector, and as it never raised
anything but sour sorrels and a crop of short curly
grass which turned brown and dried when the sun
struck it in July, it was used as a field for cricket, base-
ball and lacrosse. Football had not as yet broken into
that latitude, while golf was still smouldering among
the hills in Scotland. At the lower end of 'the com-
mons' there was a cone-shaped hill, one side of which
had been worked as a gravel pit, and around the hill
there was a race track, which I suppose was a mile in
circumference. It was laid off on the turf and defined
by a furrow on each side of the course which was laid
out so long before my time that the mark made by the
plough had grown over and left only a slight de-
pression in the sod. The judges' stand, four uprights
with cross pieces on which four or five boards were
thrown, was located on the outside of the track and at
a point from which about three-fourths of it could be
seen. As for the spectators, they took in the races from
the top of the hill, leisurely walking around the cone
while the gallopers fought it out between the two fur-
rows at the base. It was on this track I saw my first
race and, strange enough, it was the last one run
over it. The starters were Sorrel Billy, a white-faced
gelding owned by the son of a wagonmaker who was
doing his level best to make an honest living in the
livery business, and Bay Frank, a gelding with a long
tail owned by a hotel keeper on the other side of the

river, which divided the town of Z into two halves

and two factions on anything that ever came up from

20 THE BEGINNING.

a dog fight to buying a fire engine. The squabbles
between the people on each side of the river were all
that ever kept that town alive, and were I to enter into
them and relate how the boys would fight on the
least—

"Oh, cut it, cut it," broke in the husky one. "Bring
out the horse."

"Thanks for touching the button," continued the
story teller. "The story of the race is soon told. They
were off after a couple of breaks and as they started
the crowd began to follow them around the hill, each
man and woman — there were a few of the latter pres-
ent— and an avalanche of small boys cheering them
on. At the finish they were heads apart, the bay being
in front. Sorrel Billy's rider claimed that he was
crowded on the back of the hill. The judges could not
see it and as patrols were not thought of, all of the
people on Sorrel Billy's side of the river, and they were
in the majority, as the track was located in their
territory, crowded around the judges' stand and de-
manded a decision in his favor. The followers of Bay
Frank were equally determined to have the stakes and
contended that he won. It looked as though there
was going to be a riot, when one of the judges, a big
red-faced individual standing fully six feet and built
with a girth which always made me wonder how he
managed to climb up the ladder into the stand, waved
his hand for silence. When the tumult subsided he
said: 'The judges have decided that the race just
run is a tie and that it will be run off at three o'clock
to-morrow afternoon.' A few cheered, several
whistled and a number growled, but when the horses
were led away, they all disappeared.

THE METAIRIE COURSE. 21

"As for the race, it was never run off, as that night
Sorrel Billy kicked down one side of his stall an-d im-
paled himself on the splintered end of a scantling
which supported the partition. He was dead when
they found him. The following year a man from the
other side of the river screwed up enough courage to
buy a corner of 'the commons/ and as the lot cut into
the track the gallopers had to do the balance of their
racing on the road."

"Reckon he did it to get even like a gent down our
way," broke in the smooth voice of the New Orleans
party. "In the days before the war New Orleans was
the most important racing point outside of New York.
The planters would come down there for a frolic and
when their blood was up they thought nothing of
betting a bunch of niggers or a crop of cotton across
the green cloth or on the old Metairie course providing
they could find a gentleman to bet with. They were
very particular on that point, so much so that they
kept their set as exclusive as New York's '400.'

"At the time I speak of the New Orleans club was
very select and to be admitted to membership a man
had to be considered a gentleman of family as well as
have the where-withal to settle with should he happen
to take hold of the wrong end of a betting proposition.
Upon a certain occasion a local gentleman who had
either made his money over the cloth or in the lottery,
I do not now remember which, if either, presented an
application to join the club and was blackballed. It
riled him, as after winning his way in the world he
wanted to be a gentleman among gentlemen, but the
club members did not look at it in that way. They
believed that gentlemen, like race horses, were bred

22 THE BEGINNING.

in certain lines and unless they could trace their pedi-
gree for a few generations they were classed with the
01 TroAAot. Arguments, pulls and pressure were tried
in this case, but without avail, until finally the rejected
applicant arose in his wrath and said with a bounding
American expletive that he would buy the track
over which Lexington and scores of old-time cham-
pions had raced and turn it into a graveyard. And he
did, the ground covered by the beautiful Metairie
Cemetery being the site of the old race course which
you have heard of in song and story."

"Step a heat with that," broke in the husky one, as
I heard some one by my ear scratch a match on the
wall and take a few puffs at a cigar.

"How would it do to trot a heat or two seeing that
some one has cut a slice out of the track around the
hill?"

"I will go you just once," was the reply of the party
who had been doing most of the talking, "and tell you
of a trotting race on the river."

"The what?" said husky voice. "Do they walk on
the water where you come from?"

"Scarcely, scarcely. This is one on the ice. Some-
thing that will please my friend from the edge of the
levee, as he never saw a piece of ice outside of a wagon
or a high ball. This trip I will' take you to the land
where there are miles of it and going on the runners
for four or five months each year."

"I feel cooler already," chipped in the husky voice.
"Oh, what a yarn for a July night with the ther-
mometer in the top of the tube. Let me touch the
button just once more and then we will be with you."

RACING ON THE ICE. 23

In a few minutes a general settling in the chairs
showed that every one was ready for a trip on the ice,
which ran as follows :

"As I have told you the town of Z was located

on a fair sized river. During the summer it was the
scene of many a boating party and fishing expedition,
while in the winter after the snow had drifted the
roads full, the bulk of the travel was done on it. As
soon as the Christmas holidays were over every man
in the town with an eye for a horse began to talk about
a winter meeting. It was the absorbing topic from
that time until the bills were out, while every horse in
the neighborhood that was threatened with speed re-
ceived as much drilling as a candidate for a Grand Cir-
cuit event. Also about this time what were known
as the 'cute ones' were apt to disappear for a few days
and eventually show up on the street with a new horse
or two hitched to a speeder. One man in particular
made a specialty of this for a. number of years, but for
some reason or other his pupils always failed to con-
nect. He always had the speed and could fly when
alone, but when he broke into company they either
pulled so that he could not control them or proved bad
actors. Each winter the old heads would gather
around the stove in the tavern and tell of a new one
that had been added to the list of misfits, and after a
few hot scotches or a little straight proof they went
home convinced in their own minds that it would
not do.

"Finally one crisp winter morning the star figure
in the bunch of 'cute ones' appeared on the street be-
hind a little gray mare that stepped and acted like the
regulation article. She poked along with her head

24 THE BEGINNING.

down and so far as appearances went, seemed to know
as much about road work as the man who was driving
her, and that was saying considerable. Before night
those who had not seen the gray had heard of her and
when the evening session opened the talent voted to
buy a whisk brpom and send it over to the barn, as it
might come in handy to brush off the white hairs and
the snow balls which were looming up in the future.
All of this was done the following day, and when the
cronies came together again for a smoke and a talk
their messenger told them that their gift was accepted
and that word was also sent to them that if they did
not keep their eye on Nelly Gray — that was the mare's
name — their pocketbooks would not need dusting
when she began to shed her coat. When Hi Hopkins
was told about this the next day I thought he would
die laughing, but he and his friends survived until
race week.

"As none of you were ever at an old style winter
meeting I will give you an idea as to how the business
is conducted. A week or two before the meeting three
or four teams are hitched to a big snow plow and sent
down the river to make the track. They scrape four
or five paths, the number depending on the width of
the river or the probable number of starters. Each
competitor in these races had a track to himself, the
snow that covered it being shoved into a mound ex-
tending from one end of the course to the other. In
Nelly Gray's year the finish was about a mile below
the town near the mouth of a little bay where the boys
gathered water lilies and killed frogs during the sum-
mer months. From this point it bore off to the left
and after a straight strip of river for about half a mile

NELLY GRAY. 27

disappeared around a bend which was covered by a
heavy growth of timber. From there it cut across to
a point where during the fishing season all of the river
boats stopped for a supply of spring water, and on
rounding it followed the stream straight away to the
starting point.

"When the race day arrived all of the male popula-
tion of the town that could get away from work and
those who had no business engagements to bother
them, together with a swarm of small boys, many of
whom I am sorry to say were playing 'hookey' from
school, were on the river, groups of them being gath-
ered about huge fires which were lighted on the banks
and even on the ice near the finish, while the more for-
tunate jogged up and down in cutters or long sleighs
with seats on each side of the box. Each of the town
taverns were also represented by a refreshment sleigh,
at which you could get a bite to eat or a sup to drink.

"For the first day of the meeting there was but one
race on the programme. In it Nelly Gray was to meet
Hi Hopkins' big gelding Pepper Duster and an un-
known that had drifted into town under the cover of
darkness. For three seasons Pepper Duster had had
everything his own way and Hi was vain enough to
think that his run of luck would continue. The night
before the race while he and his cronies were talking
it over, Hi offered to bet $10 that he would distance
Nelly Gray and every man in the party believed it.
When the horses were called Pepper Duster, as I now
remember him, looked a little the worse for wear, as
notwithstanding his speed Hi made him earn his oats
when there was no racing to be done. Nelly Gray
looked very cheap along side of him as she jogged by

28 THE BEGINNING.

with her head down and many a head shook as she
passed around the bend, while for the hundredth time
some one remembered that 'a fool and his money were
soon parted.' Ninety per cent of those who had made
the trip to the track wanted to see Nelly Gray's owner
defeated, as being a newcomer in the town they looked
upon him as an interloper, while Hi and his father be-
fore him had been a taxpayer from time out of mind,
and while he might not be as smart or as sprucely
dressed as those who had been to New York or
Buffalo, he knew a thing or two, and don't you for-
get it.

"Talk ran high after the three competitors and the
judges in a sleigh to which a pair of running horses
were hitched departed for the starting point. Every-
body appeared to be for Pepper Duster, while those
who had seen the preceding races cracked jokes over
the other stars which Nelly Gray's owner had imported
to defeat him. After a short wait word came down the
line that they were off and by the time that the buz-
zing had ceased, the three of them were seen coming
around the bend. Pepper Duster was out in front and
marching like a drum major, while Nelly Gray and the
unknown appeared to be within a couple of lengths of
him. There was no change to the finish, Pepper
Duster winning by a couple of lengths, amid the
huzzas of his enthusiastic admirers. Nelly Gray, to
the surprise of every one, never made a break, while
Hi was clever enough to see that her driver was only
sizing him up and would trim him when he was good
and ready. And so it proved, as after nipping him out
at the finish in the second and third heats, Nelly Gray
was cut loose and made a 'holy show' of old Pepper

HI HOPKINS TRIMMED. 29

Duster. Those who remained to see the last heat re-
turned to town in the dumps. They looked as if they
had been to a funeral, the owner of Nelly Gray and the
•'cute ones' who had an idea as to what she could do
being the only followers of the races who had a smile
to spare that evening.

"On the following day Nelly Gray won again. Hi
Hopkins was very conspicuous by his absence, and
Pepper Duster for the first time since he was known
as a trotter was marked as a non-starter on the memo-
randum in the hands of the judges. The telegraph
operator at the depot said that Hi had taken the mid-
night train, but as he had jumped aboard without buy-
ing a ticket he had no idea as to where he had gone.
On the morning of the third day, which was the last of
the meeting, a rumor floated about town that Hi had
returned with a trotter that would smother Nelly Gray
and the unknown, but as no one was permitted to see
the phenomenon it was not possible to confirm or con-
tradict the report.

"A little before noon one of the men in Hi's stable
was seen leading a big horse covered with a
hood and blanket from nose to tail towards the river.
All that could be seen of the horse was four black legs,
and by that they knew that it was not Pepper Duster,
as one of his front legs was white half way to the knee.
This was a declaration of war. Hi's racing dander
was up and the horse in the blanket represented it.
Being Saturday, all of the farmers who had come into
town to do a little shopping joined the town folk when
they started for the river, and I doubt if there ever was
before or since such a crowd seen at a horse race in
that place. When Hi arrived he had the new 'critter,'

30 THE BEGINNING.

as he called it, hitched to his speeding sleigh and when
the blankets were pulled off, those who were near by
saw a sixteen-hand brown gelding a little on the leggy
order with a head like a barrel, long, tapering ears1
which almost met at the tips and a rat tail that worked
up and down like a pump handle when he was going.
As he warmed him up a little all but his cronies began
to think that for once in his life Hi Hopkins had been
skinned in a horse deal. And so it proved, as both
Nelly Gray and the unknown trotted rings around him
when it came to racing.

"Fifteen or sixteen years after the above race was
trotted,! was one Sunday morning sitting on the steps
in front of the club house at Fleetwood Park, New
York. A number of members' horses were being
worked for the edification of their owners, one of the
lot being a low-headed gray mare without a name or
record. After a couple of warming up heats she
stepped a mile in 2 125 and a fraction, the last quarter
of it being a shade better than a twenty gait. Her
owner was delighted with the performance and after
the honors had been done in the usual way, said that
he had owned and driven her dam and her grandam,
both of them being grays and gaited like the one we
had just seen. He also stated that the grandam had
made a record in the thirties and had trotted Fleet-
wood better than 2 130, but that he had sold her to
some one living up north after she had been so unfor-
tunate as to get mixed up in a runaway on Seventh
Avenue. At this point I asked him her name and he
replied, 'Nelly Gray.' "

As he spoke the name I heard a shuffling of feet
and a husky voice say "Shake," while at the same time

THE AWAKENING. 31

a hand touched my shoulder and a voice in the stall I
occupied roused me with the remark, "A note for you,
sir." I opened it and read, "Come quick, or there will
be a strike. There is not a man on the job who can
read your copy. W. B."

As I paid my check at the bar I asked Frawley the
names of the parties in the next stall. "A bunch of
Southerners," he replied, "who came on to play Hal
Pointer. They have the money and went out about
an hour ago to see how Cleveland looks by gas light.
Good night."

THE GENERAL.

"Can she Win?" — gee whiz — I reckoned

You had been out to the track,
Her quarter in thirty-two seconds
Made the favorite look like a hack.

"Good actor?" — never a better,

Head down and as clever as Mace,
Every stride right to the letter;

The best trotter they have on the place.

"Will he try?" — now that's a fine query

Do you think they came here for their health?
You scribblers always make Turner weary,
Run along and get some of the wealth.

For centuries Ireland has been referred to as the
nursery of noted men who, after abandoning the land
of their birth, became prominent on foreign soil. For
time out of mind the Irish have been referred to as a
people who were "driven from home," their troubles
beginning long before Cromwell transported hundreds
of them to the West Indies or any other point towards
which he could with safety send a ship. But with all
their misfortunes the Irish flourished, their valor, wit
and industry, blended with a temperament that comes
up smiling in the face of all kinds of misfortune, car-
rying them triumphantly into port.

It is a long skip from Brian Boru to Bobs, but at
every step on the stairs you will find an Irishman
attracting attention either by his fighting qualities,
volubility, call it eloquence if you will, or disposition

JOHN E. TURNER. 33

to work, and while thousands of them never learn the
value of a dollar there are others who do and succeed
in amassing a comfortable fortune in the most hazard-
ous enterprises. On the trotting turf one of the latter
by his skill as a reinsman and his ability to deliver "the
goods" when due, was assigned the title of "General,"
his name on the Pennsylvania tax list appearing as
John E. Turner. *

A sketch of John E. Turner's career reads like that
of many another lad who started at the foot of the lad-
der, Irish wit, clear head, and thrifty habits proving his
talisman. Aladdin did not come around mornings and
let John E. rub his lamp for luck or to help his imagi-
nation, as the young man was always up at peep of
day looking for the nimble sixpence. As a boy, he
started out to care for horses that came to the shed of
a road house near Philadelphia, while those who made
up the driving brigade of the day were inside toasting
their shins and swapping experiences, as they had a
"little of something." Turner was so industrious that
he soon attracted the attention of the road drivers by
his good manners and the taste which he displayed in
keeping everything in shipshape order, to say nothing
of the care that he took of their horses after a spin.
One gentleman in particular thought that the Irish lad
should have a horse to drive on the road, so he sent
him an old stallion named May Day. Turner soon

*The term "General." or "Little General," -was first connected with John
E. Turner's name in the summer of 1878. In April, 1903, when referring to it,
Charles H. Page, of Philadelphia, wrote as follows: "One afternoon in the
summer of 1878, in company with A. G. Westmore, who at that time was doing
turf work for "The Item," as we were sitting on the fresh green sward waiting,
wondering and watching, we saw Turner, who was engaged in a race, skirmish-
ing and manoeuvering for a position, and when he won the heat, one of us — and
I think I am the man — used the words "Little General." The following Sunday
Mr. Westmore used the words "Little General" in "The Item." That was the
start of "General" or "Little General." "

34 THE GENERAL.

found a way to hitch the veteran and it was not long-
before he began to step him. It was along in May
when the old horse was sent to him and the sun never
caught John E. in bed from that time until he met a
Waterloo that almost put a damper on his prospects.

May Day could trot, and the brushes that he re-
ceived mornings together with the care made him feel
like a game cock. His young teamster was sweet on
the old horse, so he let him move along at times. On
the Waterloo day, the pair had been down a side drive,
and as they struck the macadam, May Day asked for
his head. Unfortunately for Turner and his hopes,
that piece of road had been treated to a few loads of
broken stone the day before. When the old horse
reached it he stumbled and fell, Turner flew over his
head, and when the pair managed to get on their feet
again, they looked like a couple of defeated gladiators.
May Day's knees were cut and bleeding and he had a
dozen other wounds, while Turner's face was almost
peeled and his hands were not much better. The pair
wandered back to the tavern, and before the blood had
been washed off the owner of May Day put in an ap-
pearance. After looking them over he took the horse
home. Turner never saw him again, but after he had
drifted to the race tracks, he found a mare by May
Day that proved the nest egg from which his fortune
was hatched.

This horse, May Day, was, according to W.H.Van
Cott — who gave Flora Temple her first lessons — bred
by Jacob S. Platt, the New York merchant, after whom
Platt street in that city was named. He had three
Canadian trotting mares named Surrey, Bet and Rose.
Surrey was very fast for her day and could trot in

EARLY DAYS. 35

about 2 140, a remarkable performance in the thirties,
when a 2 130 horse was an unknown quantity and John
Treadwell was chanting the praises of Abdallah.
Jacob Platt bred these mares, and from Rose, a
chunky mare with a good head and neck, he got a
chestnut colt, by Henry, who then stood on Long
Island at Jacob Van Cott's stable. The colt was
foaled on the first day of May and was named May
Day. He grew up to be a fine looking horse, was sold
to New Jersey parties and eventually drifted to Phila-
delphia. Bet never produced any foals worthy of
mention, but Surrey afterwards threw Henry Clay to
the cover of Andrew Jackson.

John E. Turner's early days were ones in which
hard work took out all of the play. He had to see
where the money came from and also see that it was
spent judiciously. On that account he did not enjoy
any of the advantages of education. His school ex-
perience was of but three or four days' duration.
While he was at the tavern looking after the road
horses of its patrons, the wife of a gentleman who was
connected with one of the express companies in Phila-
delphia, asked him if he had ever been to school. On
receiving an answer in the negative, she had her hus-
band make arrangements for John to attend school
during the winter. He did so, but the surroundings
were new to a boy that had been out of doors all of
his life. After an hour or two his legs began to cramp.
Then, to make matters worse, he imagined that he
could not wrestle with the pot hooks and other
primary marks in chirography as cleverly as others of
his age, so he politely took French leave of the institu-
tion and the gentlemanly tutor and made his way back

36 THE GENERAL.

to the shed. Years after he saw that he had made a
mistake, and busied himself about learning how to
read, write and do a little financiering.

As the years slipped by, Turner drifted to the race
tracks, where he found employment as a groom and
invested his savings in a bay mare that caught his
fancy. In those days Sunday was selected by the road
drivers to visit the horses which they had in training,
and they usually sat around the track for half of the
day, making matches and talking horse. On the morn-
ing that John E.Turner again attracts attention he was
walking his mare. A few of the enthusiasts present
were on match-making intent and kept chaffing the
shrewd youngster, as they classed Turner, when he
told them that his mare could trot faster than anything
on the track. The usual smile went around the
circle, but the up-shot of the business was that he
made three matches. He had all of his capital on the
first and won. This made plain sailing for the second.
He won it and the third was never decided. With this
money and what was added to it as the days rolled by,
the budding reinsman found May Queen. She put
him on his feet, not only financially, but also as a
trainer. May Queen was brought out by John B.
Haines, of Burlington, N. J. He drove her with an-
other little bay mare named Lucy and they made a
spanking team. Haines began racing May Queen
over at the Mount Holly fair grounds. She won for
him and was the star trotter of that section of New
Jersey when he sold her to Turner. May Queen won
more races for him than any horse he ever pulled a
line over, dozens of them never being reported.
Starting out from Philadelphia he drove from town to
town, once going as far west as Iowa.

MAY QUEEN. 37

A short time before the war Turner happened to be
in Buffalo with his horses. Hearing of a meeting at
Homer, a little hamlet, or rather a hotel, blacksmith
.shop, store and race track about three miles from St.
Catherines, Ontario, he decided to invade Canada with
May Queen and a green horse which he had picked up
for a trifle. When Turner and his horses arrived in
St. Catherines, he found that if he wanted to go to.
Homer he would have to walk. The road, after cross-
ing the Welland Canal, was sandy with considerable
fine gravel in it. This annoyed him, as he was wear-
ing a pair of patent leather shoes which he had
purchased in Buffalo, so he pulled them off and
trudged on to Homer on nature's sandals. The fol-
lowing morning when Turner tried to get his shoes on
he found that they were too small. His feet had
swollen, and nothing remained for him to do but to
travel to St. Catherines for another pair or go bare-
footed. He chose the latter and won a race with May
Queen and two with the green horse in that make-up.
Tom Brown, the party giving the meeting, wanted to
buy the green horse before he started, as Tow Boy
was getting to be a back number. Turner's price was
$400. The old man hesitated, but after the horse had
won his races paid $600 in silver. With it and the
purse winnings in a bag which was tied to May
Queen's sulky, Turner and his mare turned their backs
on Homer forever.

When May Queen returned to Philadelphia she
had speed enough to defeat all but three or four of the
best trotters on Long Island and her owner was not
very anxious to meet them, as in those days the earn-
ing capacity of the trotter depended largely upon his

38 THE GENERAL.

ability to win matches, and in order to do that a horse
had to be a shade faster than he had ever shown in
public. About this time a few of the Quaker City ex-
perts also decided that now was the time for an in-
dustrious young man like John E. Turner to lose a
little of the coiri of the realm which he had brought on
from the West, and in order to separate him from it
.they made three matches to be trotted inside of two
weeks. The first two were trotted on alternate days,
May Queen winning both. In the deciding heat of the
second Turner gave her a mark of 2 :3O. The day after
the second race May Queen was sold for $11,000 and
Turner paid forfeit in the third.

The story of the sale was related by Turner one
afternoon while en route to a trotting meeting. "At
that time," he said, "I was living quite a piece out of
Philadelphia. The day after May Queen's second
race a hack drove up to the door and I was called in
from the stable where I was looking after the mare.
A man that I had seen about the tracks and knew as
'Squeally Jack' on account of his shrill voice, stepped
out and said that he had come to buy May Queen and
was going to take her to California. After looking her
over (and she was smooth as oil that day) he asked me
my price and I told him $11,000. It just about took
his breath away, but after a time he said that he would
give me $10,000; but I would not hear of it. He
argued and talked for over half an hour ; told me it was
a big pile of money and all that, and it was more than
I had ever had at one time up to that date, but it was
no use. I saw from his actions that he wanted the
mare, and as he was getting in the hack to drive away
told him that he had better buy her then and save $10

$11, OCX) FOR MAY QUEEN. 39

for hack hire coming after her again. He would not
raise, however , and drove away. After sundown,
when I was getting ready to go to bed, I heard a hack
drive up. It was followed by a rap at the door, and
when I went out I found my man back, ready to pay
$11,000 for May Queen. Gallar bought her that night,
took her to California, while I invested the $11,000 in
the house I lived in from that time until I moved to
Ambler Park."

"But why did you hang on $11,000?" asked one of
the party, "or come to place that price on May
Queen?"

"Well, it was this way," said Turner, "I had priced
that piece of property and found it could be bought
for $i 1,000. As soon as I learned that, I made up my
mind to sell May Queen for that figure."

A picture of May Queen has a place on the walls
of Turner's house, one of Nettie being added as a com-
panion piece at a later date. The latter was his most
successful money getter. When racing she carried
considerable weight and had a will of her own, but
she also had that happy faculty of being inside of the
money when the judges made their announcements.
Nettie carries the race record of the Hambletonian
family, and she also showed in public faster than the
mark which made Dexter a champion, as she was well
up when Lula trotted in 2:15 at Buffalo in 1875. No
effort was made to duplicate the performance against
the watch, as Turner never had the time record bee in
his bonnet, as of all things that he had no use for, an
outclassed horse was placed first on the list. Trinket
is the only fast one that he marked in that manner, her
mile in 2:14 being trotted over Fleetwood Park, New
York, in 1881.

40 THE GENERAL.

When racing for large or small purses Turner was
always opposed to going out for a heat when there
was not one chance in a hundred of winning the race.
When he cut loose he wanted everything in his favor,
his horse ready for a hard race and the field a trifle
slower or in a condition to come back to him after
going a heat or two. Until such a state of affairs
presented itself Turner was willing to wait, laying
back far enough in each heat to not, as he termed it,
"compromise the Judges." Splan was also for many
a day imbued with the same idea. Both of them
were disposed to lay up a heat or two and see who
was going to do the fighting before they tried. From
that moment they differed as the thousands who have
seen them in the sulky can testify. Splan's seat was
simply perfection. With hands just right and arms
in a position to take back or ease away in an instant,
he fitted almost any kind of a horse, taking to them
with a dash that was characteristic of the man. At
no time in his career did he ever drive a better finish
than at the Cleveland meeting in 1892 when he chased
Elmonarch home second to Robert J. The roan
gelding wanted a rest when he passed the distance.
The clip was faster than he had been used to, in fact
faster than he had ever shown. The wire was still
a hundred yards off and the money was there.
Gathering him up Splan lifted the gelding through
the air in a style which made one think that he was
wiggling on the end of a derrick, hit him a couple of
cuts with the whip to chase the tired feeling out of
his head and shoved him home in second place. All
of the flourish, dash and boldness that can be seen in
any finish was displayed. There was none of the

HANNISAND CHARLEY FORD. 41

John Goldsmith climbing: or the winding that character-
ized Wagner, none of the stiffness seen in a Hickok
finish or recklessness seen in Bowens, but there was
a steady get there, get there quickly in a straight line,
and at the same time make no mistakes. Add to the
above a "gift of gab" which can be equalled only by
the end man of a minstrel show and a war whoop of
such calliope proportions that it prompted early turf
legislators to pass a rule against loud shouting and
you will have a very fair idea of John Splan when he
and Charley Ford met Turner and Hannis at the
West Side track in Chicago in 1880.

Hannis was a bad tempered little horse, but as
Turner knew that he would make a serviceable piece
of racing material he waited for him and was reward-
ed as usual. In 1880 after a series of races in which
Hannis had never shown his true form, Turner landed
in Chicago with the pony cherry ripe. The admirers
of Charley Ford were confident that it was finding
money to back the gray gelding at any kind of odds
against Hannis and Ettie Jones and Turner allowed
them to think so until they were "all down." After
six heats, three of which were battles royal, the dele-
gations from the levee had lost everything but their
reputations. Turner had the money.

As for the race, the first heat was declared dead in
2:19*^, although Splan always contended that his
horse won it. The Judges then as now did the think-
ing and after Ford's second heat in 2:16^4 the game
was up, although the betting did not change. In the
third heat Hannis was stepping by Ford in the stretch
when he caught a quarter boot and left his feet, the
gray gelding winning the heat in 2:19. Splan's last

42 THE GENERAL.

great effort was made at the finish of the fourth heat
which went to Turner in 2:18^4. All of the devices
that the former had studied in the sulky and with
which nature had endowed him were called into play,
while Turner sat erect driving one of his character-
istic finishes. ^Not a muscle of his face moved as he
approached the stand, as he knew he had the gelding
beaten, but he drove with all the skill that he possess-
ed and did not let a motion of his horse escape him.
Two miles in 2 127 and 2 123 finished the race in favor
of Hannis.

Such an experience is not by any means as racy
as Gus Glidden had in the early seventies when trot-
ting through Illinois. He had a fair young horse that
few people knew anything about and as no one was
looking for fast records, he and three others, divided
the purses and trotted according to the humor of the
party. After three weeks of this kind of racing, during
which Glidden's horse was nearer the distance stand
than the wire, his confederates put their heads to-
gether and decided to save a quarter of the purse by
leaving Gus out and let him take a whirl with the flag-
man. Gus did not object. That was just what he
was waiting for. When the race day came the other
owners avoided 'Glidden as much as possible. Noth-
ing was said and Glidden did not show a disposition
to make any advances. When the betting began, an
unknown appeared and bought all of the tickets sold
on Glidden's horse. As for the race it was short and
sweet. Glidden knew it would be dangerous to pro-
long it, so he distanced the field in the first heat. The
combination did not tumble to the move until the flag
fell. They read Glidden the riot act, but it did no
good as he had the money.

JOHN E. TURNER.

HANNIS DEFEATS SHERIDAN. 45

Turner made four campaigns with Hannis. He
started him in fifty-eight races, of which he won seven-
teen, was second in fifteen, third in thirteen, fourth
in nine, unplaced in three, and divided first, second
and third money in an unfinished event with Driver
and Dick Swiveller at Beacon Park, Boston, his gross
winnings amounting to $23,835. Hannis made his
first starts at the Philadelphia spring meetings in 1877,
where in a series of conditioning races he was de-
feated by Little Mary, General Howard and the gray
gelding Royal George. As the showing was favor-
able Turner had Hannis in his car when he dropped
into the Michigan Circuit in June with Nettie, Slow
Go and the balance of his racing material. As Hannis
was reserved for the slow classes in the Grand Circuit,
the entries for which did not close until the week prior
to the Chicago and Springfield meetings, which were
in 1877, held on the same dates, Hannis did not show
in front at Grand Rapids, Jackson or Detroit, the
record of his trip showing a second to Teaser at
Grand Rapids, a second to Jacksonville Boy and a
third to Monroe Chief at Jackson and seconds to the
same pair at Detroit.

At Chicago the entries for the Grand Circuit hav-
ing closed, Hannis being named in the slow classes
from Cleveland to Hartford, the brakes were taken
off and the Mambrino Pilot pony began his memor-
able trip down the line by adding two first moneys to
the Turner stable with six heats, the fastest being
trotted in 2 127. At Cleveland the Eastern and
Western stables met. Dan Mace had won a great
race at Springfield with Sheridan, and his admirers
were confident that the Edward Everett gelding could

46 THE GENERAL.

lower the colors of Hannis and all the other horses
named in the 2 134 class. When Col. William Ed-
wards rang the bell for the race Turner appeared with
Hannis, followed by Mace behind Sheridan and Lady
Pritchard with John Murphy in the sulky. The other
starters were David, St. Patrick, Captain Sellick, B.
F. Bruce, Frank Saylor, Dan Bassett and Marian H.,
but all they did from a racing standpoint was to con-
tribute their entrance towards the payment of the
purse.

When the horses scored for the word, to the con-
sternation of Turner and the Western brigade, it was
found that Hannis was completely "tied up" and
could not get into his stride. At the word Murphy
rushed to the front with Lady Pritchard and won the
heat in 2 127, with Hannis struggling along near the
distance stand. Mace won the second heat with
Sheridan in 2 123, Hannis being still in the rear and
in distress. At this point the Eastern brigade was
jubilant, Mace bright and witty and Turner storm-
ing over a bad start and the condition of his horse.
Mace won the third heat in 2 '.2$l/2 after a finish that
showed him Hannis was still in the race. At the
half Hannis was struggling along in the rear when he
suddenly regained his stride and speed. From that
point he acted like a trotter and picked up every horse
in the race except Sheridan, the latter winning by a
head. This unexpected awakening put a crimp in
Mace's wit and when Hannis stepped by him at the
half in the fourth heat he pulled into Turner and took
a couple of spokes out of one of his wheels. Fortu-
nately Hannis never faltered and won the heat in
2:22% and the next two in 2:24^4, 2:26^4. John

HANNIS IN '79. 47

Murphy, by winning the first heat with Lady Pritch-
ard, saved the race for Turner.

Dan Mace had a bit of sweet revenge the same
season when he met Turner and Hannis at Pough-
keepsie with Prospero. Before reaching that point
Hannis won his engagements at Buffalo, Rochester,
and Utica, where he cut his record to 2:21 in a race
with Sheridan, Lady Pritchard, Roman Chief and W.
H. Arnold. At the Hudson River Driving Park, May
Bird, Frank, Lady Pritchard and Lady Snell were
named to start against the Messenger Duroc gelding
and Hannis. Frank picked up the first heat in 2 :2O,
after which Mace scored twice with Prospero in
2\2iy2, 2:20. The next heat went to May Bird in
2 122^ and the deciding mile to Prospero in 2 122.
Hannis saved his entrance, but at Hartford the fol-
lowing week he turned the tables on the same pair
and won in 2 :i9^4-

After a skip in 1878, his only start that season be-
ing in a race with Nettie at Woodbury, N. J., on the
Fourth of July, Hannis was in 1879 dropped into the
Michigan circuit, where he trotted second to Proteine
at Jackson, Saginaw and Toledo. After winning at
Cincinnati and Louisville he was pointed for the "big
ring" but failed to make good as on the trip down
the line he was third to Bonesetter at Chicago, un-
placed to Darby at Buffalo, third to Bonesetter at
Rochester and third to Darby at Utica. After a
month's let-up Hannis won over Steve Maxwell and
Fmma B. at Mystic Park, Boston, and divided the
purse with Driver and Dick Swiveller in an un-
finished race at Beacon Park. He also won a stallion
race from Thorndale at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, de-

48 THE GENERA!,.

feated Jersey Boy, Steve Maxwell and Neli at
Providence, while Scotland had too much speed for
him at the Mount Holly fair, and Charley Ford raced
away from him and Driver at Washington.

The campaign of 1880 has been referred to. Be-
fore leaving Philadelphia that spring Hannis won a
race at Suffolk Park and was defeated by both Driver
and Ettie Jones at Point Breeze. After winning two
races in straight heats with Hannis at the Prospect
Park spring meeting, Turner shipped to Michigan,
where he met Charley Ford and lost to him at
Jackson, Toledo and Cincinnati. This, together with
the showing made by Hannis in his race with Monroe
Chief on the opening day of the Chicago meeting,
when he was beaten in 2:21^, 2:20^/2, 2:20^, after
winning two heats in 2:24^, 2:21^, convinced the
Charley Ford people that they had nothing to fear
from Turner and his pony. They accordingly backed
their horse and, as has been related, lost their money.
On the trip east Hannis was defeated at Cleveland and
Buffalo by Maud S., was third to Driver at Rochester,
won his last race at Springfield and made his record
of 2:17^4 in the fourth heat at Hartford, where after
winning two heats and making a dead heat he was
beaten by Charley Ford.

In 1881 Hannis was one of the starters in the
$10,000 stallion race trotted at Rochester, N. Y., on
July 4. It was spun out for seven heats, France's
Alexander finally winning it, with Robert McGregor
second, Santa Claus third and Hannis a non-heat win-
ner, saving his entrance. Before going there he had
trotted fourth to Voltaire at Jackson, was defeated
by Robert McGregor at Detroit and Saginaw and dis-

EDWIN THORNE. 49

tanced by Midnight at Toledo. Hannis was also
started in the $6,000 stallion race at Chicago, where he
took the word with Wedgewood, Santa Claus, Pied-
mont, Robert McGregor and Monroe Chief. He also
saved his entrance in this event, Piedmont winning it
after Robert McGregor had been awarded two heats
and Santa Claus one. After skipping Cleveland and
Buffalo Hannis was defeated by his old rival, Charley
Ford, at Rochester and Utica and took the word for
the last time in a stallion race at Fleetwood Park, New
York, September 21, 1881, where he was fourth to
Santa Claus in 2:20*4, 2:19^, 2:21, with Wedgewood
second and Voltaire third.

Edwin Thorne, a thrifty Quaker who amassed a
fortune in "the swamp" in New York and retired to a
farm in Duchess county, usually sent his racing ma-
terial to Turner, as the man from Philadelphia knew
how to make a trotter pay his way. His best products
were Edwin Thorne and Daisy Dale, both of which
were by Thorndale. They proved a great pair of
money makers. Turner did not strive to give them
fast records, but he did do considerable thinking when
it came to placing them where they could win. In
1880 he won four consecutive races with Daisy Dale
and gave her a record of 2:39^ at Buffalo. He had
Edwin Thorne the following year. Picking up a race
in Detroit in June he did not win again until the Grand
Circuit opened at Cleveland, where he disposed of Vol-
taire and Lucy, trotting one heat in 2 120^. At Buf-
falo he trotted a sixth heat in 2:19^4, and at Rochester
he finished the last three heats of a six-heat race with
Kate Sprague, J. B. Thomas and Pilot R. in 2:20,
2:19^, 2:25. He also won again at Utica, and landed
another event on the first day at Hartford.

50 THE GENERAL.

The big chestnut gelding was also entered in the
2 :2i class at this meeting, the other probable starters
being Piedmont, Lucy, Voltaire, Emma B., Steve Max-
well, who had been an absentee all the year, Hamble-
tonianMambrino and Dan Smith. Peter V.Johnson had
Piedmont and he had been so successful that almost
everyone considered him invincible. Piedmont had
started in at Chicago, where he defeated Robert Mc-
Gregor, Hannis, Wedgewood, Santa Claus and Mon-
roe Chief, trotting the last three heats of a six-heat
contest in 2:17^, 2:18, 2:21. There was nothing in
his class to force him to a drive at Cleveland, Buffalo,
Rochester or Utica, and as the same kind of an event
was expected at Hartford, T. O. King, the Secretary
of Charter Oak Park, asked all of the other nominators
in the 2 121 classes if they would agree to give Pied-
mont one-half of the purse for a special and race it out
among themselves for the balance. Turner alone ob-
jected, as he felt that he could win second money with
Edwin Thorne and also have a chance for first, as he
knew that Piedmont was "short" on account of the
easy races he had had during the preceding four weeks.

When the race was called the betting was Pied-
mont $50, field $8. In the first heat Thorne led to the
quarter in 34% seconds with Piedmont, who was a
slow beginner, two lengths away. He was at the
gelding's shoulder at the half in i :OQ and had a length
to spare as they swept around the upper turn. In the
stretch Edwin Thorne closed with the stallion and had
him under the whip at the distance, Turner taunting
Johnston with the remark "hit him, Peter," as he
stepped by and won by a length in 2:17^2. In the
second heat Voltaire rushed away in front, but fell

SHEARING THE LAMBS. 51

back before Edwin Thome passed the quarter in 34*4
seconds. Piedmont had worked his way up to the lead-
er's wheel when the half was called in 1 109 and was at
his neck when they passed the three-quarter pole in
1 144^2, but not being legged up for such a prolonged
flight of speed so near his limit, Piedmont fell away on
the trip to the wire, Edwin Thorne winning in 2:18^2.

The third heat was a scorcher. Piedmont lay at
Thome's wheel to the quarter in 35 seconds and half
in i :o8^4. On the stable turn the gelding broke and
lost three lengths, but came so fast after he caught
that Piedmont had but a length to spare when he
passed the next quarter pole in 1 143^. At the dis-
tance Johnston drew his whip, which he had not used
on Piedmont from the race at Chicago in July. Down
it came on the stallion, who was straining every nerve.
As it stung him he faltered, while Turner tapped
Thorne lightly and landed him the winner by a neck
in 2:18^. Of this race the "Turf, Field and Farm" said:
"Piedmont's supporters were confident that he would
win in straight heats. They forgot that Edwin Thorne
had a general behind him — a general whose tactics are
always bewildering. Turner keeps his own counsel,
and when he hits the boys he doubles them up as if
they had been kicked by forty mules. He feels of his
own horse and those trotted against him and when he
is confident that he has a winner he does not babble to
the winds. He quietly pockets the good things and
goes about his business with the meekness of a lamb."

Edwin Thorne and Clingstone were the stars of the
Grand Circuit in 1882. The Rysdyk gelding won at
Cleveland, where he trotted to a record of 2:14, and
again at Buffalo, where he drew outside position and

52 THE GENERAL.

won the first heat by a nose in 2:143/4. At Rochester
the Thorndale gelding won a heat, but Turner was not
ready. His day came at Hartford, where Clingstone
was foaled and developed and where every man,
woman and child believed that no man had a horse
that could take the measure of "the demon trotter."
In the first heat of the race Thorne made a break inside
the distance and Clingstone won in 2:17 amid cheers
that could be heard to the top of Talcott Mountain.
On the next trip Clingstone was carried to a break
before he reached the quarter pole and Saunders' effort
to close the gap took all the trot out of him, Thorne
winning that heat as he pleased in 2:17, and the next
two without being extended in 2:21^4, 2:21.

Turner had another gala day at Hartford in 1888
when he stripped Spofford for the Charter Oak Stake.
During the winter months of that year a couple of gen-
tlemen, neither of whom were very fond of the "Gen-
eral," made an effort to have the training quarters of
the Kentucky Prince gelding transferred from Penn-
sylvania to Ohio. J. B. Houston, the owner of the
horse, was interviewed and all kinds of pulls and com-
binations rung in to get the black gelding from under
the Philadelphia man's eye. As the horse had paid
his way under Turner's management Mr. Houston de-
cided not to make a change and eventually told Turner
of the move. It made him very bitter, as he had
worked for two years with Spofford in the hope of
catching him right and making a killing, and as luck
would have it the day came that season.

In July, when the time came to "pop the question"
to Spofford, Turner found that he was very fast, far
and away beyond the record with which he retired

SPOFFORD'S CHARTER OAK. 53

from the turf after having been campaigned over half
of Europe and part of South America. This good
showing had a dark side, as his trainer began to be
troubled with a kind of malarial fever and was forced
to employ others to give his horses their fast work.
At Cleveland, Spofford stole away from Gus Wilson
and trotted a third mile close to 2:16, and did it so
easily that those who timed it would scarcely believe
their watches. One morning at Rochester, Spofford
brushed away from Doble and trotted a quarter in
thirty-two seconds. Turner saw it and turned pale, as
the horse had won a seven-heat race at Buffalo the
week before. Thornless defeated him at Rochester,
and after an easy race at Utica, where he won, Spof-
ford was shipped to Hartford to be drawn to an edge
for the Charter Oak Stake. From the hour of his
arrival until the race was called one or two men
were in the stall with the horse night and day.
Turner boarded near the track, was at the stable by
daybreak, and never left it until nightfall. He
watched the horse in his work, fast and slow, as
closely as a mother does a favorite child, and brought
him to the wire ready to trot for his life.

Charter Oak Stake day was a memorable one in
Turner's history. Never was the green cap donned
with as much determination and never, since May
Queen and Nettie were in their glory, did the man who
developed Edwin Thorne, Daisy Dale and Hannis
appear to such advantage, as each heat was won in the
stretch, with a dash that electrified the spectators and
drew rounds of applause from the New York delega-
tion in the boxes back of the press stand. Each finish
showed the skill of a master hand. Erect, alert and

54 THE GENERAI,.

confident, knowing what he was doing all of the time,
and what a few of the others were doing some of the
time, he marched on to victory. For a time it looked
as if everything was against Turner. Thornless
fouled him in^the third heat and when scoring for the
fourth he locked wheels with Kit Curry, was thrown
out and his sulky wrecked. Fortunately Spofford did
not get away, and with a new sulky behind him trotted
the last quarter of the deciding heat in thirty-two and
one-half seconds, a flight which showed the amount of
speed that Turner had in reserve.

After the dust of battle had blown away and con-
gratulations were being mingled with the sparkle of
champagne and lemonade for those who asked for it,
Turner between the puffs of a cigar in a Manilla
wrapper said, with a quiet chuckle: "Mr. Houston,
which would you rather do, win two or three thousand
dollar purses or one ten thousand ?" At such a time it
was not necessary to remember the answer.

Suisun succeeded Spofford in Turner's stable, and
it is a question if he ever hated anything on earth more
than that mare. She was a disappointment from one
end of her career to the other. As for speed, she had
plenty of it, but somehow she never could win when
due, and was always popping up when not wanted.
While he had the Electioneer mare in his stable,
Turner also rejuvenated Harry Wilkes and shaped
Rosaline Wilkes for a number of winnings. In 1891
he had Abbie V. and Happy Bee as stars and was one
of the heaviest winners of the season. The Happy
Russell filly was good enough to win the Flower City
Stake at Rochester after she had been uncovered at
Cleveland and a $5,000 event at Springfield. The fol-

TURNER'S METHODS. 55

lowing season Happy Bee failed to connect. Rosaline
Wilkes showed that her racing days were over, and a
couple of other buds failed to bloom when the rays of
the Grand Circuit sun hit them in August. Abbie V.
also failed to win when expected. She showed that
she carried the stout blood of Aberdeen, but somehow
when pinched the Peavine combination in her dam
made the cogs jump when not expected.

Having risen from the ranks, Turner was a master
of every detail in a racing stable. He favored kind-
ness to punishment and on that account never carried
a heavy whip when working a horse or in a race. He
taught his horses to do their best at the word or a light
tap, and from the day that he was high enough in the
profession to reject a horse he would not train one that
pulled. When settled in his seat for a hard drive,
Turner was as erect as a field marshal on dress parade.
There was no give or take to him. He had no time to
look around to see what the other fellow was doing,
but sat there steadying his horse, confident that the
nag knew what was wanted. Age did not change him
a trifle in this particular, many of his best finishes
being driven the season he retired from active racing.

While identified with racing John E. Turner made
more clever remarks than half of the men in the busi-
ness, and being equipped with what Sam Slick, the
Yankee Clockmaker, termed the two great requisites
of life, a knowledge of "human natur" and a supply
of "soft sodder," he whisked out of many an awkward
situation. Time and again he said that when there
was something doing the judges rarely said a word to
him, but when he was trying they were very apt to
bother him. On one occasion when the judges com-

56 THE GENERAL.

plained of a drive, which to say the least was not very
vigorous, the "General" walked into the stand and
said: "Gentlemen, there is my whip/' They told
him to go on, but there was no change in the mode of
procedure.

At the Cleveland fall meeting in 1892 Abbie V. was
considered good with nothing to bother her. After
she had won the first heat the Lucas Broadhead geld-
ing Prince M.,. which was considered a back number,
showed her the way to the wire. In the third heat
Abbie V. cut off Prince M. at the head of the stretch,
almost literally "nailing him to the fence." It was a
deliberate foul. All of the spectators saw it and made
many uncomplimentary remarks. As soon as the
heat was finished and before the judges could take
action Turner rushed into the stand and said : "Judges,
I fouled Prince M. You could all see it. I should not
have done it and I should be at least placed last for
what I did." Turner's apparent earnestness brushed
the frown from Col. Edwards' face, and when he said
"John, you are old enough to know better. Do not
repeat it," Turner left the stand without making a
reply. He had gained his point. Abbie V. was placed
last. Prince M. was never dangerous during the bal-
ance of the race, which was won by Abbie V. The
money was down on her. What was done to Prince
M., did you say? That is another story.

With John E. Turner life has always had a bright
side, as his careful methods and thrifty habits deterred
him from trusting to luck in the hazardous business
which he followed for a living. No one ever accused
him of giving up a bird for two in the bush. The
"General" was looking for longer odds and at the same

A SPRIG OF ADVICE. 57

time planning to offset wjiat he termed a "severe
week" with a better one further down the line. That
he never had any trouble with the turf officials other
than those created by temper, the usual failing of the
impulsive sons of Erin, speaks well for him, and that
he raced horses year after year for the same owners
shows that he lived up to a sprig of advice which he
gave a young driver who was in trouble. It was,
"never deceive an owner."

Turner is one of the few living men who watched
the 2 130 list grow from a handful to thousands, who
can remember when a 2 130 horse was a star and a 2 :2O
horse a wonder, and who kept up with the procession
gathering in as he marched by his share of the world's
goods until he decided to retire from the sulky and
spend the balance of his days under the shade trees at
Ambler Park with an occasional visit to the tracks on
which he was at one time an important factor.

OINEY O'SHEA.

They said she had speed — I believed them,

And made a swell bet in the book.
When she finished, — well, you should have seen her,

Although she was not worth a look.
They took her home for the winter,

And gave her the best in the barn,
And now all they have to show for it,
Are the bills and an old stable yarn.

Oiney O'Shea was a resident of
Irishtown. His three brothers,
Mickey, Terry and Paddy, were
located on adjoining- farms. All
of them were well-to-do, as the
term went in that section, and all
of them were hard-working, honest

CONQUERING BILLY. , -T^, P 111

people. The four had the repu-
tation of never missing a fair or a horse race for miles
around, and it was a sorry day when they failed to
have a "bit of blood" to sport the green cap, which was
the colors of the quartette.

Irishtown cannot be found on the map. It was
applied to a bunch of farms near Oxford Station in the
County of Grenville. Every man in it was supposed
to have come from the Emerald Isle, some of them
leaving it, as Oiney would say when feeling his oats,
"for their country's good," while others, to use the
western term, "emigrated for their health." It was
understood that the O'Sheas were identified with one
of the upheavals which are so prevalent in Ireland, but

OINEY AT HOME.

"the b'ys," as they were called, never dropped a word
on the subject, possibly because they were under
the British fla.g and were still afraid of spies, or there
may have been nothing in it.

A galloping horse was the pride of Oiney O'Shea's
heart, and if he would "lep," as he termed it, so much
the better. Oiney was the smallest of the four broth-
ers and could, at the time I first met him, ride under
eight stone. His face was thin and peaked, you might
say on the hatchet order, while his unusual length of
limb gave him the same grip on a horse as that which
made Fred Archer famous. On the ground, Oiney cut
a very sorry figure, as he was narrow-chested and had a
long, thin neck, in which the cords stood out like ropes
on the rigging of a ship, while his hair, at one time red,
was sprinkled with gray and worn rather long.
When he threw his leg over a horse you would not
have known him. His seat was that natural, easy,
jaunty style which comes to a man who is born for the
saddle, and when in motion he and the horse moved
as one. When at home there was nothing Oiney de-
lighted in more than skipping across country. When
out on one of those "larks," as he called them, Oiney
was never known to open a gate or lower the bars.
With him it was "up and over it, my boy," and then
off for a scurry down a lane or up the road. Between
two of the O'Shea farms there was a wide lane that
ran from one concession to another. This made it
one mile. On this lane Oiney trained their race
horses. The other brothers worked in the fields doing
Oiney's work as well as their own whenever he was
busy with the "ponies," and you can depend upon it
they were never short of work.

60 OINEY O'SHKA.

While in Ireland, Oiney had learned that every
horse has his distance and that it is very rare to find
one that was swift on the flat and at the same time
clever at cross country work, but he managed to keep
one or two of both and at the same time make them
pay for their keep. The average man looks on a race
horse as a very useless piece of property, and he is if
not trained for what he is bred — that is, racing. In
what was then known as Upper Canada, thoroughbred
stallions were found to be very good property,
as after the farmers learned that they could cross their
farm mares with them and get saddlers, hunters, and
in some cases, horses that could sprint like all pos-
sessed for half a mile and sometimes three-quarters,
they were willing to breed to them. The O'Sheas
knew that when they landed on this side of the At-
lantic, and being the first in the field they, for years,
gathered in many a dollar from buyers for stock that
could not go fast enough to race and at the same time
managed to sweep the boards at the county fairs with
those that could. You will not find the breeding of
any of their stock in the Stud Book, for while they at
different times had both thoroughbred stallions and
mares and raised colts from them, they never went to
the trouble of having them recorded. In the O'Shea
family the stamp of excellence in a horse rested on his
racing qualities. That was the beginning and the end
of it. Oiney took charge of those that would race,
while those that did not come up to expectations were
turned to the plough or hay wagon until a buyer put in
an appearance.

I became acquainted with Oiney O'Shea in a very
peculiar manner. One afternoon in the early seven-

MIKE FU)YD. 61

ties, while walking along a lonely back road, I
stumbled on one man, two boys and two horses. I
knew the man by sight. His name was Mike Floyd.
Locally he was known as a sporting character and a
rough and tumble fighter. He was by no means a
desirable acquaintance after he had had a "drop or
two." At such times nothing pleased him more than an
opportunity to pick a quarrel with some one. In his
younger days this man Floyd had been mixed up in a
shooting fray and before he was about again the doc-
tors had amputated one of his arms below the elbow.
In after life this stub of an arm was his defence in
whatever little differences he might have with the
flotsam and jetsam of the public that crossed his path.
Ducking his head he would swing half round and with
the stub of an arm ram his opponent. The only way
to escape a knockout was to side-step, and as Floyd
was as quick as a flash, it took a very clever man to
evade him.

The pride of Mike Floyd's life was a little chestnut
mare named Maud. She was as pretty as a picture
and could out run any horse in that county at any dis-
tance up to a half mile. She had been to Ottawa,
Kingston and Prescott, and I have been told that she
had also been over to the 'burg, the local name for Og-
densburg, and so far as I could learn, she had never
been beaten. Floyd, when he was at home, which
was very seldom, lived on a farm near a place called
Bishop's Mills, and the fame of Maud was so well
established in all that section that it was as much as a
man's life was worth to even hint at some one getting
a horse that could lower her colors. Horse after horse
had been brought in with that object in view, but
Maud still remained the pride of the county.

62 OINEY O'SHEA.

Maud was one of the horses that Floyd and the
two boys had on the lonely road. I afterwards
learned that the other horse was Claret by Reporter,
out of the Vandal mare Seven Oaks. He was a blocky
built bay horse almost a brown, standing a shade over
fifteen hands, with the tidy, hardy look which is found
in horses that will stand all kinds of care and grow
fat on it. Before I arrived Maud and Claret had run
a trial of five furlongs and the boys were getting ready
to mount for another trip over the road when I came
up. Maud had, for some reason, not run to suit her
owner, and as he did not have any objection to my
seeing the pair gallop, I climbed up on the fence to see
the heat. The pair trotted down the road until they
came to a slight raise of ground and from which they
could be distinctly seen by anyone standing on the
fence or, for that matter, on the bank at the side of the
road. Floyd walked down the road to a place that I
afterwards learned was measured as half a mile from
the foot of the hill. As the horses wheeled in the dis-
tance I saw him wave his hat and then drop it. As it
fell a little cloud of dust in the distance showed that
the pair started and in a few moments I saw them
coming towards us. The boy on Maud was in his
shirt sleeves, while Claret's rider wore a black jacket.
As they approached the place where Floyd stood, I
could see that Maud was in front and galloping very
freely, but as soon as she passed him she seemed to shut
up like a jack-knife, while Claret, with his ears laying
flat on his neck and mouth open, swept by her like
a thunderbolt, his rider doing his utmost to stop him.

Maud did not appear to be distressed when she
pulled up, and after taking a couple of long breaths, she

THE TRIAL

63

blew out very nicely. As the boy slipped the saddle
off her she rubbed him with her nose and whinnied.
Floyd patted her on the neck and called her "Old Gal,"
but his face was as black as thunder. As the two boys
led the horses up and down the road he got in between
them. They conversed in low tones. I could not
hear what they said, and for that matter did not wish
to, as up to that point all the interest I took in the pro-
ceedings was the pleasure in seeing two horses gallop
at racing speed.

In about twenty minutes the boys put on their
saddles again and mounted for another heat. Before
starting up the road the rider of Claret said to Floyd,
"If that were my mare I would try a whip or spur on
her."

"Why?" said Floyd.

"Well, I think," said the boy, "she has run so many
races at half a mile that she knows the distance and
will not try after she goes that far. She was not tired
when she came back, as when she passed you she had
Claret safe."

"That is so," said the boy on Maud. "I have rode
her I do not know how many races and I have never
carried a whip or spur. She has always run on her
courage."

"I do not doubt that a bit," replied Claret's rider,
"but you have now seen twice that she will not go
after half a mile and if she won't go in her work she
won't do it in a race."

"Do not be too sure of that," broke in Floyd.
"When she sees the crowd and hears the shouting she
will run till she drops."

64 OINEY O'SHEA.

"Well, she is your mare," said Claret's rider,
" and you can do what you please with her, but if I
were in your place I would see what a switch would
do on her when she wants to come back. I was taught
to learn all I could about a horse before getting him
into a race, as then I would know what to do when
pinched."

"True for you," said Floyd, and swinging round on
his heel he asked me to cut a switch from a clump of
bushes that stood in the corner of a snake fence about
fifty yards below the half-mile mark on the road.

Climbing over the fence I approached the bushes
from the field side, and as I did so, my heart almost
jumped into my mouth as I saw what appeared to be a
dead man lying between the bushes and the fence.
He was watching me like a cat watching a mouse. As
soon as I caught sight of him he put his finger on his
lips and nodded. He did not offer to say a word to
me nor I to him. After selecting a switch I trimmed
the leaves off it, hopped over the fence and handed it
to Floyd. He put it behind his back and slipped it up
to the boy on Maud without her noticing it.

The third heat was run under the same conditions
as the second. As they approached a tree standing
near the half mile mark, the boy on Maud tapped her
lightly with the switch. She came away from it like
an arrow from the bow, but as she passed the half she
began to stop. Then he struck her in earnest, and
instead of scudding on after Claret, who had shot by,
she swerved and almost threw him in the ditch. Then
there was a time. The boy slipped down as soon as
he could, while Maud acted like a crazy thing. Her
eyes blazed like balls of fire, while she lashed out when

FOXY OINEY. 65

Floyd came near her. She even tried to strike her
rider with her front feet. I walked away, as I did not
care to hear what Floyd had to say, and in a few
minutes the three men and the two horses started
down the road towards town. As they disappeared
around a corner I turned towards the clump of bushes
to see if my supposed corpse had come to life. In a
couple of minutes this individual, in a jaunty riding
cap, tweed jacket, riding trousers and a pair of top
boots, hopped over the fence and came towards me.
The merry twinkle in the foxy eyes which seemed to
flit about like a pair of fireflies under his shaggy brows,
assured me that there was nothing to fear, while the
smile on his wizened face told plainer than words that
he was in a very contented frame of mind. After
looking me over as if I were an exhibit at a fair, he re-
marked in a rather dry sort of a way, "Well, my boy,
did they gallop to suit you?" Not knowing what he
meant, I nodded and began to whistle.

"No, don't do that," said the man in the jaunty cap.
"It is a bad sign. The wind always makes a noise in
a hollow tree. You are a bright slip of a boy, but I
don't know you. Where do you live?"

I told him that I was a nephew of John Flynn's and
had arrived that day week on a visit.

"Do they let you go in the house?" came back at
me as quick as a flash.

"Yes," said I very slowly, as I recalled only too
vividly the complaints and hints that were made by
my aunt if I happened to make a mark on the floor or
a stain on the table cloth. You may not know it, but
a sensitive boy of twelve or fourteen notices such things
and by them makes up his mind as to whether he is

66 OINEY O'SHBA.

welcome or not. As my uncle had no children and the
help were, at all events during the summer months (I
was never there at any other time) compelled to eat in
the woodshed and sleep in the barn, I found their com-
pany more enjoyable than that of my aunt. Uncle
John was a dear, good old soul, but his wife — well, the
least said the better, as she is now dust, something she
could not tolerate while living.

"And do you know who I am ?" was the next ques-
tion fired at me.

This put me at my ease, as here was a chance to air
my local knowledge, and I told him that he was Oiney
O'Shea, the race horse man. You should have heard
him chuckle when I said it, and slapping me on the
back, he raised me to the seventh heaven of delight by
saying that I was a cute lad and that he had no doubt
I would one day be nothing short of a Member of Par-
liament, which I afterwards learned was, in his eyes,
the limit of human greatness.

"And your name," said Oiney, "is Charles, is it?"

"No I did not say that," I replied. "My name is
Lawrence."

"Ah, but that is music in my ears," replied Oiney, as
he slipped one of his hands into his pocket and with a
polite bow, wanted to know if it would- be "Larry for
short."

This was something that I had never heard of, but
supposed it would, as a great race horse man like
Oiney O'Shea, with his jaunty air and cunning look,
must know everything, or at least I thought so.

As I did not venture to reply or feel able to make a
remark of any kind, Oiney attracted my attention by
pulling a piece of silver about the size of a quarter

THE LUCKY PENNY. 67

from his pocket. After rubbing it between his hands
a few times, he balanced it on his thumb nail and
flipped it into the air. When it fell on the road he
picked it up with the remark "Heads it is. That bit
always wins, as it has a head on each side." The
laugh that followed this remark seemed to start down
in his stomach and after all kinds of wriggles and
gyrations, managed to pass up his windpipe into the
air. Such matters were new to me, while I had not
the slightest idea that Oiney was doing a lot of think-
ing on his own account. Something bothered him,
but it did not require very much tact to conceal it from
a slip of a lad, although I did not know then as I did
after, that a boy frequently makes a remark which ex-
poses the work of clever men, and women, too, for.
that matter.

"Larry, my boy," said Oiney, after he had rubbed
the dust from the silver piece, "do you see that piece
of money?" I nodde.d.

"Well, Larry, that is a lucky penny. So long as I
have it, it brings me luck, and if I should lose it there
is no telling what might happen."

At this I opened my eyes, while Oiney continued:

"That penny was blessed by a Bishop in Ireland,
so it was, my lad, and it has been on the eyes of more
dead men than I have hairs on my head."

I did hot believe that, but I will admit that I
was scared as Oiney looked at me when he finished the
remark, as if he were going to pick me up in his arms
and show me a few of them.

"Now, Larry, me dear little spud," continued
Oiney, after he saw I was back to earth again, "I am
going home, and if you want to see a race horse that is
a race horse gallop, come along with me."

68 OINKY O'SHEA.

Would I go. I was afraid of my life he would
leave me, but Oiney was not ready to start yet.
"You must/' said he, "run over to your uncle, who I
see working in the field yonder, and ask him if you can
come. Tell him you have been asked to go over to
O'Shea's for a lark with the lads and I think he'll
say yes."

Inside of half an hour I was seated in Oiney
O'Shea's spring wagon, rattling over the road towards
the center of Irishtown. Oiney O'Shea's house was in
a straight line about three miles from Flynn's, being on
the second concession from the back road on which
Maud and Claret ran, while their houses were built on
the opposite end of the farms, the O'Shea's being to-
wards the south, while Uncle Flynn's was towards the
north. Oiney drove home through the lane on which
he told me he galloped his horses, and that I would
see all of them and also see his lads. On the trip up
the lane he stopped and went .over in a field where
three men were hoeing corn. They talked for some
time and I noticed that at intervals one or more of
them turned and looked at me. In a short time all of
them walked over to the fence and I then learned that
they were Oiney's three brothers, Mickey, Terry and
Paddy, or as no doubt a parish register somewhere in
Ireland showed, Michael, Terrence and Patrick, while
the fourth was Owen. Terry ventured the remark
that I would have to stay three or four days. That
made me as proud as a peacock. Just think of it,
almost a week among the race horses, and when he fol-
lowed it up with the remark that he would see Flynn
and tell him, I would not have traded places with the
Prince of Wales.

SPANGLE. 69

On the morning after my arrival in Irishtown, I
saw my first gallop. Oiney (no one, not even his chil-
dren ever dreamed of calling him by any other name)
was up and out before the peep of day. I heard him
talking in the yard, and as I looked out of the window
I saw him ride by on a gray horse. The gray had
nothing on him but a rope halter, the shank of which
was looped through his mouth. As I recall the horse
he was a ragged built gelding with a big head,
long, slim ears that almost touched at the tips, a thin
neck and a capital pair of shoulders for a galloper.
His middle piece was rather light for the spread of his
quarters, while he walked with that pointed, dainty
step that stamped him in my mind a thoroughbred.
As Oiney disappeared in a bank of fog which hung low
over the end of the lane, I slipped into my clothes and
ran out into the yard, where I met Terry, the boy I had
slept with. He told me that Oiney had taken the gray
out for a warming up gallop arid that when he came
in they were going to work him with Spangle.
Spangle was a big, brown horse with a ragged white
strip running over his nose. He was standing with
his head over the half door of a box stall, and I noticed
that he pricked up his ears as Terry mentioned his
name.

"Did you see that, Larry?" said Terry. "Oh, but
they are a knowing lot. Oiney says that a galloping
horse can do everything but talk and we do that for
them. And do you know, I believe it. It would make
your heart rattle to see that one go over a sod bank or
a fence. All you have to do is to speak to him and he
is up and over. Darlin's no name for him. But he's
sold and will be off to the hurdles and steeple chases

70 OINEY O'SHKA.

the last of the week. The man that wants him is to
be here Friday and then you will see Spangle go 'cross
country as the bird flies." Spangle rubbed his nose
against Terry's coat, blinking and nodding all the time
just as if he knew every word that was said, and when
he opened the stall door to let me have what he called
"a sight of him," the horse wheeled and stood like a
soldier on parade. Spangle was the first "cross coun-
try" horse I ever put my eye on, and as first impres-
sions are the most lasting, I have never forgotten him.
He was then a six-year-old, standing sixteen hands
full, all but thoroughbred, with immense bone and sub-
stance, full of quality and as clean on his legs as the
day he was foaled. Oiney bred him, and on the fol-
lowing day he told me that "he came off a good sort of
an ould mare, as good as gold, by trating her wid a
lape from one of the best horses in the counthry and
troth," continued he with a wink, "it was a stolen lape
which you know is always the best, to say nothing of
the chapeness."

Terry told me that Spangle had started in a number
of races on the flat and over hurdles and was never
beaten but once, and that time by Floyd's chestnut mare
Maud. They had met in a dash of half a mile and
she," to use Oiney's expression, "ran right away from
him." He did not like it, and it was this that tempted
him to try and get one that could defeat her. All this
I learned afterwards from my aunt, as she was a
cousin of Floyd's, and being Scotch-Irish, they were as
clannish as Highlanders.

When Oiney returned with the gray, Terry told me
that his name was Conquering Billy, and as he will
play a prominent part in the balance of the story, I

CONQUERING BILLY. 71

will now tell you what I learned about him. In speak-
ing of him, Oiney said : "Larry, it was this way. A
friend of mine, Mike Walsh by name, lived beyant
Toronto. He had an ould gray mare that was a good
one. She had been run and run, here, there and every-
where, over all kinds of tracks and all kinds of roads,
and under all kinds of names, let me tell ye. She was
getting old and onsartin the first time I see'd her at the
'burg, but I wanted her to breed. Mike would not
hear of it ; but I kept at him until he promised to send
her to a good horse and sell me the colt. Breed her he
did the next spring, after she fell in her work and hurt-
ed her shoulder, to a high flyer up in Western Canada,
called Terror. Isn't that a name for you? Well, it
isn't here or there, he was a clipper horse in his day
and they tell me his colts are doing fine. At all events,
I have one of them and will make him earn his oats, or
onto the plough he goes. In due time Mike's old mare
had a foal. It was a colt as black as your hat, so he
wrote me. By that I knew it would be a gray. I did
not like it, but let me tell you right here, a good horse
cannot be a bad color. I stood by my bargain and
here it is. When the colt was a two-year-old Mike
had him gelded and sent him down here on the boat. I
went to Prescott and got him. It was on the Twelfth
of July and all the Orangemen in the country were
there paradin'. Half of them knew me and the other
half had heard of me, no doubt, for when I went to
lead the colt up the street from the wharf, it was Oiney
here and Oiney there until I could not hear myself
think. Then they began laughing at me and wanted
to know where I was going with King William's horse,
for, as you must know, all of the King Willie's in the

72 OINEY O'SHKA.

Orangemen's parade ride on a white horse if they can
get one. I knew something of the Boyne and London-
derry, possibly more than some of the loyal men who
were making game of me, but no matter. I said noth-
ing and led the colt to the stable where my other horse
was and canW home. When I named the gelding I
called him Conquering Billy, and if he is ever good
enough to run I mean by the powers to let them that
laughed at me remember it, through their wallets,"
and he did.

After Conquering Billy had been walked about the
yard for fifteen or twenty minutes he was taken into
his stall, where a light saddle and racing bridle were
put on him. Oiney then slipped the halter on
Spangler. As he hopped on his back Terry slipped into
Conquering Billy's saddle and followed his father to
the lane. By this time the sun was beginning to peep
through a strip of maple trees that lined the bank of
a creek at the end of the cow pasture, while the light
fleecy clouds of mist were rolling back from the fields.
In an apple tree near the post where Terry told me
they would finish a big robin was singing as though
his throat would burst, while a couple of chipmunks
with their tails over their backs sat on a rail and looked
at him. As the sun struck the dew on the leaves and
grass, the trembling drops changed colors like the
jewels you read about in the Arabian Nights, while
the crisp morning air made me feel like "picking my-
self up by the boot straps."

In a few minutes I saw Oiney coming towards
me on Spangle. He was as he said "thawing him
out." As he jogged back he remarked, "You may
look for some flying next trip," and I did. In about

SOLD. 73

ten minutes I heard them coming. The fall of their
feet on the sandy loam was like the roll of a muffled
drum. At the sound of it the cows in the pasture
picked up their heads and looked at them as they
swept by, while the sheep and the lambs dodged out
from the fence corners dancing about like big white
spots on a green carpet of grass as they scampered
towards the center of the pasture field. In the next
lot a couple of mares started off in pursuit, while
their foals with their bushy tails over their backs
whinnied with delight as they rushed after them.
When they reached a fence the mares in turn
whinnied long and loud, as I thought, to the pair that
were racing rather than the youngsters which were
soon bunting them at the flanks in search of a morn-
ing draught. As I was watching them Conquering
Billy and Spangle swept by. The gray was in front.
I followed them as they turned out of the lane and
walked to the stable yard. As I joined them I noticed
that same foxy twinkle in Oiney's eyes when he
patted Billy on the neck with a "You'll do."

The pair ran another heat, and after that I heard
no more of Conquering Billy for three days. On Fri-
day a man came from the 'burg and bought Spangle.
We had a day of it, as both Oiney and Terry put him
over the "leps," riding bareback and with nothing on
him but a rope halter with the shank of it in his
mouth. Oiney called it the "Irish hitch" and the
man did not seem to like it. He said it would spoil
his mouth and make him a "jibber." Then you
should have seen Oiney look at him. Straightening
himself up until he looked like an animated rail and
staring the man in the eye he said : "Spoil his mouth,

74 OINEY O'SHEA.

will it? If you want him to come back honest like,
spake to him and he'll mind ye. Nothing else for
Spangle, and let me tell you if you are racing and out
to win, you'll find that there is more needs pushing
than pulling." You should have seen the man look
at him ; but finally Oiney told him at dinner, "If you
don't like him, just lave him and I'll bate the horse
you buy with him." That settled it.

I expected that every one about the place would
be in tears when Spangle was led away and, to tell
you the truth, I felt that way myself, but not a bit of
it. On the other hand, Oiney kissed his wife and
said, "Nora, darlin', that was a bargain," while Terry
stood on his head and laughed until I thought he
would split. Years after I learned the grounds for
all this merriment. It seems that Spangle would not
go in any other rig. With a bit in his mouth he
would "jib" or run side ways, and when you put a
saddle on him there was war. He would cring and
stick up his back when he felt it, and when the man
mounted he was off, but not the way or where you
wanted him. Terry told me it was simply awful to
see the way he would kick, plunge, bolt, or take off at
a wall or fence, and if .you put a spur into him he .
would lie down and try to roll on you. Oiney had
sold him at least half a dozen times without a recom-
mend "mind ye" and always took him back at a re-
duction. But with a bare back and a rope in his
mouth, if you would be "aisy with him, ye spalpeen,"
he would go through fire and water or over any stone
wall in the country. All you had to do was to speak
to him, give him a clip with your heels, and he was
off, and if after the hounds he would never stop, no

A HORSE SENSE FRIEND. 75

matter how you pulled or yanked him, until the fox
took to earth or the dogs caught him. Then he would
be, as Oiney termed it, "as meek as a lamb."

In the three days that elapsed I made the ac-
quaintance of all the lads in the four houses ; had seen
every mare and colt on the place ; counted the cows
and calves, pigs and sheep ; tried to make friends with
a big black and red rooster that was of "royal fighting
stock ;" picked strawberries in the fence corners in
the meadows and caught perch and rock bass in the
little brook that ran diagonally through the farms.
This was the holiday of my life. No one ever looked
to see if I made a mark on the floor or hung my hat
on the proper peg morning, noon or night, or seemed
to care if one of us scratched a cheek or bruised a
head in a scrimmage. It was "Come on, boys," from
daylight to dark, and I managed to keep up with the
procession. Oiney also put himself out not a little
to see that I did not get "homesick," and his kindness
in those days made me his friend in a horse sense.
What I knew I told him and what he knew he told
nobody.

Saturday morning after breakfast Conquering
Billy was led into the yard. His mane was braided
with green ribbon, while his tail floated behind him
like a white banner. Terry came out of the house
with a hood and blanket bound with green tape.
When they were put on the horse I saw that Liddy
(she was Oiney's only daughter) had sewed the let-
ters "C. B." on the blanket. They were green silk,
and Terry told me they were cut from the ribbons of
her Easter bonnet. She said they would bring Billy
"good luck" and all of the family believed it. Liddy

76 OINKY O'SHEA.

also told me at breakfast that they were going to race
Billy that afternoon against Mike Floyd's mare
Maud, and that if I wanted to go and see the race
Oiney would let me. She said that she was going
and that Terry was going to ride the gray. Later I
learned that a few weeks before I arrived in that part
of the county Maud had beaten Spangle in a race ;
"made him look like a two-penny bit," as Liddy ex-
pressed it, and Oiney then made up his mind to get
back what he lost and a little with it. The first time
that he met Floyd after the race they began talking
about it, and as Floyd had been drinking a little, he
boasted that "Maud could gallop over the top of any-
thing in Irishtown." That was cutting Oiney to the
quick, as he was the only one in the place that had
a race horse or pretended to have one, so he bided his
time. As Floyd became very overbearing, Oiney
ventured the remark that he had a "bit of a gray
gelding that could gallop a little, but he did not care
to match him, as he did not know how to break away."
This made Floyd laugh, while the crowd which is apt
to gather at such a time joined in. As they laughed
Oiney kept thinking and finally said he would run
either Spangle or the gray against the mare a race of
mile heats for $200 a side. At this Floyd only
laughed louder than ever. He also reminded Oiney
that he never ran Maud further than half-mile heats.
"That is a dunghill's distance," said Oiney, as he
turned on his heel and dodged through the crowd, and
it was well he did, as in a moment Floyd was acting
like a madman. "Let me at him!" he yelled, as he
strove to break away from a few of his friends who
grabbed him as soon as they saw what was coming.

MATCHED. 77

There would have been murder if Floyd had found
Oiney that night; but Oiney knew it and kept out of
the way, while he told those whom he knew would
carry it to Floyd that if he did not change his ways
he would "ride on a horse that was foaled of an
acorn." This was one of Oiney's favorite expressions.
A few days after this altercation a friend of
Floyd's met Oiney on the road. They stopped and
talked. He told Oiney that Floyd was wild and that
he had better keep out of his way. Oiney only
laughed and said he would race him three-quarter-
mile heats with a green colt, and told him to go and
tell him so. Floyd would not accept ; but as his blood
wasup and he felt thata slur had been cast on his mare,
he offered to split the difference, or, in other words,
make a race for $200 a side at five furlongs. This
was what Oiney was waiting for, and after fighting
shy in order "to make the betting good," as he said,
the race was made. It was to be run on a straight
piece of road about five miles from where the O'Shea's
lived and where nearly all of the races in that section
were decided. From that time Oiney put in all of
his time on Conquering Billy. He had been galloped
regularly all spring with Spangle. As he was not a
very quick beginner the bay could always beat him for
half a mile, but at the end, when Spangle would be all
in, Billy was full of running. His rush came too
late to reach, and it was this fact that made Oiney
believe Billy could do better over a longer distance.
I also learned afterwards that the morning I saw the
pair worked, Spangle was sent away five or six
lengths in front of the gray and Billy caught him at
the finish, but the dash was three-quarters of a mile.

78 OINEY O'SHEA.

Oiney never told me that, but Terry whispered it in
my ear when we were going home after the race.

Oiney started off on foot with Conquering Billy
for the race ground, and in an hour or so the balance
of the O'Shea family started in wagons for the same
point. It wafe a great day for Irishtown. Their pride
had been touched by Floyd's boasting, and they were
going to make another bid for "ould Ireland" and her
supremacy in racing affairs in those parts. No one
was to be seen when the place was reached, but to-
wards noon Maud in a white blanket was seen coming
down the hill. She was led to one of the sheds that
had been erected in a field near by for the shelter of
horses on similar errands in the past. During the
next two hours rigs of all descriptions, men on horse-
back and on foot assembled. The time for the race
was fixed at two o'clock, but it was after three before
the wrangle over judges and starter was disposed of.
Then Floyd objected to Terry riding Conquering
Billy. He claimed that he was below the proper
weight, but the stakeholder ruled that the race was at
catch weights and that Oiney could put up anybody
he pleased or ride himself if he wanted to. Then
there was betting galore, but it was done by the spec-
tators, for while Oiney knew after what he had seen
on the back road that Maud did not like the distance,
he was not certain that Billy would get away well and
might lose more at one end than he could make up at
the other.

Maud was the favorite and a volley of cheers fol-
lowed her up the road as her jockey galloped towards
the starting point. Oiney took Conquering Billy by
the bridle and walked off with him, telling Terry to

FIRST HEAT FOR MAUD. 79

follow on foot. After a long wait the spectators saw
Maud coming down the road alone. Her rider went
over the course and claimed the heat and race. The
judges, who were standing on the tail end of a wagon,
heard what was said, but remained silent until the
starter and Oiney appeared. I could see Oiney was
wild with rage and the starter was not much better.
Then when Terry trotted up on Conquering Billy it
was plain to me that he had fallen, as he was covered
with dirt.

Oiney claimed the race on a foul. He said .that
Maud's rider had forced her against the gray and
bumped him into the ditch. The starter said that, in
his opinion, Maud's rider had accidentally crowded
Conquering Billy just as he tapped the drum for them
to be off. The latter swerved on to the grass at the
side of a shallow ditch which ran parallel with the
road. It gave way under him and caused him to
stumble and finally fall in the mud. As a recall flag
had not reached that section of country, Maud's rider
galloped over the course as stated. The judges, after
considerable deliberation, gave Maud the heat and
let it go at that. As for distancing Conquering
Billy — well, that was not thought of.

When the horses came out for the second heat it
looked as if the whole affair would break up in a
fight. Oiney was up on Conquering Billy, and after
breezing him up and down the road a couple of times,
"to get his pipes open," as a bystander remarked, he
told the judges that he would ride. "The lad is well
enough," he said, "when they play fair, but I will not
have him hurted."

80 OINEY O'SHEA.

Floyd objected, but the judges overruled him after
reminding him of his former protest. Then he said
he would draw his mare. The judges said, "You can
if you wish, and we'll give Oiney the money." The
stake-holder was one of the judges. He was a fair
man and as brave as a lion. In about half an hour
the two horses were again at the starting point.
There was but little delay, the rattle of the drum soon
telling the people lining both sides of the road that
they were off. As they came into view the mare was
in front, running under a pull with her mouth open.
Oiney was about a length away on the gray and
riding him for dear life. As they passed the half-
mile mark the mare was still a length to the good.
She held the advantage for over a hundred yards,
when she began to come back. I was opposite to her
at the time and Floyd was standing in front of me
with an umbrella in his hand. He rushed out into
the road and struck at her, while the boy who was
riding her also struck her with the whip. As the
blow fell she swerved her head, striking Conquering
Billy's quarters as Oiney with a wild "hooray" dashed
by. Conquering Billy won the heat in almost a dead
silence. There was not a cheer to greet him. Many
of those near the finish believed that Maud had been
pulled out of her stride, as they never saw her struck
before. Oiney came back smiling, but said nothing.
He was awarded the heat as soon as the starter came
to the wagon and reported to the judges.

With the announcement pandemonium broke
loose. The whole O'Shea family, young and old,
seemed to have money to bet on the gray. They
stood up in their wagons and asked everybody and

THE GRAY WINS. 83

anybody to come and take it. They would not give
odds — that I learned was contrary to their belief in
racing — but they would bet even that Conquering
Billy would win.

By this time Floyd also saw his mistake. No one
had to tell him what was wrong, as he remembered
the trial on the back road, and while he did not at that
time know that Oiney had seen it, the knowledge was
enough for him. He saw that his mare was not over-
matched, but that he was running her beyond her dis-
tance, so he sent a friend to Oiney to see if they could
not call the race off, as each had a heat and for either
of them to win another would only make bad blood.
Oiney's answer was "No." In a few minutes the man
came again to see if he would take the stake and not
run another heat. Oiney again answered "No."
There remained but two things for Floyd to do: one
was to run it off and the other draw. He drew.
Conquering Billy, with Oiney up, galloped over the
course and was awarded the stake, while every man
on the grounds wanted to thrash Floyd for not giving
them a race to the finish for the money they had bet.

As we drove home from the race Oiney's wagon
went out of its way to take me to Uncle Flynn's. As
he dropped me at the gate Oiney bade me tell my
aunt all about Maud's trial on the back road, and
especially how I found him hid in the corner of the
fence. I obeyed orders, and when Mike Floyd heard
of it, which he did that night, my visit was finished.

CHARLIE SING.

ways that are dark,
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar.— Harte.

Charlie Sing was a Chinaman. He was the pro
prietor of what Ragan called a four tub shop in th<
rear of the stable in Albany where I wintered the ba]
horse in 1887-8. The Chinaman and Ragan, the fore
man of the stable, were friends. It was a peculia
mixture, but one that is apt to occur under the Ameri
can flag where all men — this includes Chinamen — ar
free and equal, if they behave themselves. At al
events, Ragan said Charlie Sing was a good China
man, and as Ragan was a clever Irishman and ;
splendid hater, I accepted it. As the winter wor
along I learned that Charlie Sing had money and tha
he knew how to keep it. He was not one of the fan
tan playing, opium smoking variety, but an up-to-dat
worker, even if he could not make himself understood
in English. He had a small stock of words that h
could roll out with the usual double e on the end o
them, but I soon found that he understood about al
that was said and could, with his slender stock o
English and a bunch of signs, carry on a busy conver
sation with Ragan.

Ragan was not what you might call proud of hi
Mongolian friend, still he considered Charlie Sing ai
exception, and in speaking of him always closed hi
remarks by saying that Charlie was "bound to ge

AROUND THE STOVE. 85

rich through his main strength and ignorance." No
one knew what he meant, and I doubt if he did him-
self, but before the end of the year every man in the
outfit saw the prediction fulfilled.

The foreman was always up in front when the
boys were telling tales "around the stove of an even-
ing." You could find more "hot air" there than at
the nozzle of a blast furnace. A sitting or two also
proved that Ragan could put a spoke in the cleverest
man's wheel and block more yarn spinners than a
strike at Fall River. Charlie Sing was at every ses-
sion. He sat on a feed box in the corner, but never
said a word or ventured more than a nod to those
with whom he was acquainted. When the spring
came I moved out to Island Park, and for all that I
knew the Chinaman went back to his tubs. Ragan
drove out occasionally, but had nothing to say until
the Monday before the Grand Circuit meeting. I
had come in the night before from Utica and was
busy fixing up my stall when the door opened and
who should walk in but Ragan. He looked as spruce
as a pin in his light fedora hat, checked suit and red
and white striped shirt. You could see yourself in
the shine on his shoes, while the diamond in his pin
made the horse cast a shadow on the wall. I had
come all the way down from Cleveland without see-
ing anything like this and, to tell you the truth, I did
not look for it at the Island. But there it was, and
aside from the brogue you never saw a more correct
fashion-plate for what Ragan would term a "sporting
karakter."

When my eyes became used to the sight I asked
him to sit down on the trunk if he was not afraid of

86 CHARLIE SING.

the dust and I would be with him as soon as I took
the horse's bandages off. I peeked around to see
how he took it and found it was the same old Ragan,
as in a minute he was on the other side of the horse
rolling a derby off his leg as clever as the best
groomstef I ever put an eye on.

"So you thought I was stuck up?" says he.

"Not a bit of it," says I, "but I was afraid you
might soil your new harness." By that I meant
clothes.

"I am having my vacation," said Ragan without
noticing my remark, "and as I was made a present of
a new suit of clothes for selling a horse, I thought I
would put them on and take in the races."

"Right you are," said I. "I knew you had warm
blood in your veins, although you were always daft
on the jumpers." By that I meant his fondness for
the steeplechasers, and let me tell you, Ragan was
an artist on the back of a horse when it came to pilot-
ing him over the fences. He said it was in the south
of Ireland breed and I believed it, even if Turner and
Murphy did take to the sulky instead of the saddle.

What we talked about is no matter, but the
following morning when I had my pupil out walking
him in the wet grass to take the fever out of his legs,
Ragan slipped around the turn and signaled for me
to come to him. That looked like business, so over
I went. After passing the time of day Ragan says to
me in a whisper: "Is there a horse named Del
Monte?" I told him there was. "Well," said he,
"I'm going to back him." You should have seen me
look at Ragan. When I had my fill I took him by the
arm, led him and the horse into the stall and hooked

THE DEL MONTE TIP. 87

the door. When I found no one was listening I said:
"You don't mean it." "I do," said he, and with a
snap that showed he was not pleased with my
familiarity.

"Well, do it," said I, "but it is like burning good
money. He is one of the kind that will do for see-
sawing heats at small meetings, but when it comes to
the Grand Circuit, he is outclassed."

"Can your thing beat him?" asked Ragan, pointing
at my horse.

"I don't know," said I, "but he don't have to, as
they are not in the same class."

"I thought so," said Ragan, as he slammed him-
self down on the trunk.

I let him cool off a little before taking out my
book to read up. Then I showed him where Del
Monte had been racing since the May meeting at Fleet-
wood, where he won a six-heat race from "Gypsy"
Haight with Gautier and how Gautier trimmed
him over the half-mile ring at Goshen the next
week. As I thumbed over the summaries I found
that Del Monte had won a seven-heat race at
Poughkeepsie, a straight heat affair at Albany
in June and was third to Green Girl at Hartford. I
could, against my will, feel like getting sweet on him
when I found that he had won a seven-heat battle over
Mystic Park with ten of them behind him, until I
turned over another page and saw that Ernest Mal-
travers had tramped on him at Beacon the next week,
and that after he had won a second heat in 2:21^2 and
was back sixth in the fifth heat in 2 125^. As I closed
the book I said: "Ragan, when it is split up in cool
weather Del Monte is a good card, but he won't do
here."

88 CHARUE SING.

"I tell you he will win," said Ragan,

Just think of that coming from a man that had
never seen the horse, so I completed the sentence for
him by adding "the banner." As Ragan shook his
head, I felt sorry for him. So I says : "Old boy, last
winter when I was hungry you fed me. You even
chipped in to buy me an overcoat, so if you will listen,
I will put you next to a good thing. Bet what you
can afford to loose on Richardson (his full name was
J. B. Richardson, but no one but the starter ever
called him that) and he will romp home for you. As
for Del Monte, he will not be two six. It is worse
than a shell game to back him." When I had the
throttle wide open I told him of the races Richardson
had won at Cleveland, Buffalo and Utica, and what a
stiff fight he put up at Rochester when Geers bowled
him over with Frank Buford. He would not listen to
it and my chance of making twenty-five or fifty for
steering him went glimmering.

On looking up the entry list I found that Del
Monte was in the 2 124 class. It was down for Wed-
nesday. The other entries were Graylight, Jeremiah,
St. Elmo, Company, Lucille's Baby, Eclipse and Wil-
liam Kearney. On paper it did not look as though
he had a chance in five hundred, unless the balance of
them dropped dead or ran into the river. On the day
of the race Ragan popped into the stall bright and
early. He looked like a winner, but that was in the
morning. I did not have anything to say, as I knew
my tip on Richardson was cold, while he sat on the
trunk and rubbed his hands after the style of a Jew
that had just sold a two-dollar suit for a ten-dollar
note. Finally Ragan could not keep quiet any longer

THE CHINAMAN'S CONTRIBUTION. 89

and he broke away with the remark, "Charlie Sing
says Del Monte will win."

"The Chinaman," said I. You could have knocked
me over with a feather.

"Nothing else," said Ragan.

Then I thought he was off his head. If there had
been a station on the grounds I would have talked it
over with the captain. Finally, screwing my courage
up to the sticking point, I walked over to him and
putting my hand on his shoulder said, as I looked
him in the eye : "Ragan, are you going to put down
your good money on Del Monte?" I must have
looked serious as he burst out laughing When
he had it out and gave me time to get back to
earth he said, "No, I am going to bet it for the China-
man." As he said this I felt relieved, as it now looked
as though he had been joshing me. But I soon found
my mistake, as in a couple of minutes Ragan produced
a roll of fourteen fifties. He counted them with the
sang froid of a faro dealer and followed up the good
work with the remark that it was Charlie Sing's con-
tribution to the betting ring at this meeting. My
eyes stuck out so far that I believe you could have
knocked them off with a stick. Ragan noticed it and
laughed, as he said " Charlie is the first and only
Chinaman that ever could be found guilty of betting
$700 on a horse race, and that he would put every
penny of it down if the game hung out long enough."

As Ragan slipped the roll into his inside vest pocket
I asked him to strip a leaf off of it so that I could buy
a ticket on Richardson. I told him that I had not
been rubbing a winner, and while the owner paid for
the food and freight, I was in need of a little sure

90 CHARUE SING.

money to get under way again, as the last I had went
kiteing when Frank Buford put a crimp in the betting
ring at Rochester. Ragan never moved an eyelash when
I stepped on and told him that the best thing he could
do was to keep the balance and after the race we could
find enough dead tickets to make the Chinaman be-
lieve it was bet as ordered. Then you should have
seen Ragan boil over. He just hopped up and down
like Guy when scoring and became so noisy that I
had to push him out of the stall to keep him from
scaring the horse. As he toddled down the home
stretch I whisked over to the club house and found a
heeler to look after my horse until I could make a run
to Albany.

As I walked up the alley Charlie Sing was stand-
ing at the door of his wash house. He did not appear
to know me when I called him by name, and as I was
short on Chinese and long on English I was not able
to make him understand who I was. To everything
I said all the answer I could get was "Allee samee,
you bet," or something of that sort. Finally I took
him by the sleeVe and led him into the stable. After
pointing towards the horses I marched him in front
of half a dozen colored racing prints which hung on
the wall in the gangway. He looked at them as a
boy would at a prize package, but never so much as
smiled. What to do I did not know. I tried to make
him understand that I wanted him to go to the race
track by pointing towards the horses and the river,
but all I could get out of Charlie Sing was a shake of
the head.

Whether it meant that he did not understand or
would not go, was more than I know. I felt like

TOUTING A HEATHEN CHINEE. 91

touching him up with a pitchfork. Finally I played
my last card by saying Del Monte. As soon as
Charlie heard it he nodded and said "Goodee,
goodee," but as soon as he said it his face again as-
sumed its usual blank expression. Taking a piece of
chalk I made a ring on the floor and running my
finger around it said, "Del Monte." There were
more nods from Charlie Sing, but no more comments.
That was the limit and I walked down to the dock,
while Charlie Sing started up the alley towards his
four-tub shop. Touching Splan for my fare up the
river I sat down and did not have much heart in
the fun that Frank Herdic was making with a fiddle
he had taken from the leader of the orchestra. No
one paid any attention to me and I was glad they did
not, as that dumb Chinaman with money to bet had
taken all of the life out of me.

When the morning selling began I was in the bet-
ting ring and waited for Herdic to reach the 2 124 trot.
It looked as though it would never come, as there was
a load of money going in on Richardson, while the
Canadian speculator who made such a killing when
Frank Buford won at Rochester, was playing that
horse to "beat the band." Herdic's tongue rattled
along like a brook over a bed of pebbles, while Jimmy
McCrea was taking in the greenbacks at a rate that
would soon start a National bank. The Coates family
thought Philosee had a chance, while the New Yorkers
considered Eph a quantity that required attention.
And let me tell you he was a good horse, while with
Alta McDonald to drive him meant considerable at
the Island, as he knew every foot of the ground and
does not ask any odds of anyone when it comes to

92 CHARUB SING.

stepping up in the bunch. Splan had Protection.
While he had not as yet acquired the faculty of win-
ning, he could make a whole lot of bother and would
win a heat now and then if you were not looking.

When the betting on the race began to drag
Herdic tried the free-for-all pace and then jumped to
the 2 -.24 trot. This was the race that Del Monte was
in. It opened with Graylight at "50 all over the
house." Every one appeared to want a ticket on him,
or, as Herdic remarked, "it looked as if all of them
had a tip direct from the Fifth Avenue Hotel," which
was at that time under the management of that horse's
owner. As Frank Herdic rattled along it was appar-
ent that Feek thought well of William Kearney's
chances, as the Syracuse contingent bought him stead-
ily at $25, but their confidence was not a whit stronger
than Mortimer Thompson's in Lucille's Baby, until
he had reached his limit. When he began to fall off
Herdic lifted his hat and asked Mort not to forsake the
Baby, as she was better than her mother, referring, of
course, to the old race mare Lucille Golddust, which
produced Lucille's Baby, and that good race horse
Sprague Golddust, which was later on a winner for
Charlie Green. No one appeared to want very much
of Company, as it was known that he was a rank
puller, while the big horse St. Elmo was counted out
of it for some reason or other. "Then it was ho\v
much for Jeremiah?" Some one said 15, and Herdic
knocked it down with the comment that it was a
rather small figure for such a well-known character.
Del Monte's name was at the bottom of the sheet, and
when it was called I heard some one near me cry 5.
It was Ragan. A man on the other side of the box

TICKETS FOR CHARUB. 93

raised it to 6 and Ragan got it for $7, Company and
St. Elmo being thrown in for good measure. The
selling ran on in this way for an hour or so.

Whenever a Del Monte ticket would run up to $15 or
$20 Ragan let it go, but I saw he always had a bid and
was along towards the end paying as high as $15 for
him. Herdic had his eye on Ragan and time and
again designated him as "a game sporting gent," "a
fashion plate in a fedora," and all that sort of thing.
Ragan did not mind it, but stepped up and took out
the tickets knocked down to "Charlie," the name he
had given at the start. I could not but admire his
pluck, although I know it does not take a very game
individual to bet another man's money. When the
selling on the race stopped I stepped over to Ragan
and asked him how much he had on. After adding up
a row of figures which he had on the back of an en-
velope he said $405, and he then told me he would try
and place the balance before the race started, as he
did not like the field and favorite betting between
heats. It staggered me when I saw how he was
catching on to the business, so I had dinner with him
and went back to the stall.

The 2:24 class was not called until after four
o'clock. In the interval J. B. Richardson made good
as I said he would, but it was by a narrow margin, as
after Eph had carried him two heats Protection landed
twice and Frank Buford once before the old warrior
could again catch Wood Martin's eye at the finish.
He gave many a man a touch of heart disease that af-
ternoon. Then in the free-for-all there was another
snag. Jewett was considered the best one in the
bunch. After he landed a heat Van Ness came on

94 CHARLIE SING.

with Gossip, Jr., and won two. The judges did not
take very kindly to the way Jewett was being driven,
so they assessed Mann a hundred because he waited
for Gossip in the stretch, and told Jimmy Doughrey
to put on the colors. From that time it was a romp
for Jewett.

After the deciding heat in the pacing race the 2 124
trotters came out for the word. As thev scored I
could hear Herdic saying, "Graylight sold for 100, who
will give me 50 for the field?" That was the quota-
tion on the last ticket sold. The favorite did not go
away very brisk and Bowen was not hurrying him
when Feek showed in front at the quarter with Wil-
liam Kearney, Lucille's Baby and Jeremiah being
lapped on him as they marched up the back stretch.
At the half Green's mare showed in front. She re-
mained there to the finish in 2:21^. Del Monte was
fourth, Graylight sixth and St. Elmo distanced. After
the heat I brushed up against Ragan and on taking
him one side learned that Charlie Sing's $700 was in
the box and that the Chinaman would be broke before
night or in a position to go back to China and buy a
yellow button. I told Ragan the money was as good
as gone and he might just as well tear up the tickets,
but he smiled and said something about its not being
my funeral.

Del Monte did not go away very brisk in the
second heat. He either did not like the footing or his
driver was not trying, which I was not clever enough
to decide. The track was soft and a trifle cuppy, and
as Graylight was a big, heavy going horse he marched
through it like a quarter horse. Bowen growled at
him when they got the word and away he went up into

FAIR TO A CHINAMAN. 95

the bunch. When they showed on the back stretch
Jock pulled him to the outside and turned him loose.
From that moment it was all over, the heat going to
the gray in 2:21^4, with the Baby second, Jeremiah
third and Del Monte fourth. On the next trip it was
Graylight all the way, Del Monte pulling up in fifth
place, Jeremiah, Lucille's Baby and William Kearney
being between him and the leader in 2:2i^4- The
race then went over on account of darkness. When
the postponement was announced I was grassing my
horse near the upper turn. As Ragan passed by I
asked him how he liked it. Seeing he was worried I
thought it would be a good time to remind him that
the race was all over but the announcement and had
he listened to me he would now have $650 with $50
out for me in his inside pocket. As I said it he looked
at me rather hard and replied, "That would not have
been fair to Charlie."

That tickled me. Fair to a Chinaman. Who ever
heard of such a thing? "Ragan," said I, as I walked
off towards the stables, "you are in need of a guar-
dian," and I meant it.

How Ragan and the Chinaman put in the night I
don't know, but both of them were out at the Island
next morning. I spotted them before the bell rang,
but kept shy of the pair. With the wind blowing a
gale and the dust flying, almost every one kept under
cover, as it was cold enough for October. Thinks I,
Ragan and his partner have a chill, a frost bite as it
were. About race time some one knocked at my stall
door. I crawled over, and peeking through a knot
hole saw Ragan and Charlie Sing. The door was
hooked, and as I knew they had no money I was not

96 CHARLIE SING.

at home. In a few minutes they went away and I saw
no more of them until the following day.

The story of the race is soon told. When the
horses were called half of them were "froze solid."
Lucille's Baby when scoring rolled about like a rock-
ing horse, while Graylight was so badly tied up that
Bowen could scarcely get him up in his position. On
the other hand the cold air appeared to have pumped
a little speed into Del Monte. He was up in his place
and kept Geers and Feek busy to come head and head
with him. When the word was given the seven of
them whirled away to the turn in a cloud of dust.
When they emerged in the second turn Feek was in
front with Lucille's Baby at his wheel. Company
made a break and was seen no more until the follow-
ing week at Hartford. Graylight was the next one to
stub his toe, and as Del Monte stepped up into second
place at the half Lucille's Baby was in the air. Com-
pany, Graylight and Lucille's Baby were still dancing
on the back stretch when Del Monte passed Kearney
near the three-quarter pole. For the next half minute
there was some thinking done on the Island, as Del
Monte came on and won the heat by three open
lengths in 2:21^, while the red flag fell with the
favorite, Graylight, Lucille's Baby the only other
heat winner, and Company on the wrong side of it.
After the heat it was found, as I have stated, that
Graylight was tied up by the cold and that Lucille's
Baby had a case of temporary congestion. As for
what the betting fraternity had, you can guess.

In the fifth heat Del Monte led from start to finish,
Jeremiah getting the place from William Kearney and
Eclipse fourth. When the non-heat winners were

DEL MONTE WINS. 97

sent to the stable Del Monte jogged over the course in
2:37%. This made all of Charlie Sing's tickets good.
That night Ragan walked in as brave as a lion, cashed
his tickets and took the roll to the Chinaman. I
learned later that they divided it. Charlie Sing took
his portion and started for China, while Ragan bought
a stable up York State and went into business for
himself.

The following winter I learned where the tip came
from. As it was told me, the parties who had Del
Monte shipped to Albany after their horse lost to
Ernest Maltravers at Beacon. As they wanted a little
laundry work done, they, by accident I suppose,
dropped into Charlie Sing's. He pulled over the
bundle and handed the man one of his crow track
checks. The man would not take it, but handed
Charlie one of Morse's pool tickets with Del Monte
written on it. Showing Charlie that he had another
one like it he gave him to understand that that would
be his check. Charlie hung fire a little, as he had
been compelled at different times to make good for
lost clothes, but finally pinned the ticket on the bundle
and threw it under the counter. Ho told Ragan about
it. They kept talking it over until Charlie Sing got
Del Monte on the brain. You know the balance.

BILL HOOD.

Oh, <what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive. — Scott.

Bill Hood was a trader pure and simple. He never
did, would, or I doubt if he could, pursue any other
calling. When I first met him horses were his speci-
alty, and if he is now in the land of the living he is, in
all probability, still making exchanges in that staple.
When a boy at school he was noted as the most in-
veterate "swopper" in the district. There was noth-
ing vmder the sun he would not trade for if he could
get a little boot, as trading was with him from the
first a business and not a pastime. There was a story
in the neighborhood where I first met him that in a
measure showed how thoroughly this passion perme-
ated his system even as a boy. As it was told to me,
his Aunt Lucy lived on an adjoining farm. She had no
children and Bill was her favorite ; but as she was very
close there was never any presents coming from that
source.

The spring that "Willie" (that is what she called
him) was twelve years old Aunt Lucy traded a calfskin
with a traveling peddler for a buck-horn handled pocket
knife. She showed it to her Willie when he called
and let him have it to make a bundle of shavings to
kindle the fire next morning. The knife was sharp
and strong, and as it slipped through the straight fibre
of the cedar sticks, Bill made up his mind that he
wanted it and must have it. How to get it he did not

AUNT LUCY. 99

know, but fortune soon smiled on him, and if some
people are to be believed, the fair dame still continues
her attentions.

Aunt Lucy had a maiden lady friend who lived on
the road north of the schoolhouse. She made a prac-
tice of calling on her every Friday afternoon and
timed herself so as to return at four o'clock, when the
children would be dismissed for the day. On this par-
ticular Friday a rain storm came up while she was
walking home, and as it was rather sudden, she was
not prepared for it. When she reached the school the
door was locked, the teacher being a judge of the
weather, having dismissed school early in the hope of
his pupils getting home before the storm broke. Aunt
Lucy's home was the nearest house, and it was a mile
away. The rain had not started, but it looked as
though it would do so at any moment. So Aunt Lucy
gathered up the skirt of her new gingham dress and
started for home as rapidly as she could. walk. She
was not more than a hundred yards from the school
when the big rain drops began to patter on the leaves
and stir up little puffs of dust on the road. Up went
Aunt Lucy's skirt over her head in the hope of saving
her hat, and letting the lining of her skirt — something
she always insisted on — take the wetting. On she
sped as the rain began to come down harder and
harder, while the wind rose and fell in such. a way as
to make you feel creepy and think of Kansas twisters.
As Aunt Lucy came to the -corners, which was half
way home for her, who should she see sitting on a
boulder by the side of the road but "Willie" with a
green cotton umbrella over his head. My, but she
was pleased and so was Willie. She was sure he had

100 BILL HOOD.

come to meet her and Willie did not have an/ doubt
on the subject.

"Oh, Willie," said Aunt Lucy, as soon as she could
get a breath and had brushed her loose hair out of her
eyes, "you are a love of a boy and so I always told
Mary," that was Willie's mother. "Jump over the
ditch and let me have that umbrel', quick."

But instead of rushing towards her, Willie slid
over back of the stone, taking the green cotton um-
brella with him.

"My sakes alive!" said Aunt Lucy, "what do you
mean, child? Don't you see I am getting wet and
spoiling every stitch of clothes on me? I'm a fright.
Come here this minute and give me that umbrel' or I'll
spank you until you'll see more stars than there are in
the Yankee flag."

As Wrillie did not move she dropped her skirts,
jumped the ditch and made a dash for him. He
dodged around the stone and hopped onto the road.
Just then there was a lull in the rain, but it could be
plainly seen that there was more coming. This led
to a parley, and, as the story was told to me, Willie
proposed trading the umbrella for the buck-horn
handled knife. Aunt Lucy would not hear of it, so
Willie said he would go home and take the umbrella
with him. Just then the rain started again and Aunt
Lucy surrendered. Willie closed the umbrella and,
after tossing it across the ditch, started for home on a
run. Aunt Lucy also learned on reaching home that
her husband had sent Willie with an umbrella, which
he had brought from town, to meet her while he went
to the pasture to get the cows up before the storm.
Aunt Lucv was what they termed "riled," in that

THE RECORD TRADE. 101

neighborhood, but a bargain was a bargain, and to
keep her husband from laughing at her, she gave the
young scamp the knife.

When I first met Bill Hood he was a man of thirty-
five or forty, with flaming red hair worn rather long,
and a beard that was twisted and matted after the
style artists represent Jews in the comic papers. He
had a high, thin nose, sharp at the point and ferret-like
gray eyes, while the backs of his big hands were marked
with freckles the size of a quarter. Every time he offered
to shake hands with me these spots put me in mind
of the little sunfish which I caught on a pin hook as a
boy, and there was just about as much warmth to his
grasp. Those who knew Bill Hood well said he was
a good neighbor and a clever man, as the term goes
in this world, but I never could believe it and I won't.
He was always trying to get the best of the other
fellow and had been at it so long that I doubt if he
could "break even" on any question from the weather
up. Hood, however, had one peculiarity, and that was
he never would boast of sharp work or try to air his
cuteness. It was common report in the neighborhood
that he took the money and let those who paid the
piper do the dancing. As a rule, they had little to say.
You ask why? Well, what can a man say when he
gets the worst of a horse trade. One rainy afternoon,
however, over a bottle of whisky and water, Bill Hood
told of an exchange that should be placed on record.
As the story and the sequel were related for my benefit
I will endeavor to reproduce what was said, but it will
fall far short of the original.

When Bill Hood sat down, he always tilted his
chair against the wall, pulled his slouch hat over his

102 BILL HOOD.

eyes, as if the light hurt them, and twisted one leg
around the other. Then with both hands shoved into
his trouser pockets he would talk if in the humor. If
not, it was "Yes" or "No," and let it go at that. This
afternoon he was in the humor and he ran on in this
vein :

"It will be two years in March since I made an ex-
change in horesflesh that pleased me. I had a clever
brown horse about fifteen one, which had nothing but a
little jack. He was in the team when I drove into
town the day before the fair. I had made up my mind
to come over early to have a talk with the buyers. As
I drove into the yard I noticed a thick set man stand--
ing under the shed. He had a double whiffletree pin
in his tie and a horseshoe dangling at the end of a fob
chain. Thinks I, that must be a swell coachman from
the city. What can he be here for. He seemed to
know me, although I did not remember having seen
him before. As soon as I had put up my team he
walked over towards me, and after bidding me the
time of day, asked if I had a horse worth buying. As
soon as he opened his mouth I knew he was an Eng-
lisher, and his whole bearing impressed me as one of
those gents who think they know more about a horse
than the man who first made them. As I was not
very anxious to do any business just then, and especi-
ally with this man, as for some reason or other I had
taken a dislike to him at first sight — you will do that
sometimes — I said that I had not and walked into the
hotel.

"That night at supper the Englishman again struck
up a conversation, and under the conditions there was
no getting away from him without leaving the table.

THE ENGLISHMAN. 103

I soon saw from the way . he was drifting that he
wanted my brown horse and, according to his talk, he
had one that he wanted to trade in on account, as the
storekeepers say. Well, one word led to another and
by the time we had satisfied the wants of the inner
man, he had me out in the yard to look at his horse.
It was dark by that time, but I was not so very par-
ticular so long as I could get a glimpse of the horse
with a stable lantern and have a chance to run my
hand over his head and legs. The Englishman had
seen my horse when I drove into the yard. That was
one point in his favor, but as he was doing the trading,
if I did not want to make the shift all I had to do was
to say 'No.'

"On entering the stable he walked into a wide stall
and led out a high-headed bay gelding sixteen hands
full, with black legs and a tail that touched the floor.
His mane was long and wavy, while his foretop
almost touched the tip of his nose. From the way he
peeked about the stable I knew that his eyes were all
right, and as there was bran on his nose, I could see
he had been feeding on something that the man with
a double whifHetree on his tie would not be giving
to a nag which had trouble with his wind. Aside from
a couple of wind puffs his legs were clean, while he
walked as limber as an eel, although he appeared a
trifle dull, as he moved off after standing a minute or
two. I could not for the life of me find a hole in him ;
still the man wanted to swap. His mouth showed
him to be ten years old, and that was about all I could
object to, other than his coat felt dry and hard; still
you might expect that from a horse kept up on dry
feed all winter. As I had nothing to say, I kept look-

104 BILL HOOD.

ing and looking, and finally walked over to the stalls
where my horses were, to straighten their blankets. As
the Englisher had introduced the subject, I finally had
to remark that he had a likely looking horse. He
thought so. Then there was another spell of silence.
I will admit the horse pleased me, but I was shy, as
he looked too good for the surroundings.

"Pulling up a chair, I sat down near a stove that
was in a little harness room at one side of the en-
trance. The bay horse was put back in his stall, and
as it was near the office, I could hear him go to eating
right away. In a minute or two the Englisher came
in and opened the ball by remarking that he wanted to
exchange that horse for a smaller one to mate one he
had at home. As I nodded, he followed up the remark
that he allowed the brown horse in my team would
suit. I then asked him if I would back my horse out
on the floor, and he said 'No,' as he had had a good
look at him when I drove in, and that was enough for
a man with an eye for a horse. I allowed it was, and
the conversation stopped again. Somehow I did not
feel like trading, even if the big horse did please me,
but I could see from the way that the Englishman
fidgeted about on his chair that he was getting anxi-
ous. Three or four men came into the harness room,
but as there was no place for them to sit down they
passed out with a 'Good night,' and walked into the
house. As the fire in the stove was getting low, and
there was no wood in the box, I had almost made up
my mind to go into the hotel, when the Englishman
asked me how I would trade. I was not looking for
that, as I thought after showing me such a toppy
horse he would play a waiting game, and as the brown

TALKING IT OVER. 105

did not stand me very high, I said, just as a feeler like,
'I will take twenty-five.' 'Give you twenty,' says he,
as quick as a flash, and as I lifted one leg over the
other I remarked, 'Neighbor, you have traded/

"That was all there was to it. He handed me the
money, and after the horses were shifted in the stalls
and blankets changed we walked into the house, had a
drink and went to bed. George, pointing to the pro-
prietor of the house, was in the bar at the time. For
some reason or other I could not sleep. Thoughts of
that natty looking bay bothered me. I just itched to
have a drive behind him, and as I could see the moon
shining outside I made up my mind to do it, even if it
did look a little looney.

"By that time it was near midnight, and when I
came down stairs the man was getting ready to close
the house. I told him that I had made up my mind
to drive over home and come back in the morning.
He stirred up the stableman, and in a few minutes I
was on the road. When I spoke to the bay horse I
saw he acted rather dull, but that did not surprise me.
As soon as I cleared the town I gave him a cut with
the whip and started on a five-mile drive at a rate that
would soon take me over the road. After passing
what I called the half-way house the new horse began
to lag. I gave him a cut with the whip, but it did not
seem to do him any good. The horse that he was
hooked with was a regular steam engine when it came
to reading, and he soon had the collar slipping up on
his neck. As soon as he did not offer to balk I had a
half idea that it was a case of staggers, and the clip
which I had driven him with a full stomach had a ten-
dency to bring it on. Pulling the team to a walk, I let

106 BILL HOOD.

.them poke along at their own gait, but it was too late,
as my picture horse began to twitch his ears, then
shake his head, and finally trembled all over like a
leaf on a poplar tree. I pulled out my knife and was
ready to bleed him if he should drop ; but he stopped
short of that, and after a breathing spell I jogged
home."

At this point Bill Hood looked across the table at
George, the proprietor of the house, and in a drawling
Mark Twain style, asked him to tell the next chapter
while he walked over to the store to buy a few things.
Without a moment's hesitation the landlord laid his
pipe on the table, and after taking a nip "to get every-
thing in running order," as he remarked, when pour-
ing it out, started with a narrative that did not appear
to me to have any connection with Bill Hood or his
trade. Stripped of what he considered clever re-
marks, his story was as follows :

"There is always more horse selling and trading at
the March fair than at any of the other three during
the year. Those who are looking for two or three
horses to put in the crops with are in the market and
will buy, while the stock which has been wintered
carefully or otherwise, is offered for sale at that time.
Then you can always look for the out-of-town buyers.
They come here regularly, and when a buyer sees a
sound one that will do for the city trade he picks it up
at a fair price. It is true that they buy close, but not
as close as the horse dealer, who usually has three or
four he has been patching up on soft feed all winter
and will not make a deal unless they can slip one in.
Not one of them but knows that a good horse does not
eat any more than a skate, and if they can make a turn

THE UNKNOWN. 107

they are just so much ahead. Two years ago I had
plenty of help, as my boys were at home, so I was out
around considerable and seen all that was going on.

"On the afternoon of the fair that Bill referred to, I
was at the fair grounds looking up eld acquaintances
and making a few new ones, which is something all
hotel men must do if they want to get along in the
world. I had just had a word with a friend of mine
from 'the other side," — by that I mean a New York
Stater, — when a swell looking city rig drove into the
show ring. I had never seen a rig like it in those
parts up to that time, and when the horse stepped
around in front of me, I did nothing but stare. He
was clipped, and, by the way, it was the first clipped
one I remember having seen in this town ; his tail was
cut off square above his hocks, and mane was pulled
until it looked as light and fleecy as a colt's. The
driver was a spruce looking young man, wearing a
wide-rimmed soft felt hat, light-colored coat with a
velvet collar and a pair of tan-colored gloves. A
middle-aged man of clerical cut, smooth shaved and
smiling, also occupied a seat in the carriage. No one
paid any attention to the pair, all eyes being levelled
at the horse. It would have done you good to see
him march around that ring, while the sun fairly glit-
tered on the silver mountings of the harness that he
carried. There were some twisted letters on the
blinders and hip straps, but no one had time to make
them out, and they would not have been a bit wiser if
they had.

"More than one buyer spotted that horse as a blue
ribbon winner for the horse show, if he had not
already paraded on the tan bark. At least, that is the

108 BIIX HOOD

way I heard them talk about them when they sighted
a stylish one. After stepping around the ring two or
three times, I do not remember now which, but it does
not make any difference, the young man pulled up
short, and tipping his hat to the spectators, said, 'Gen-
tlemen, how do you like him ?' As he stood the horse
did not appear to like the curb bit and kept champing
it, while his arched neck, with the foam flecks down
the front of it, gave him a showy look. Every foot
was in its place as he stood there, the admired of all,
and it was not long before someone asked if he was
for sale.

" 'Why, what would I have him here for if he were
not for sale or trade,' smiled the young man ; but not
one in ten of those who were looking at him supposed
he meant it, while the middle-aged man also smiled
and bowed with the politeness of a dancing master.

" 'What do you ask for him?' whispered a big man
in a snuff-colored suit, as he leaned over the wheel.

" 'How much will you give?' asked the young man,
while a smile like sunshine continued to spread over
the bland countenance of his companion.

" 'How old is he?' asked another.

" 'Look in his mouth and satisfy yourself,' said the
young man. And so it went on. He would not name
a price and no one would make a bid. Finally a big
man in snuff-colored clothes whispered something
in the young man's ear. He shook his head and acted
as as though he were going to drive off.

"At this point a round-faced man wearing a checked
suit of unmistakeable English pattern and cut,
elbowed his way into the ring, and after taking a look
at the horse said, 'Young man, hif you will drive down
to the hinn hi will buy that 'orse.'

SHOWING THE GOODS. 109

" 'Will you ?' said the young man.

" 'Yes, hi will/ was the reply.

" 'Well, if you want him you will have to buy him
here. This is the first horse I ever sold, and as he is a
good one I am going to sell him on the fair grounds,
just as he stands before everybody, or I will keep him.
So if you 'want him,' continued the young man in the
soft hat, 'speak quick. I don't know what he is worth,
but I can consider an offer.' With this remark the
clerical gent looked happier than ever. Everyone ex-
pected that he would say something, but he did not.

" 'You're a queer 'un,' replied the Englishman, 'but
hif you will take a 'orse hin trade hi'll try and make a
deal with you.'

" 'Let me see what you have' replied the young
man with a spirit that was refreshing, 'and I'll con-
sider, as I may want something to pull the rig out of
town, unless you will take the whole outfit.'

The Englishman sent a boy for the horse he had
of Bill Hood. When led up alongside of the clipped
one wearing the silver-mounted harness he looked like
a deuce spot up against a king full, and the young man
began to laugh as he said, 'Is that what you want me
to trade for?'

" 'That's hit,' said the Englishman, 'and hi'll let
you have hit with $300 for your 'orse.'

" 'Oh now, you're joking,' said the young man.

" 'No hi ham not,' said the Englishman, as he un-
buttoned his vest and pulled out a wallet, while every-
body roared.

" 'Do not be so speedy, my friend,' said the young
man. 'That horse you have is only fit to pull my
traps home, but rather than not make a trade when I
feel like it, if you say $400, it's a go.'

110 BILL HOOD.

"The Englishman hesitated and finally shook his
head, but after taking another look at the horse said,
"Hi will make you a sporting hoffer. Split the differ-
ence, say three fifty and the gelding/

"Half a do^en said 'Don't you do it. He is worth
more,' and all that sort of thing, while the Englishman
looked daggers at those who were making the demon-
stration. The young man never moved an eyelash
until all was quiet, when, without even looking to-
wards his companion, he said, 'You've traded. Hand
over the coin and we will change them here.' The
money was paid, the hors-es shifted, and inside of five
minutes the young man with the swell city rig and
clerical-looking companion had disappeared behind
Bill Hood's gelding.

"Everyone said that the Englishman had bought
the best horse at the fair, and as he was feeling good
over the bargain, all of the acquaintances that he had
made had several rounds with him at the bar.

"About dusk Bill Hood drove into town behind an
old gray horse. All of the best stock had been dis-
posed of by that time and the dealers were getting
them ready to ship in the cars or start over the road.
As some expressed a little surprise that he had not
been at the fair, Bill said that his brother and nephew
had come on from the west that day to see him, and as
he was not feeling very well he thought he would stay
at home and visit. One word led to another until Bill
was told of the fine show horse that the Englishman
had purchased from a stranger, and how he had traded
in his old gelding.

" 'You don't say,' said Bill ; "Well, that is too bad.

BREAKING THE NEWS. Ill

I don't like to see that one leave the neighborhood, as
I have owned him at least a dozen times and he is a
rare good one.'

In a short time the Englishman with the double
whiffletree pin in his tie elbowed his way into the
group and saluted Bill Hood with a nod, as he told
him he had traded off the gelding.

" 'You should not have done it,' said Bill.

" 'Why not?' asked the Englishman.
' 'Because he is a better horse than the one you let
me have,' said Bill, as he shortened the reins and pre-
pared to drive off.

" 'What did you do with 'im ?' asked the English-
man with a half smile, in which more than one of the
bystanders joined.

' 'Let you have him back again,' said Bill with a
drawl, as he gave the gray a cut with the whip and
started down the street on a gallop."

THE OLD FAVORITE.

In the field th^ old horse looked neglected and gray,
With the burrs in his tail and his mane all awry.

A wet spot on his side showed he'd rolled in the clay,
But the years had not dimmed the wild glint of his
eye.

When I called him he came on the old fashioned trot,
About which the reporters made many a note,

And as soon as he stopped at the gate of the lot,

He was nosing for sweets, in the sleeve of my coat.

'Twas a trick he'd been taught, in his old racing days,
And to see him remember it made my heart long

For the lads, who had gone on their different ways,
Since the days of my youth when one's hopes are so
strong.

When I touched his soft muzzle and felt his warm

breath

On the hand that had reined him in many a race,
I could feel we were friends, and would be until death ;
And the thought brought a sigh, though it seemed
out of place.

As I looked at him then I remembered the day

When he first caught my fancy and made my heart

bound,

As he stood on the track one bright morning in May,
With his head in the air, while his tail touched the
ground.

THE OLD FAVORITE. 115

The bright light in his eye spoke of courage and pride,

While his shimmering coat told the world he was fit,

And the net-work of veins could be seen through his

hide,

As he stamped with impatience and strained on the
bit.

When I tapped him he wheeled and dashed off for a

block,

On his frictionless gait, once so rapid and round,
Then side on I could see the slight flex of his hock
And the low stride in front barely clearing the
ground.

It was Guy, the bad actor, the trotting machine,

Of the old sulky days when Maud S. held the throne,

The black horse that taught Sanders to humor the

queen,
But he's dead and he sleeps in the meadow alone.

There's no mark on his grave, but his name will retain
All the honors he earned while the records are kept,

As his antics caused thousands from Texas to Maine
To protest at his scoring and cheer when he stepped.

THE GOLDSMITHS.

ALDEN GOLDSMITH.

A man he was to all the country dear. — Goldsmith.

In 1724, when Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart
sovereigns, was on the throne of England, a man
named Goldsmith was granted a deed to a plot of land
near what is now known as Washingtonville, in
Orange County, New York. He became a farmer and
stock raiser (although his name would indicate that
his ancestors had followed a very different calling),
the produce of his farm and the adjoining ones being
shipped to New York, which was then, as it is now,
the market for everything produced in Orange County,
from eggs to race horses. The property included in
the original deed passed from generation to genera-
tion, through the oldest son, the dark days of the
Revolution being passed without a change being made
in the ownership of the place, which, at a very early
date, became known as Walnut Grove Farm. The
home of the Goldsmiths was an old-fashioned farm
house, standing on a terrace surrounded by hickories
of over a century's growth, and whose shadows flut-
tered on a lawn sloping to the Otterkill. In this home
Alden Goldsmith and his two sons, James and John,
were born, two of them died there, and all of them
were borne from its portals to the grave.

ALDEN GOLDSMITH. 117

In the seventy-five years which elapsed between
Alden Goldsmith's birth, on December 4, 1820, and
John Alden Goldsmith's burial, in December, 1895, a
new breed of race horses was evolved on the continent
of North America, and of all who contributed to the
establishing and developing what is now known as the
"light harness horse," there is no family that has left
so legible an impression on its history from the foun-
dation to the top of the arch as the Goldsmiths. Upon
the father was cast the burden to breed and develop
a family of horses which, after breasting

"The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune,"
rushed on to such an emphatic triumph that it will
stand for all time as the symbol of sterling race horse
qualities. In the harness racing world, "as game as a
Volunteer," has become a proverb, and the members
of that family which won the laurels for their sire, ex-
hibited their courage and stamina in many a split heat
contest, in which the time, from start to finish, was up
to the limit of their speed. None of the Volunteers
were what has been termed "born trotters." They
learned the trotting step after arriving at maturity,
and it was while assisting their father in developing
the horses bred on or purchased for Walnut Grove
Farm that James and John Goldsmith first showed the
light hand which is such a necessary adjunct in the
natural endowment of a reinsman or rider.

Alden Goldsmith's fondness for the trotter can be
traced to the old Beacon Course back of Hoboken, N.
J., where, on August i, 1839, as a young man of nine-
teen, he saw Hiram Woodruff ride Dutchman in his
match against time. As the old-time champion
jogged by the stand under a pull, after trotting three

118 THE GOLDSMITHS.

miles in 7:32^, a desire took possession of him to
breed and own a horse that could change the figures
placed on record that day, and unlike the many day
dreams of youth, he lived to see the wish a reality,
when Huntress, by Volunteer, in 1872, trotted three
miles to harness over Prospect Park, on Long Island,
in 7:21 J4.

Technically, Dutchman's three-mile record of
7:32*^ to saddle is still unbeaten, as that style of rac-
ing was no longer in vogue when all of the old-time
records to harness and to wagon were changed by the
later day champions which succeeded him and his
contemporaries. It was also the best on record at
any way of going in 1866, when Hiram Woodruff's
book, "The Trotting Horse of America," was written
by Charles ]. Foster, the following description of the
performance being taken from its pages :

"The odds were two to one on Dutchman when we
brought him out and stripped him. At six o'clock
in the evening he was saddled, and I mounted, feeling
fully confident that the feat set would be done with
much ease. We were allowed a running horse to
keep company, arid I had a nice blood-like mare, she
being under my brother, Isaac.

"We went off at a moderate jog, gradually in-
creasing the pace, but conversing part of the way at
our ease. Isaac asked me how fast I thought I could
go the mile, to which I replied, "About two minutes,
thirty-five." It was accomplished in 2111. 34^ s., and
Dutchman never really extended. Now occurred a
circumstance which must be related, because it was
curious in itself, and had its effect on the time. Mr.
Harrison, the backer of Dutchman, had lent his watch

ALDEN GOLDSMITH. 119

to a friend and was ;not keeping time of the horses
himself as they went around. As we came by the
stand, some bystander, who had made a mistake in
timing, told him that the time of the mile was 2 138,
which was a losing average. He therefore called out
to me as I passed him, to go along, and go along I did.
Dutchman struck a great pace on the back stretch,
and had established such a fine stroke that the run-
ning mare was no longer able to live with him. My
brother, Isaac, got alarmed and sung out to me that I
was going too fast. I replied that I had been told to
go along. It was not my conviction that the horse
was going too fast even then, for if ever there was one
that I could feel of, and that felt all over strong and
capable of maintaining the rate, Dutchman did then.
Nevertheless, I took a pull for Isaac, and allowed him
to come up and keep company for the balance of the
mile. It was performed in 2 128 very handily.

"The third mile we kept the same relative po-
sitions, Dutchman being under a good pull all the
way, and able to have left the running mare had he
been called upon to do so. The rate was now very
even, and it was maintained until we were within
about 200 yards of the stand, when I was notified to
check up and come home at a more moderate gait. I
therefore crossed the score at a jog-trot, and Dutch-
man was at a walk within fifteen yards of it. The last
mile was 2:30, the whole being 7:32^. Great as this
performance was thought at the time, long as it has
since stood unequalled, and great and deserved as has
been, and is, the fame of those who have endeavored
to surpass it, I declare that it was not by any means
all that Dutchman could have done that day. I am

120 THE GOLDSMITHS

positive that, if he had been called upon to do so, he
could have trotted the three miles in 7:27 or better.

"As for the second mile, which he made in 2 128, it
was one of the easiest I ever rode in my life. In the
great burst of^speed he made when Harrison called to
me to go along, and Dutchman went away from the
running mare, the horse was strong, collected, and his
long, quick stroke very even. At all other times in
the race he seemed to be going well within himself;
and, in setting down his mark that day at seven min-
utes twenty-seven seconds, I am confident that I
allow him quite time enough. The truth is, that he
was a most extraordinary horse."

DUTCHMAN.

That trot no mortal could explain!

Some said, "Old Dutchman, come again!" — Holmes.

Dutchman was eleven years old when Alden Gold-
smith saw him trot three miles under saddle in 7:32^.
Prior to that time he had covered the same distance
in 7:41 to harness and had defeated such old-time
celebrities as Rattler, Lady Suffolk and Awful.

When closing the chapters devoted to Dutchman,
Hiram Woodruff expressed regret that nothing defi-
nite was known of the pedigree of a horse that had
proved so fast, so stout, so sound and so determined,
while he also said : "When I first saw Dutchman he
was five years old and belonged to Mr. Jeffreys, of

DUTCHMAN. 121

Philadelphia. He worked in a string team and did
his full share of the hauling. It was found that the
bay horse was a good stepper, and they began to drive
him on the road to wagon. He could then go a little
better than three minutes."

A few years after the publication of Hiram Wood-
ruff's book, John H. Wallace, the founder of the
American Trotting Register, and who died May 2,
1903, at the ripe age of eighty-one, turned the light on
Dutchman's history. He relegated the string team
story to the garret to keep company with the "mile in
a minute" by Eclipse and Lady Thorn's record-
breaking trial, although H. N. Smith, the owner of the
mare, assured me personally that Dan Mace drove her
a mile in 2:11%. Wallace traced Dutchman to his
breeder, and as the dash and courage of the horse con-
vinced Alden Goldsmith that of all things wanted in a
light harness horse, endurance was the most essential,
a few notes from the pen of "the old master" on the
subject would not be out of place as a preface to the
work of the man who risked his all and won on Volun-
teer, the founder of a family of race horses of the same
stamp :

"Dutchman was a dark bay gelding about 15.3.
He was foaled in .1828, got by Capt. Tuft's Tippoo
Saib, Jr. ; dam, Nettie, by Black Messenger, son of im-
ported Messenger; grandam by Gray Swallow.
David Denny, the breeder of Dutchman, had two
mares that were somewhat distinguished in the neigh-
borhood ; the one called China Leg, by Atkinson's
Gray Mambrino, and the other, Nettie, by Black Mes-
senger. It was at first represented that the former
was the dam of Dutchman ; but a more thorough in-

122 THE GOLDSMITHS.

vestigation clearly establishes the fact that it was the
black mare, and not the gray, that produced Dutch-
man. This mare Nettie was a brownish black, about
i$l/2 hands high, powerful in form at every point, and
was known all, over the country as a very fast roadster.
She was bred by Joseph Hinchman, Clarksboro, Glou-
cester County, N. J., and sold in 1819, when four years
old, to Thomas Davidson, of Swedesborough, and by
him transferred to his son-in-law, John D. Norton, of
Bridgeport, Gloucester County, N. J., from whom
Denny bought her. Both before and after Denny got
her, she was recognized as a very formidable animal
to encounter, whether under the saddle or in harness.
Joseph Hinchman, her breeder, belonged to a fox-
hunting club and took great pains in breeding the stout
lasting sort, after the model of the English hunter.
Denny, although poor and illiterate, had a great pas-
sion for horse racing, and the leading aim of his life
appeared to be to get a horse that could beat some of
the wealthy gentlemen of that neighborhood. With
that aim he got Nettie, intending to breed her to Mark
Antony, a noted son of Sir Archy, that had just ar-
rived in Salem.

"David Denny was a ship carpenter by trade, a
very industrious man, but he had a fondness for grog
that often got the better of him. At this time he lived
on what was known as the Brick House Farm, a little
over two miles from Salem, owned by Ephriam Lloyd.
He esteemed Nettie very highly, which was evident
from the fact that, poor as he was, he brought her into
town to breed her to the fashionable horse Mark An-
tony, at $30. But Captain Tuft, or some of his strikers,
took advantage of Dave's weekness, and after a few

DUTCHMAN. 123

drinks he was able to see very clearly how he could
save $25, so before he left, his granddaughter of Mes-
senger was bred to Captain Tuft's grandson of Mes-
senger. In due time Nettie dropped a brownish-bay
colt nearly the color of his sire, that grew up very
plain. As he matured, he developed a most remark-
able trotting step, and the "Denny colt" was talked
about all over the country. Denny called him Tippoo,
and drove him in a one-horse lumber wagon, always
carrying a long gad or whip to stir up Tippoo, and
when he got a few drinks aboard he was exceedingly
abusive to his horse, but still very proud of him.
Pennsville, about four miles from where he lived, was
a favorite resort of his for a drive and a dram. On the
way there, and not far from where he lived, was a
schoolhouse, and the 'big boys' were always on the
lookout for Denny if he -passed during play hours, and
if a little drunk, they had their own fun with him.
But one day the fun turned out to be at the expense
of the boys.

"As David came along on his accustomed drive to
Pennsville, a number of the boys jumped into the
wagon for a short ride and for some jokes in the mean-
time. He made them sit down in the bottom of the
wagon, and then applied the gad to Tippoo. The pace
was so terrific that the boys were afraid to jump out,
and David never drew rein until he landed his cargo
at Pennsville, three or four miles from the school-
house. The boys had to scamper back at their best
speed, and then take a sound thrashing for their ab-
sence. Whatever jokes the boys played on David
afterwards, they were always careful to keep out of his
wagon. The speed of this horse was certainly not the

124 THE GOLDSMITHS.

result of education, for his owner was no horseman in
any sense of the term. It may be taken as conclusive,
then, that like so many of the inbred Messengers he
was a natural trotter. There can be no doubt that
while in Denny's hands he could trot better than three
minutes.

"About 1834, Benjamin Tindall, a citizen 'of Phila-
delphia, who had been raised in Salem, N. J., and often
visited there, bought the 'Denny colt' from David
Denny for $120, and took him to Philadelphia and
offered him for sale. Daniel Jeffreys, the brickmaker,
who raised Andrew Jackson, looked at him, asked Tin-
dall his price, which was $225, and got permission to
try him before he would agree to take him. Jeffreys
rode him out on Broad street, with some of his friends
mounted on the best roadsters about the city, and
they, one after another, went at him, but not one of
them was able to put the new horse up to his speed.
Jeffreys was more than pleased, returned to the city,
sent his check by J. L. Hancock to Tindall for the
amount, $225, and took the horse to another stable.
He was then named Flying Dutchman, which was
soon reduced in usage to Dutchman.

"Before Mr. Jeffreys had been happy in the posses-
sion of Dutchman for any great length of time, George
J. Weaver came into his stable one day, and, half jocu-
larly in manner, asked Jeffreys what he would take for
him. Without much thought, and supposing Weaver
was not in earnest, Jeffreys replied that he would take
$400, whereupon Weaver promptly responded that he
would take the horse. The transaction was regular
and there were plenty of witnesses to it. Jeffreys was
chagrined, but he could not go back on his word, and

DUTCHMAN. 125

next morning he offered Weaver $100 if he would not
take the horse. Weaver replied that he had bought
the horse for Peter Barker, of New York ; that he had
notified him of the purchase by mail, and that it was
too late then to consider any terms of compromise
whatever.

"It is said that Dutchman got a few colts before
he was castrated, at three years old, and after he be-
came famous as a trotter, John Weaver, the owner of
Andrew Jackson, and some friends went down to
Salem to pick them up. When they went to Denny to
learn where they could be found, he flew into a
terrible passion, calling them thieves, robbers, and
everything else that was abusive ; ordered them off his
premises, and would give them no satisfaction what-
ever. It was while Dutchman was owned in Phila-
delphia he lost an eye; but whether this was caused
by a timothy stalk in his manger, as has been gener-
ally represented, or by the cruel treatment of his
former master when on a drunken spree, cannot now
be determined. The story that he was used in a string
team hauling bricks is a pure fabrication; and the
same story was told about Charcoal Sal, the dam of
Andrew Jackson, with about the same amount of
truth. Daniel Jeffreys owned them both, and was a
brickmaker, but he was an active participator in most
of the trotting events of that day about Philadelphia."

Cyrus Lukins, a genuine Monkbarns in horse mat-
ters in Philadelphia and that vicinity, made a number
of inquiries from people who knew all of the parties
connected with this horse, and in order to put the
string team story to sleep for all time, published on

126 THE GOLDSMITHS.

April 14, 1903, in the "American Horse Breeder," a
letter from which the following notes are taken :

"Dutchman was bred by David Denny, a ship car-
penter, living on Brick House Farm, two miles from
Salem, N. J. He was a poor man with only one
brood mare, which he called old Mambrino. Captain
Tuft, of Salem, N. J., owned Tippoo Saib, Jr., son of
thoroughbred Tippoo Saib, by Messenger. He was a
large, plain, dark bay or brown stallion, and stood at
the low price of $5. This was the sire of the trotting
horse Dutchman, whose three miles in 7:32^2 always
aroused Hiram Woodruff's admiration, and which re-
mained unbeaten for so many years.

"Denny called the colt Tippoo. In 1834 he sold
the colt to Ben Tindall, of Philadelphia, Pa., who
brought him up and took him to John Bosler's livery
stable, northeast corner of Sixth and Brown streets.
The brickmakers and contractors were prominent as
the local horsemen of those days. They met fre-
quently day and evening at John Bosler's livery
stable, among their number being Ben Tindall,
Thomas H. Irvin, Daniel Jeffreys and others. Tindall
kept Dutchman at this stable. One afternoon Ben
Crossin and George Gorgas went out for a ride.
The former was on Dutchman and the latter on his
own mare, that was known to be able to beat three
minutes. Sixth street was then a grand driving road,
opening out for four miles to Nicetown Lane, near to
old Huntington Park trotting course. Tominey's
hotel, where Black Douglass was kept, when in train-
ing, was out on this Sixth street country roadway.
When Crossin and Gorgas returned from their ride,
the former assured everyone that he had beaten Gor-

DUTCHMAN. 127

gas' mare with Dutchman. Daniel Jeffreys heard of
this, and after driving the horse a few times, he bought
.him from Tindall for about $225.

"He had a sympathetic ailment of the eyes, result-
ing from the dental period, just as many another
young horse has had, and Jeffries turned him out to
pasture in a lot he kept for the purpose, as he was a
great horse fancier. Hence the brick cart and brick-
yard story, all of which originated in the fertile imagi-
nation of the brain of an old writer for sensational
purposes. Neither Dutchman nor the dam of An-
drew Jackson, that had been owned by Jeffries eight
or ten years prior to his owning Dutchman, were ever
worked to a brick cart.

"The majority of these facts I had from Thomas
H. Irvin, himself a brickmaker, in 1867-8-9, while he
was living in a brick house, one of a row built on the
grounds of the old Haymarket lot at Fifth and Green
streets, within a few squares of where all of these in-
teresting circumstances happened in his younger days.
The pasture lot into which Dutchman was turned for
grass and liberty was the spot where Hiram Wood-
ruff first saw the horse."

This is all that can be learned of the early history
of Dutchman, the horse that prompted Alden Gold-
smith to turn from agriculture and cattle to the trot-
ter, and whose stoutness caused him later in life, when
master of Walnut Grove Farm, to select as the mem-
bers of his stud, horses showing quality and finish, and
at the same time carrying a dash of thoroughbred
blood which had shown a disposition to go on a trot.
In the latter part of the fifties he purchased one mare
by Abdallah, seven by American Star, four by im-

128 THE GOLDSMITHS.

ported Consternation and one Clay mare, while his
first stallion was a son of Consternation, his dam being
by a son or grandson of Messenger. Of American Star.
Alden Goldsmith said :

"He was a, natural born trotter, and one whose gait
would bear the most extreme forcing, and when
twenty-six years of age, harnessed to a wagon, on the
fair grounds at Goshen, he won the annual trophy
offered for the best stallion, speed considered, from
the six-year-old son of Hambletonian — Alexander's
Abdallah — to sulky in a contest of heats. He also, in
a long and desperate contest on the same grounds van-
quished Harry Clay."

At Chester, a few miles away, Hambletonian's
star was beginning to appear above the horizon,
and when Robert Fillingham, subsequently known
as George Wilkes, and the "Alley colt," named
Dexter, when started showed that Rysdyk's horse
was going to sire speed, Alden Goldsmith made
an effort to find a son of Hambletonian that filled his
eye as an individual and a trotter. He finally selected
an eight-year-old bay horse owned by Richard
Underbill, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and then known as
Hambletonian, Jr. Edwin Thorne joined with him
in the purchase, and when William M. Rysdyk, the
owner of Hambletonian, objected to the name, hinting
at the time that by retaining it they showed a dispo-
sition to borrow some of the thunder of the 'Hero of
Chester/ prompted by the spirit of the times, it being
on the eve of the Civil War, they changed it to Volun-
teer. Reserve and Woburn, both sons of Hamble-
tonian, were also added to his stud.

VOLUNTEER. 129

VOLUNTEER.

Clang, clang, went the bell for the race
A Goldsmith answered "Here!"
Made weight and scored down in his place,
And won with a Volunteer.

Volunteer was bred by Joseph Hetzel, of Florida,
N. Y. He was foaled May I, 1854, the day his dam,
Lady Patriot was four years old, his sire being four
and his dam three when they were mated. Richard
Underbill purchased the colt in the fall of 1858. He
took him to Long Island, and subsequently placed
him in William Wheelan's stable for training.
Wheelan found that he was a fast horse, but the severe
preparation of that period soon put him on the com-
plaining list and he was sent home. For the next two
years he was driven on the road by his owner's
brother and finally, in the spring of 1861, he sent Lady
Patriot's colt to Timothy T. Jackson, with orders to
keep him in good road condition and sell him if pos-
sible. Jackson gave him very little fast work, as he
showed stiff in the shoulders ; but with what he did
get, Volunteer pulled a heavy single-seated wagon a
mile and repeat over the Union Course in 2:33, 2:31*4-
Alden Goldsmith heard of the horse and bought him
on June 26, 1862. While in the possession of Joseph
Hetzel, Volunteer was bred to a few mares, and from
their foals Alden Goldsmith purchased the colt Idler,
who showed fast, but met with an accident that caused
his death, Hamlet and Matchless, both of whom
trotted in 2:30 in public and proved noted prize
winners.

130 THE GOLDSMITHS.

As a four-year-old, while in the hands of his
breeder, Volunteer won first premium for stallions in
Orange County. His next appearance, at Goshen,
was on August 21, 1862, when Alden Goldsmith started
him against ^Vinfield, Grey Confidence, and several
others, in what would now be termed trials of speed.
The track at Goshen was that season changed from a
third to a half-mile, and was little better than a
country road. Under the conditions of the event,
each horse was timed separately, Volunteer driven by
his owner, to wagon, winning in 2:39, beat-
ing his fastest competitor nine seconds. This show-
ing, together with the promise of the colts purchased
by Goldsmith, roused the resentment of Hamble-
tonian's admirers to such a pitch that for the next ten
years Volunteer was almost excluded from public
service. As Hambletonian was becoming famous as
a sire, Volunteer could not be assailed on that side of
his pedigree, the attack being made on his dam, Lady
Patriot. She was bred by John Cape, of Orange
County, and before reaching Thorndale Farm, where
she spent her last days, passed through the hands of
John Hetzel, David Seely, Strong Y. Satterlee and
William M. Rysdyk. Satterlee gave $125 for her and
sold her for $200 to Rysdyk for a brood mare, after
one of her shoulders had been injured, and Edwin
Thorne had a friend purchase her for him from
Rysdyk, when she was carrying the colt afterwards
known as Sentinel. When her three sons, Volunteer,
Hetzel's Hambletonian and Green's Hambletonian,
were attracting notice, W. M. Rysdyk made the fol-
lowing contribution to the war upon Volunteer, by

VOLUNTEER. 131

way of note, to the gentleman who bought her for Mr.
Thorne :

"You are surprised to hear me pronounce the dam
of Volunteer a dunghill. I bought her for a dunghill,
and I know she is a dunghill ; and that is not all — she
is the most worthless piece of horseflesh that I ever
owned."

This was not much of a recommendation for Vol-
unteer, as a competitor of the greatest trotting stallion
in the country.

Nothing was ever known of the breeding of the
dam of Lady Patriot. She was a bay mare, brought by
Lewis Hulse from Rockland County, adjoining Or-
ange, was both a running and trotting mare, and as
such was held out under a challenge to run or trot
against anything that could be led into the county.
"I have seen the statement," wrote H. T. Helm in 1876,
"that she was held as a standing challenge to run
against any horse, and then to trot against the
same one." This scrap of history, though brief,
casts much light on the character and qualities
of the Lewis Hulse mare, and from this and the local-
ity whence she came some inference may be drawn
concerning her probable blood. It was the region
where the blood of the two families of Messenger and
Diomed, through Duroc, Henry, and Eclipse, was the
chief element in running and trotting circles. This
mare was bred by John Cape to a horse called Young
Patriot, which was brought into Orange County by
parties who stated that he came from Oneida County,
and that he was by Patriot, he by Blucher from a mare
by Messenger Duroc, son of old Eclipse.

132 THE GOLDSMITHS.

From 1862 to 1871 Volunteer was ignored by the
public. He was overshadowed by Hambletpnian,
while as the few colts that he did sire did not come to
their speed early, no one could point to a trotter by
Volunteer after Hamlet was retired. In addition to
this the majority of his get were spoiled in breaking,
the trainers of that period not understanding their
dispositions and it was not until his owner, encouraged
oy his success with Goldsmith Maid, one of the wildest
hawks ever put in harness, decided to develop his own
stock, that the smiles of fortune turned towards the
premier of Walnut Grove Farm.

GOLDSMITH MAID.

It's admitted that Lou Dillon,

Alix, Maud S., and Nancy Hanks,

With Goldsmith Maid's two fourteen

Played many kinds of pranks.

Stmol and scores of others,

Make you think her star will fade,

But for all their speed they missed the fame,

That came to Goldsmith Maid;

As turf lovers all remember

That from January to December

The mare that won the money was the Maid.

Goldsmith Maid was the foundation of Alden
Goldsmith's reputation as a practical turfman. She
was foaled on the farm of John B. Decker, of Wantage
Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, in the spring
of 1857. Her sire was Edsall's Hambletonian, after-

GOLDSMITH MAID. 135

wards known as Alexander's Abdallah, and her dam
what was called an Abdallah mare. She was in her
day a fine animal and, according to a correspondent of
the "Spirit of the Times," writing from Deckertown,N.
J., in 1871, could trot in about 2:40, and proved to be a
fine brood mare. She had six foals, all of which gave
greater promise when colts than Goldsmith Maid.
One of them, when coming four years old, repeatedly
trotted on a country road, a full mile, barefooted,
without a skip or break. They were all high-spirited
animals, and no fence was capable of confining them
to a certain field. If the spirit moved them, they
would spring over the stone walls like a deer, skim
along the neighboring fields, trampling down wheat
and corn, much to the consternation and despair of the
farmers, who, in turn, revenged, as well as amused
themselves, by setting their dogs on them and chas-
ing them like foxes all over the county. When they
got tired, they would return to their home very much
in the manner they had left it. This colt, referred to
above, in one of these almost daily tramps, ran against
a scythe suspended from an apple-tree, and cut its
head almost off. Another, equally as promising, was
kicked in the knee" joint, and died from its effects; a
third was gored by a bull, and a fourth met some
equally tragic fate, that disposed of it in as summary
a manner. A fifth was taken by General Kilpatrick
to Chili, and there sold to a gentleman for four thou-
sand in gold. This mare could dust anything in Sus-
sex County.

Goldsmith Maid was the smallest of old Ab's foals.
What she lost in size, however, she made up in vicious-
ness. She wouldn't go in a plow or harrow, nor stay

136 THE GOLDSMITHS.

in any field in which she was placed. The only thing
she seemed to be cut out for was to run races at night,
which she was indulged in for years, much to the
pecuniary discomfiture of the hapless youth who was
indiscreet enough to bet against her. The manner of
arranging for the nightly races certainly didn't come
within the rules since adopted by the Turf Association,
but was equally as effective. There was no pool-sell-
ing in those days. The "lookers-on in Venice" were
interested owners, generally, of the competing horses.
The purse, or rather the arrangement, was made in a
grocery store on Mr. Decker's farm, in the early part
of the evening, and the race to come off after Mr.
Decker had gone to bed. Then the mare would be
quietly slipped out of her stable, or spirited out of the
field and taken down on the flat and duly entered.
The knowing ones knew on which horse to bet their
extra cash, for there was no hippodroming then, and
it was only when a green outsider was roped in that
the local pocketbooks assumed phlethoric proportions.

She had a strange freak that she indulged herself
in about once a month. It consisted in her making a
circuit of the neighboring country, jumping over
fences, running through fields, regardless of what
they contained, up and down hills, across dale and
streams, and finally winding up in the field from which
she started. This circuit was about six miles in extent
and occupied about forty minutes.

John B. Decker sold the Maid to his nephew, John
H. Decker, for $350. He in turn sold her to William
Tompkins, known as "Jersey Bill," for $650. The
next day he sold her to Alden Goldsmith for $1,000 and
an old buggy, worth about $60.- He placed her in the

GOLDSMITH MAID 137

hands of William Bodine, who was then considered
the best horseman in Orange County. It took four
men to harness her, and she* came near killing Bodine
several times before she was fairly broken, during
which time Goldsmith was more than once very sick
of his bargain.

After such an amount of patience and skill as has
rarely been lavished on any trotter, she became suf-
ficiently steady so that she could be driven in races.
She made her first start as the Goldsmith Mare in a
race for $100 against Uncle Sam and Mountain Boy at
Goshen, N. Y., September 7, 1865, and won in 2:36,
2:37. In 1866 she won her engagements at Middle-
town and Poughkeepsie, cutting her record to 2:30 in
the deciding heat of her second race, and was second
to General Butler in 2:23^4, 2:25^, 2:27 at Copake,
N. Y., November 2. The time made in this race
attracted considerable attention and in 1867, when her
name was changed to Goldsmith Maid. Alden
Goldsmith, after winning three races with her and
reducing her record to 2:24^4, placed her in Budd
Doble's hands. He made his first start with Gold-
smith Maid at Narragansett Park, Providence, R. I.,
and afterwards in partnership with Mr. Jackman, pur-
chased her for $15,000. They raced her successfully
and later on sold her for $32,000 to H. N. Smith. She
died his property at Fashion Farm, Trenton, N. J.,
September 13, 1885.

While being conditioned in 1866 and 1867, Gold-
smith Maid and Volunteer were frequently brushed
together on the road, and W. W. Shuit told me that
the stallion could invariably step away from the future
queen of the turf. ^The year Alden Goldsmith sold

138 THE GOLDSMITHS.

the Maid he also appeared at Hartford, Conn., with
Volunteer and started him for a premium at the
Seventh ^exhibition of the Hartford Horse Association,
which was held on the old half-mile track, on Albany
Avenue. He was entered in Class No. 6 : Stallions for
general use six years old and over. The other entries
were William B. Smith's Mambrino Patchen and F.W.
Russell's Clarion. A single mile was trotted to show
speed, which was considered in making the award.
The heat was closely contested by Volunteer and
Mambrino Patchen, the former being hitched to a
wagon and winning in 2 137. This was the record
with which Volunteer was retired to the stud.

DEVELOPING THE VOLUNTEERS.

He saith among the trumpets, ha! ha! and he smelleth the
battle afar oft.— Job.

Encouraged by his success with Goldsmith Maid,
and spurred on by the reproaches cast upon the horses
bred at Walnut Grove Farm, Alden Goldsmith began
to develop the get of Volunteer. It was up hill work
from the start, as he had only a few to work on and
the trotting step had to be drilled into them after they
were broken, which was, in itself, a very difficult task.
In addition to the Volunteer colts, he had a few by
other sires, and raced them when they were good
enough. The records show that in addition to Gold-
smith Maid he started the bay mare Lady Tompkins,
by Alexander's Abdallah, at Goshen and Newburg in

DEVELOPING THE VOLUNTEERS. 139

1866, giving her a record of 2:31, while he also won at
Newburg and Middletown with the Magnolia gelding,
Hunter, and placed another first to his credit at Gosh-
en the following year before he turned him over to
William Bodine, who gave him a mark of 2 137 at
Troy, N. Y., where he defeated Major Edsall and
Honesty. In 1868 the American Star mare, Lady
Whitman, won three races for Alden Goldsmith at
Seneca Falls, N. Y., and trotted fourth to Myron Perry
at Catskill.

The Volunteer trotters were introduced to the
public in 1869, when Ristori won a race at Goshen,
after which she was placed on the retired list until
1874, and Matchless, one of the oldest of his get, won
at Newburg, after which he was sold to H. C. Good-
rich, of Chicago. He drove him to a record of 2:35^4.
Ristori and Matchless were not, however, the first of
Volunteer's get to take the word in public, as in 1866
Edwin Thorne started Hamlet in five races and gave
him a record of 2 137 at Newburg. In 1870 Volunteer
was represented at the Goshen Fair by Bodine and
Huntress, the former winning a five-year-old race in
2:451/2, while Huntress trotted second in two races to
Lady Whitman, the fastest heat in either event being
finished in 2:39^. Alden Goldsmith also won a first
and a second at this meeting with the Hambletonian
gelding Norwood, which Dan Mace had raced under
the name of Drift on the New England tracks in 1869.
Norwood was also started at Middletown, where he
finished fourth to Lady Salspaugh.

140 THE GOLDSMITHS.

HUNTRESS AND BODINE.

He has half the deed done, who has made a beginning.

— Horace.

In 1871 Huntress made her first start in the three-
minute class at Buffalo, where she saved her entrance
in a race won by Joseph Cairn Simpson with Clara G. ;
Barney and Young Thorne being between her and the
winner. Her next appearance was at Hampden Park,
Springfield, Mass., where on August 22, she trotted
third to Lady Ross in a five-heat race, and on the
following day finished second to the same mare in
another event, winning a heat in 2 129^, which was the
first mile below what was in 1876 fixed as the standard
limit credited to one of Volunteer's get. Later in the
season Huntress trotted second to Mary at Doyles-
town, ^a., second to Dot at Wilmington, Del., and
won her engagements at Pittsburg and Holly Springs,
Va., her record being reduced to 2 \26l/2 in her last race
that year.

Bodine made his first start in 1871 at Fleetwood
Park, New York, where he won, cutting his record to
2:3°/4- He also won at Middletown, N. Y., trotted
second to Dot at Doylestown, was second to Sorrel
Dan at Pittsburg on October 26, and on the following
day defeated that gelding and five others in a six-heat
contest. His last appearance that year was at Holly
Springs, Va., where he won a four-heat race in slow
time. From the beginning of his career Bodine was
looked upon with suspicion on account of his dam be-
ing by Harry Clay. It was at the time considered a soft
cross, one authority going so far as to state that he
would as soon have a streak of sawdust in a pedigree

HUNTRESS AND BODINE. 141

as a strain of Clay blood. In time this idea, like many
another founded on prejudice, melted into thin air.
As for Bodine, he was sold to H. C. Goodrich, of
Chicago, early in 1872, was raced successfully until
1877 and made a record of 2:1954 at Saginaw in 1875
in the first heat of a $2,000 purse race, in which he de-
feated Judge Fullerton, American Girl and Bella.
The same year St. Julien, a gelding bred in
the same line as Bodine, appeared on the turf, won
six races in three weeks and trotted to a record of
2:22. In 1880 he placed the world's record at 2:1134*
He was the last of the Orange County champions, but
not the last of its products to prove the value of the
Clay cross, as Electioneer, by Hambletonian, out of
a mare by Harry Clay, founded a family of trotters
that changed all of the world's records at a mile.

While Bodine and Huntress were racing in 1871
William H. Allen, another Volunteer in the hands of
Peter Manee, was making a very favorable impres-
sion, but the tide of popular favor did not begin to
flow towards their sire until the following season,
when John Trout began to move up in front on the
mile tracks with Huntress, Abdallah, and the big geld-
ing, Whirlwind, whose name was changed to Gloster
before he took the word at Buffalo.

142 THE GOLDSMITHS.

THREE MILE RECORD.

Who trained the flighty Huntress
To go the three-mile route?
One of the old guard, I'll warrant;
Yes, ^'Happy Johnny" Trout.

The Walnut Grove Farm stable made its first start
in 1872, at Fleetwood Park, New York, the third week
in May. Abdallah won two races during the meeting
and Huntress trotted third to Judge Fullerton, second
money going to William H. Allen. At Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, the following week, Abdallah was behind
the money and Huntress again third, first money on
this occasion going to William H. Allen after a seven-
heat struggle, in which Huntress trotted a dead heat
in 2 125 with the winner and came back again in
2:26^4. The next starts were made at Boston, at the
Mystic and Beacon Park meetings, where Abdallah
was second in three races won by Czar, a brown geld-
ing driven by Dan Mace, and was unplaced in one
event to Mary A. Whitney, a sister to William H.
Allen, who, after being retired to the brood mare
ranks, produced Brava, 2:14^2; Nomad, 2:19; First
Love, 2:22^, a Clay stake winner; Blue Blood, 2:22^,
and Bon Mot, 2:25^4. One first and three seconds
'was Huntress' score at Boston, and after winning a
special from William H. Allen at Saratoga, she swung
into line at Buffalo, where she was awarded third
money in the race in which Jay Gould made his record
of 2:21^/2. As has been stated, Gloster started at this
meeting, the summaries showing that he was fourth in
the race won by Sensation. At Utica the following
week he was unplaced to Camors. After a lay-up of

THREE MILE RECORD. 143

a month Gloster and Huntress were started at Pros-
pect Park, Brooklyn, where the former won the 2:50
and 2 138 classes and made a record of 2 130, while
Huntress set all the tongues of the turf world wag-
ging by clipping eleven and a quarter seconds off
Dutchman's three-mile record, which had stood at the
top of the column for thirty-three years. The event
in which she started was a $1,250 purse for a dash of
three miles, with $1,000 added if Dutchman's time was
beaten. Six entries were received, and of that num-
ber Fanny Fern, Huntress, Wallace and Constitution
started, the absentees being H. B. and George Gillett.
Huntress drew the pole and made a runaway race of
the event from the word. She trotted the first mile in
2:28^, the second with two breaks in it in 2:26, the
middle half being made in i ioo,^, and the third, after
a mistake near the half, in 2:26^4, winning by over
two hundred yards, there being two lengths between
Wallace and Constitution as they passed the stand.
Fanny Fern was pulled up in the first quarter of the
third mile. The 7:21^ made by Huntress in 1872 re-
mained unbeaten until 1893, when Bishop's Hero won
a race at three miles in 7:19^4. while Hamlin's Night-
ingale the same season trotted the distance against
time in 6:553/2. After the Brooklyn meeting Gloster
won a first and second at Fleetwood in October, and
a first at Kingston, where he defeated St. James, Joker
and Fred.

144 THK GOLDSMITHS.

JAMES GOLDSMITH'S FIRST RACE.

Ah me! I doubt if one of you
Has ever heard the name "Old Blue,"
Whose fame through all this region rung
In those old days when I was young. — Holmes.

From an early age James H., the older son of Alden
Goldsmith, took an active interest in the horses which
were being developed at W*alnut Grove Farm, and he
also had ample opportunity to study the peculiarities
and gaits of the family that was destined to make
him one of the leading reinsmen of his day. All of
his driving, however, was done on the road or the farm
track until nine days after he was twenty-one years of
age, when he made his first start at Montgomery, N.
Y., in a race for Orange County horses, and won. The
following is a summary of the race :

Montgomery, N. Y., June 24, 1870. Premium $35, for
horses owned in Orange County. Owners to drive; mile
heats, three in five.

J. H. Goldsmith's b. m. Fanny 31311

J. L. Eager's ch. m. Cochecton Maid... 13222

J. H. Bertholf's gr. g. Delmonico 22133

Time— 3:00, 3:00, 3:01^, 3:04, 3:01, 2:59.

His next appearance as a driver was in 1873,
when, during his father's absence with Gloster,
Huntress and the other horses which he was
racing on the mile tracks, he started the grey
gelding, Rescue, by Volunteer, in two races at
a meeting held Fourth of July at Warwick, N. Y.,
being unplaced to Fleetwood on his first appearance
and second to William Bodine's mare, Lady Snyder,

GLOSTER. 145

the following day. James H. Goldsmith also drove
Rescue in a race at Newburg, N. Y., August 20, 1873,
where he finished second to Harry Bassett. I am
also of the impression that he had the mounts behind
Goshen Maid, Lady Morrison, Reserve, and Henry in
their races later in the season.

GLOSTER.

Gazelle and Camors were distanced,
Sensation and Red Cloud tried,
But they both went down with St. James
When Gloster struck his stride.

While the minor ev,ents referred to in the pre-
ceding chapter, were being prepared for, Trout
shipped Gloster, Huntress, Abdallah and Volun-
teer Belle to Albany to condition them for a trip down
the line. While there he opened the campaign of 1873
by winning a match for a bottle of wine with Volunteer
Belle, and it was the only win this mare ever made for
the Goldsmith family, a second to Fanny Raymond,
and a third to Lida Picton at Sandy Hill, N. Y., and a
third to Gold Leaf, at Amenia, being the only times
she was in the money that year. Abdallah also proved
a disappointment. He made but four starts, his first
trip being at Albany, May 28, where he was third to
James Dougrey's Lida Picton. At Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, the following week he was fourth to Jack
Draper in the 2 134 class, and on June 25 he again met

146 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Lida Picton, this time at Fleetwood Park, New York.
Abdallah made his record of 2:30 in the first heat of
this race, but was second to Lida Picton when the pre-
miums were awarded. After trotting unplaced to
Prince Allen ,at Amenia, July 4, Goldsmith's Abdallah
disappeared from the turf. He was subsequently
shipped to Kentucky and killed at Paris in 1875.

Huntress and Gloster trotted their first races in
1873 over Washington Park, Sandy Hill, N. Y., the
mare defeating Nonesuch and William H. Allen in
the 2:21 class, and Gloster disposing of Joker, Hall
Terrill and St. Elmo in the 2 127 class. Nonesuch de-
feated Gloster in the 2:21 class at Albany the fol-
lowing week, after which the big gelding was given a
let up until the meeting at Amenia the first week in
July. In the interval Huntress was distanced by John
W. Conley at the May meeting at Fleetwood Park,
New York, won the 2:21 class at Prospect Park over
William H. Allen, and John W. Conley, and trotted
third to Judge Fullerton at Fleetwood on June 26.

For its summer meeting in 1873 the Eastern
Duchess Association of Amenia, N. Y., selected July
3, 4 and 5, and presented a programme showing six
races, with purses amounting to $8,000. Alden Gold-
smith made four entries and started all of them, Hunt-
ress winning the free-for-all from Ed White and Wil-
liam B. Whiteman ; Gloster the 2 126 class, in which J.
H. Phillips again finished second with Ed White ; Vol-
unteer Belle third premium in the three-minute class;
while Abdallah was drawn after trotting three heats
in the 2 132 class. The gross winnings for the week
amounted to $2,500. Gloster's next start was in a
$2,000 purse for the 2:27 class at Catskill, July 23.

GLOSTKR. 147

He won it in straight heats, and was then shipped to
Buffalo, where, on August 6, after saving his entrance
in the $20,000 purse won by Sensation, he was started
two days later in a $10,000 purse for the 2 124 class, and
won in 2:24^, 2:23^, 2:2414, after losing a heat to
Susie. This Success was followed by two straight
heat victories at Utica in $5,000 purses the next week,
the fastest of the six heats being finished in 2:23^4.

Gloster's next appearance was at Point Breeze, Phil-
adelphia, where he trotted second to Goldsmith Maid
in 2:22, 2:25^, 2:24, Sensation and Camors finishing
behind him. During October he was also second to
Goldsmith Maid in two races at Dexter Park, Chicago,
in one of which she trotted a heat in 2 118 and in one at
Pittsburg. As soon as Gloster was on easy street,
Huntress was taken up again and started in two races
at Plainville, Conn., where she defeated St. James and
Longfellow in a class race, and two days later trotted
second to Judge Fullerton in the free-for-all. Her
returns for the balance of the season show a third to
Camors at Prospect Park, a second to Judge Fullerton
in the free-for-all at Sandy Hill, a first at Norwich,
Conn., where she defeated Susie, and a first at Rich-
mond, Va., where, on October 31, she won over Go-
shen Maid in 2 130, 2 125, 2 133.

In 1874, Gloster was a member of Budd Doble's
stables and made his first start at Chicago, on July 25,
in the 2 :2O class, trotting second to Red Cloud. At
Cleveland, the following week, Gloster and Red Cloud
went at each other hammer and tongs, while Nettie
jogged along leisurely in the rear. When the two
geldings were deader than proverbial smelts, Turner
made his move and won, Gloster being awarded second

148 THE GOLDSMITHS.

money and Red Cloud third. The next start was at
Buffalo, where Camors, who was distanced in the first
heat of the race at Cleveland, stepped out in front for
two heats, the first one being won by a neck from
Red Cloud ki 2:20^, while heads only separated him
from Gloster and Nettie in the second in 2:19%, his
record. Prior to the third heat the Judges requested
John Wade to turn Red Cloud over to Charles Green.
This smashed the slate, which, according to Dan Mace,
was made for Gloster to win, and, as a dying chance,
Hickok tried to pull the race off with Camors. He
carried Red Cloud to the half in 1 107^, but the Indi-
ana gelding had speed to spare, as he marched on to
the three-quarters in 1:42^ and won in 2:18, the
record with which he retired from the turf. In the
next two heats Gloster tried to reach him, but as he
was unsteady, Red Cloud won in 2:185/2, 2:21. This
race created a great deal of excitement, which was
materially increased when Goldsmith Maid closed the
meeting by reducing the world's record for trotters
from 2:16 to 2:151/2.

Gloster made his record of 2:17 and also trotted
the best race of his life at the inaugural meeting of the
Rochester Driving Park the following week. He took
the word with St. James, Sensation, Camors, Red
Cloud and Gazelle. Red Cloud was the favorite, 'Glos-
ter, on account of his behavior at Buffalo, being third
choice. At the finish of the first heat the judges were
unable to separate this pair at the wire and announced
it a dead heat in 2 :i8. As it was supposed the Volun-
teer gelding could not come back in any such time,
Red Cloud brought two to one over the field before the
word was given for the second mile. In this heat Doble

GLOSTER. 149

took Gloster out in front and won by two lengths in
2:17^4. On the next trip he stepped the mile in 2:17,
each half being timed in i :oSy2, and won by three
lengths. W. McLaughlin was driving Red Cloud, and
in the hope of saving the day, Hickok, who had been
distanced in the first heat with Camors, was asked to
take the mount. The change did not improve matters,
as Gloster won as he pleased in 2:19. This success
was followed by victories in the 2 120 class at Hampden
Park, Springfield, at Charter Oak Park, Hartford
during the inaugural meeting of the Connecticut Stock
Breeders' Association, and at Mystic Park, Boston,
and a defeat at Beacon Park, where he trotted second
to Nettie, who made her record of 2:18 in this race,
while Gloster won a heat in 2 :i9^4-

The last race won by Gloster was trotted over
Fleetwood Park, New York, September 21, 1874. It
was a free-for-all. Goldsmith Maid barred, for $10,000,
the other starters being American Girl, driven by
Dougrey; Camors, with Trout up, and Judge Fuller-
ton, with Hickok behind him. American Girl started
favorite. In the first heat Trout rushed off in front
and stepped Camors to the half in i :oy. The black
gelding remained in front to the "point of rock/'
where Gloster sailed by and won in 2:20^. On the
next trip American Girl carried Gloster to a break
after passing the quarter and won the heat in 2:22^.
The third and fourth heats were gathered in by Gloster
in 2:21, 2:21. After the race, Doble, Hickok and W.
M. Humphreys started for California with Goldsmith
Maid, Gloster and Judge Fullerton, stopping on the
way at Dayton and Chicago, where they trotted a few
exhibition races. On his arrival in California, Gloster

150 THE GOLDSMITHS.

was suffering from pulmonary complaint, and after a
brief sickness died.

Gloster's death was a severe blow for Alden Gold-
smith, as in addition to being a money winner from
the first season that he appeared on the turf, he had a
chance with another season's work and a careful prep-
aration in Budd Doble's hands to equal or reduce the
world's record. His race record of 2 117 in a third heat
was, when made, but two and a quarter seconds from
the 2:14^4 which Goldsmith Maid placed on the Roch-
ester stand two days before in the second heat of her
race with American Girl and Judge Fullerton, and
while the little mare clipped the fraction off a few
weeks later at Mystic Park, it was not asking too
much of a young horse like Gloster, who was but
eight years old when he died, to improve three seconds
on his form of 1874. In addition to this, his success
was a constant advertisement for Volunteer, whose
service fee was advanced to $250, and subsequently to
$500. When rigged for the races Gloster wore noth-
ing but a plain shoe and a few boots for protection
when he jumped out of his stride, something that
all of the trotters of that day were guilty of. He stood
sixteen and three-quarter hands full, and was the best
big horse ever seen on the turf up to the date that
Azote passed into the hands of Salisbury and Mc-
Dowell.

1874. 151

Years following years, steal something every day
At last they steal us from ourselves away.— Pope.

The other members of the Walnut Grove Farm
stable opened the season of 1874 the third week in
June, at Jackson, Mich., where Lady Morrison won
the 2:45 class and Ristori, after failing to save her
entrance in the 2 130 class, won the 2 134 class and made
a record of 2:30^. Lottie, another member of the
stable, started in the 2:40 class and was unplaced to
Kitty Wells, while Huntress was behind the money in
the free-for-all, which was won by Red Cloud, and
Rescue distanced by Norma. At Saginaw, the fol-
lowing week, Ristori won the 2:50 class without re-
ducing her record, and was beaten in the 2 150 class by
Charles Myers' gelding, Fox. Lottie saved her en-
trance in the 2 140 class, in which the big end of the
purse went to General Grant, and Rescue was un-
placed to Mambrino Star. The next start was at Co-
lumbus, Ohio, where Ristori broke down in a third
heat and was distanced by Granville. At Indianapolis,
the next stopping place, Lady Morrison was the only
starter. She won the 2 135 class, which was sand-
wiched with the event in which Goldsmith Maid de-
feated Red Cloud and Judge Fullerton in 2:26, 2:253/2,
2:23. This was the race from which Red Cloud had
been drawn, and the spectators refused to let it go on
without the Indiana bred gelding. A few bold spirits
procured a rope, and stretching it across the track,
made themselves hoarse shouting "No Red Cloud, No
Race." When Red Cloud appeared, pandemonium
broke loose, and while the Maid was not very good

152 THE GOLDSMITHS.

that day, she managed to pull it off, much to the
chagrin' of ninety per cent, of the spectators.

After the Indianapolis meeting the stable was
shipped to Chicago, where Lady Morrison was dis-
tanced by Albert. It then started east, but its mem-
bers did not figure prominently in any of the events at
the meetings given by the Quadrilateral Trotting
Combination. At Buffalo, Rescue was unplaced in the
race won by Nashville Girl (May Queen), while he
managed to save his entrance at Rochester, as the dis-
tance was waived on account of Unknown being pro-
tested, while Huntress saved her entrance in the race
won bv Nettie at Utica the same week.

JAMES H. GOLDSMITH'S FIRST CAMPAIGN.

Every tub must stand on its own bottom.

— Bunyan.

James H. Goldsmith's career as a trainer and driver
dates from 1874. He began at Goshen (while his
father was in the west) with a horse called Pelham.
After two races, in one of which he was distanced and
in the other unplaced, Pelham was discarded and all
of his attention given to a bay gelding by Doty's
Black Harry Clay, out of Nell by Hambletonian,
called Bateman. He made his debut in the three-
minute class at Goshen the first week in July, and
finished third to the Volunteer gelding, Frank Wood,
driven by W. E. Weeks. At Deerfoot Park, on Long
Island, the following week, Bateman took the word in

JAMES H. GOLDSMITH'S FIRST CAMPAIGN. 153

two races, both of which were won by Asa Whitson
with Uncle Bill. Bateman managed to get a second
and a third, as well as a record of 2:41, while his natty
young driver was taken out by the judges, but the
change did not improve matters. The next starts
were at Catskill, where he was beaten by Molly Carew
and Uncle Bill. Branded as a counterfeit on account
of the breeding of his sire, Bateman was driven home
in disgrace, but he lived to prove that he was a high-
class half-mile track race horse, and trained on to a
record of 2:22*4.

The next starter from James H. Goldsmith's stable
was the chestnut gelding, John A. He made his bow
in August at Warwick, where, after being unplaced
to a horse named Trout on the first day of the meet-
ing, he was awarded second money in the three-minute
race, which was won by William H. Beede in 2 140.
After another start at Goshen, John A. drifted back to
the farm, and nothing more was heard of him until a
couple of seasons later, when John Alden Goldsmith
one day, after he had been raking hay, matched the old
horse against a gelding called Edson for $100 a side.
The race was trotted at Warwick, and James, who was
of the opinion that John had been a trifle rash in mak-
ing the match, drove John A. and won.

When the horses that were shipped west in June
returned to Walnut Grove Farm, after the close of the
Rochester and Utica meetings, James took them up
and started them on the half-mile tracks. At War-
wick, the last week in August, he took the word in
three races with Rescue and finished third in one
event. At Goshen the following week he was also
unplaced to May Bird, and Lottie was distanced by

154 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Nellie Walton. At Kingston, Lottie was unplaced to
Mountaineer, while she won in 2:40^ at Chatham.
Both Lottie and Huntress were started at the Sep-
tember and October meetings at Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, the former being behind the money in a
race Dan Mace won with Arthur, and distanced by
LadytWhite, and the latter distanced by Fleety Gold-
dust, second to Bruno and third to Sensation. Hunt-
ress also won a free-for-all at Walcottville, Conn.,
where she defeated Barney Kelly, Spotted Colt and
Kittie D., and was third to Hopeful in the 2:21 class
at the Goshen October meeting. At this meeting Res-
cue was also awarded third premium in the race, A. J.
Peek won with George F. Smith, a bay gelding by
Niagara Chief and Lottie, after trotting a dead heat
with Lady Annie in 2:33*4, finished third to Peek's
horse, Bonner. He also defeated her the following
week at Poughkeepsie.

1875.

He trained her and raced her to lower the mark.

All of the racing material in the Walnut Grove
Farm stable was in charge of James H. Goldsmith
when the bell rang in 1875, and from that date until
the stock passed under the hammer of Peter C. Kel-
logg & Co., at the American Horse Exchange, New
York, March i and 2, 1887, he drove all of his father's
horses with the exception of a few races in the fall of
1879 and the horses that started in 1880, of which men-
tion will be made at the proper time. The returns for

1875. 155

the first campaign show that the season opened at
Deerfoot Park, on Long Island, May 13, where Lottie
won a five-heat race, reducing her record to 2 133^ in
the deciding heat, and closed November 12 at Balti-
more, where Bateman trotted second to Annie Collins.
In addition to the two horses named, James Goldsmith
started Lady Morrison, Effie Deans, Alley, Huntress,
Sister and Prince in sixty-one races, of which he won
fifteen, was second in thirteen, third in seven, fourth
in seven and unplaced in nineteen.

Effie Deans made her first start at the New York
May meeting, where she was unplaced to Toronto Maid
and Mat Tanner. At Goshen, the following week, she
showed a decided improvement, as after trotting sec-
ond to Lucca in a six-heat race on the opening day of
the meeting, she two days later defeated the same
mare in straight heats in the 2 150 class. Of the other
starters at this meeting Bateman won the 2 139 class,
Lady Morrison trotted second to Zephyr, driven by
W. C. Trimble, and Lottie was unplaced to Adelaide.
The next starts were made at Prospect Park, Brook-
lyn, where Effie Deans was awarded the third premiums
in the races won by Nettie Burlew and J. G. Blaine.
She was also fourth to Snowball at Ambler Park,
Philadelphia, where Lady Morrison won the 2 135 class
and Bateman saved his entrance in a race won by
Andrew, to whom he was second at Norristown the
following week, where Lady Morrison was again a
winner. At Paterson, the third week in June, EfKe
Deans won two firsts, Bateman a first and Lottie a sec-
ond, while at Amenia, two weeks later, Bateman won
the 2 135 class, EfBe Deans was fourth to Frank F. and
Alley made his debut, the record showing that he was

156 THE GOLDSMITHS.

drawn after trotting two heats in a race won by Judge
Robertson in 2:39. After trotting second to Lady
White with Effie Deans at White Plains, the stable
shipped to Poughkeepsie to take part in the first Cen-
tral Trotting, Circuit meeting held over the mile track.
During the week Huntress started in three events, her
first appearance being on the opening day in the 2:18
class, in which she finished third to Hopeful. Two
days later she trotted second to Sensation, and on the
following day was third to Goldsmith Maid in an open
event, her winnings for the week amounting to $2,650.
Of the other starters at Poughkeepsie, Sister was un-
placed to St. Julien, Bateman trotted second to Nelly
Walton, and Effie Deans saved her entrance in a race
won by Jack Draper.

Those who have read the sketch of the Grand Cir-
cuit in "Fasig's Tales of the Turf will remember that
the Poughkeepsie meeting clashed with Buffalo and
was the first at which the entrance fee was fixed
at five per cent. On the following week the horses
which were at the conflicting meetings met at Roch-
ester. The Goldsmiths were there and started Effie
Deans and Bateman, both of which were behind the
money in the races won by Adelaide and Lady Turpin,
respectively. At Springfield, the following week,
Sister, Lady Morrison, Effie Deans, Bateman and
Huntress started, all of them being unplaced, while at
Hartford, Sister, after losing her entrance in the first
race, won by St. Julien, was second to him on his next
appearance in 2 123^, while Bateman saved his en-
trance in the big betting race won by Lady Snell.

After the meeting at Charter Oak Park the Gold-
smith stable shipped to Syracuse, where Lady Morri-

157

son and Sister were unplaced and Bateman won the
2:31 class. He also won again at Kingston, Lady
Morrison trotting third to Frank Munson, Alley
second to Judge Robertson and Effie Deans unplaced
the same week. Elmira was the next stand, the re-
turns for the meeting showing a first for Bateman and
Huntress second to Carrie in the free-for-all, while at
Owego the latter won the open event and Bateman
was second to Planter, a chestnut gelding by Red Bird.
After this meeting Bateman, Lottie and Alley were
taken to Point Breeze Park, Philadelphia, where Bate-
man was third to Frank Palmer, Alley fourth to Flora
Windsor and Lottie unplaced to Billy Ray. Their
next starts were at Woodbury, N. J., where Bateman
and Alley won and Lottie was again unplaced. Bate-
man also won a first and Alley a third at Pottstown.
This meeting was held the last week in October, after
which Bateman was started at Washington and Bal-
timore before going into winter quarters. The fol-
lowing table presents a synopsis of what the Walnut
Grove Farm stable did in 1875 :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

1

£

•d

a

*H
2
H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Bateman

2-27

Black's Harry Clay . .

18

s

4

i

2

3

$5500 00

Huntress

Volunteer

6

2

2

1

3,400 00

Effie Deans

2-35

Hambletonian

15

3

2

2

4

4

2,155 00

Sister

2-30#

Volunteer . . ...

5

2

3

1,750 00

Alley

2:35

Volunteer

6

1

1

1

1

2

825 00

Lady Morrison . . .
Lottie

2:33^

2-33^

Volunteer
H ambletonian

6
4

2

1
1

1

2
3

60000
250 00

Prince

1

1

Total

HI

15

13

7

7

19

$14,480 00

158 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1876— BATEMAN,

I could hear the pikers laugh

And call him a giraffe,

When he stepped behind the field to the turn;

But they modified the smile,

At the end of the mile,

As they saw he had speed to burn.

When I brushed him to his limit,

And found they were not in it,

I took him back and won it by a head;

Then they said he was a Clay

And was sure to die away,

But Bate' was full of race — when they were dead.

There were nine horses in James H. Goldsmith's
stable when he shipped to Washington the first week
in May, the new material being known as Trio, a
sister to Huntress, Oscar and Driver. Oscar led off
on the opening day at Ivy City by winning a $1,000
purse for three-minute trotters, and followed it up by
trotting third and second on consecutive days at the
same meeting to the Legal Tender gelding, Faugh-a-
Ballagh, that M. J. Doyle had brought on from Savan-
nah, Ga. Effie Deans, Huntress and Lady Morrison
also won their engagements and Bateman trotted
second to Joe Brown. At Brightwood, the following
week, the Clay gelding was third to the same horse,
and when Oscar, Effie Deans and Lady Morrison fin-
ished their races each of them had a third money due
them. In the free-for-all Huntress won over W. H.
Crawford with Annie Collins and John H. From
Washington the stable moved on to Philadelphia for

1876 — BATEMAN. 159

four weeks, its members having engagements at the
Suffolk Park, Point Breeze, Belmont Park and Ambler
Park meetings. During the series Bateman was
awarded a second, a third and two fourths, being de-
feated in two races by the George Wilkes mare, May
Bird, in one by Joe Brown and one by the Magna
Charta mare, Hannah D. Trio made her first start
at Suffolk Park, where she finished second to Lady
Daniels. She won her engagements at Ambler and
Belmont, making a record of 2 129^ over the latter.
Lady Morrison won the 2 130 class at Ambler, after
being unplaced to General Tweed at Belmont, while
Alley was third to Clifton Boy at Suffolk and second
to the Happy Medium horse, Fleetwood, at Belmont.
During the four weeks Effie Deans started in three
races, her slip showing a fourth to General Howard
at Suffolk Park, a second to Slow Go at Point Breeze
and unplaced to the same horse at Belmont. Hunt-
ress was started twice, being third to Adelaide at
Ambler and fourth to John H. at Belmont, where
Lottie was unplaced to Dora.

After a trip to Pottstown, where Alley was de-
feated by George A. Ayers and Little May and Lottie
won a race in slow time, the stable shipped to Elmira,
N. Y., where, on June 15, Driver, the most successful
campaigner of the harness turf, took the word in his
first race and won in 2 136, defeating A. J. Feek with
Lysander Boy. Huntress and Alley also won their
engagements that .week, while Lottie, after winning
the 2 130 class, was unplaced to Butcher Boy, and
Bateman saved his entrance in a race won by Jack
Draper. The next stop was at Poughkeepsie, where

160 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Alley won the 2:34 and 2:31 classes, making a record
of 2 130, while Driver, after being unplaced to Lady
Mills on the opening day, pulled off the 2 145 trot, re-
ducing his record to 2 133, and Lottie was behind the
money in the race that W. E. Weeks won with the
Ethan Alleri gelding, Judge. Driver cut his record
to 2 130^ at the Hartford June meeting, where he
trotted second to Wesley P. Balch's mare, Grateful,
and saved his entrance in a race won by Dick Moore.
Alley also won a second and a fourth that week, the
races in which he started being awarded Hazor and
Charley Mack, while Susie defeated both Huntress
and Bateman. This pair were also defeated in their
engagements at Hampden Park, Springfield, July 4,
Bateman trotting third to Mace, with Royal George,
and Huntress second to Susie in the free-for-all.

Efne Deans, Lottie and Lady Morrison were sent
back to the farm before the stable was shipped west
to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Driver won the Burnett
House Purse and trotted fourth to Lady K. Of the
other starters at Chester Park, Huntress was second
to Susie, while Alley, Bateman and Oscar were un-
placed in the events won by Hylas, Frank Reeves and
the Blue Bull gelding, Russell, respectively. After
stopping at Columbus, where Bateman was second to
Elsie Good, Huntress fourth to Joe Brown and Trio
and Oscar unplaced, the Goldsmiths shipped to Cleve-
land and dropped into what is now known as the
Grand Circuit. Bateman and Trio were their only
starters that season, the record of the trip showing
that Bateman was unplaced to Lewinski at Cleveland,
second to Elsie Good at Buffalo, unplaced to. Great

1876 — BATEMAN. 161

Eastern at Rochester and Utica, fourth to Great East-
ern at Poughkeepsie, fourth to Hannah D. at Hart-
ford and second to the same mare at Springfield.
Trio was in the same class as General Grant at Cleve-
land, Buffalo and Rochester, where the Iowa horse
went amiss after winning his race. She won second
money at Cleveland, third at Buffalo, where she
trotted to her record, 2 123^4, and third at Rochester.
When General Grant dropped out, Planter was in the
way, Trio finishing fourth to him at Utica, second at
Hartford and unplaced at Springfield, while the Ham-
bletonian mare, Mattie, defeated both her and Planter
at Poughkeepsie after each of them had won two
heats. During the balance of the season Bateman
trotted second to Tanner Boy at Kingston, where
Driver saved his entrance in a race won by the
Maine bred trotter, Bay, by Gideon, was again
second to Tanner Boy at New York, where W.
H. Beede defeated Oscar, was second to Belle
Brasfield at Doylestown and second to W. H.
Doble with Rip Rap at Woodbury. The campaign of
Centennial Year closed at Jersey City, N. J., Novem-
ber 2, where Result defeated Driver after a six-heat
contest, in which Tommy Ryan and Moscow won
heats.

During the season James H. Goldsmith started in
eighty-four races, of which he won sixteen, while, as
is shown by the following table, Bateman, his largest
money winner, was second in ten of the twenty-two
races in which he took the word and the summaries of
the events also show that he did not win a heat :

162

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

1

£

Second.

i

2
H

Fourth.

t
p

Amount
Won.

Black's Harry Clay.

W,

10

3

4

$3,980 00

Trio ....

2:23#

Volunteer

11

91

4

?

2

3,550 00

2-26%

Volunteer

11

3

3

1

4

3,500 00

Alley

2:28K

Volunteer

10

R

3

2

1

1,905 00

Driver

2:30^

Volunteer

9

3

1

3

2

1,45000

Rffie Deans

2:25 J£

Hambletonian

6

1

2

1

1

1

1,100 00

Lady Morrison ....

2:27^

Volunteer

3

1

1

1

975 00

239

Reserve .

7

1

1

ft

3

960 00

Lottie

Hambletonian

5

2

3

367 50

Total

84

16

24

12

15

17

$17,787 50

1877— POWERS.

Powers flashed like a comet in front of the field,
Winning the first moneys everywhere;
Mace watched him with wonder, but victory wheeled
When he started at Boston and scored with Voltaire.

The Volunteer geldings, Powers, Alley and
Driver, were the main stays of James H. Goldsmith's
stable in 1877. Alley and Driver were foaled in 1868,
the former making his first start as a seven-year-old
and the latter the season he was eight. Powers was
also an eight-year-old when he made his debut at
Rhinebeck, N. Y., May 16, 1877, and that he was
worth waiting for was shown by the fact that during
the first thirteen days of his turf career he won five
races in fifteen heats and made a mark of 2 129^. His

1877 — POWERS, 163

record shows two firsts at Rhinebeck, two firsts at
Poughkeepsie, where Alley won the 2 :2? class, Lottie
a fourth to Lady Mills and Huntress a second to May
Bird, after winning two heats and a dead heat, and
one at New York, where Bateman finished second to
Big Fellow and Lottie third to Young Sentinel the
same week. During the Boston meetings at Mystic
and Beacon Parks, Powers won two more races and
was twice second to Voltaire, winning heats in each
of the races he lost and reduced his record to 2:24.
At these meetings' Bateman picked up two seconds
and a third, Driver a second and a fourth and Lottie
a second to Clara J. While these horses were trot-
ting at Mystic Park another section of the Walnut
Grove Farm stable appeared at Hudson, N. Y., where
Alley won the 2:28 class, Pelham a second, while
Compromise had only a fourth to show after three
starts. After starting at Albany, where Alley won a
race and Pelham was third to W. H. Arnold, and a
trip to Dover, N. H., where Lottie won a four-heat
race and made her record of 2:28^2, Powers the 2:38
class and Driver a third to Martha Washington, the
stable returned to Poughkeepsie, where Powers and
Alley were again returned as winners, Lottie awarded
second in the race won by Young Sentinel, and the
gray mare, Nielson, a fourth to Jack Barry.

Both Alley and Driver won the events in which
they were entered at Springfield the second week in
July, the former reducing his record to 2:24 and the
latter cutting his mark to 2:25. Powers also started
at the same meeting and was unplaced to Lady Snell.
They were then shipped to Cleveland, while the other
members of the stable moved over to Boston, where

164 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Bateman won two races, Huntress trotted second to
Lady Mac and Pelham second to Belle Oakley.

At the first three Grand Circuit meetings there
was too much speed abroad for the Volunteer geld-
ings. The summaries show that Powers was second
to Mazo-Manie at Cleveland, unplaced to White
Stockings at Buffalo and fourth to the same horse at
Rochester. At Cleveland, Driver was unplaced to
Jennie Holton, second to Versailles Girl at Buffalo
and fourth to Lady Pritchard aj: Rochester, while
Alley was fourth to Little Gypsy at Cleveland, sec-
ond to Richard at Buffalo, after winning two heats,
and fourth to Lew Scott at Rochester, where Bate-
man joined the stable and was unplaced in the race
won by King Philip. The unexpected happened at
Utica the following week, when, after a two days' con-
test, Powers won a six-heat race, reduced his record
to 2:21^4 in a fifth heat and trimmed White Stockings
after the Missouri gelding had won two heats, his
record of 2 :2i being made in one of them. It was
Powers' last race for the season. Of the other starters
at Utica, both Alley and Bateman were unplaced and
Driver third to Jennie Holton. At Poughkeepsie,
Bateman trotted second to James Golden with Dick
Swiveller, and Driver was second to Richard, while
the following week at Hartford, Alley won third
money in the race Peter Mclntyre placed to the credit
of Voltaire. The same pair met at Mystic Park the
following week, when Alley was second, the returns
for the other members of the stable that week being
Bateman second to Lysander Boy, Huntress third to
John H., Neilson third to Schuyler and Pelham un-
placed to Wild Lily. At Beacon, Bateman trotted

1877 — POWERS 165

fourth to Hazor, Alley fourth to Dick Swiveller,
Huntress second to John H. and Neilson fourth to
Schuyler.

After a trip to Providence, where Bateman was
third to Trampoline, Huntress third to Prospero,
Driver fourth to Dick Swiveller, and Neilson un-
placed to Schuyler, the Goldsmith stable visited
Elmira and Syracuse. At these two meetings Neil-
son was started in five races and was awarded four
firsts and a second. Bateman and Driver won their
engagements at Elmira, where Huntress trotted
second to Joseph A., who went on and won after Al-
bemarle, the winner of the first two heats was dis-
tanced in the third by throwing a toe weight. While
these meetings were in progress Alley was started at
Goshen and Newburg and trotted second to George
B. Daniels at each town, while the Hambletonian
gelding, Aleck, with John Alden Goldsmith in the
sulky, won at Newburg and Middletown.

From Syracuse the other section of the stable re-
turned to New England, the first starts being at Bea-
con Park, where Neilson won the 2 137 and 2 134
classes and was unplaced to Forest King in her third
race during the week. Driver also won at Beacon,
while Bateman was unplaced to Joe Ripley. After
starting Neilson at Dover, where she was again un-
placed to Forest King, and winning a third at Fleet-
wood Park, New York, with Driver, the campaign of
1877 closed the first week in November at Narragan-
sett Park, Providence, where both Bateman and Neil-
son were behind the money, while Driver kept his
end up by finishing second to Wild Lily. As is
shown by the following table, the W^alnut Grove

166

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Farm stable in 1877 won thirty-one firsts out of
ninety-seven races and marked seven of the nine
horses that took the word :

Starters.

•g
M

Sire.

Starts.

1

Second.

1

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Powers

2-211/

Volunteer

Hi

10

2

1

1

0

$5 010 00

Alley

2-24

Volunteer

14

4

1

8

1

4 100 00

Driver

2:25

Volunteer . .

14

3

4

3

1

3 195 CO

Bateman

Black H arry Clay

15

4

2

4

1

4

1,995 00

Huntress . .

Volunteer

i

4

2

1 475 00

Neilsoh

2:31 %

16

tf

2

1

2

5

1,280 00

Lottie

228^

Hambletonian

fi

1

1

1

1 095 00

Pelham
Aleck

2.38

2:39

Volunteer
Hambletonian

5
I

1

3

1

27000
100 00

Compromise

3

1

2

15 00

Total . . .

97

31

24

14

12

16

$18,535 00

1878— DRIVER.

He had naught to commend him but courage,
His ribs were as rough as a shelf,
But when Driver was out for the money,
He was in a class by himself.

Both James and John Goldsmith were actively
identified with the training of the horses in the Wal-
nut Grove Farm stable in 1878, the latter making his
first appearance at a prominent meeting on June 13
at Fleetwood Park, New York, where he won a four-
heat race with Driver over Modesty, Nelly Irwin,

1878 — DRIVER. 167

Vivandiere, Result, Young Sentinel and Charley
Green. Prior to that meeting the horses had started
at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, where Alley was second
to Vulcan, Oscar third to Happy Jack, Sister fourth
to Modesty and the Brother to Alley unplaced to J.
M. Oakley, at Philadelphia, during the Suffolk, Point
Breeze and Ambler Park meetings, where Alley won
two races, Bateman a first and two seconds, Huntress
a second, the Brother to Alley a fourth, while Sister,
Wildfire and Oscar were unplaced, and at Plainville,
Conn., where Powers was second to Richard and
Sweetness, who is now remembered as the dam of
Sidney, second to Margurite, by Hambletonian, in
the only race placed to her credit. The other starters
at the Fleetwood Park meetings, where John Alden
Goldsmith made his metropolitan debut as a reins-
man, were Lottie and Huntress, the former finishing
second to Steve Maxwell and the latter fourth to
Nettie.

While the Xew York meeting was in progress,
James was at Providence, where he won with Alley
and Sweetness, the latter making a record of 2 130,
trotted second to Dio with Oscar and was unplaced
to vSooner with Bateman. He then moved on to the
Boston meetings at Beacon and Mystic Parks, and the
meeting at Granite State Park, Dover, N. H., winning
two firsts and a second with Powers, two seconds
with Bateman, a second and a third with Oscar, a
third with Alley, and a fourth with Sweetness at the
three, while on the same dates John won a first with
Huntress at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, a first at Nor-
wich, Conn., where she defeated Nelly Irwin, Kansas
Chief and Parkis' Abdallah, and a first at Brooklyn
\\

168 THE GOLDSMITHS.

with Lottie. He then shipped the two mares and
Driver to Bradford, Pa., where the latter won over
the Blue Mare, Clifton Boy, Hannah D. and Ver-
sailles Girl. James was at Hartford the same week
and won with Bateman and Powers, Oscar finishing
second to John Hall, and Alley second to Geo. B.
Daniels. The next stop was at Plainville, where
Bateman, Alley and Powers were winners and Oscar
fourth to ^Emulus. After finishing second to Myrtle
with Oscar, and second to Geo. B. Daniels with Alley
at Providence the following week, James H. Gold-
smith shipped to Buffalo, where the two stables were
united, John returning to the farm with Lottie and
Huntress. Of the three starters at Buffalo, Driver
was the only one in the money, Bateman being un-
placed to Nancy Hackett, and Powers in the same
predicament in the race won by Protiene. At Roch-
ester, Driver and Bateman were unplaced, while
Powers won the 2 120 class, after John H. had won the
first heat in 2:24^4, Banquo the second in 2:22^, May
Queen the third in 2:23^4, and Adelaide the fourth
in 2 :22, the time for his fifth, sixth and seventh heats
being 2:22, 2:22, 2:24*4. He also won a six-heat race
at Utica the next week, it being the last one placed to
his credit. When the word was given, Richard
stepped out and won the first heat in 2:21. The sec-
ond heat went to Adelaide in the same notch, and
Powers gathered in the third in 2:21, his record. He
also won the fourth in 2:21^ and the race in 2:22^,
after Adelaide had added the fifth heat in 2:23^ to
her score. Bateman, through Nancy Hackett, being
distanced, received second premium at Utica in the
race won by Jersey Boy, while Driver was fourth in

1878 — DRIVER. 169

the memorable race won by Edward, and which
caused those who were connected with it no end of
trouble.

From Utica the stable shipped to Hartford, where
Bateman was started in the 2 126 class with Wolford
Z., Steve Maxwell, Result, Jersey Boy, Lady Voor-
hees and Goldfinder, and won, making his record of
2:22^4 in a fifth heat. During the stop at Charter
Oak, Driver trotted third to Edward, Dick Moore
being between him and Frank Work's old favorite,
and Powers was unplaced to Albemarle. The next
move was to Plainville, where Driver won the 2:25
class, Alley a third to Dick Moore and Powers a
second to Feek with Lysander Boy. After stopping
at Providence, where Alley was unplaced to Dick
Moore and Powers third in the last race won by Ed-
ward ; his future pole mate, Dick Swiveller, being one
of the competitors, as well as winning two heats ; the
Goldsmiths shipped to Elmira, where Driver won the
free-for-all and the 2 :22 class, Judgment saved his
entrance in two races and May Day, a recent pur-
chase, that had been campaigned by Hiram G. Smith,
was unplaced to Champion Girl. This was the only
race in which the Goldsmiths started May Day.
They subsequently sold her, together with Sweetness
and Kate, sister to Powers, to Monroe Salisbury. He
took them to California and bred them, May Day pro-
ducing Margaret S., 2:12^2, Sweetness the well-
known sire, Sidney, 2:19^4, and Kate the trotter,
Homestake, 2:14%.

After winning a first with Driver and a second
with Judgment at Batavia, James H. Goldsmith
shipped to Newark, where Alley won the 2:23 class.

170 THE GOLDSMITHS.

The next starts were at Dover, Del., where Driver
won a class race and Judgment finished second in two
events to Sherman Morgan. Bateman was also
started the same week at Lewistown, Pa., in the free-
for-all and won it. These meetings were followed by
two weeks' racing at Belmont and Point Breeze
Parks, Philadelphia, at which James H. Goldsmith
started five horses in ten races, his returns for the
fortnight being one first with Driver, three seconds
with Bateman, a second and a third with Powers, a
fourth with Bateman, while Alley was distanced by
Trampoline and Bateman unplaced in the race that
Hambletonian Mambrino won at Belmont.

The next starts were at Prospect Park, Brooklyn,
where Driver won the 2 124 class and Powers saved
his entrance in a race won by Lysander Boy. Driver
also won a race at Providence the following week,
while Powers trotted second to Kansas Chief and
Judgment was defeated by Richmond and Noontide,
the daughter of Harold, whose dam, Midnight, was
again represented at Narragansett Park in 1884, when
Jay Eye See, her foal by Dictator, cut the world's
record for trotters to 2:10. During the balance of the
season Driver trotted second to Darby at Fleetwood
Park, New York, and Bateman, after finishing second
to Hambletonian Rattler at Richmond, Va., won at
Norfolk, Va., on November 14, just six months from
the date that he began his campaign at Suffolk Park,
Philadelphia. Huntress was also taken up again in
September and started by John Alden Goldsmith at
Ogdensburg and Malone, N. Y., where she was
second to Clifton Boy, and in two races at Montreal,
where she was again beaten by Clifton Boy and Ben

1 879 — ALLEY.

171

Morrell. During the season the Goldsmiths started
fourteen horses in one hundred and eleven races, of
which they won thirty, as shown by the following
table :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

1

02

2

£

•d

I

13
1

Fourth.

t
fa

Amount
Won.

Powers

2:21

Volunteer

16

6

2

5

1

0

$3 960 00

Driver
Bateman
Huntress

2:24

2:22V4

Volunteer
Black Harry Clay
Volunteer

13

19

7

8
6
2

8
3

2
1

1
1
1

2
4

3,790 00
2,765 00
1 907 50

Alley
Oscar
Judgement

2:30

Volunteer
Reserve
Black Milo

14
11
13

6

3
3

7

2
3

1

1
2

3
4
^

1,780 00
627 50
605 00

Sweetness

2:30

Volunteer

4

1

1

1

1

435 00

Lottie
Edgar

2:28

Hambletonian
Col. Winfield

4
1

1

1
1

2

26500

22 50

Wildfire

2

1

1

20 00

Sister

Volunteer

2

1

1

20 00

Brother to Alley

Volunteer

4

1

^

15 00

May Day

Ballard'sC.M. Clayjr

1

1

Total

111

30

27

16

13

25

$16,212 50

1879— ALLEY.

Step your trotters while you can,
Crack your whips and make them rally,
Hustle, Murphy! Go it, Dan!
Goldsmith's out to win with Alley.

Driver and Alley were all that the Goldsmiths had
to depend on for the campaign of 1879. Eight others
were tried and discarded before the Grand Circuit
opened at Cleveland. In May, at Washington, where

172 THE GOLDSMITHS

Driver won the 2 \2.2. class, Aleck was started and dis-
tanced, while during the Philadelphia and Baltimore
meetings Judgment was started in five races and
Edgar in four without coming up to expectations. At
the Ambler Park meeting, where Driver was awarded
first money in the 2:20 class, James H. Goldsmith
also had a mount behind Change, his first pacer, and
finished third to Little Mac. Shipping west from
Baltimore, the Walnut Grove Farm stable stopped at
Lyons and Geneva, where Alley defeated the old
campaigner, Tom Keeler, in the 2 '.24 class, and Judg-
ment was unplaced to Larkin, one of the horses that
defeated him at Pimlico. The next stop was at Cin-
cinnati, where Driver won the 2 '.24. class over Post
Boy, Deck Wright, Dick Taylor and Dictator, while
Alley was third to Lucille, Huntress fourth to Hannis,
and Edgar unplaced to Will Cody. At Columbus the
following week Powers made his only start in 1879.
He took the word with Belle Brasfield, Lucille, Elsie
Good and Deck Wright. Seven heats were trotted
before the winner was found. Powers won the first
in 2 123, Belle Brasfield the second in 2 -.22, Elsie Good
the third in 2:22^, Powers the fourth in 2:24^, and
Lucille the fifth in 2 '.26. The next two heats and race
went to Belle Brasfield in 2:22, 2:23^, Elsie Good
being distanced in the sixth. At this meeting Alley
was second to Lewinski, Judgment fourth to Ed
Geers, with McCurdy's Hambletonian and Edgar
fourth to Red Line.

On the trip from Chicago to Boston, Driver and
Alley were the stable's only starters. Driver was
third to Bonesetter at Chicago and Rochester ; fourth
to Darby at Buffalo and won the 2 :2O class events at

JAMES GOLDSMITH EXPELLED. 173

Cleveland, where he lost a heat to Voltaire, at Hart-
ford, where he lost a heat and trotted a dead heat with
Bonesetter, and at Beacon Park, Boston, where he
went to the front after Bonesetter had had two heats
placed to his credit. On the last day of the Beacon
Park meeting Driver also started against Hannis and
Dick Swiveller in what proved one of the most
peculiar races on record. At the finish of the sixth
heat, when it went over on account of darkness, the
three horses stood equal in the summary, and as the
track was in poor condition when they were called
on the following day for the deciding mile, the money
was divided. The following is the summary, which
is a curiosity:

Boston, Mass., Beacon Park, Sept. 6, 1879. Purse $3,000 —
2:18 class trotting.

A. Goldsmith's b. g. Driver, by Volunteer 223311

J. E. Turner's ch. s. Hannis, by Mambrino

Pilot 3 3 i i 2 2

J. Golden's b. g. Dick Swiveller, by Wai-
kill Chief i i 2 2 3 3

Time — 2:20^, 2:20^, 2:20, 2:22, 2:23^, 2:23^.

JAMES GOLDSMITH EXPELLED.

We gentlemen whose chariots roll only upon the four aces
are apt to have a wheel out of order. — Gibber.

After winning the 2 124 class at Chicago and mak-
ing his record of 2:19, Alley was unplaced to Lida
Bassett at Cleveland and Rochester. He won again
at Hartford from Emma B., Steve Maxwell, Star and

174 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Gray Chief, and was losing at Boston when the judges
took the matter in hand. The starters in the Boston
race were Captain Emmons, Sheridan, Mary Russell,
Alley and Jersey Boy. Murphy won the first heat
with Sheridan, Weeks the second with Captain Em-
mons and Alley the third, after which the race went
over on account of darkness, and was then continued
another day by unfavorable weather. When the
horses finally appeared Alley won the fourth heat and
Captain Emmons the fifth. When the three heat
winners were given the word for the sixth heat
Weeks moved off in front and led to the finish. Alley
was very unsteady, but remained in second place until
near the head of the stretch, where Sheridan passed
him. The judges promptly marked the performance
"no heat" and followed it by making one of the most
unique changes on record, when they asked John
Murphy, the driver of a competing horse, to get up
behind Alley and turn Sheridan over to Golden. After
the change Alley went on and won in a jog in 2:24,
which was within a second of the fastest heat in the
race. In due time the judges, notwithstanding the
earnest pleading of Alden Goldsmith, bidding them to
"take my son, but spare my horse," expelled James H.
Goldsmith and the bay gelding, Alley. Later on, at
the request of the officials who presided at the meet-
ing, Alley was reinstated by the Board of Appeals of
The National Trotting Association, which also rein-
stated the driver, when a similar recommendation
had been filed after he had been off the turf during the
season of 1880. The following table shows the races
that James H. Goldsmith drove in 1879:

JOHN A. GOLDSMITH IN THE SULKY.

175

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts. 1

£

E

Second. 1

i

S

h

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Driver

2£0#

Volunteer

14

7

3

1

3

$7,075 00

Allev . ..

2:19

Volunteer

9

5

1

1

2

4,400 00

Edgar
Huntress . ...

2:30

Col. Winfield
Volunteer

10
3

1

3
1

l
1

3
1

2

63000
325 00

Judgment

Black Milo

9

2

2

2

3

315 00

Powers

Volunteer

1

1

150 CO

Change (p)

1

1

45 00

Happv Medium

1

1

20 00

Neilson

1

1

Aleck

2:42

Hambletonian

1

1

Total

50

13

11

10

9

$12,960 00

JOHN A. GOLDSMITH IN THE SULKY.

Then John Alden, spake and related the wondrous adventure.

— Longfellow.

While James and his father were off in the big
circuit with Driver and Alley, John Alden took up
Oscar and Clara Morris and started them at Corn-
wall, where the former trotted second to Vivandiere,
and the latter was also second to the Thorndale mare,
Nelly Ely. He was not so fortunate in his next
starts, at Middletown, as Clara Morris was twice un-
placed to the George Wilkes mare, Prospect Maid,
driven by Charles Green, and the chestnut gelding,
Sam, by Perkins' Morrill, put Mountaineer behind the
money. John started Edgar at Amenia and finished

176 THE GOLDSMITHS.

fourth to Major Lord the week that his brother and
Alley were expelled at Boston, and as Driver was
entered at Chicago, he was sent on to drive him. The
skill shown by this young man in the sulky was a
revelation toe those who saw Driver win his race in
straight heats over Charley Ford, Scott's Thomas,
Mazo-Manie, Post Boy, Rose of Washington, Belle
Brasfield, Kate Middleton and John H. He also
trotted second to Darby the same week in the free-
for-all and added two firsts to the old horse's score
the following week at Kansas City. The next start
was at St. Louis, where he was third to Bonesetter,
and also where John A. Goldsmith, for the first and
only time in his career, had a mount behind a shady
horse. At the Chicago meeting a man who repre-
sented himself as J. Brackett started a roan gelding
called Windsor in the 2:40 class and finished third to
William H. and Black Cloud. The horse also ap-
peared at Kansas City, where he was third to Hamble-
tonian Downing. When the party reached St. Louis,
Windsor appeared in the 2:50 class. »John Goldsmith
was asked to drive him. He took the mount and won
over Don Quixote, France's Alexander, Robert Mc-
Gregor, Josephus, Duck, Fred Douglass,, Forrest
Golddust, Baby and W. H. Holly in 2:24^, 2:25,
2:271/2. Later on, much to John Goldsmith's disgust,
it was shown that the true name of the horse was
Despatch, that had won earlier in the season at Bos-
ton and Providence and made a record of 2:28. The
horse and the man who had him were detected and
expelled by The National Trotting Association.
After leaving St. Louis, Charley Ford defeated Driver
in two races at Lexington. He also outfooted him in

l88o — UNOLAI,A,

177

a race at Washington, D. C, the first week in Novem-
ber, where the Volunteer gelding also trotted third in
a race won by Hopeful. Edgar joined the stable at
Washington, where he trotted second to Lyman and
made a record of 2 130. The following table presents
a summary of the races driven by John Alden Gold-
smith in 1879:

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

i

&

Second.

•d
1

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Driver .

2:20^

Volunteer . .

11

8

2

6

$3,130 00

Windsor

2:24#

Lewiston Boy

1

1

500 00

Clara Morris

3

1

ft

25 00

Edgar

Col Winfield

1

1

20 00

Mountaineer

1

1

Total

17

4

3

6

1

3

$3,675 00

1880— UNOLALA.

One crowded hour of glorious life,

Is worth an age without a name. — Scott.

Driver, Unolala, sister to St. Julien and St. Remo,
Alice Medium, Una and the pacer, Change, were the
only horses in John A. Goldsmith's stable when he
shipped to Philadelphia in May. Starting in at Suf-
folk Park he defeated Billy Scott and Clinker with
Change, trotted second to Hannis with Driver, was
third to Bay Chieftain and fourth to Phil Dwyer with

178 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Unolala and unplaced with Alice Medium to Bay
Chieftain in his second race that week. At the Point
Breeze and Belmont Park May meetings Driver won
the 2 :2O classes after close contests with Hannis and
Ettie Jones; Unolala also won two races at Point
Breeze, making a record of 2 127^ in one of them,
while at Belmont Park, after being unplaced to her
brother, St. Remo, on the first day of the meeting, she
took the word in the 2 138 class and won after drop-
ping a heat to Birdie C. Change was awarded two
seconds, while Alice Medium, after being unplaced to
Deceit at Point Breeze, was dropped from the stable
at the close of the Washington meeting, where she
finished second to Brown Tom. Driver and Unolala
were numbered among the winners at Washington,
from which point the stable shipped to Detroit, where
Driver defeated Voltaire and Lucy; Unolala won the
2 126 class over Hambletonian Bashaw ; Change was
awarded second in the races won by Sleepy Tom and
Bay Billy, and Una was third to Lady Brownell.

On the trip through the Michigan Circuit, Driver
won at Ionia and Grand Rapids ; Unolala won at Pon-
tiac and was third to Black Cloud at Ionia.
Change was distanced at Pontiac through a mishap
to his sulky and third to Sorrel Dan at Grand Rapids,
where Una trotted fourth to Russ Ellis. After win-
ning a free-for-all, Fourth of July week at Blooming-
ton, 111., with Driver, the stable shipped to Cleveland,
where it remained until the bell rang for the Grand
Circuit meeting, at which Driver was second to Maud
S. ; Change distanced by Bay Billy, after winning two
heats in 2:21^, 2:19^, and Unolala won the race at
two-mile heats for the 2 125 class in 5 :02, 4 158. At

i88o — UNOLALA. 179

Buffalo, the following week, she won again in 4:50,
4:55, but was beaten at Rochester, Utica and Hart-
ford by Steve Maxwell. On the trip down the line,
Driver, after being fourth to Maud S. at Buffalo,
trimmed Charley Ford, Hannis and Ettie Jones at
Rochester in one of the best races of the season,
Charley Ford winning the first two heats in 2:21,
2:19^4, Driver the third in 2:20, Hannis the next two
in 2:18^4, 2:20^4, and Driver the balance in 2:20, 2:21 ;
was third to Hannis and Charley Ford at Utica and
Hartford ; second to Wedgewood and fourth to Darby
at Mystic Park, and won the 2 120 class at Beacon
Park after a six-heat contest with Wedgewood, Sheri-
dan and Lady Maud. Change's slip shows that he
was defeated by Bay Billy at Buffalo and Rochester,
and second to Ben Hamilton at Springfield and Hart-
ford the week that St. Julien placed the world's record
at 2:1154.

After the Boston meetings the Goldsmith stable
shipped to Albany, where Driver was second to
Trinket and Charley Ford ; Unolala unplaced to the
Daniel Lambert mare, Nancy; and Una behind the
money in the race won by Hambrino Belle. On Sep-
tember 25, Driver was again at Beacon Park, where
he met and defeated Daisydale, Wedgewood and
Sheridan, after the Thorndale mare had won two
heats. The following week he disposed of Wedge-
wood and Daisydale in straight heats at Dover, Del.,
after which he was shipped to Philadelphia, where he
trotted third to Trinket over Belmont Park. His last
start in 1880 was at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N. Y.,
on October 15, against Patchen and Wedgewood.
The race was won by the latter, Driver making his

180

THE GOLDSMITHS.

record of 2:19^ in the third heat, which was declared
dead between him and the winner. The following
table presents a summary of the season's work:

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

1

£

Second.

!§

IE
EH

Fourth.

n

t>

Amount
Won.

Driver

2-19^

Volunteer

94

n

6

5

9

$8 470 00

Unolala

2:27 ><

Volunteer

17

8

3

?,

1

3

3,635 00

Change (p)

2:19^

13

2

H

1

1

3

1,450 00

Una

2-29%:

Altnont

6

1

2

1

9

680 00

Mice Medium

Happy Medium

3

1

2

100 (JO

Total

63

21

17

10

5

10

$14,335 00

1 88 1— TWO-MILE HEATS.

The stamp of a race horse has always been found,
In one that can march o'er a distance of ground.

James H. Goldsmith made his first appearance, af-
ter being reinstated, at the Washington May meeting,
where he started Driver, Unolala, Alice Medium,
Fenner, Una, Change and Powers. Unolala and
Alice Medium were returned as winners that week,
While Una, Powers and Change were unplaced, the
latter being distanced by Little Brown Jug, Fenner
trotting third to Kentuckian and Driver second to
Trinket. This mare defeated Driver in seven races
during the season. After trotting second to her at
Washington he was fourth in the races she won

l88l — TWO-MILK HEATS. 181

at Point Breeze and Belmont Park, and third
at Suffolk Park. On the trip through the Grand
Circuit he was fourth to her at Cleveland, Roch-
ester and Utica. The returns for the season also
show that Driver lost five races to Midnight and five
to William H., the former defeating him at Columbus,
Youngstown and Pittsburg, Elmira and Toledo, and
the latter at Bradford, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Buf-
falo. In addition to the above, Driver trotted second
to the Canadian trotter, Moose, at Bradford, and sec-
ond to Wedgewood at Chicago, his only victory of the
year being gained at Elmira in September, when he
disposed of Argonaut, Tom Keeler and Humboldt in
a five heat race.

Unolala scored four firsts out of thirteen starts,
her successes being recorded at Cincinnati, Washing-
ton and Buffalo, where she defeated Hamlin's
Almont, Jr., in the race in which he made his record
of 2 126. On the trip down the line Unolala was third
to Kate McCall at Pittsburg, second to Dan Donald-
son at Chicago, fourth in the race Dustin won at
Cleveland with Troubadour, fourth to John S. Clark
at Rochester, second to Josephus at Utica, third to
Argonaut at Elmira and third to William H. in one
race at Bradford and two at Pittsburg. Change was
dropped from the stable after the close of the Phila-
delphia meetings, while Powers did not pay expenses,
a second to Argonaut at Elmira in June and third to
Robert McGregor at Toledo the following week,
being the only occasions on which he won anything
over his entrance, which he managed to save at Co-
lumbus and Pittsburg, where he was fourth to Lucy
and Silverton respectively. Una made her first start

182

THE GOLDSMITHS.

after Washington in a two-mile heat race at Cleve-
land, where she was distanced by Post Boy. At
Rochester she was second to Amber and won a heat
in 4:54^4. She also saved her entrance in the race
Post Boy won at Utica the following week. Of the
other members of the stable, Fritz made a record of
2. '.2.^/2 at Philadelphia in May and was unplaced to
Dan Donaldson at Elmira, Executor at Columbus and
Kinsman Boy at Youngstown, while Alice Medium,
after finishing third to Marion M. at Toledo, second
to Executor at Cincinnati and third to King Almont
at Elmira, won a special at two-mile heats at Pittsburg
in 5:06, 5:13. In addition to the above, James H.
Goldsmith drove Chester F. in the two-mile heat races
in which he started at the Grand Circuit meetings.
He won with him at Rochester and Hartford, was sec-
ond to Stranger at Utica, third to Hattie Fisher at
Buffalo and fourth to Stranger at Cleveland. He also
won a race with him at Bradford. The following is
the stable's summary for the season :

T3

"H

•Si

ID

•g

I

Starters.

§

Sire.

\

£

8

2

o

c

Amount
Won.

W

£

03

H

Jn

P

Driver

Volunteer

22

i

11

4

6

$4, .565 00

Unolala

2:25^

Volunteer

13

4

3

4

2

3,840 00

Chester F

2:30

Mercury

6

3

]

1

1

1,00000

Alice Medium

2:29*

Happy Medium

9

2

1

2

2

2

935 00

Volunteer

5

1

1

2

1

50500

Una

2-27*

Almont

5

1

1

3

350 00

Fritz

2:27%

Bay Richmond

1

2

4

23500

4

1

8

25 00

Total

71

10

19

14

15

13

$11,455 00

VOLUNTEER ABOVE PRICE. 183

VOLUNTEER ABOVE PRICE.

Would he oblige me? Let me only find

He does not think me what he thinks mankind.

— Pope.

Volunteer reached the zenith of his fame in 1879
and '80, when St. Julien, after reducing the world's
record to 2:12^4 at Oakland, Cal., in the presence of
General Grant, who was then returning from his trip
around the world, was brought east and made another
cut in the mark at Rochester, N. Y., on August 12,
when he and Maud S. each trotted in 2:11^4, and
finally made his record of 2:11*4 on August 27 over
Charter Oak Park, Hartford, Conn. On the date of
this performance Volunteer was the sire of the cham-
pion trotters at one and three miles, as well as Uno-
lala, a sister of St. Julien, that had raced consistently
at two-mile heats, together with Gloster, Driver,
Alley and Powers, race horses which had no superiors,
as they had trained on from year to year ; racing up to
their records or a shade under them each season, and
on each campaign were asked to meet fresh fields
from every section of the country.

William M. Rysdyk lived long enough to be con-
vinced that Volunteer's success as a sire of race
horses was assured, and when Hambletonian died,
on March 27, 1876, Lady Patriot's first foal was con-
sidered his best son. George Wilkes was at that time
entering upon his remarkable career as a stock horse
in Kentucky, and Electioneer was still in a paddock
at Stony Ford.

Abdallah, the sire of Hambletonian, was for a
brief period in service in Kentucky, and Alexander's

184 THE GOLDSMITHS

Abdallah, the sire of Goldsmith Maid, was taken there
in 1859. He sired Almont and Belmont and died in
1865. The success of his descendants prompted
others to visit Orange County, the fountain head of
the Hambletonian family of trotters, J. B. McFerran
being one of the first. He visited Stony Ford, where he
purchased August Belmont and Cuyler. He also pur-
chased a number of mares by Hambletonian and his
sons, and to their produce, as well as the get of Cuyler
and his descendants, the success of Glenview Farm
can be traced. R. S. Veech, the founder of the Indian
Hill Stud, was a neighbor of McFerran's. He also
visited Orange County and purchased a number of
mares bred in the same lines to cross with Princeps.
The records show that the venture was successful.

The Kentucky breeders did not take very kindly
to George Wilkes when he appeared among them in
1875, but the cloud of neglect soon faded when his get
were tried on the tur'f. From 1876 to 1882 he had
eleven performers in 2 126 or better, and in his an-
nouncement for the latter year, Z. E. Simmons said :
"Hambletonian never got a better one than So So,
2:17^4. In 1881 St. Julien was the only horse who
trotted faster than she did in a contested race, 2:17*4."
Volunteer was the sire of St. Julien. He was then
eighteen years old, and his .service fee $500.
Prompted by a desire to own the greatest living sire
of trotters, R. S. Veech, while in New York, in Febru-
ary, 1882, wired Alden Goldsmith asking if it would
be worth his while to visit Walnut Grove Farm with
a view of purchasing Volunteer. He received the fol-
lowing reply:

VOLUNTEER ABOVE PRICE. 185

Washingtonville, Orange Co.. N. Y.,
February 13, 1882.

R. S. Veech, Esq :

Your telegram was duly received, but being ab-
sent from my home, it was not placed in my hands
until too late to reply last evening.

While there is no person that would be more wel-
come at the farm than yourself, if the only object of
your visit would be the purchase of Volunteer, then
your trip would not be a profitable or successful one,
as no breeder in Kentucky has money enough to buy
him.

Volunteer is a permanent fixture at the Walnut
Grove Farm ; and if he lays down in the sleep of death
before his owner, he will have an honorable burial on
the farm, and a suitable monument erected over him
to mark his resting place and commemorate his great-
ness, or his body will be presented to some national
institution for scientific purposes.

I have as high a regard for money as the most of
men for the uses which it may subserve, but there are
certain things which money cannot buy, as the
Teacher of old taught Simon the Samaritan. I can
recall but one incident in all history so to the point as
that related of our great jurist, statesman and orator,
Daniel Webster, who, when upon his deathbed and
only a few hours before his demise, directed his at-
tendants to have his herd of Short Horns driven up
before his window, where, when bolstered up on. his
couch, he might be permitted once more to look into
the broad, honest faces of those animals, that never
done him a wrong or deceived him. Was there ever

186 THE GOLDSMITHS.

so eloquent and well merited a tribute paid to the
animal kingdom and so cutting a satire upon man?

The shadows and shams of life had then all de-
parted, and the great man, just about to take his leave
of this world, desired to hold communion with those
honest faces dnce more and then depart.

My wife joins with me in a cordial invitation for
you to spend a day with us at the farm before you re-
turn. With high regard, I am yours, etc.,

ALDEN GOLDSMITH.

It is to be regretted that Alden Goldsmith did not
look with favor on the advances made by R. S. Veech,
as Volunteer never sired a horse of note after the date
of this correspondence, while the success of George
Wilkes, Dictator, Happy Medium, Harold, Strath-
more, Aberdeen, Victor Bismarck and Egbert would
have come in all probability to Volunteer in the "blue
grass." The allusion to Webster in Alden Gold-
smith's letter also recalls an incident in the last hours
of J. B. McFerran, who, on the day he died, ordered
Nutwood led on the lawn, so that he could once more
feast his eyes upon him before passing into the
shadow. Not even in Cobham did Pope find an apter
illustration of the "ruling passion strong in death,"
and to which he again refers in his Moral Essays in the
familiar lines :

Manners with fortunes, humors turn with climes,
Tenets with books, and principles with times
Search then the ruling passion: there alone
The wild are constant, and the cunning known.
*****

The ruling passion, be it what it will,
The ruling passion conquers reason still.

1 882— FLORA BELLE. 187

1882— FLORA BELLE.

She was a pacer, high-headed and gay,
Winning whenever they sent her away
On her stride, and wild for a whirl
With Lucy, Bay Billy, or Buffalo Girl.

James H. Goldsmith began racing in 1882, at
Maysville, Ky., with Driver, Alley, who had been on
the retired list for two seasons, Unolala, Una, Belle
of Kings, Walnut and the Chester Chief horse, Bar-
rett. On the opening day Driver was fourth to Geers
with Annie W., Walnut finishing second to Florence
M. and Alley fourth to J. B. Thomas. The returns
for the next day show that Unolala won the 2 :25 class
over Leontine, Big John and Middlesex, that Una was
third to Rosa Wilkes and Belle of Kings unplaced to
Red Cross. After being distanced by the same horse
at Columbus the following week, Belle of Kings was
dropped and Una disappeared, after being unplaced
to Phyllis at Bradford in June. Driver, in his fif-
teenth year, kept pegging away all season, the returns
for 1882 showing that he won his engagements at
Bradford, Erie, Albany, Mount Holly and Mystic
Park, Boston, the latter being a seven-heat contest, in
which J. P. Morris, Kentucky Wilkes, Forest
Patchen, Clemmie G. and Humboldt started; that he
was second to Annie W. at Detroit, where he won
two heats in 2:24, 2:21^, and third to her at Colum-
bus, third to Clingstone at Chicago the week before
"the demon trotter" and Edwin Thorne met in their
memorable race at Cleveland, second to Early Rose at
Pittsburg, third to Von Arnim at Rochester, second
to Fancy Witherspoon at Poughkeepsie, fourth to

188 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Minnie R. at Hartford, fourth to J. P. Morris at
Springfield, third to Dan Smith at Albany in Septem-
ber and second to Frank at Hudson the following
month, while he was unplaced to Rosa Wilkes at
Cleveland, to^ Adele Gould at Buffalo and to J. P.
Morris at Utica.

During the season Unolala won seven out of six-
teen starts, her successes being scored at Maysville,
Toledo, Olean, Rochester, Poughkeepsie and Utica,
where she made her record, 2:22:4, and defeated R. P.
Lucrece, Mattie, Cora Belmont, George M. and Glos-
ter. In her other starts she was second to Buzz
Medium at Pittsburg, third to Rosa Wilkes at Co-
lumbus, third to Leontine at Erie, third to Early Rose
at Albany, the week that Young Fullerton defeated
Walnut in the Clay Stakes, third to Minnie R. and
fourth to Black Cloud at Chicago, third to Jerome
Eddy at Cleveland, fourth to Lucrece at Buffalo and
unplaced to Aldine at Hartford.

Barrett made his first start at Columbus, where he
was unplaced to Commander, Maud T. distanced him
at Toledo and a third premium was awarded him in
the race Geers won at Detroit with Dr. Norman. The
next start was at Bradford, where he won the three-
minute class and made a record of 2 140. A star shot
across his path the following week at Olean, N. Y.,
where he was unplaced to "the plough horse," Captain
Lewis, who later in the season defeated him at Buf-
falo, Utica and Hartford. Barrett picked up a first
and a second at Erie and was fourth to Douglass at
Albany. In his other engagements he was fourth to
Adele Gould at Pittsburg, third to Barbara Patchen
at Rochester, third to Louise N. at Springfield, where

1 882 — FLORA BELLE, 189

he made a record of 2 125, and second to the same mare
at Mystic Park, Boston. His last starts were made
at Fleetwood Park, New York, where he won a race
in slow time over Lotta and Jupiter Norwood, and
had two walkovers in stakes at the meeting of the
National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders.
His stable companion, Walnut, also had two walk-
overs that week, but before reaching Fleetwood the
Florida horse had what might be termed an expensive
campaign, as after trotting second to Florence M. at
Maysville, he was distanced by Highland Stranger at
Columbus, second to Florence M. at Toledo, third to
Maud T. at Detroit, after winning two heats, second
to Young Fullerton in the Clay Stakes at Albany, as
has been stated, distanced by Clara Cleveland at Chi-
cago, where he won two heats in 2:23^, 2:24*4,
second to Cornelia at Buffalo, after winning two heats
and a dead heat in 2:22^, 2:23, 2:24^, and unplaced
to Captain Lewis at Albany. Alley won three of the
six races in which he started, his -last appearance as a
member of the Walnut Grove Farm stables being at
Island Park, Albany, September 29, when he defeated
Humboldt in 2 130, 2 129, 2 130. He also won at Co-
lumbus and Clean, was second to Edwin Thorne at
Toledo and third to Clingstone at Detroit.

The black mare, Flora Belle, was a member of
James H. Goldsmith's stable on the trip from Buffalo
to Hartford. He won the free-for-all pace with her
at Buffalo, Utica and Poughkeepsie, defeating Lucy,
Gem, Buffalo Girl and Mattie Hunter. At Rochester
he was second to Lucy in the last race placed to her
credit, while at Hartford he could only save his en-
trance in the race won by Buffalo Girl, with Gem

190

THE GOLDSMITHS.

second and Lucy third. The summary of this sea-
son's work shows twenty-five firsts and sixteen
seconds out of eighty-five starts.

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

t/i

oj

Cfl

£

T3

-

i

H

Fourth.

1

j5
"5,
c
p

Amount
Won.

Unolala

2-22^

Volunteer

if.

_

1

5

a

1

$7 320 00

Driver

Volunteer . ...

?,]

5

5

5

2

4

4,495 00

Walnut

2:22 1/

Florida

11

• ?,

5

1

3

3,290 00

Barrett

2-25

Chester Chief

18

5

3

3

3

4

2,788 33

Flora Belle (p)
Alley

2:15^

White Cloud
Volunteer

5

6

3

s

1
1

1

i
i

2,775 00
1,480 00

Una

Almont

3

1

2

120 00

Belle of Kings

Jupiter Abdallah

2

2

Total

82

25

16

16

9

16

$22,268 33

1883.

What though success will not attend on all,
Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall.

—Smollet.

Driver, Walnut and Fenner were the only horses
in James H. Goldsmith's stable when he arrived at
Mystic Park, Boston, the first week in June, 1883. He
started Driver and Fenner at that meeting, finishing
fourth to Kentucky Wilkes, with the former and sec-
ond to the Aristos gelding, H. B. Winship, with the
latter. After stopping at Providence, where Driver
was fourth to Josephus, Fenner third to H.B. Winship

.

JAMES H. GOLDSMITH.

1883. 193

and Walnut third to Kentucky Wilkes, the stable
moved on to Charter Oak Park, Hartford, where the
brothers met in two races, John defeating Walnut
with Director, after the Florida horse had won a heat
in 2:21^, while both Romero and Driver, the Gold-
smith pupils, were beaten by Forest Patchen the fol-
lowing day. After a trip to Albany, where Driver
was fourth to Director and Fenner unplaced to Magic,
and Chicago, where the old Volunteer gelding was un-
placed by the star attraction in Monroe Salisbury's
stable, James Goldsmith started east, stopping at
Youngstown, where Walnut won a free-for-all, and
Pittsburg, where he also picked up third money in a
race won by Gladiator. After winning second money
in a race at Great Bend, Pa., Walnut was gelded, his
only other start in 1883 being at Goshen, N. Y., Oc-
tober n, where he trotted third to Stephen G.

When the fair season opened, James H. Goldsmith
started for a campaign at the "pumpkin shows" with
Fenner, Driver and the Deucalion mare, Nino. Driver
won the free-for-all at Johnstown, Cobleskill, Pawl-
ing, Southington and New Haven, and was second to
Mambrino Dudley at Danbury. Nino picked up two
first moneys at Pawling, was second to Theresa
Sprague at Johnstown and second to Captain Jake at
Albany, where she made a record of 2:30. At this
meeting Fenner was unplaced to Pilot Knox, and after
being second to Prince and unplaced to Breeze at
Danbury, he closed the season at Mystic Park on
October 30 by saving his entrance in a race won by
Charlie Knox. The following is a summary of the
season's work :

194

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Starters.

T3
tf

Sire.

t»

00

ttJ

to

9-4

£

Second.

•d

2

fH

Fourth

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Driver

Volunteer

9

4

2

2

1

$1.235 00

Walnut

Florida

8

1

1

4

1

1

975 00

Fenner

2:32

7

2

1

1

3

300 00

Nino

2:30

Deucalion

4

2

1

1

259 50

Total...

28

7

6

6

4

5

$2.769 50

DRIVER'S CAREER.

Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.

— -Johnson.

Driver trotted his last race for the Goldsmiths at
New Haven, Conn., October 18, 1883, when he de-
feated Troublesome, Jimmy Stewart and Louis. In
1882, when the bell rang, the old Volunteer gelding
was a member of Charles Taylor's stable in Vermont.
He raced him a little for three seasons, starting him.
in sixteen races, of which he won nine, was second in
four and third in three. Driver made his last start at
Montreal, Que., October 20, 1886, in a free-for all for a
$200 purse, with Chestnut Hill, Little Gift and Avenue
Girl. Chestnut Hill won the first heat in 2:26, with
Driver fourth, and Driver the second in 2 128, with
Little Gift second and Chestnut Hill third. The race
was never finished, and after it, this tried and triu:
race horse dropped out of sight until his death was

DRIVER S CAREER.

195

recorded, in 1891. As a campaigner, he takes rank
with Lady Suffolk, Flora Temple, Goldsmith Maid,
Joe Ripley and Tom Keeler, and while he did not pos-
sess the record-breaking speed of the mares in the
above group, I am of the opinion that with the single
exception of Rams, he raced nearer the limit of his
speed, season after season, than any harness, per-
former that ever took the word. The following table
presents a synopsis of Driver's races during the eleven
years that he was campaigned. It shows that he
started in one hundred and fifty-five races, of which he
won sixty-two, and as he was unplaced in but seven,
those who had him never found it necessary to send
home for a few dollars to bridge them over what
Turner termed a "severe week" :

•O

Jj

a

_j

£

0

Year.

ta

•d

-a

S

M

M

Amount

•H

09

§

"S

g

*E<

cfi

4J

S

Won.

C3
00

IN

1

3

o

to

a
p

V

w

w

1876

9

3

1

3

2

34

10

$ 1,450.00

1877

14

3

4

3

3

1

64

12

3,195.00

1878

13

8

2

1

2

66

40

3,790.00

1879

25

10

5

9

3

....

133

42

10,205.00

1880

24

11

6

5

2

....

97

40

8,470.00

1881

22

1

11

4

6

72

7

4,565.00

1882

21

5

5

5

2

4

67

23

4,495.00

1883

9

4

2

2

1

33

15

1,235.00

1884

6

3

1

2

19

9

477.50

1885

4

3

1

12

9

300.00

1886

6

3

2

1

....

16

10

587.50

Totals

1,53

54

38

31

22

10

613

217

$38,770.00

196 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1884— WALNUT.

And yet they say he once could trot. — Holmes,

Walnut was all that James H. Goldsmith had to
depend upon for expense money when he shipped to
Philadelphia in May. The money winning Volun-
teers that had sustained the reputation of the Walnut
Grove Farm stables for so many years had gone the
way of the world, and those that succeeded them, with
the exception of Domestic, proved very weak timber.
After winning at Suffolk and Belmont Parks, Walnut
was shipped to Ivy City Park, Washington, where he
won the 2:23 class. This success was followed by a
walk-over at Bradford, Pa., and firsts in the free-for-
alls at Clean, N. Y., Dunkirk, N. Y., and St. Marys,
Pa., while Nino, who had been picked up on the way
west, was dropped after being unplaced in the Penn-
sylvania Circuit at Bradford, Erie and St. Marys.
After being unplaced to Harry Wilkes at Homewood
Park, and second to the same gelding at Exposition
Park, Pittsburg, Walnut swung into the Grand Cir-
cuit, at Cleveland, where he was again defeated by
Harry Wilkes, A. V. Pantland finishing second and
Walnut third, King Wilkes, Mambrino Sparkle, Index
and five others being below him in the summary. On
the trip down the line Walnut was third to Index at
Buffalo, second to Felix at Rochester, where he won
a heat, third to Felix at Utica, fourth to King Wilkes
at Hartford, and second to Onward at Springfield,
where he won two heats in 2:20^2, 2:21. After the
Rochester meeting Belle F. was added to Goldsmith's
stable. He was second to Onward with her at Utica,

1884— WALNUT.

197

and won at Hartford and Springfield, where he gave
her a record of 2 :2O% in a third heat. The following
week at Mystic Park, Boston, she was second to But-
terfly after winning two heats, but won again at
Albany, where she disposed of Onward, St. Cloud,
Billy Button and Zoe B. The records also show that
Goldsmith had a mount behind St. Albans in the race
Maxie Cobb won at Providence in September.

After a let-up of a month, Walnut dropped into
line again at Mount Holly, N. J., where he was fourth
to Aclele Gould, Billy Button and Captain Emmons
being between him and the winner. His next starts
were on the Philadelphia tracks, where, after trotting
third to Captain Emmons at Belmont Park, he de-
feated the Continental gelding in the 2:20 class at Suf-
folk in time so slow that it could scarcely be considered
a contest. The following is a summary of the sea-
son's work :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

to

+J

t

£

T3

c

Third.

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Walnut

2:20^

Florida

17

7

2

5

2

1

$3,127 50

Belle F

2:20^

Masterlode

5

3

2

2,125 00

St. Albans

Monmouth Patchen .

1

1

Nino

Deucalion

8

*>

:

Total . . .

26

10

4

5

2

5

$5,252 50

198 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1885.

The horses paw and prance and neigh,
Fillies and colts like kittens play,
And dance and toss their rippled manes,
Shirking and soft as silken skeins. — Holmes.

After a skip of two years, Unolala was shipped
with Walnut, Domestic and Tracy to South Bend,
Ind., where the Walnut Grove Farm stable opened
the campaign of 1885, the second week in June. Wal-
nut was the only starter at the meeting. He finished
second to Phyllis. The following week, at Chicago,
Walnut won the 2:19 class over Deck Wright, Felix
and Belle F. in 2:20^4, 2:21^4, 2:21 ; after being second
the preceding day in 2:17^ to Jerome Turner. Zoe B.
defeated Jerome Turner and Walnut at Saginaw.
The next trial was at Detroit, where Onward, Secret
and Adelaide were also in the field. Jerome Turner
won the first heat in 2:21^4 and Walnut the second
in the same time. In the third mile Turner scored in
2:19^4, while the fourth heat went to Walnut in
2:21^2, the fifth to Zoe B. in 2:22, and the sixth and
deciding heat to Jerome Turner in 2:255^. The other
members of the stable were also tried at Detroit, Do-
mestic finishing third to Judge Lindsey, Tracy fourth
to Bessie G., and Unolala, who was third to Mambrino
Sparkle at Chicago, was on this occasion unplaced to
Urbana Belle. This was also her last start.

Walnut moved on to Pittsburg, where, after trot-
ting fourth to Albert France over Exposition Park,
he made his record of 2:19*4 at Homewood Park in
the first heat of a race which was won by Zoe B.and in
which she also made her record of 2:17*4, Splan fore-

i885.

199

ing her out with Onward. The next start was at
Cleveland, where Walnut was distanced by Joe Davis.
He was then returned to the farm, where he remained
until September, when he was taken up and won at
Freehold, Hoboken, and Kingston, was second to Col.
Wood and third to Judge Davis at Goshen. The Vol-
unteer gelding, Carver, was also started in five races,
of which he won three and made a record of 2:33*4.
Domestic won a five-year-old stake at the meeting of
the National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders
held at Island Park, Albany. The four-year-old filly,
Theo, by Heptagon, also started at this meeting. She
was distanced by Issaquena, but later in the season
won a stake at Goshen, defeating Philosee in 2:33^4.
During the breeders' meeting James H. Goldsmith
also won the Everett House and Juvenile stakes with
the Meander filly, Stephanie, and the Matron stake for
three-year-olds with Edith Almont. The following
table presents the returns for the season :

"8

tc

•d

fl

|

Starters.

Sire.

JM

cS

8

8

In

3
0

c

Amount
Won

«

to .

u<

CO

H

Walnut

2-19tf

Florida

If?

4

9,

1

1

$2700 00

Stephanie

2-411/2

Meander

9

9

1 332 50

Edith Almont

2:38%

King Almont

1

1

850 00

Domestic.

2-38

Volunteer

1

1

1

627 50

Carver

2:33%

Volunteer

6

3

1

2

470 00

Theo

2-33%

Heptagon

2

1

1

200 00

Unolala

Volunteer

2

1

15000

Tracy

Volunteer

9,

^

1

Total

31

12

7

4

4

4

$6.330 00

200 THE GOLDSMITHS.-

DEATH OF ALDEN GOLDSMITH.

One by one we go over to the majority.

-Wallace.

In 1886, Alden Goldsmith, with Edwin Thorne as
partner, leaded the Hudson River Driving Park, at
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and made an effort to hold race
meetings without betting, the former having during
the last few years of his life taken aggressive grounds
against speculation of every character. The meet-
ings proved a loss financially, and the worry con-
nected with the management of them weakened Alden
Goldsmith's nervous system. He went home from
Poughkeepsie a sick man and gradually grew worse,
until he died, December 20, aged sixty-six. As he
passed, Hamilton Busbey wrote :

"Alden Goldsmith was a man of resolute type, and
he made an impression upon the age in which he lived.
He was a breeder of ripe experience, and he knew
from practical observation how to develop the speed
of the trotting horse. For years his stable was very
formidable in circuit battles. He was a competitor
for prizes on nearly all of the tracks of the country.
He brought out Goldsmith Maid, Gloster, Huntress,
Powers, Alley, Driver, and many others, and he
learned to be modest in victory and philosophical in
defeat. He assisted at the birth of The National
Trotting Association, and season after season his
voice was heard in the halls of the Turf Congress.
He was also prominent in the meetings of the Na-
tional Association of Trotting Horse Breeders.
Words came easily to his lips, and he was ever ready
to debate a point. He was a good after-dinner

DEATH OF ALDEN GOLDSMITH. 201

speaker, and we have heard him round periods over
the social board in scores of the prominent cities of
the Union. Mr. Goldsmith took an interest in politics
and filled several positions of honor and trust. He
was also fond of books and pictures, and these are dis-
played in liberal quantities in the old-fashioned .house
at Walnut Grove Farm. He has left a widow and three
children, two of which are sons, James H. and John
Alden, both of whom are widely known in connection
with the trotting horse. There is one name which
history will always associate with the development
of the American trotting horse, and that name is
Alden Goldsmith."

John H. Wallace also wrote of him as follows, in
the Monthly which bore his name : "Mr. Goldsmith
was, perhaps, more widely known than any other
horseman in the country. He had been so many
years engaged in breeding and developing his own
stock, visiting literally all parts of the country with
his trotters, that everybody who knew anything about
trotting-horses knew Alden Goldsmith. He was a
ready speaker without being a careful student, and
this trait of his character was manifested in his breed-
ing operations. He had faith in results, but he never
seemed to comprehend the reasons for the steps that
led to results. Much of Mr. Goldsmith's fame is due
to the fact that he was the owner of Volunteer, and
nearly all of Volunteer's fame is due to the fact that
he had a master who was competent and willing to
develop the speed of his off-spring. Without being
what might be designated as 'natural trotters/ the
Volunteers have surpassed all other tribes in their
unconquerable will as race horses. Thus, one by one,

202 THE GOLDSMITHS.

we go over to the majority, leaving nothing behind by
which to be remembered, except what we have ac-
complished in life."

Since the above was written, John H. Wallace has
gone over to the silent majority, and no better epitaph
could be fount! for his tomb than the last sentence in
Alden Goldsmith's obituary. What he accomplished
will keep his memory green in the harness racing
world for ages. Hampered by poverty and conten-
tion, much of which was of his own making, the "old
master" gathered the rocks upon which the founda-
tion rests and remained at the helm of the Trotting
Register until the light harness horse was recognized
as a type which could be reproduced by breeding in
certain lines.

Joseph Cairn Simpson also, at a later date, referred
to Alden Goldsmith in the following terms : "Alden
Goldsmith was a plain country farmer who bred a
high class of horses in an era when the trotting horse
had but a meager commercial value. Gifted with no
superficial education, there was something beyond the
common run of yeomen about him. He was polite
without being servile, and dignified without being
arrogant or severe. In a word, he was a natural gen-
tleman, and his secret of success in life lay in the fact
that his word had never been called in question. His
wife was the fitting helpmate of such a man and
brought her children up to the belief that good be-
havior was bound to win in the long run."

1 886 — DOMESTIC.

203

1886— DOMESTIC.

The last of that bright band. — Hemans.

During the season of 1886, Alden Goldsmith's
racing stable confined its operations to the Eastern
tracks. Domestic and Walnut were its most consistant
performers. The former won ten out of nineteen
races, while Walnut's slip shows five firsts, two sec-
onds and two thirds for nine starts. The Volunteer
geldings, Carver and Tracy, also made a few starts,
the former taking a record of 2:27^, and the latter a
mark of 2:30^. Edwin Thorne was represented in
the stable by Misty Morning, by Marksman. She
acquired a record of 2 129^, and in twelve starts was
first in two, second in three, third in five and fourth in
two. On October 21 and 22, during the meeting at
Suffolk Park, Philadelphia, she defeated a field of
fourteen in a seven-heat contest. The following table
presents the returns for the year :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

L

S

Second.

EH

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Domestic

2-24%:

Volunteer .

19

10

5

2

1

1

$2,445 00

Walnut

Florida

9

5

2

2

1,540 00

Misty Morning .

2:29%:

Marksman

Ifl

2

3

5

2

805 00

Carver

2-2714

Volunteer

12

2

4

3

3

782 50

Tracy

230^

Volunteer

4

1

1

1

1

170 00

Theo

Heptagon

1

1

45 00

Total . .

57

19

15

14

4

5

$5,787 50

204 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1887— WALNUT GROVE FARM SALE.

You take him like your best girl — for better or for worse.

— Bain

In order to settle Alden Goldsmith's estate, the
Walnut Grove Farm horses were sold by Peter C.
Kellogg & Co. at the American Horse Exchange, New
York, March i and 2, ninety-two head realizing
$55,360, an average over $600. Domestic proved the
highest priced of the lot, Renssaeler Weston bidding
him off for James H. Goldsmith at $6,450. Heptagon,
a brother to Hermes, sold for $4,700 ; Walnut, whose
racing days were over, for $2,325, and Godiva, the
dam of Domestic, for $2,000. Volunteer remained at
the farm and died there December 12, 1888.

When the racing season opened Misty Morning
and Domestic were the only pupils in James H. Gold-
smith's stable. After winning the 2:29 class at Go-
shen on Decoration Day with the first named, he
shipped to Elmira, where she was unplaced to Lu-
cille's Baby, and Domestic won the 2 125 class. The
next stop was at Albany, where Domestic trimmed
Gean Smith, Lotta, Lady Whitefoot, Lady Alert and
Winona without getting out of his class. From
Island Park the stable shipped to Columbus, O.,
where Domestic added two firsts to his score and
Misty Morning was third to Belle Ogle. These mares
met again at Exposition Park, Pittsburg, the follow-
ing week, and on this occasion Misty Morning was
second. Domestic won another race at this meeting
ana was then shipped to Detroit, where he made his
last start.

1887 — WALNUT GROVE FARM SALE. 205

On July 25, at Hamtramck Park, Domestic took
the word in the 2 125 class with Garnet, Mambri-
nette, Marvel, White Stockings, Edwin C, Gean
Smith and Lowland Girl, in what proved one of the
worst snarled races ever seen on a mile track. Low-
land Girl, the favorite, won the first heat in 2:20^4,
with Marvel second and Gean Smith distanced. On
the next trip the favorite made a break going away
and was laid up. Marvel went on and won in 2 :22,
with Garnet second and Domestic third. As S. Caton
jogged around behind Lowland Girl he overlooked the
fact that the distance flag had been moved from the
one hundred and fifty-yard stand to the one hundred
on account of the field being reduced to seven, and
when the winner of the heat passed under the wire
he was inside the long distance, but the flag fell in his
mare's face before she reached the one hundred-yard
mark. Lowland Girl was sent to the stable and the
race went on without her, Domestic winning the third
and fourth heats in 2:20^, 2:23, and Marvel the fifth
in 2 12 1 24. With the non-heat winners out of the way,
Domestic and Marvel were the only starters in the
sixth heat. The latter made a break going away and
Domestic won in 2:24*4. The judges called it "no
heat" and put up B. Stanford behind Marvel. He
could not make him strike a trot and Domestic won
again in 2:30^. When the announcement of the
premiums was made the bets were declared off. Do-
mestic never recovered from this race. After a long
spell of sickness at the Detroit track he was shipped
to Walnut Grove Farm, where he died the following
winter.

206 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Misty Morning made her first bow in Grand Cir-
cuit company at Cleveland, where she won, after
Globe had picked up two heats and Class Leader one.
She was also returned as a winner at Rochester, where
she made her record oi 2:21, and at Utica. After trot-
ting third to Favonia at Poughkeepsie she was sold to
European parties.

During the Utica meeting A. J. Welch purchased
the black horse, Atlantic, from R. W. Davis, of West
Williamsfield, O., and placed him in Goldsmith's
stable. He started him at Albany the following week
in a field of eight, White Socks, with J. J. Bowen up,
being the favorite, and won after a five-heat contest,
In which Ben Starr and the favorite each won a heat.
After winning another race at Poughkeepsie, Atlantic
was shipped to Cleveland, where he trotted second to
Patron in one of the stakes at the meeting of the Ohio
Association of Trotting Horse Breeders. His next
start was at Detroit, where he made his record, 2:21,
and won over Ben Starr, Sarah B., Globe, Victor,
Marvel and Chanter.

On October 7, Atlantic and Williams met at St.
Louis. The Combat horse was considered invincible.
In the preceding three months he had eleven first
monies to show for twelve starts, while Atlantic —
well, he had never been heard of in Missouri. As
Goldsmith was not in a hurry to get in the thick of the
fight, Edwin C. stepped out and won the first heat in
2:21^4, and Williams the second in 2:23^4. Gold-
smith made his bid in the third heat and landed in
2:22^4, and came back in 2.:2i^, 2:24. The last start
for the year was made the next week at Kansas City,
where Atlantic was named to start against Thornless,.

1887— WALNUT GROVE FARM SALE.

207

who had not lost a race during the season, A. V. Pant-
land, White Stockings, Elmwood Chief and Strathlan.
As neither Atlantic or Thornless were out for the first
heat, A. V. Pantland won in 2. 124^, with White Stock-
ings second. On the next trip Atlantic and Thornless
were out in front at the finish, the decision being in
favor of the stallion in 2:23^4. The positions were
reversed at the finish of the third mile, Thornless win-
ning in the same time. This was followed by another
lay up by the pair of contending horses and A. V.
Pantland slipped in another heat in 2:24^4. The fifth
heat went to Thornless in 2 124, Goldsmith driving
him out with Atlantic and White Stockings third.
When the non-heat winners were ruled out, Atlantic
won all that was in sight with two miles in 2 124^4,
2:26^, Thornless finishing second in each of the
heats. As A. J. Welch backed Atlantic freely in both
of these races the western trip with the black horse
proved a very profitable one. A summary of the sea-
son's work appears in the following table :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Cfl

nS

*H

to

|

£

Second.

5

'£

fH

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Misty Morning . . .

2:21

Marksman

9

4

9,

2

1

$3,325 00

Atlantic

2-21

Almont

6

6

1

3,127 00

Domestic

2-20^

Volunteer

7

5

1

1

2,469 00

Total

22

14

4

2

2

$8,921 00

208 THE GOLDSMITHS.

VOLUNTEER TRIBE.

All tracks looked alike to them.

Domestic was the last of Volunteer's get that took
the word on the big tracks. He was cut down in the
middle of his career, and while his sire survived the
founder of the trotting stud at Walnut Grove Farm
until December 12, 1888, no horse of note was added
to his list of performers after 1887. The glory of Vol-
unteer as a sire of race horses departed when Driver,
Alley, Powers and Unolala, the old guard of the Gold-
smith stable, were retired by age and the ills incident
to campaigning. Their sire began his stud career
under the shadow of Hambletonian's greatness and
was neglected by the public until his merit as a stock
horse was fixed by the turf test. The family he
founded has not bred on like those tracing to a number
of the sons of Hambletonian, and at this writing
(1903) has been almost absorbed by the more prolific
members of the same tribe.

The following list presents the performers by Vol-
unteer, his sons that have sired and his daughters
which have produced standard speed under the years,
when known, that they were foaled to the close of
1902, as published in "Wallace's Year Book." It
shows that Gloster, 2:17, and Louis Napoleon, the
most successful stock horse by Volunteer, were foaled
in 1866; Carrie, 2:24^; Mary A. Whitney, 2:28, and
Volunteer Maid, 2 127, three fair trotters and his
greatest speed producers, were foaled in 1867. Alley,
2:19, and Driver, 2:19^2, a pair that were very busy

VOLUNTEER TRIBE.

209

in their day, were foaled in 1868, while the Harry Clay
mare, Flora, produced St. Julien, 2:11%; St. Remo,
2:28^, and Unolala, 2:22^, in consecutive years.

1859-

Glen's Hambletonian (i t.)
Hamlet 2:36 (5 t, I p.)

1863.
Abdallah 2:30 (4 t.)

1864.

Fanny Osborne, dam of
Langtrey 2:26^.
Hambletonian Prince

(3 t.)

Huntress 2:20^.
Kearsarge (i t.)

1865.
Amy 2:20^4, dam of

Clay King 2:27^.

Autocrat (i t.)
Bess, dam of

Camille 2:20^.

Bodine 2:ig%.
Hyacinthe, dam of

Mecca (p.) 2:

Sterling (3 t.)
Sunbeam, dam of

Stephen G. 2:20^.

William H. Allen 2:2314
(5 t.)

1866.

Advance (i t.)
Frank Wood 2:24.
Gloster 2:17.

John Goldsmith 2:28^ (3 t.)
Lady Huggins, dam of

Lilly Irwin 2:30.
Lorena, dam of

Loami 2:24%.

Valiant 2:28J4.
Louise Napoleon (23 t., 8 p.)

Romper, dam of

Golden Bow 2:2724.

Golden Eagle 2:28^.
Standard Be?rer (2 t., i p.)
Vivandiere, dam of

Monocacy 2:1534.
Voluntary, dam of

Blackwood

1867.

Admiral (4 t.)
Carrie 2:24^, dam of

Farandole 2:27.

Samovar 2:28^.
Enchantress, dam of

Jubilee 2:30.
Lady Morrison 2:27^.
Mary A. Whitney 2 .-28, dam of

Blue Blood 2:22^.

Bon Mot 2:25^4.

Brava 2:14^..

First Love 2:22^.

Nomad 2:19.
Volunteer Maid 2:27, dam of

Audacity 2:26.

Broadway 2:29^.

Dick (p.) 2:12^.
Volunteer Maid, dam of

Emmaetta 2:29.

1868.

Alley 2:19.
Driver 2:19^.
Florence, dam of

Hebron 2:30.

Juror 2:24^4.
John Bright (3 t.)
Lydia, dam of

Will Hamilton 2:2654.
Oneta, dam of

Ensign 2:28^.

210

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Onoto, dam of

Ripple 2\iyy2.
Princess Ethel, dam of

Lady Ethel 2:24%.

Phantom 2:2954.
Trio 2:2354, dam of

Guitar 2:29^4.
Volney 2:23. *
Wildfire (i t.)
Young Volunteer (6 t.)

1869.
Lady Goldsmith, dam of

Ezra T. 2:30.

Ruby Mac (p.) 2\2il/2.
Powers 2:21.
Priceless, dam of

Ernest Maltravers 2:22^2.
St. Julien 2:1154.
Venture, dam of

Master Medium 2:29^.

1870.

St. Remo 2:28^.
Volunteer Boy (4 t.)

1871.
Brocade, dam of

Grasshopper 2:295/2.
Bromide, dam of

J. W. O. 2:28.

Chicago Volunteer (6 t., I p.)
Heppenheimer, dam of

Albrina 2:27.
Kate, dam of

Homestake 2:1454*
Sweetness 2:2154, dam of

Sidney (p.) 2:19^.

Royal Guy 2:255^.
Unolala 2:2254.
Volunteer, Jr., (i t.)

1872.

Diamond Volunteer (2 t.)
High Private (i t.)

1873-

Ernest (3 t., 5 p.)
Landmark (23 t., 2 p.)

Louise 2:2954-
Prince Arthur 2:29.
Violet, dam of

Extralight 2:2754.

Morelight 2:28.
Volunteer Star (4 t.)

1874-

Alden Goldsmith (7 t., i p.)
Brittania, dam of

Pliancy (t.) 2:2954 (p.)

2:i554.
Eastlake, dam of

Volbrino H., 2:2654.
Gambetta (n t.)
Harry Blandy (i t.)
Kentucky Volunteer

(4 t., 2 p).
Lady Clare, dam of
Fashion 2:29.
Trotwood 2:22^/2.
Volute (i t.)

1876.
Annie Goldsmith, dam of

Brilliant 2:17^.
Delle, dam of

Mount Airy (t.) 2:2454
(p.) 2:215^.

Neville 2:29^ t., 2:16 p.
Mischief, dam of

Kioto 2:20^4.
Red Eagle (i t.)
Romney, dam of

Matteson 2:27.

1877-
Virginia, dam of

Delwood (p.) 2:1954.

1878.
Daisy Volunteer, dam of

Earles Laddy 2:2454.
Frank Hampton (i t., I p.)
Velvet, dam of

Miner 2:20.

Remsen 2:2454.
Volney (2 t.)
Volunteer Chief 2:295^.

VOLUNTEER TRIBE. 211

1879. 1882.

Autumn Queen 2:29. Goldsmith Frank (i t.)
Carver 2:2754.
Lonely, dam of 1883.

Brooklet, dam of

St. Leo i ) Strongwood (p )

McKean 2:24^ (i t.)
1880.

Domestic 2:20^. 1884.

Ingrraham (5 t, I p.) Hillcrest 2:29.

1881. St. Patrick (p.) 2:14^ (it.)

Alice Packard, dam of Susie Collins 2:26^.

Otis Baron (p.) 2:17^. Voucher (3 p.)
Augustus (i p.)
Changelet, dam of TRRz

Gov. Rusk 2:27^4.

Nettie, dam of Happy Volunteer 2:27^-

Nettie Field (p.) 2:23. Susie L, dam of
Nevins (i p.) Highwood Spider (p)

Volume 2:295^ (i t.) 2:125/2.

The years the following" were foaled is not known by
the writer:

Collette, dam of Hannah, dam of

BeckeySharp (p.) 2:2354. Dennis P. 2:29^4.

Collette (p.) 2:21^. Kitty Flynn, dam of

Dam of Amelia C. 2:1954. Harold Flynn (p.) 2:2454.

Dam of Freddy C. 2:265^. Nelly Haynes, dam of

Dexter 2:27. Ellen Cooper 2:29^4.

Fanny, dam of Young Sontag, dam of
Lady Thistle 2:28. Themis 2:25.

Early in life Tames H. Goldsmith learned that kind-
ness was the key to the confidence of the Volunteers and
that while they would resent a blow they would follow
a caress. This was the ladder on which he rose to fame
and made him during- the last four years of his life, when
he trained a public stable, one of the greatest if not the
greatest driver of trotting horses. John Alden Gold-
smith was also a graduate of the same school. He raced
the Volunteers one season and after casting about in

212 THE GOLDSMITHS.

California among" breeds of all kinds he ultimately rode
into the port of success behind the descendents of Guy
Wilkes whose sire was foaled at Newburg, N. Y., and
of which an early day sketch will be presented when
that family is reached in John Goldsmith's career.

—COMPANY.

Gritty, uncertain and wild,

Company was all that and more,

With a gait like a buzz saw and eyes like a child,

He won twice and was heard of no more.

During his first season as a public trainer, James
H. Goldsmith started sixteen horses in eighty-seven
races, of which he won twenty eight, was second in
twenty-nine and unplaced in eleven. His first start
was made at Goshen, N. Y., May 29, where he was
second to Mount Morris with Beauty Bright, and
second to Gautier with May Gould. Of the other
starters, William was awarded a second, Echo and
Lever each a third and Silvertail first premium in the
2:18 class. The Royal Fearnaught gelding won again
at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., the following week, when
May Gould was second to Del Monte and made her
record of 2 125. The next stop was at Elmira, where
Atlantic distanced Rare Ripe, his only competitor in
the 2:20 class, in 2:21*4. Lever, after finishing
second to Alley W., won the three-minute class in
2:32/4> William was second to St. Jacob, Beauty

1 88 8 — COMPANY. • 213

Bright and Echo unplaced and Silverthread second
to Little Ida. Lever won again at Binghamton with-
out reducing his record, and also trotted second to
Octavious, while Atlantic and William finished second
in the races in which they were started, Beauty Bright
third to Alley W., and Echo again unplaced to Lu-
cille's Baby. At Derby, Conn., which was the next
stand, Beauty Bright, William and Atlantic were win-
ners, Silverthread finishing second to Sally C, and
Echo behind the money in the race won by Westches-
ter Girl.

After a start at Goshen, N. Y., July 4, where Silver-
thread was defeated by Joe L., James H. Goldsmith,
dropped Lever and Echo and shipped to Pittsburg
to fill his engagements at the two tracks in the "Smoky
City." The returns for the meetings show that he
won two races with Beauty Bright, giving her a mark
of 2:28%, a first and a fourth with William, cutting
his record to 2 123^, a second and a fourth with Gean
Smith, while Atlantic trotted second to Spofford and
Silverthread was unplaced to Duplex. While the
Pittsburg meeting was in progress, A. J. Welch sold
Atlantic for export, the black son of Almont being
taken to Italy.

After stopping a week at Detroit, where Gean Smith
trotted second to White Stockings and Company was
unplaced to Kit Curry, the Goldsmith stable followed
the line of the circuit to Cleveland, where the Associa-
tion's books show that it started three horses, Gean
Smith finishing third to T. T. S., Beauty Bright fourth
to J. B. Richardson, and William being unplaced to
Lady Whitefoot in the race in which Peek marked
him in 2:18^. Skipping Buffalo, Goldsmith made

214 • THE GOLDSMITHS.

his next start at Rochester, where William and Com-
pany were again unplaced, Beauty Bright, after win-
ning a heat in 2:23*4, third to Frank Buford, Gean
Smith again third to T. T. S., and the Heptagon geld-
ing Cleon third to Elda B.

In 1888, Utica, as a member of the Grand Circuit,
and Poughkeepsie, held their meetings on the same
dates. As the majority of those who were winning on
the trip from Detroit were engaged at Utica, Gold-
smith shipped to the city on the Hudson River and
won with Cleon, Gean Smith, Company (marking him
in 2:1924) and Silverthread (giving him his record
2 :i5/4)while Beauty Bright, after winning a heat, was
beaten by the Blue Bull mare Bertha. These successes
were followed by a series of reverses at Island Park,
where Company and Beauty Bright were behind the
money and Gean Smith managed to save his entrance
in the race won by T. T. S. During the week Wil-
liam started in a $3,000 stake at Hornellsville, N. Y.,
where he trotted second to Mount Morris.

Hartford was the next member of the Grand Cir-
cuit. While its meeting was in progress James H.
Goldsmith marked Cleon 2:22, Beauty Bright 2:21^4,
William 2:18%, and reduced Gean Smith's record to
2:18^4. His returns for the week were a first with
Cleon, second to Geneva S. with William, second to
Protection with Gean Smith, second to Golden Rod
with Beauty Bright, second to Captain with Company,
and fourth to Ed. Annan with Silverthread. In the
race in which he started Company, James H. Gold-
smith exhibited a sample of his patience with a bad
horse. He was in against Captain, William Kearney,

I 888 COMPANY. 215

Frank Buford, Charley Gibson and Jeremiah. The
Kentucky Prince gelding had won at Poughkeepsie,
defeating Graylight, who afterwards became a free-
for-all candidate under Goldsmith's pilotage, Superior,
and a number of others, taking a record of 2:19^4.
He was known to be uncertain, unsteady and a
tremendous puller; in fact, so bad that John Murphy,
who gave him his first lessons, stopped him in a race
at Cleveland and sent him to the stable.

Company was the kind of a horse that Goldsmith
cottoned to, possibly on account of nearly every other
driver being disposed to give him the cold shoulder.
At all events, he got him, won the race at Poughkeep-
sie, and then popped up at Charter Oak. The race
was one of the kind that makes men dizzy. Feek won
the first two heats with William Kearney. In the
third heat Company out-finished him, and then Cap-
tain won two heats, Goldsmith fighting Golden at
every point. When Company won the sixth heat
Goldsmith felt he could win. It was then the fun
commenced. The bee in Company's bonnet began
buzzing — it made him dizzy, rank, cantankerous,
mean. Guy, in his sulkiest mood, was not a marker to
him. For over three-quarters of an hour he chassed,
waltzed, danced and hobbled down the stretch with
William Kearney and Captain. The public was dis-
gusted, but Goldsmith was unruffled. He had a whip
and an arm that could use it as unmercifully as any
man in the business when the position warranted it,
but he sat there and waited patiently for Company to
get over his tantrum. The starter and judges were
also determined to send him away on a trot, and when

216 THE GOLDSMITHS.

they did finally catch him on his gait it was only for a
short distance, and Captain won. When the agony
was over, Goldsmith did not lose his temper with
Company, but patted him as good naturedly after the
exhibition which had cost him, in all probability, first
premium and all that went with it. This was one of
the secrets of Goldsmith's success, and the records
show that Company won for him at Springfield the fol-
lowing week, where Gean Smith was second to Spof-
ford, Cleon second to Elda B., Billy Stewart fourth to
Roy Wilkes, and Lena Wilkes unplaced to Golden
Rod.

New York followed Springfield in the Grand Cir-
cuit, and while at Fleetwood Park, James H. Gold-
smith won with Gean Smith and Horton, and trotted
second to Guy with Cleon. He also shipped Beauty
Bright over to Huntington, where she trotted second
to Joe S. The next stop was at Point Breeze Park,
Philadelphia, where Cleon won the 2. 140 and 2 133
classes in straight heats, Gean Smith defeated Kite-
foot, Spofford, Kit Curry and T.T.S.in the 2:18 class;
Billy Stewart gathered in the 2 120 class, making a
record of 2:19^; Onie D. paced second to Bessemer
and Lena Wilkes saved her entrance in the race won by
Royal. During the balance of the season Gean Smith
won two races and was second to Beulah at Trenton,
N. J. ; Billy Stewart won at Mount Holly, N. J., but
was beaten at Trenton and Goshen by Balsora Wilkes;
Cleon won at Trenton and Beauty Bright was un-
placed in the free-for-all at the Danbury fair. A
synopsis of the campaign appears in the following
table :

1 889 — STAR LILY.

217

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

2

£

TS

c

Third.

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Gean Smith

2:18i/4

Dauntless

15

6

4

3

2

$5,370 00

Cleon

2-22

Heptagon

8

5

2

1

4,475 00

William

2:18%
2-21^

Wilder
John Bright

11
n

2
3

5
4

2

2
1

2
2

3,463 75
2,335 00

Company
Silverthread (p). ..
Billy Stewart (p) . .
Atlantic

2:193/4
2:15^
2:19%

Kentucky Prince
Royal Fearnaught
American Boy

6
8
6
4

2
3
2

9

1
3

2
2

1
1

1
1

2
1

2,075 00
1,365 00
1,195 00
825 00

Lever
Horton
May Gould
J. B. Richardson . .
Onie D (p)

2:32^
2:25%
2:24^

Col. Scattergood
Polonius
Jay Gould
George Wilkes
Warwick Boy

5
1

2
1
1

2

1

2

2
1
1

1

....

52500
500 00
25000
250 00
250 00

Echo

Regulus

4

2

2

135 00

Lena Wilkes

Barney Wilkes

o

1

1

100 00

Amy Belle

1

1

Total

87

28

29

11

8

11

$23,113 75

1889— STAR LILY.

She was thin but sweet-gaited,
With the snap to her stride
That stamped her a trotter
If such points are a guide.
There was a spark in her eye,«
And a scar on her shin,
And while they told a whole lot,
She'd the speed and could win.

James H. Goldsmith's campaign in 1889 covered
eighteen weeks, the start being made at Island Park,
Albany, the third week in June, when Gillig won the
Clay Stake, and the last race trotted over Point Breeze

218 THE GOLDSMITHS.

Park, Philadelphia, where, on October 29 and 30, the
four-year-old colt, Pamlico, won a seven-heat race
from a field of seventeen in 2:29^, 2:31^, 2:28^.
During the interval covered by the above dates,
Goldsmith started nineteen horses in eighty-eight
races, of which he won twenty-six, was second in
twenty-two, third in ten and fourth in thirteen.

After preparing his horses over the Fashion Farm
track at Trenton, N. J., James H. Goldsmith shipped
to Albany, where he won with Gillig and Gean Smith,
was twice second to Walkill Boy with the Meander
filly, Stephanie, which he afterwards drove to a record
of 2 :2524 at Hartford, where she lost to May Be, but
eventually won in slower time at Poughkeepsie, where
Billy Stewart was second to Marendes, after cutting
his record to 2:18^4, Barney Lee third to the Parkville
Farm mare, Edith R., and Cleon saved his entrance in
the race won by Yorktown Belle.

Goldsmith's stable had an inning at the Hartford
June meeting, the report showing that he won at
Charter Oak Park with Gean Smith, Gillig, Cleon and
Billy Stewart, while Stephanie was awarded a second
and Barney Lee was unplaced to Aubine. The next
stop was at Poughkeepsie, where Gillig, Stephanie
and Gean Smith were awarded first premiums, Cleon
and Billy Stewart each a second, Tot and Barney Lee
a third each and John Ferguson a fourth.

After a let-up of two weeks the Goldsmith stable
made its bow at Detroit during the opening meeting
of the Grand Circuit. On the trip down the line Gean
Smith proved its most industrious member, as he won
at Detroit, Cleveland, where he made his record of
2:15^/2 in a third heat, Buffalo, Poughkeepsie, Hart-

1 889 — STAR LILY. 219

ford and Springfield, and was beaten by Harry Wilkes
at Rochester, Boston and New York. The race that
Gean Smith lost to Harry Wilkes -at Rochester was a
trifle off color, the deciding mile being won in 2:26,
while the Dauntless gelding trotted it in about 2:30.
The following week at Poughkeepsie he won in
2:18^4, 2:15%, 2:18, over the same horse and Mam-
brino Sparkle.

Graylight was tried at Detroit and Cleveland, the
big gray saving his entrance in the events won by Kit
Curry and Jack. When Buffalo was reached he was on
his good behavior and won in 2:16^. At Rochester he
was second to Jack, and third to Mocking Bird in the
2 :2O class at Poughkeepsie. His last start for the sea-
son was made in the Charter Oak Stake at Hartford,
where he was distanced in the second heat by Alcryon.
Cleon and Arbutus were dropped from the stable after
being unplaced at Detroit, and Billy Stewart met with
the same fate after being beaten by Lillian at Cleve-
land and Ed Annan at Buffalo.

After the chestnut mare, Star Lily, trotted second
to Veritas at Detroit, she was purchased by A. J.
Welch and placed in Goldsmith's stable. He started
her at Cleveland, where she finished second to Refer-
ence. The next start was at Buffalo, where she won
over Reference and Marksman Maid, after trotting
six heats. Star Lily's next engagement was the
$10,000 Flower City Stake, at Rochester. It was con-
sidered a gift for Veritas, driven by Budd Doble, who
won the event in 1888 with the Pilot Medium gelding,
Jack. The other starters were Sprague Golddust,
Tariff, Ketch, Gold Ring, Reference, Camille, Tippie
and Maud Muller. Veritas won the first heat in

220 THE GOLDSMITHS.

2:20%, after a sharp brush with Sprague Golddust.
On the next trip Ketch was first under the wire, but
as he had forced Sprague Golddust out of his position
in the stretch he was placed last and the heat given to
Green's horse in 2 -.20, with Tariff second and Maud
Muller third. Sprague Golddust also won the third
heat in 2:22%, with Veritas second, while Reference
met with an accident which caused him to be drawn.
On the next trip Tariff carried Sprague Golddust to a
break at the head of the stretch and looked to have the
heat won, when he made a mistake and Ketch nipped
him at the wire in 2:221/2. Star Lily made a break on
the first turn, and in taking her back Goldsmith pulled
her in front of Veritas. The latter sprang into the air
when Doble took hold of him, and landed on Gold-
smith's sulky, almost crushing it. Goldsmith pulled
up, while Veritas jogged over the course. In the fifth
heat Ketch, Tariff and Veritas trotted in a bunch to
the head of the stretch, where Goldsmith appeared on
the outside with Star Lily. From that point it was
nip and tuck between Ketch and the mare, the latter
winning by a head in 2:2^/4. Star Lily also won the
sixth heat in 2:22%, after which the race went over
until the following day, when she pulled it off with a
mile in 2 '.21^4, there being but a neck between her and
Sprague Golddust at the finish. After winning the
2 130 class at Poughkeepsie and being defeated by
Sprague Golddust in the 2 -.30 class at that town and
at Hartford, where she reduced her record to 2 120,
Star Lily was placed on the retired list.

Of the other horses that Goldsmith brought down
the line of the Grand Circuit, Gillig was. unplaced to
Colvina Sprague at Cleveland, third to McEwen at

1 889— STAR LILY. 221

Buffalo, fourth to Prince Regent in a four-year-old
stake at Hartford, and second to Greenlander at
Springfield. Silverthread was picked up at Roches-
ter, where he saved his entrance in the free-for-all,
won by Gossip, Jr., but was distanced by Roy Wilkes
the following week at Poughkeepsie. The Canadian
bred gelding, John Ferguson, was tried at Buffalo,
Rochester, Hartford and Springfield, but failed to get
inside the money, while the Almonarch mare, Fred-
erica, was third to Maud Muller at Hartford, second
to Whalebone at Springfield, where she won two heats
in 2. -.23, 2 :22, fourth to Morelight at New York, and
won over the half-mile track at Trenton, N. J., in
October. Frank T. was also tried in Grand Circuit
company at Poughkeepsie, where he trotted fourth to
Marksman Maid, and at Hartford, where he was third
in the race won by George Singerley's roan mare,
Katharine S. Longford, another member of the
stable, was second to Geneva at Hartford, unplaced to
Alcryon at Springfield and second to Sensation at
New York, where he won a heat in 2:22^. James H.
Goldsmith also drove Chase in the race Hal Pointer
won at Hartford, and was behind Company when he
was distanced by Geneva S. at New York.

The horse, Markland, by Victor Bismarck, was
also a member of Goldsmith's Grand Circuit stable.
He was tried at Cleveland in the race in which Hal
Pointer made his first bow in fast society. On that
occasion the flashy gray gelding, William M. Singerly,
.sailed out in front and won a heat in 2:17^/2. On the
next trip Geers touched the speed button in Hal
Pointer's anatomy and it was all over, but the shout-
ing, the "Pointer hoss" winning after the first heat

222 THE GOLDSMITHS.

as he pleased in 2:15^4, 2:18^, 2:18%. Markland
was unplaced. At Poughkeepsie he was fourth to
Minnie P., and at Baltimore third to Dallas. At
Elmira, the last week in September, James H. Gold-
smith made his first start in a four-year-old stake with
Pamlico, the Meander colt, which eventually became
so prominent in the harness racing world, finishing
second to E. C. Walker with Soto. The next start
was at Trenton, N. J., where Frederica won the 2 129
class, Barney Lee was fourth to Charley Gibson, and
Longford unplaced in the race won by W. K. The
following week, at Paterson, N. J., out of nine starts
Goldsmith won a second with Tot and reduced her
record to 2 124 in a trip against time, Longford won
the 2:18 class, and two days later trotted fourth to
Cypress, while Silvertail was second to Jewell in the
free-for-all, Barney Lee second to Corona and Pam-
lico second to Wonder. Shipping to Morristown,
Goldsmith won a first and a second with Pamlico, a
second with Barney Lee and a second with Tot, after
which he closed the season at Point Breeze Park,
Philadelphia, as has been stated, by winning a seven-
heat race from a field of seventeen starters with Pam-
lico. The following table presents a record of the
season's work :

1 890 — PA MLICO .

223

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

GO

£

Second.

i

2

h

Fourth.

Unplaced 1

Amount
Won.

Star Lily
Gean Smith
Gillig

2:20

2:15%
2:23%

President Garfield
Dauntless
Aristos

6
12

8

3
9
4

2
2
1

1

1
1

1

1

$8,750 00
8,450 00
3 275 00

2-16%

Starlight

6

1

1

1

2

1

2 125 00

2-21%:

Chosroes

6

1

2

1

9

1 175 00

2-22

Almonarch

4

1

1

1

1

1 125 00

Stephanie ....

2:25^

Meander

4

1

8

1,050 00

Billy Stewart (p) ..
Pamlico .

2:18%
2:28%

American Boy
Meander

5

6

1
3

2
2

1

2

700 00
650 00

Cleon .

Heptagon

4

1

1

1

1

600 00

Tot

2'24

Young Columbus, Jr..

5

1

2"

1

1

582 50

Dave Hill

6

2

1

2

1

495 00

Frank T

Hill's Duroc

2

1

1

375 00

Silverthread (p)...
Markland (p)

Royal Fearnaught
Victor Bismarck

3
3

1

1

1
1

1
1

225 00

200 00

Forest Mambrino

5

1

4

80 00

Chase (p)

Billy Green

1

1

Arbutus

Electioneer

1

1

Company

Kentucky Prince

1

1

Total

88

26

22

10

13

17

$29,857 50

1890— PAMLICO.

He had that snappy Dexter gait
Which opened and shut like a knife;
And when he was turned for the word,
You could bet he would race for your life.

Dundee Park, Paterson, N. J., was selected as the
training ground for the Goldsmith stable in 1890, and
before leaving there a number of its best represent-
atives were started at two meetings. On Decoration
Day, in a series of specials, Gretna and Robert M.
Taylor were each awarded seconds and Pamlico a
third. The following week, when stripped for

224 THE GOLDSMITHS.

the regular meeting, Pamlico, Dawson, Simmocolon
and Mambrino Maid were marked as winners, Miss
Pauley saved her entrance, while Plush and Robert
M. Taylor were unplaced. Dawson picked up an-
other race at Albany the next week, while Plush also
won the 2. :2O class, after a seven-heat contest with
Yorktown Belle, Maud Muller and Golden Rod, in
which all of them won heats, and Simmocolon trotted
third to Suisun in the Clay Stake, Alicante being be-
tween him and the winner.

James H. Goldsmith won five of the nine races
programmed for the June meeting at Mystic Park, Bos-
ton, in 1890, with Pamlico, Simmocolon, Miss Pauley
and Dawson, the last named having two events placed
to his credit, while he was also second to Fearnaught
with Mambrino Maid, and unplaced with Richmond,
Jr., and Robert M. Taylor, both of them being dis-
tanced. In her race with Fearnaught, Mambrino
Maid reduced her record to 2 122 and showed her
ability to beat 2 :2O, much to the surprise of those who
branded her a self-willed hussy that was marked for
life when she was sent away from Lexington with a
mark of 2:23^4. When Goldsmith sampled her he
found that she was one of the kind that must be let go
when they want to, but as she stepped off good gaited
and had plenty of speed, it did not take him long to
mould her into a first-class piece of racing material.

After stopping at Hartford, where Simmocolon
and Dawson won, Plush trotted second to Fear-
naught, Mambrino Maid fourth to Jean Valjean, and
Richmond, Jr., a horse which his brother brought on
from California, fourth to Molly J., the Goldsmith
stable was shipped to Poughkeepsie, where Pamlico
and Mambrino Maid won their engagements, Plush

1890 — PAMLICO 225

and Miss Pauley were each awarded third premiums,
and Robert M. Taylor behind the money, as usual.
The next stop was at Philadelphia, where, during the
July meetings at the Philadelphia Driving Park and
Belmont, Goldsmith won the Bellevue House Stake
with Pamlico from Suisun and Andante, reducing his
record to 2:17^2, an eight-heat race with Simmocolon,
cutting his mark to 2:20%, a first and a second with
Mambrino Maid, a mark of 2:18% being placed after
her name in one of the events, a second and a fourth
with Plush, a second with Gretna, the Mambrino Dud-
ley mare making her mark of 2 127^ in the race, a
third with Stephanie, while Miss Pauley and Robert
M. Taylor were outside.

After cutting out the weaker members of his
stable, Goldsmith dropped into the Grand Circuit at
Pittsburg, where he won with Mambrino Maid, Sim-
mocolon and Mamie Wood, while Pamlico finished
second to Rosaline Wilkes in the free-for-all. Daw-
son was saved for Cleveland, where he was beaten by
McDoel. At Buffalo he won again by the narrowest
kind of a margin, or, as a local reporter remarked, "by
an eyebrow." He trotted his last race at Rochester
in the 2:21 class, which was won by McDoel, with
Miss Alice second, Tariff third, and the Mansfield
gelding fourth.

On the trip down the line Mambrino Maid,
Pamlico, Simmocolon and Mamie Wood proved
the props of the Goldsmith stable. The Mambrino
Startle mare won at Cleveland, where she trotted in
2:17%, Buffalo, Rochester and Springfield, and was
second to Mocking Bird at Poughkeepsie, Hartford
and Philadelphia. Pamlico won at Rochester, where
he made a record of 2:16^, and Springfield, was

226 THE GOLDSMITHS.

second to Alfred S. at Cleveland, second to Prince Re-
gent at Buffalo, and third to the same horse in the
Charter Oak Stake at Hartford. After winning at
Cleveland, where he trotted in 2:17, Simmocolon was
second to Walter E. in a nine-heat race at Buffalo,
fourth to Keno F. in the Flower City Stake at Roches-
ter, and first at Hartford and Springfield, where he
defeated McEwen and Mocking Bird. He also won
the Stallion Stake at Lexington with W. J. Andrews
in the sulky, James H. Goldsmith having been struck
down the day before the race by what appeared to be
partial paralysis.

Walter E. defeated Mamie Wood at Cleveland and
Rochester. She was also unplaced to Neal Whitbeck
at Poughkeepsie, but won at Hartford and Springfield.
After the meeting at Hampden Park the little roan
mare passed into another stable, and Goldsmith de-
feated her the following week at Fleetwood Park, New
York, with Frank T., marking him in 2:23*4. He
also started this gelding at the September meetings
at Philadelphia, finishing second to Nightingale at
Point Breeze, and winning with him at Belmont, after
losing a heat to Dandy. Richmond, Jr., made his first
start in the Grand Circuit at Rochester and won in
2:21%. At Poughkeepsie he was third to Henrietta,
and at Hartford third to The Seer. After being un-
placed to Stevie at Springfield, he was given a let up
until Philadelphia, where he was second to Maud
Muller at Point Breeze, and won at Belmont after
Autograph landed a heat in 2:18^2. His slip for the
season also shows that he was second to Horicon at
Pittsburg and unplaced to Senator Conkling at Lex-
ington. Robert M. Taylor was also tried again at

1890 — PAMLICO

227

Poughkeepsie, in August. He finished third to Soto,
and was then shipped to Hartford, where he won in
2:24- At Springfield he was unplaced to Soudan, and after
trotting second to Scramble at New York he was dropped.
During the season James H. Goldsmith also drove
Onie D. at Buffalo, where she was unplaced to Dallas,
Marendes at Hartford, where he was distanced by
Dallas, Captain Lyons at Springfield, where he was
third to Chelsea D., and the Happy Medium mare,
Camille, at Poughkeepsie, where she was unplaced in
the ten-heat .race won by Stevie, and at New York,
where she was fourth to Diamond. In 1890, James H.
Goldsmith started sixteen horses in ninety-four races,
of which he won forty, was second in twenty, third
in ten, fourth in nine and unplaced in fifteen, a synop-
sis of the season's work being presented in the follow-
ing table :

T3

•o

JS

•8

Starters.

§

Sire.

fi

cS

1

c
c
0

.1
3

p

0

£
"a

Amount
Won.

tf

V)

s

w

H

h

P

Pamlico

2:16%

Meander

12

7

3

2

$8800 00

Mambrino Maid..

2:17%

Mambrino Startle

14

8

5

i

7,285 00

Simmocolon

2:19

Simmons

12

9

1

1

1

7,085 00

Dawson

2:19#

Mansfield

8

(i

1

i

3,200 00

Richmond, Jr

2:21^

A. W. Richmond

11

2

2

2

2

3

2,285 00

Mamie Woods

2:20^

Wood's Hambletonian

6

3

1

2

2,200 00

Frank T

2-2314

Hill's Duroc

3

2

1

1 000 00

Robert M Taylor

2-24

Alcantara

9

1

9

1

5

900 00

Plush

°-i9%;

Masterlode

7

1

s

1

1

1

590 00

Miss Pawley (p)

2-27 #

Bay Hawk

4

1

1

1

1

390 00

Captain Lyons i

Sweepstakes ....

1

1

225 00

Gretna

2:27%:

Mambrino Dudley .

2

2

175 00

Camille

Happy Medium

2

1

1

150 00

Stephanie

Meander

1

1

75 00

Marendes (p)

Walker Morrill

1

1

Onie D (p)

Warwick Boy

1

1

Total

94

40

20

10

9

15

$34,360" 00

228 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1891— MAMBRINO MAID.

She was a self-willed hussy,
A big bay splattered with white;
But when the bell rang for the races,
She was in the thick of the fight.

During the winter months James H. Goldsmith, to
all appearances, recovered from the attack that pros-
trated him at Lexington in October, and when the
buds began to open he shipped his stable to Charter
Oak Park, Hartford, where, during May and June, he
was busy as a b'ee preparing Mambrino Maid, Gean
Smith, Miss Alice, Leicester, Redmont, Robin and a
number of others for an active campaign. The first
starts were made at Charter Oak, the last week in
June, the report of the meeting showing that Miss
Alice won the 2:19 class, distancing the field in the
fourth heat with a mile in 2:17^4, and that Redmont
won the 2:33 class. Mambrino Maid was second to
Rosaline Wilkes in the free-for-all, Amender second
to Lightning, after winning a heat in 2:25^, while
Carrie Walton, Richmond, Jr., Riverside and Sher-
wood were numbered among those who "also ran."
The Goldsmith stable made twelve starts at the Phila-
delphia Driving Park and Belmont Park July meet-
ings and won two races with the pacer, Robin, by
Vatican, while Miss Alice and Leicester had each a
first placed to their credit. Of the other members of
the stable, Redmont was third to Sappho and unplaced
to Fanny Wilcox, Richmond, Jr., second to Maud
Muller, Riverside fourth to J. J. Audubon, and Sher-
wood, Carrie Walton, Patience and Delaware Boy un-
placed.

1891 — MAMBRINO MAID. 229

When the bell tapped for the first meeting of the
Grand Circuit in 1891 at Homewood Park, Pittsburg,
James H. Goldsmith was ready for the word. He
won during the week with Leicester and Redmont,
giving the latter a record of 2:21, the same notch in
which he marked his sire, Atlantic. Of the other
starters, Gean Smith was third to McDoel, while
Robin and Carrie Walton were unplaced. Leicester
won again at Detroit, where Mambrino Maid trotted
the best race of her career when she defeated Ripple,
Vic H., Walter E., Almont and Reference in the 2:17
class, making her record of 2:15^4 in a fourth heat,
and which is, by the way, the fastest mile James H.
Goldsmith ever rode in public behind a trotter.
Robin won a heat in the 2 124 pace and finished third
to Ivorine, while Richmond, Jr., was also third to the
Sam Purdy gelding, Charley C, and Gean Smith un-
placed in the free-for-all, which Turner won with
Rosaline Wilkes.

Leicester and Temple Bar, the Merchant and
Manufacturer's Stake winner, met at Cleveland the
following week. Up to that meeting Goldsmith had
not lost a race with Leicester, while Temple Bar had
won seven firsts out of eight starts in the preceding
seven weeks. Goldsmith's horse was the favorite,
and won the first two heats in 2:18, 2:17^,
After the second heat the judges were convinced that
Temple Bar was not being driven to win, and when
Aline won the third heat in 2:20^, after Leices-
ter stopped in the stretch, they turned the
black horse over to Gus Wilson, who went on and
won as he pleased. Upon the conclusion of the race,
Temple Bar, his owner and driver, were expelled, and

230

THE GOLDSMITHS.

others would no doubt have followed had not the
grave closed over one of the principal actors in the
transaction before it was investigated by the Board of
Review of The National Trotting Association. Gold-
smith also won the 2:17 class at Cleveland with
Mambrino Maid, and was unplaced to Lakewood
Prince with Redmont. His stable made its last starts
at Buffalo the following week, when Robin, Rich-
mond, Jr., and Crawford were unplaced and Leicester
fourth to Sprague Golddust, the deciding heat in the
race being the last one driven by James H. Goldsmith.
The following table presents the returns for his stable
up to the close of the Buffalo meeting :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

oS
W

03

£

Second.

Third.

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

2-17%

5

3

1

1

$2500 00

Mambrino Maid..
Redmont

2:15^
2:21
2-1714:

Mambrino Startle ....
Atlantic
Alcantara

3
4
2

2

2
2

1

....

2

2,150 00

875 00
850 00

Patience

Alcyone

1

1

800 00

Robin

2:20 1/

Vatican

5

2

1

2

800 00

Richmond, Jr
Gean Smith

2:20-K

A. W. Richmond
Dauntless

4
2

1

1
1

2

1

450 00
450 00

Amender
Carrie Walton

2:25^

Meander

1

s

1

3

15000

Favorite Wilkes

1

1

Delaware Boy

1

1

Barkis

2

?,

Total

34

11

4

3

1

15

$9,02500

DEATH OF JAMES H. GOLDSMITH. 231

DEATH OF JAMES H. GOLDSMITH.

They have laid away the cherry and black,
Its owner is under the sod;
His doings are stretched on memory's rack,
And his spirit flown to his God.

After the Buffalo meeting, James H. Goldsmith
was taken back to his Orange County home, where he
died on Thursday, August 27. When he left the Iro-
quois he looked thin, careworn and gray, sickness hav-
ing made him prematurely old, but few of those
who waved him off as the carriage turned the .corner
thought that the parting was the last on this side of
the grave. His physician vetoed any more work in
the sulky, after he insisted on driving Leicester in the
deciding heat of the race won by Sprague Golddust,
and as it proved that occasion was the last on which
he donned the cherry and black cap and jacket.

Death found him at the house in which he was
born, on June I5,i849;the most momentous year in the
history of the trotting turf; at the home where he spent
his childhood among the Volunteer colts which he
afterwards helped to make famous. It found him
where he grew to man's estate, where he brought
home his bride, and saw fortune smile in on him with
passing years. Far away from the scenes where he
played so prominent a part, a modest stone marks his
resting place in the family plot at Washingtonville, N.
Y., and as the companions of his youth point out the
mound to a stranger, can other than Gray's memor-
able line come to mind :

"The paths to glory lead but to the grave."

In his particular field Goldsmith had all that fame
could give. His skill as a reinsman and a conditioner

232 THE GOLDSMITHS.

placed him early in the front rank, and during the last
three years of his life he was recognized as great, if
not the greatest, of all trotting horse drivers. Above
all things, he was ambitious and proud of his reputa-
tion, and it was that vaunting ambition which has
rushed others to their doom that carried James H.
Goldsmith to his grave at forty-two. Nervous pros-
tration and paralysis did their part, and a determina-
tion to go on defying death played the hand on which
his life was the stake.

In or out of the sulky, James H. Goldsmith was
always a gentleman, his polished manners and agree-
able address making a favorable impression wherever
he appeared. As a trainer, well Andy Welch summed
it all up when he said : "Goldsmith could make them
race and win without killing them." His success in
the sulky can be attributed to perseverance, patience
and firmness, allied with an intuitive knowledge of
horses and their peculiarities. His seat was not as
graceful as Doble's or Hickok's, as he leaned further
forward, an attitude which did not come from using a
higher seat, but from the fact that he was a taller
man. This stoop brought him nearer his horse and
gave him a greater leverage when he was driving a
shifty-gaited one or a bad actor. In his finishes he
combined the meteoric rallying powers for which
Splan was noted in his best days, with Doble's cata-
pult drives. With a yell like a Sioux and a hand as
firm as a rock, Splan rustled his nag along panting,
flinging, banging and literally lifting him under the
wire, while Doble, with an eye to what was going on
about him, waited patiently for the last brush and
called for it at the point where the money is won.

DEATH OF JAMES H. GOLDSMITH.

233

His horse might not win, but it always managed to
carry his clip to the wire. Goldsmith united this reef
of the "Field Marshal" with Splan's electrical flourish,
seeing, feeling and knowing only one thing until the
wire was passed, and that he proved an industrious
man is demonstrated by the following table, which
shows that during the sixteen years he was before the
public as a private and public trainer he started one
hundred and fifty-six horses in one thousand and
twenty-three races, of which he won three hundred and
seven, was second in two hundred and forty-five, third
in one hundred and fifty-one, fourth in one hundred
and twenty-six and unplaced in one hundred and
ninety-four, winning premiums, and that at a time
during the era of small purses, amounting to
$239,115.08.

Year.

Starters.

09

4.1

a
w

i

£

Second.

1

EH

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

1875

8

61

15

13

7

17

19

$ 14,480.00

1876

9

84

16

24

12

15

17

17,787.50

1877

10

97

31

24

14

12 .

16

18,535.00

1878

14

111

30

27

16

13

25

16,212.. 50

1879

10

50

13

11

7

10

9

12,960.00

1881

8

71

10

19

14

15

13

11,455.00

1882

8

82

25

16

16

9

16

22,268.33

1883

4

28

7

6

6

4

5

2,769.50

1884

4

26

10

4

5

2

5

5,252.50

1885

8

31

12

7

4

4

4

6,330.00

1886

6

57

19

15

14

4

5

5,787.50

1887

3

22

14

4

2

2

8,921.00

1888

16

87

28

29

11

8

11

23,113.75

1889

19

88

26

22

10

13

17

29,857.50

1890

16

94

40

20

10

9

15

34,360.00

1891

13

34

11

4

3

1

15

9,025.00

Totals.

156

1023

307

245

151

126

194

$239,115.08

234 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1881— JOHN GOLDSMITH GOES WEST.

Go west, young man! go west.—Greeley.

When St. Julien reduced the world's record to
2:12^4 at Oakland, on October 25, 1879, the breeders
of the Pacific coast decided that a little Volunteer
blood would add materially to the speed and stamina
of the stock descended from the horses which were led
across the plains by the forty-niners. Prior to this
date Admiral was purchased in Orange County and
taken to Nevada, while either that year or early in the
following one, Monroe Salisbury visited Walnut
Grove Farm and purchased the Volunteer mares,
Sweetness and Kate, sister to Powers, as well as May
Day, 2 130, by Ballard's Cassius M. Clay, Jr. Bate-
man was also sold and taken to California, where he
was raced during the season of 1880, but did not have
sufficient speed to lower the colors of Brigadier and
Abbottsford.

In 1881, when James H. Goldsmith was reinstated
by The National Trotting Association, his younger
brother decided to take Horace Greeley's advice and
"go west." In September of that year he was at Oak-
land, Cal., where he won a four-year-old race with
Romero over Alexander Button, Honesty and Annie
Laurie, giving him a record of 2 :22^ in a fourth heat.
He also won in the same meeting with Gibralter,
while after his races with Bateman he had a third to
Brigadier and a fourth to Abbottsford to show for his
labor. Brigadier also defeated the Clay gelding at
Santa Rosa and Stockton, where Romero won again.
Bateman's last start was made at Salt Lake City,

1 882 — SWEETNESS.

235

Utah, October 15, 1881, in a match race with Ewing.
He won it for Mr. Travis without beating 2 130, but his
failure to win in the regular events in California made
John Goldsmith's winnings for 1881 rather slim, as
will be seen by the following table :

•d

•d

^3

o

Starters.

§

Sire.

tj

•H

2

'&

9
O

a

Amount
Won.

tf

W2

fe

w

H

Bateman

Black Harry Clay

4

1

1

2

$1,000 00

Romero

2:22^

A. W. Richmond

2

2

800 00

Gibralter

2-22 }4

Echo . ..

1

1

375 00

Total

_

4

1

2

$2,175 00

1882— SWEETNESS.

Whenever you see a race horse
That can go fast and far,
You will find a line to Volunteer,
Or a cross of American Star.

When Monroe Salisbury returned to California
with Director and his Walnut Grove Farm purchases
he bred Sweetness to Santa Claus and Kate to Nut-
wood. In 1881 the former produced Sidney and the
latter Judge Salisbury, both of which proved sires of
speed, Sidney at one time being very much in vogue
on account of the record-breaking speed of his colts.
Kate's next foal was a bay colt by Brigadier. He was
gelded and appears in the records as Homestake,
2:1454. May Day also, at a later date, produced Mar-
garet S., 2:12^2. As Sweetness did not prove in foal
in 1882, she was taken up and trained, Monroe Salis-
bury placing her and Director in John Goldsmith's

236

THE GOLDSMITHS

stable. He started her over the Bay District track
in two races in August, winning one and finishing
second to Crown Point in the other. He also started
her in two races in September, the first one being at
Oakland, where he won two heats in 2:22, 2:24^2, but
was distanced in a fifth heat by Alfred W. This pair
met again the following week at Sacramento, where
Sweetness won in 2:24,- 2:21^4, 2:22^, her record
being made in the second heat. Director made his
first start for John Goldsmith at Santa Rosa, where he
finished third to Echora, Del Stir being between him
and the winner. From that date, however, he had his
winning shoes on, as he was awarded first pre-
miums at Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton and San
Jose, and closed the season with a record of 2:23^.
While on the trip, John Goldsmith finished second
to Albert W. at Santa Rosa with Inca, made
Corette step in 2:20, 2:19, 2:21*4, to defeat Gibralter
at Oakland, gave Romero his record of 2 119^, when he
won over Brigadier and Starr King at Stockton, after
trotting second to the Happy Medium horse at the
State Fair. The following is a synopsis of the sea-
son's work :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

•+J

|

PH

Second.

.1

3
h

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Director . .

2:23^

Dictator

5

4

1

$1,935 00

Romero

2:ldl/2

A. W. Richmond

3

1

2

1,050 00

Sweetness

2;21#

Volunteer . .

4

2

1

1

775 00

Gibralter

Echo

1

1

200 00

Inca

2:27

Woodford Mambrino

1

1

125 00

Total

14

7

5

1

1

$4,085 00

JOHN ALDEN GOLDSMITH.

1883— DIRECTOR. 239

1883— DIRECTOR.

He was foaled in old Kentucky,
Eat the blue grass of Kentucky,
And any horse was lucky
Which from him won a race.
By Dictator, out of Dolly,
Sired Directum and Direct,
Margaret S. and Lena Holly,
Evangeline, all elect,
And winners on a trot or pace.

The form shown by Director in his five races in the
fall of 1882 convinced Monroe Salisbury and John
Goldsmith that he was too good a horse to remain idle
in California while the trotters were busy on the East-
ern tracks. Both of them were satisfied that he had
speed enough to win in any company, and in order to
put their belief to the test they made arrangements
during the winter months to cross the mountains with
the two stallions, Director and Romero. The first
start was made at Chester Park, Cincinnati, on May
24, when Romero, after winning a heat in 2:25, was
beaten by Deck Wright. Director made his bow at
Pittsburg on June I in a race with Hambletonian
Bashaw, Alta, Wilbur F. and Willis Woods. The first
two heats went to Hambletonian Bashaw in 2:25,
2:25^, and when it looked that the race was all over
but the shouting, Goldsmith loomed up with Director
and won an old-fashioned race in 2 126, 2 128, 2 126.

At Hartford, June 13, the Goldsmith brothers met
in a race, James being behind Walnut, while John had
Director, the other competitors being Dan Smith, Cor-
nelia and Kentucky Wilkes. The first heat went to
Dan Smith in 2:22^2 and the second to Walnut in

240 THE GOLDSMITHS.

2:22^. Dan Smith scored again in the third heat in
2:213/2, but the balance of them went to Director in
2:21^4, 2:22, 2:22^. Director's next engagement
was at the June meeting of the Driving Club of New
York, which was one of the most enthusiastic ever
held at Fleetwood Park, the keynote having been
struck the week before by W. H. Vanderbilt, when he
drove Maud S. and Aldine to an ordinary froad wagon
in 2:15^/2. John Goldsmith was also anxious to win
at Fleetwood, as he had made his professional debut
on that track, and there was a delegation from Orange
County on the grounds to see Director perform in his
race with Buzz Medium, J. P. Morris, Joe Bunker and
Helen. The first heat went to Joe Bunker in 2:19^,
Director finishing third. Joe Bunker also won the
second heat in 2 :2O, Buzz Medium and Director trot-
ting a dead heat for the place. In the third heat Di-
rector cut off Joe Bunker on the turn, causing him to
break. Director won the heat in 2 122. It only delayed
the decision, however, as the Wilkes gelding carried
Director to the half in the fourth heat in i :o8^, forced
him to break, and won by half a length in 2:19%.
Romero was started in the 2:19 class at this meeting
and finished third to Captain Emmons. There was
also plenty of excitement on the last day of the meet-
ing, when Majolica, in the three-minute class, trotted
a third heat in 2:17, defeating Phallas and Jay Eye
See, won the four-year-old race, in which Phil Thomp-
son and Lucy Gernent fell in the deciding heat.

After defeating Cornelia and Walnut at Albany,
Director was shipped to Chicago, where he won two
races and reduced his record to 2:191/2 in the $3,000
stallion race, in which he defeated Monroe Chief,

1883 - DIRECTOR 241

Black Cloud, France's Alexander and Santa Claus.
Director made his record at Cleveland, on August I.
He started there against Kate McCall, Gladiator, Tony
Newell and Wilson and won the first heat in 2:19^,
Tony Newell being distanced and Wilson laid up.
On the next trip Splan stepped Wilson down to the
half in I 109^ and was still leading at the distance,
Director being at his neck as the pair flashed by the
flagman. The Wilkes gelding wavered under the
strain and broke into a scrambling run. As he did,
Goldsmith touched Director with the whip and he left
his feet. The pair ran under the wire and the judges
called it a dead heat in 2:17. Wilson won the third
heat in 2:16*4 by two lengths, .and also finished in
front in the fourth heat, but as he was on a break, it
was counted for Director in 2:17^4. In the fifth heat
Splan started to make a runaway race of it, and
after sprinting with Gladiator to the half in I 107 24 won
the heat in 2:18. The effort killed Wilson, as when
the non-heat winners were ruled out, Director had to
be pulled up in 2 128^ to let him inside the distance.

Director's next engagement was in a race for five-
year-olds and under at Buffalo with Jay Eye See and
Clemmie G., the Director gelding winning, after
Goldsmith had won a heat in 2:22. After defeating
Duquesne in straight heats at Utica and trotting third
to Wilson at Springfield, Director was shipped to
H-artford, where he was started in the first $10,000
Charter Oak Stake with Fanny Witherspoon, Wilson,
Clemmie G., Phallas, J. B. Thomas, Adele Gould and
Overman. Wilson was the favorite, and Mace won
the first heat with him in 2:17^. In the second heat
Director carried Wilson away so fast that he made a

242 THE GOLDSMITHS.

double break near the half. The second time he left
his feet Mace bore out, giving Splan a chance to slip
through at the pole with Fanny Witherspoon, and at
the same time carried Director wide on the upper
turn. The manoeuver gave Fanny Witherspoon the
heat in 2:17, with Clemmie G. second and J". B-
Thomas third. In the third heat Director rushed off
in front and was never headed during the balance of
the race, his three winning heats being finished in
2:20, 2:18, 2:19^4. Both Wilson and Fanny Wither-
spoon made a number of breaks, while the balance of
the field could not trot fast enough to reach Director.

After winning a $5,000 race over Forest Patchen,
Phyllis, Clemmie G., Josephus, Wilson and Modoc at
Narragansett Park, Providence, on September 12,
Director was started in a stallion race for a similar
amount at Beacon Park against Phallas and Santa
Claus. Two breaks cost him the first heat, Phallas
winning it in 2 :2O. In the second, Either caught
Goldsmith napping at the finish and won by a nose in
2:22^. In the third Phallas had a comfortable lead
when he reached the upper turn, where he was seen to
stop and almost fall. Director and Santa Claus
passed him, the former winning in 2:21^/2. When
Phallas finished it was learned that he had stepped on
a boot strap, and by it lost the heat and race, as
Director then went on and won in 2:20, 2:20^, dis-
tancing Santa Claus.

Director trotted his last race at Island Park, Al-
bany, where he started against Phallas and Fanny
Witherspoon, and won the first, third and fourth heats
in 2:23, 2:23^4, 2:19^4, the second heat, in 2:22, being
placed to the credit of Phallas. During the campaign

ELECTIONEER — GUY WILKES.

243

John Goldsmith drove Director in fifteen races, of
which he won twelve and was second in three, his
winnings amounting to $18,975. Romero was not so
fortunate, as after leaving New York, where he was
third to Captain Emmons, he finished second to Joe
Bunker at Albany, third to J. B. Thomas at Washing-
ton, third to Clemmie G. at Utica, second to J. B.
Thomas at Providence, fourth to Kentucky Wilkes at
Boston, and was unplaced to Phyllis at Buffalo. The
following is a synopsis of the season's work :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

ri

I

to

+j

S2
S

Second.

•g

'J3

H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

2-17

Dictator

15

1?

3

$18,975 00

Romero

A. W. Richmond

9

8

8

1

?,

2,05500

Total

24

12

6

8

j

2

$21,030 00

ELECTIONEER— GUY WILKES.

They were monarchs of all they surveyed,

Tfieir get there were few to oppose;

From the Rockies to the Golden Gate,

They were winners as every one knows.

— With apologies to Cowper.

When Leland Stanford visited Stony Ford and
purchased Electioneer to cross on the stock at Palo
Alto he took the first step towards making California
a rival of New York and Kentucky as the home of the
light harness horse. It is true that he had had trot-
ters, stallions and brood mares prior to the date on
which he made his momentous trip to Orange County

244 THE GOLDSMITHS.

and that others had bred a number of horses which had
won honors not only on the Pacific Coast but also on
the Eastern tracks, but their greatest achievements
look dim when compared with what was done by the
Palo Alto trotters and those who strove to check their
tide of victory. At the time Leland Stanford pur-
chased Electioneer, William Corbett, a thrifty Cana-
dian who had amassed a fortune in the grocery busi-
ness in San Francisco, owned the stallions Irvington
and Arthurton, own brothers by Hambletonian out of
the American Star mare, Imogene, that afterwards
produced Leland, and was breeding in a small way at
San Mateo.

Electioneer's first crop of foals in California was
dropped in 1878, the colt trotter, Fred Crocker, being
in the bunch. The Arthurton foals for that year also
contained Arab and Joe Arthurton. As for Irvington,
he was sold and exported to Australia where he sired
the dam of the pacer, Ribbonwood, 2. 109, while his
owner having seen and heard of the triumphs of the
Dictator and George Wilkes trotters, started east to
purchase a representative of one of these families that
was well bred, had a record or could make one. After
making overtures to purchase Phallas he selected Guy
Wilkes, a bay horse foaled in 1879 by George Wilkes,
dam Lady Bunker by Mambrino Patchen, second dam
Lady Dunn, the Seely's American Star mare that also
produced Joe Bunker, 2:19^, the gray gelding which
defeated Director at New York and Romero at Albany
in 1883. Lady Dunn and Flora Gardiner were, so far
as I know, the only mares by Seely's American Star
that were bred to Mambrino horses. The last named
produced Guy 2:09^4 and Fred Folger 2:20^4, the

GEORGE WILKES. 245

only two of her foals broken to harness, and Lady
Dunn is now referred to as the dam of Joe Bunker
2:19*4, and Lady Bunker the dam of Guy Wilkes
2:15^4, El Mahdi 2:25^/2, William L. and Declara-
tion all four sires of speed.

GEORGE WILKES.

He was the greatest Roman of them all.

— Shakespeare.

Lady Dunn's fame is linked with that of George
Wilkes whose early days in Orange County and on
Long Island, as graphically sketched in 1864 by
Charles J. Foster, cannot be other than acceptable to
the present generation of readers, as at the close of
1902 seven thousand one hundred and fifty trotters
or pacers out of eighteen thousand five hundred and
forty-seven trotters and nine thousand seven hundred
and thirteen pacers carry a strain of his blood : -

"George Wilkes is a brown horse, with one white
heel. He stands about fifteen hands, is broad and
strong, as well as low and long, and is remarkably
high behind. His propelling power is very great, no
living horse exceeding him in this grand character-
istic. The dam of George Wilkes was a brown mare
called Dolly Spanker. It is said that she was by
Mambrino. This mare was brown, like her son, and
stood about fifteen two. He is the only foal she ever
had. She belonged at Rochester, where she was

246 THE GOLDSMITHS.

owned by Joseph Lewis, who sold her to William A.
Delevan, a member of the circus establishment of
Welsh and Delevan. By this gentleman the brown
mare was sold to Henry D. Felter, of New York,
whose father, Colonel Felter, of Orange County, no
sooner saw her than he declared she would make a
very fine brood-mare. It is a little more than ten
years since he purchased her of his son for $375, and
took her to Orange County to be bred to Hamble-
tonian. That celebrated horse was then almost un-
known to fame, being but five years old. Colonel
Felter and his son, however, joined in predicting that
he would in due time be as renowned as his sire, Ab-
dallah. In the latter part of May, 1855, Dolly Spanker
was bred to Hambletonian, and when she returned to
Colonel Felter's farm she was pregnant with the
greatest and fastest heir to the accumulated fame of
the Messengers. The wise and worthy gentleman
who had her felt a presentiment, while she was big
with foal, that the colt would be a world's wonder,
and, in spite of the badinage of his sons and neigh-
bors, stuck to that opinion, even when the colt she
dropped was a weak and puny thing. A misfortune,
too, now happened to the mother, which would have
shaken the faith of almost any other man than
Colonel Felter. Before the colt was forty-eight
hours old she ruptured herself, and could not suckle
her offspring. The Job's-comforters now declared to
Colonel Felter that the puny little colt would never
be worth raising. The Colonel replied, with some
contempt, that he had the stout and hardy blood of
the Messengers and Bellfounders to bring him
through, and that he would raise him by hand. It

GEORGE WILKES. 247

finally appeared, though not until he was well advanc-
ed as a yearling, that the colt had a good deal of the
robust qualities which distinguished his ancestors.
Now, then, in spite of the discouragements which had
attended the birth of the colt, Colonel Felter went to
raise him by a bottle. From the first he had his
peculiarities, and with a judgment that many would
have applauded in one so young, he refused milk
from the bottle until it was flavored with a little sugar
and a good dash of old Jamaica rum. He very soon
became the pet of the family, running up to the stoop
at the whistle of the Colonel or the call of the ladies,
and never failing to kick up a row among the maids
if his milk-punch was not prepared in proper season.
But he was still no beauty. When Henry Felter
went up to see him, he exclaimed, as the colt came to
his father's whistle, "Oh, what a head !"

"Never mind his head — he ain't going to trot on
his head," said the Colonel. "Look at his hips and
haunches and thighs, and those knees and shoulders."

"Henry Felter had to acknowledge that the colt
possessed great motive power, and that his traveling
machinery, in spite of his queer look, was first-rate.
He noticed, too, that coming to Colonel Felter's
whistle, and he came very fast, the little fellow trotted
square and fine, having apparently no notion of a gal-
lop. But it was the old story of the ugly duck, that was
pelted by the fools and boys, and turned out finally
to be a swan. When the colt was three, Henry Felter
received a message from his father, saying that if he
would come up home he would see something.

"See something," quoth Harry: "I shall, if I ain't
struck blind !" But next day he started for the home-

248 THE GOLDSMITHS.

stead. The something to be seen was the colt in a
road-wagon. The father and son got in, and the way
the punch-drinker whirled them along the road was a
caution to three-year-olds and nervous gentlemen.
Presently he struck a pace, and the Colonel laying on
the whip, they almost flew. The colt was in truth a
natural pacer as well as a trotter, and when suffered
to pace he was nearly as swift as a bird on the wing.
He now made his first trot in public. The scene of it
was at Washington Hollow. The three-year-old was
matched with a noted trotter for a dash once around
the course, in harness. Colonel Felter drove him.
He had the best of it until they came on to the
stretch, where the crowd frightened the colt and
caused him to break almost to a standstill. The
other horse got a lead of four or five lengths ; but
now, striking his trot and answering the whip the
brown colt made a tremendous burst of speed, col-
lared his opponent, and beat him at the post. The
rush with which the colt had darted on to his op-
ponent, when the race seemed virtually over, sur-
prised even Colonel Felter himself, and the majority
of the lookers-on did not know what to make of it.

"Next year he was matched with Guy Miller, a
good one of Orange County, the seed-plot of the trot-
ting horses. While it was pending, Horace F. Jones
drove the brown colt a trial. Assuring Mr. Felter
that he could win the match, he said he should like
to train him for it, and in this way the colt was first
taken to Long Island. When the time for trotting
the match was near at hand, Colonel Felter came
down and found he could not trot a bit. He was off,
and the Colonel paid forfeit. He did not, however,

GEORGE WII.KES. 249

take the colt away, but sold him to Jones for $3,000
and a gray mare valued at $1,000. Jones afterwards
sold him to Z. E. Simmons. This was in the fall of
1860.

"Next spring there was much talk about the fast
trotters that were in Jones' stable at the Union
Course. There were three of which great things
were expected. In regard to two of them such ex-
pectations have been answered. The brown stallion
was one, the bay gelding, Nutwood, another ; and
from these two first proceeded that great volume of
fame for their sire, Hambletonian, which has since
well-nigh filled the land. But the common talk then
ran upon the Alley colt (Dexter), who was the third
in the stable. It was generally thought that this was
the flyer of whom Dame Rumor had it that he could
trot in 2. m. 17 s., or thereabout. One bright May
morning, at the request of Z. E. Simmons, I met him
and H. D. Felter at Jones' stable. The Alley colt
was shown as the wonder; but upon modestly inti-
mating an opinion to Simmons and Jones that the
brown stallion was worth about a field full of such
as the other, they confidentially admitted that he was
the real "Simon Pure." He was just then shaping
into the fine horse he has since become, and showed
quite as much speed in rushes as he has ever done
since. In size, make and shape, as well as color, he
resembled the illustrious little four-mile horse,
Whalebone, who forms, with his sire, Waxy, the great
double link between Eclipse and the best race horses
of modern times. This struck me the moment I laid
eyes on him. There was more stuff in him than in
half the big horses, and so it is with (Robert Filling-

250 THE GOLDSMITHS.

ham) George Wilkes. It is the pulp and essence of
horseflesh and frame. All the moving parts are as
big as those in a horse of sixteen hands, and there
are no grossness and waste to be carried.

"Not long after the visit to the Island I fell in with
Pelham John, and very soon discovered that there
was something on his mind. With some circumlocu-
tion John said that there was a fast colt in Jones'
stable. Remarking that I had heard something to
that effect, I began to dilate upon the Alley colt.

"Tain't him/ says John, in a mysterious whisper,
and looking around to be sure there were no eaves-
droppers. 'It's the stallion — he's a screamer.'

" 'How do you know?' '

1 'I happened over at the Centreville the other
morning and saw the stallion to a road-wagon.1

"'Well, what did he do?'"

" 'He beat Columbia, and went a twenty-gait, just
as sure as you're born/

"In a few days it came to Z. E. Simmons that Pel-
ham John had been saying the colt could beat any-
thing on the Island, and he asked me what was to be
done. I prescribed the remedy that had brought the
colt out of his troubles, a course of milk-punches ; and
in a few days John received a present of a fine milch-
cow and a demijohn of Jamaica rum from the owner,
of the stallion.

"His first trot on the Island came off that year. It
was with Bellfounder and Abdallah Chief. Not Jong
before the time of trotting Robert Fillingham, the
name that he carried until the close of 1864, when it
was changed to George Wilkes, was taken with the
distemper, but, as it was thought he could beat the

GEORGE WILKES. 251

others very handily, it was resolved to start him. He
won it with ease, not being called upon to trot much
better than 2:33*4. His next race was the $10,000
match with Ethan Allen. I had now begun to call
often upon the brown stallion, and used to stand on
Cherry Avenue, at the Fashion Course, while William
Cunningham led him up and down. He was always
an eccentric sort of a horse, and he used to plod on
with a lounging walk after Cunningham, much as a
young elephant in the East follows his mahout. Like
the elephant, too, he would get mad at times and
threaten to run amuck. I have said that when a
suckling in Orange County he would make a muss
among the maids if his milk-punch was not provided
at the proper hour; and now that he had attained
horse estate, he made nothing of summarily pulling
Bill out of bed when the hour for his first feed ar-
rived. He began by. pulling the bed-clothes from
the cot, as a gentle hint ; and if that was not speedily
attended to, he took Bill by the shirt and pulled him
on to the floor. t

"The trot between these stallions, one the ac-
knowledged best representative of the Morgan blood,
and the other a promising scion of the great Messen-
ger strain, took place on the Fashion Course, Septem-
ber 10, 1862. It was mile heats, best three in five, in
harness, for $10,000. Ethan Allen had been trained by
Mace, and looked well. Wilkes had received unre-
mitting attention from Horace Jones, and came on in
capital condition. The concourse of people was im-
mense. A vast number of gentlemen had come from
the Eastern States, and many from the West were
also in attendance. Most of these held to the notion

252 THE GOLDSMITHS.

that Ethan could not lose it. In vain I expostulated
and told personal friends that the brown horse would
trot right over him in the last half-mile. It was of
no use. It was an infatuation, a sort of religion with
them, that the beautiful little bay, the pride of New
England, could not be beaten by the horse that
trudged lazily along behind Bill Cunningham as if he
was lame all around. 'Oh, what a walk !' was the cry
of the strangers, and I dare say they felt somewhat
disappointed, for the truth is that George Wilkes only
shows his fine points when going fast. You must
see him going at a twenty-gait to appreciate the real
beauty of that marvelous machinery. But though
the strangers held Ethan in high favor, New York
made the brown stallion the leader in the betting at
100 to 40. Two to one was laid that Ethan did not
win a heat. It so turned out. Wilkes won it in three
heats, with uncommon ease. Ethan went ahead
each heat to the half-mile, but when they reached the
appletree turn, where Wilkes had been taught to pass
the running horse, Rube, who was ridden by the side
of him at his work, he just went away from the little
bay with his ears pricked. The fastest piece of trot-
ting I ever saw, I think, was in the second heat.
There is a little descent by the apple-trees, and here
the brown horse sent out his long thighs, haunches,
and stifles to some purpose. It was like the rising of
a camel — the straightening out of Doctor Weldon's
angles. He passed Ethan Allen just as if he had been
hobbled. Time in this race was 2:24%, 2:25^4, 2:31.
The winner virtually walked over in the last heat.
At that time he was not a quick beginner. For
steadiness as a trotter he was the most incomparable

GEORGE WILKES. 253

horse that I have .ever seen. He never breaks of him-
self, and the truth is that he can trot faster than he
can run, and faster than a great many other horses
can run.

"A match was now made between the stallion and
the black horse, General Butler, the latter to go under
saddle, while the other went in harness. Butler had
come very fast in reputation as a trotting horse. At
one time nobody but George Hopkins believed in
him ; but when he defeated Panic and Jilt it began to
be thought that 'the contraband' was no counterfeit
at least. It was declared by Hopkins that his strong
point was under saddle, and a nice little party got up
one moonlight night to see him put through a trial,
with Socks, the runner, by his side. What question
they asked him is not known, but it must have been
answered in the affirmative, for Joe Cocheron was
soon after heard declaring that he could be backed
against the stallion. I had always before that taken
'Uncle Joe' for one of Caesar's favorites — 'fat-headed
men who sleep o' nights ;' but we hear that he was as
alert as anybody on this noctural but interesting oc-
casion. Harry Genet, the owner of Butler, said that
his horse must win. 'The contraband' was at the
very pitch of condition, drawn to bone and sinew, all
the weak and washy particles having been eliminated.
Mace rode him, and never rode better; Jones drove
the stallion, and drove him well. It was two to one
on Wilkes at the start, but it speedily appeared that
'the contraband' was a magnificent trotter. He took
the lead, and went to the half-mile in i :io, with a lead
of five or six lengths. This he maintained to the head
of the stretch. In coming home the stallion made a

254 THE GOLDSMITHS.

gallant rush and shut up three lengths of daylight, but
Butler beat him to the post in 2:21^. The stallion
won the second heat in 2:24^4.

"The third was one of the fastest and best-con-
tested heats < ever seen. To the half-mile there never
was daylight between them, although Butler was a
little ahead. Going up the hill he stole on until he
led by two lengths ; but now, around the apple-tree
turn, Wilkes closed with him and they came on to the
stretch together. At the draw-gate the stallion was
a neck in advance, but Mace rallied 'the contraband/
and coming with a rush on the post, won it by half a
length; the time, 2:23. The fourth heat was trotted
in the dark, Butler winning it.

"The next matches in which George Wilkes was
engaged were with Rockingham, the gray gelding
owned by John Morrisey, and now in the possession
of Commodore Vanderbilt. They were to go three
races, the first in double harness with a running
mate. Wilkes did not work well in double harness,
and they paid forfeit. Mile heats, three in five, in
harness, followed. The first heat was won by Rock-
ingham, for the stallion made a break at the begin-
ning of it; the time was 2:28^4, while the stallion
trotted the last half-mile of it in I'.n1/^. Wilkes won
the second and third heats in 2:27^, 2:28^4, and then
Rockingham was drawn with a bowed tendon.
George Wilkes was now removed to the stable of
Hiram Woodruff. The last of the three matches
with Rockingham was to go as they pleased. The
stallion went in harness, 'Old Blocks' driving. Rock-
ingham was under saddle, that able and elegant
young rider, Bud Doble, being on him. The stallion

GEORGE WIIyKES. 255

won it with ease in three straight heats — 2:243/2,
2:27^, 2:32^. The gelding had 'a leg/ and Hiram
took his own time."

The balance of the races in which George Wilkes
started can be found in "Chester's Complete
Trotting and Pacing Record." As for the pedi-
gree of George Wilkes, those who consult the colored
prints which were issued when he was racing, will
find that he was represented as being by Hamble-
tonian, dam by Mambrino. In the seventies, when
he was becoming famous as a sire, some one in North-
ern New York found a clue to the breeding of Dolly
Spanker and eventually presented evidence to show
that she was by Henry Clay, dam Telegraph, by
Baker's . Highlander. This pedigree was accepted
and appeared in the "Trotting Register" until after
that publication was transferred to the "American
Trotting Register Association," when a more thor-
ough investigation showed conclusively that Dolly
Spanker was not by Henry Clay, and now the breed-
ing of George Wilkes, the founder of the greatest
family of trotters, reads "by Hambletonian, dam
Dolly Spanker, breeding unknown." The tendency to
pace which George Wilkes showed as a colt, and which
has appeared in all of his get that have come
under my observation, came without a doubt through
Dolly Spanker, and if her breeding is ever learned,
it will no doubt be found that like Strathmore, the
only other pacer that I ever heard of by Hamble-
tonian, she will, like Lady Waltemire, have a pacing
cross close up. Possibly her dam may have been
brought on from the West by drovers, like Shanghai
Mary, and, like her, belonged to the Cadmus family,
which gave the turf Smuggler and Pocahontas.

256 THE GOLDSMITHS.

DOLLY SPANKER.

Far above all reward, yet to which all is due;
And this, ye great unknown! is only known to you.

— Swift

At the time that Dolly Spanker's pedigree was
thrown out, I had a talk with Z. E. Simmons on the
subject. He said: "I bought George Wilkes when
he was four years old, in 1860, from Colonel Felter.
He was then a fast colt, and when the sale was made,
I asked the breeding of the dam

' 'Oh, I don't know anything about her breeding,'
said the Colonel. 'They called her a Mambrino, but
you know her anyway, as she was that kicking mare
that Harry delivered his groceries with. Don't you
remember?' he continued. 'Well, she was the mare
that Van Cott cut the tail off. She had a roan stripe
over her loins.'

"I trotted Wilkes to 1866 or 1867 and then gave
my brother half of him. Afterwards he was sent to
Kentucky, and when he became famous, another
effort was made to trace his dam. I had looked into
it and could learn nothing further than that she was
traded for by one of the firm of circus men that after-
wards built the theater that occupied the site where
the New York Herald Building now stands. A
member of this firm told me that he was driving on in
front of the show when his horse gave out. Meeting
a man on a fresh-looking mare a trade was effected.
The mare acted first-class that day, but on the fol-
lowing one she kicked herself free from the wagon
and scattered everything. This was too much, so she

GEORGE WILKES TRIBE. 257

was put into one of the teams and remained there
until the show came back to New York.

"The balance of the old mare's history is well
known. She was hammered around New York, and,
after being knocked out, was presented by Harry
Felter to his father, who bred her to Hambletonian
and got the brown colt that became famous under the
name of George Wilkes.

"Years after, some one struck a trail and showed
that Dolly Spanker was by Henry Clay, but as far as
I am concerned, and so far as I know, her breeding is
unknown."

GEORGE WILKES TRIBE.

An acre of performance is worth the whole land of promise.

— Ho well.

So much for the founder of the family of which
Guy Wilkes, thanks to the skill of John Alden Gold-
smith, proved one of the best representatives, and in
order to show what a remarkable horse George
Wilkes was, I have prepared the following tabulation,
which contains the names of his get that acquired
standard records or sired or produced performers
with standard records up to the close of 1902, under
the year, when known, in which they were
foaled, as published in "Wallace's Year Book. It
will be found by referring to same that George
Wilkes sired a few foals before being taken to Ken-
tucky, where he was in service from 1873 to May 28,

258

THE GOLDSMITHS.

1882. The breeders in Kentucky did not take very
kindly at the start to what was called Simmons' "little
baked pony," and their neglect proved a blessing in
disguise, as the bulk of the bookings to him were
mares by Mambrino Patchen, which were at that
period considered "no account." It proved the
golden cross, and, as Hamilton Busbey at a later
date aptly remarked, "Speed still springs from the
soil where the ashes of George Wilkes rest."

1861.
Olmstead's Young Wilkes

(2 t., i p.)
Pineapple (i t.)

1862.
Robert Fillingham, Jr. (i p.)

1863.

Lady Irwin, dam of
Clifton Boy 2:30.

1868.

Fuller Wilkes (i t.)
May Bird 2:21.
Lady Simmons, dam of

David Wilkes (p.) 2:22^.
Tansey, dam of

Billy Sayre (i t., i p.)
Butterfly 2:19^.
Eagle Bird 2:21
(32 t, 10 p.)
Night Hawk (i t, i p.)
Wilkes Spirit (5 t.)
Young Wilkes 2:2854
(28 t, 4 P.)

Busbey 2:2954.

1874-

Bay Wilkes (i t.)
Blondine 2:24^.
Col. Wilkes (2 p.)

Com. Wilkes (2 t.)
Ella G., dam of

Aaron March (i p.)

Delmarch 2:11^
(25 t, 19 p.)

Elegy 2:2914.

Lorraine (2 t., i p.)

Marea 2:22.

Wilkesbrino 2:22^

(i t., 2 p.)
Fanny Wilkes, dam of

Lee J., 2:1954.

Marcasson (i t.)

Patron Wilkes 2:25%.

Tom Stuart (i t.)
Finesse, dam of

Count Princeps (p.)

2:2054.

Idol Wilkes (4 t., 4 p.)
Joe Bunker 2:1954.
Kentucky Wilkes 2:2154

(20 t., 3 p.)

Lyle Wilkes (6 t, i p.)
Mambrino Wilkes (9 t., 6 p.)
Mark Field (4 t, 2 p.)
Molly F., dam of

France 2:26.
Nanny Lyon, dam of

Madison Smith 2:2954.
Overstreet Wilkes (3 t., 2 p.)
Prospect Maid 2:2354, dam of

Anheuser 2:1854.
Red Wilkes (118 t., 43 p.)

GEORGE WII.KES TRIBE.

259

Rivulet, dam of

Equity Wilkes (p.)
2:2354.

Silverlet 2:2454.
The King 2:2954 (18 t., 4 P-)
Wilkesonian (10 t., 5 P-)
Young Jim (39 t., 7 P-)
Zachariah (i t.)

1875-
Ambassador 2:2154

(50 t., 17 P-)
Annabel, dam of

Dolly Withers 2:29^.

Almont Wilkes (3 t., 2 p.)
Barney Wilkes (11 t., 5 P-)
Bourbon Wilkes (52 t., 44 PO
Conn's Harry Wilkes

(6 t., 4 P-)
Crape Lisse, dam of

Balzarine 2:27.

Braid (t.) 2:i854 (P-)
2:1034.

King Rene, Jr., 2:17.
Flora Wilkes (p.) 2:19^,

dam of Twinkle 2:25*4-
Forward (3 t., 2 p.)
Kitty Wilkes, dam of

Patrick Martin (p.)

2:2354.

Rajah 2:2954 (i t.)
Lumps 2:21 (18 t., 7 P-)
Mambrino Wilkes 2:28^

(9 t, 7 P-)
Mike Wilkes (t.) 2:26'^ (p.)

2:1534.

Onward 2:2554 (r32 t., 37 P-)
Sherman 2:23^ (14 t., 4 P-)
Sherman Wilkes (2 t., i p.)
So So 2:1754, dam of

All So 2:2054 (2 t., 3 P.)

Miss So So 2:2454.

Oh So 2:25^ (5 t., 6 p.)

Reve So 2:2854.

Syra (p.) 2:12^4.
Stokesie, dam of

Al B. 2:2554.

Virgie Wilkes, dam of
Chatsworth 2:24.
Rectitude 2:28.
Satrap (p.) 2:19*4

(i t., 4 P.)
Vivanette (p.) 2:26^4.

1876.

Alcantara 2:23 (104 t., 47 p.)
Anglin 2:27^.
Bonnie Wilkes 2:29^, dam of

Bon Bon 2:26.

Bonnie Bon 2:29^4.

Bonnie June 2:30.

Bonnie Nutwood 2:2954.
Brown Wilkes 2:21^4

(36 t., 14 p.)
Coronet (3 t., 2 p.)
Fuga, dam of

Aristocrat (i t.)

Fugue 2:1954.

Noblesse 2:24 (4 t., 3 p.)
Governor Wilkes (i t., I p.)
Harry Wilkes 2:13^ (i t.)
Helen Wilkes, dam of

Burlock (p.) 2:20^2.
Ira Wilkes (t.) 2:28 (p.) 2:22^

(St., 12 p.)
Jessica, dam of

Fredia 2:2554

Lord Dufferin 2:27^4.

Queen Wilkes 2:26^.
King Wilkes 2:2254

(23 t., 3 P.)
Lady Wilkes, dam of

Bellerene 2:2634.

Tennyson 2:2754.

Wilkesmont 2:27

(2 t, 3 P-)
Lizzie Wilkes, dam of

Reserve Fund.
(6 t., 6 p.)

Wilkes Nutwood (|>.)

2:24^4 (6 t., 5 p.)
Lulu Wilkes, dam of

Advertiser 2:15^4
(6 t., 2 p.)

Alia 2:21^.

Welbeck 2:2254.

260

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Maggie Wilkes, dam of

Chitwood (p.) 2:2254
(5 t., 3 P-)

Newcomb. 2:2934 (i t.)

Nntpine (p.) 2:15*4

Wilkeswood 2:235^

(14 t., 6 p.)
Mayflower dam of

Patoche (p.) 2:2354.
Miss Wilkes 2:29, dam of

Mamie Wilkes 2:2454.
Nora Wilkes, dam of

Bayon'et (i p.)

Marco Polo 2:21.

Robbie Wilkes (i t., 2 p.)
Richard Wilkes 2:2654.
Rosalie Wilkes, dam of

Ferguson Wilkes 2:25.
Rosa Wilkes 2: 1854, dam of

Blake 2:1354 (2 t., i p.)
St. Gothard 2:27 (19 t., 3 p.)
Sally Brass 2:365^, dam of

Dick Hubbard 2:09^4.
Sister Wilkes 2:2234, dam of

Celaya 2:1154.
Sophia, dam of

George Gould (p.) 2:25.
Tom Rogers 2:20 (2 t.)
Vesta Wilkes, dam of

Dictator Wilkes (p) 2:23^.
Wilcox (p.) 2:16
Wilson 2:1654.
Wilkie Collins (16 t., 5 p.)
Zelinda Wilkes, dam of

Nettle Leaf 2:2354.

San Malo 2:2654.

1877-
Abby 2:26, dam of

Abbie X. 2:235^.

Wilkes View 2:23^.
Alcyone, 2:27 (50 t., 9 p.)
Bob's Jug 2:2234.
Defender 2:26 (3 t.)
Fallacy, dam of

Bethel (p.) 2:1854.

Grimalkin (2 t.)

Le Clede (p.) 2:1854.

Rivett 2:2554.

Fanny Wilkes 2:2654, dam of

Noble 2:30.
Favorite Wilkes 2:245^

(23 t., 8 p.)

Georgia Wilkes (3 t., i p.)
J. B. Richardson 2:1634.
Jessie Wilkes, dam of

Annie Dickinson (p.)
2:155^.

Pygmalion 2:25^.
Kitty Wilkes 2:30, dam of

Glenville 2:2254.
Maggie Moser, dam of

Nutwood Wilkes (p)

2:23.

Rowena 2:245^.
Sue Wilkes, dam of

Wilkes McGregor 2:30.
Sionara, dam of

Adora 2:285^.

1878.

Abdallah Wilkes (9 t., 6 p.)
Adrian Wilkes (23 t., 34 p si
Albert France 2:2054.
Bella, dam of

Philosopher (p.)
Beverly Wilkes (2 t.)
Count Wilkes (4 t.)
Fayette Wilkes (it.)
Gen. Hancock (3 t., 12 p.)
Hattie Allen, dam of

Decorah 2:2634.
Honesty 2:22 (p.)
Isaac 2:2554.
Jay Bird (82 t., 6 p.)
Madison Wilkes 2:2434

(3 t., 2 p.)
Nelly L. 2:2354, dam of

Actuary (p.) 2:2054.

Breadwinner 2:2934.

Marie C. 2:1654.
Podie, dam of

Banquet 2:24.

Castalia 2:225^.

GEORGE WILKES TRIBE.

261

Remembrance, dam of
El Banecia 2:i7I4-

(2 t., 2 p.)
Remember (p) 2:21^4

(i P-)
Tennessee Dictator

(i.t., 3 P.)
Virginia Jim 2:12^2.
Vandalia Wilkes, dam of

Vandal Wilkes (p.) 2:24.

1879-
Ada Wilkes, dam of

Keeler 2:1354.
Bartholomew Wilkes

(73 t., 4 p.)
Becky Sharp, dam of

King Eagle 2:30 (i p.)

Double Stroke (i p.)
Cathedral, dam of

Lady Glenmere 2:27*4

Pastoral 2:13%.

Pilgrim (t) 2:20^ (p.)

Villiers 2:21^.
Emily, dam of

Billy Thornhill 2:24^
(5 t.)

Col. Young 2:2354
(2 t., 5 P.)

Fortuna 2:22.

Redondo (5 t., 2 p.)
Favorita 2:25^, dam of

Jack Dawson 2:16^4.

Poteen 2:14*4-
Georgie, dam of

Charmer 2:29*4.

Gadabout 2:19*4.

Globard 2:19*4.

Quickly (p.) 2:14*^.
Guy Wilkes 2:1554 (71 t.,8 p.)
Humming Bird, dam of

Jubilant 2:22 (2 t.)
Jeff Wilkes 2:29*4.
Kate Wilkes, dam of

Kate Wilton 2:27.
Kate Wilkes, dam of

Posey Follette (p.)

Madrid (n t., 6 p.)
Manola, dam of

Questator 2:27.
Mina Wilkes, dam of

Minter 2:28%.

Mustard (p.) 2:08^.

Obispo (i p.)

Refina (p.) 2:08^.
Queen Wilkes 2:23^.
Sally Wilkes, dam of

Chastelard 2:29^4
(2 t., 2 p.)

Dignus (i p.)

Kildare (3 t.)

Spain (p.) 2:1754.

Wiseacre 2:19^4.
Simmons 2:28 (88 t., 22 p.)
Star Wilkes (7 t., 5 p.)

1880.

Allie Wilkes (9 t., n p.)
Betterton (9 t., 7 p.)
Budd Crooke (p.) 2:15^

(i t., 13 p.)
Clay Wilkes (2 t., 2 p.)
Cortland Wilkes (2 t.)
Cuba 2:27^4.
Daisy Wilkes 2:30, dam of

Wild Olive 2:27^.
Doris, dam of

Barclay 2:20^4.

Frank Jones 2:16^2.
Early Dawn 2:2il/2.
Ellerslie Wilkes 2:22^

(20 t., 7 P.)

Ethan Wilkes (15 t, n p.)
Ferguson (4 t., 6 p.)
Georgiana 2:26^, dam of

George Wood 2:28^.

M. J. M. 2:1534.
Hambletonian .Wilkes

(13 t., ii p.)
Howard 2:27^4.
Joy, dam of

Waco 2:1654.
Lizzie Wilkes 2:22^4.
Lexington Wilkes (3 t., I p.)
Louise Wilkes, dam of

Axminister

262

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Macey (p.) 2:2^/2 (5 t.)
Magna Wilkes 2:2^/2-
Mona Wilkes, dam of

George Willis 2:23.

June Wilk 2:2954.
Petoskey (4 t., 20 p.)
Pilot Wilkes (p.) 2:23

(8 t., 6 p.)<
Sentinella Wilkes, dam of

Carrie Bals (p.) 2:2454.
Sir Wilkes (p.) 2:24^ (i p.)
Tennessee Wilkes 2:27

(7 t., 15 P-)
Wilkes Boy 2:24^

(55 t., 16 p.)
Wilton 2:1954 (98 t., 15 p.)

1881.

Alicia 2:30.
Anglia, dam of

Anglina

Effie Hill 2:215^.
Carrie 2:29^4, dam of

Darwin 2:13.

Manager (p.) 2:06^4
(2 t., 7 P.)

Woodboy 2:1954 (l t.)
Carrie Wilkes, dam of

Bay Baron (p.) 2:1254.

Wilkie Russell 2:15

(2 t., 3 P.)
Dewey Eve, dam of

Galileo Rex (p) 2:12^
(4 t., 6 p.)

McGregor Wilkes 2:2754

(2 p.)
Edith dam of

Hummer (15 t., 9 p.)

Idolita 2:0954.
Gambetta Wilkes 2:1954

(58 t., 59 P.)
General Wilkes 2:21^

(7 t., 12 p.)

Jersey Wilkes (25 t, n p.)
Kansas Wilkes (p.) 2:22^.

(2 P.)

Montana Maid, dam of

Minnie Simmons (p) 2:12.
Moonstone 2:2854.

Monte Christo (4 t., 2 p.)
Nelly Wilkes, dam of

Wilksie G., 2:2254.
Pettie, dam of

Gold Edge 2:2654.

Silver Edge 2:2354.
Roxana, dam of

George M. (p.) 2:2OI/4-
Sealskin Wilkes 2:2954

(4 t., i p.)
Susie Wilkes, dam of

Daisy N. 2:2554.
Walsingham (15 t., 10 p.)
Wheeling Wilkes (i p.)
Willie Wilkes 2:28, dam of

Aspirator (p.) 2:245^.

Bowery Belle 2:1854.

Bowery Boy (p.)

Deluge 2:245^.

Great Heart 2:i2l/2
(i t., 4 p.)

Rachel (p.) 2:0854.

Woodsprite (5 t.)

1882.
Baron Wilkes 2:18

(83 t., 21 p.)
Black Wilkes 2:28^

(4 t., 5 P-)

Boston Wilkes (2 t, 4 p.)
Brignoli Wilkes 2:145^

(4 t., T p.)

Dunton Wilkes (3 t., 10 p.)
Empire Wilkes 2:2954

(6 t., 2 p.)
Erie Wilkes (4 p.)
Florence Elmore 2:26^4, dam

of Night Bell 2:255^.
Gabrina, dam of

Orania 2:1854.
Hector Wilkes (4 t.)
Irma Wilkes, dam of

Arrowwood (8 t., n p.)

Irmgard 2:24^.
Irish Mag, dam of

Etta Wilkes 2:195^.

Mickey 2:20.
Jimmy Temple (t.) 2\22l/2

(p.) 2:2354.

1884 — GUY WILKES.

263

Josie Wilkes, dam of

Kingmoore 2:2^/4 (i t.)

Wardship 2:23^.
Kaiser 2:28^ (9 t., 6 p.)
Lady Dunton, dam of

Alvina Wilkes (p.) 2:10.

Mamie S. (p.) 2:2134.
Lady Lyle, dam of

Earlmont (t.) 2:25 (p.)

2:09^.
Lulu Wilkes, dam of

Direction (p.) 2:08*4
(i t, i p.)

Ignis Fatuus 2:20^ (i t.)

Jacobin 2:23^.
Marguerite, dam of

Exploit (t.) 2:1954 (p.)

2:085^.
Melrose, dam of

Frances 2:30.

Glenview Belle 2:20^.

p.)

Marie Wilkes, dam of

Vollula (p) 2:15.
Nora Wilkes, dam of

Dubuque (i t.)

Nowood (p.) 2
(6 t, 2 p.)

Norawood (p.)

Farwood (i t.)
Norman Wilkes (i t., I
Patchen Wilkes 2:29^

(20 t., 18 p.)
Prince Charles (i t.)
Prophet Wilkes (p.) 2:21 X .

(4 t., 4 P.)

Ross Wilkes (2 t, 3 p.)
Sentinel Wilkes (9 t., 7 p.)
Wickliffe (9 t., 5 p.)
William L. (6 t., 4 P-)
Woodford Wilkes (27 t., 14 p.)

1883.

Little Marchioness, dam of
Altonette 2:29^. • i

The years that the following- were foaled is not known
by the writer:

Dam of Maggie Nelson George Wilkes, Jr. (5 t., 3 p.)
2:2634. Ida Barker, dam of

Easton Wilkes (i t.) York Wilkes (p.) 2:25.

1884— GUY WILKES.

Record maker, record breaker, record getter,
A few as good, some as fast; none better.

When John Goldsmith returned to California,
after the Director campaign, a number of prominent
breeders offered him their stock to develop, and, in
order to comply with their demands, he resigned his
position as trainer for Monroe Salisbury, who has
been a "King maker" in the matter of drivers, as well
as horses, and opened a public stable. He also pur-
chased the Nutwood mare, Manon, and when the

264

THE GOLDSMITHS.

California circuit got under way, he stepped out and
won five races with her off the reel, giving her a mark
of 2:21 at Sacramento, where she defeated Brigadier,
Allan Roy, Vanderlynn and Albert W. William
Corbett was represented in John Goldsmith's stable
by Joe Arthurton and Guy Wilkes, both of which won
all of the races in which they started during the cam-
paign of 1884, the Arthurton gelding closing the sea-
son with a record of 2 :25j4, and Guy Wilkes with a
mark of 2:19*4, made in the deciding heat of a $3,000
match race, in which he defeated Adair. Goldsmith
also campaigned the Admiral mare, Sister, for Mon-
roe Salisbury, starting her in twelve races, of which
she won six, was second in five, and third in one, and
gave her a mark of 2 122^ in a third heat at Oakland,
where she defeated B. B., Trump Wilson and Scandi-
navian. The following table presents a synopsis of
the season's work:

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

?

£

Second

!§

°rS

fc

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Guy Wilkes .

2:19^

George Wilkes

q

q

$6500 00

Sister

2:21^

Admiral

13

H

5

1

3 362 50

Manon

2:21

Nutwood

^

^

2 175 00

Maude (p)

2:20

Bertrand Black Hawk

4

1

1

1

1 400 00

Joe Arthurton

2:25 }4

Arthurton

^

1

1 330 00

Regina

2:34^

Electioneer

3

3

425 00

Anteeo

2-24

Electioneer

1

1

250 00

Cleveland

2:32^

1

1

125 00

Romero

A. W. Richmond

1

1

125 00

Elaine

2:34

Oregon Pathfinder

2

1

1

100 00

Sam Lewis (p)

2:26

Echo

1

1

75 00

Pope Leo

Romeo

1

1

Total ...

46

29

12

3

2

$15,867 50

1885— ANTEEO. 265

1885— ANTEEO.

He was Scotch, you could tell by the burr.
With opinions as firm as poles,
That warm blood and tips make the trotter,
As shown by Columbine's foals.

When the bell rang for the California Circuit in
1885, Guy Wilkes was in Orrin A. Hickok's hands, and
in the campaign that followed, Nelly R., Arab and the
George Wilkes stallion had too much speed for the
members of John Goldsmith's stable. He evaded
them at Santa Rosa and Petaluma, where he won
with Anteeo, and finally gave that horse this record
of 2\i6l/2 in a $2,000 match race with Adair at San
Francisco on October 30. During the season Anteeo
also trotted second to Ruby at Oakland, and second to
Arab in two races at the Bay District, Guy Wilkes
and Adair being below him in the summary in one of
them. Manon won her first two races over Adair and
Albert W., these successes being followed by two de-
feats by Nelly R. and three by Guy Wilkes. Sister
took the word in five races, but failed to win, her score
being four seconds and a third, the big end of the
purse in three of the events going to Arab, and one
each to Adair and Albert W.

The four-year-old colt, Dawn, by Nutwood, made
a very favorable showing, his best race being trotted
at Sacramento, where he defeated Pansy, Anteeo,
Voucher and Nona Y. in a five-heat race, and made a
record of 2 '.2^/4, while Maude made a clean score for
John Goldsmith by winning at Santa Rosa, Oakland,
Sacramento and Stockton, and equalled her record of
2 :2O in the deciding heat of her last race. While at
Santa Rosa, in August, John Goldsmith started the

266

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Santa Clans colt, Sidney, and won two heats, giving
him a record of 2 129, but was distanced by Poca-
hontas. He also had Monroe Chief in training for a
short time at Oakland, where he started him in a spe-
cial with Ar,ab and Nellie R. He showed all of his
old-time speed until he met with a mishap which put
him on the retired list. The names of the other
starters appear in the following table :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

cti

%

£

Second.

Third.

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Anteeo

2:16^

Electioneer

7

4

3

$3,287 50

Manon

Nutwood

2

1

3

1

1,695 00

Dawn (4) ....

2:25K

Nutwood

9

3

1

3

1

1,567 50

Maude

2-20

Bertrand Black Hawk

4

4

1,550 00

May Boy

2-26

Whipple Hambletoni'n

1

4

2

1,012 50

Sister

Admiral

5

4

1

937 50

Blaine

2 -28 >£

Oregon Pathfinder. . . .

8

3

3

2

642 50

Ivy (p)

2:36^

Buccaneer

3

1

1

1

467 50

Ned

Overland

5

3

V

212 50

Maid of Oaks

2-30

Duke McClellan

1

1

150 00

Fred Acker man (p)

2:23

Washington

2

2

125 00

Jim Monroe

1

1

2-29

Santa Claus

1

1

Total

60

19

19

15

4

3

$11,647 50

886— SHAMROCK.

One said, "2:10! That couldn't be —

More like two twenty-two or three." —Holmes.

John Goldsmith had a very large stable in 1886,
the returns for the season showing that he drove
fifteen horses in sixty-two races, of which he won

1 886 — SHAMROCK. 267

twenty-nine, was second in nineteen, third in twelve,
and unplaced in four. Hickok and Marvin were
both absent on the Eastern tracks, the former with
Arab, and the latter with Palo Alto, St. Bel and the
four-year-old record-breaker, Manzanita, 2:16. Guy
Wilkes again proved the star pupil in Goldsmith's
stable, as he had in 1884, his first start being at Santa
Rosa, in August, when he won and made his record
of 2:15^4, in a third heat, the middle half of the mile
being trotted in i :o6^4- He also won his engage-
ments at Petaluma, where he trotted a third heat in
2:i6^4; Oakland, where he lost two heats to Adair ;
San Jose and Sacramento, where he trotted a fourth
heat in 2:16^4, and at the Bay District, on Christmas
Day, where he distanced Charles Hilton and J. Q.
He was also started at San Francisco on November
27 against Antevolo, Charles Hilton, Harry Wilkes
and Arab, and finished second to Harry Wilkes, after
winning a third heat in 2:16^4, the time of the winner
being 2:15^4, 2:16^, 2:15.

While in the Circuit, in 1886, Dawn won four out
of five races and reduced his record to 2:19^ at
Petaluma, where he defeated B. B. and La Grange.
Manon was also inside the money in all of her races,
and won the free-for-alls at Nevada City and Sacra-
mento, where she defeated Antevolo, Albert W., both
of which won heats, and Bay Frank. Sister was also
tried again, and after winning from Allan Roy and
Albert W. at San Francisco, trotted second to the
Patchen Vernon gelding at Oakland, Sacramento and
San Jose. Shamrock, his first colt trotter, was also
started while on the trip. Soudan defeated him at
Sacramento and San Jose, and he was third to Ella at
Oakland. In his other starts he had a walkover
at Petaluma, defeated Soudan and Edna at Stock-
ton, and won over Twinkle at San Francisco, where
he placed the two-year-old race record for colts

268

THE GOLDSMITHS.

at 2 -.25, and made it in a second heat. Maude also
won four out of five starts, her only defeat being at
Sacramento, where she was second to Killarney.
The three-year-old Valensin, by Crown Point, was
in Goldsmith's stable during the season, and won at
Petaluma an<} Stockton, where he made a record of
2 123 in a fourth heat, defeating Alcazar and Tempest.
In his other starts he was second to Alcazar at Santa
Rosa, Sacramento and San Jose, and third to the same
horse at Oakland. He was also defeated by Lot
Slocum at San Francisco and Petaluma. During the
meeting at Santa Rosa, Goldsmith also took a mount
behind Voucher, when it looked as though Stamboul
had the race won. He had the first and third heats to
his credit, while the second was called a dead heat
between Voucher and Stamboul. John had his
money on the field against Stamboul, and from the
time he struck the favorite at the head of the stretch
in the fourth heat the issue was never in doubt.

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

•M

t

%

Second.

2

s

h

Fourth

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Guy Wilkes
Dawn

2:15*

2-19^

George Wilkes
Nutwood

8
5

7
4

1

1

$4,875 00
1,515 00

Manon

Nutwood

5

2

2

1

1.475 00

Maude (p)

Bertrand Black Hawk

5

4

1

1,312 50

Valensin (3)

2:23

Crown Point

8

2

3

2

1

1,187 50

Shamrock (2)
Hidalgo

2:25

2-27^

Buccaneer
Sultan

6
4

3
1

2
1

1
1

1

1,057 50
500 00

Mt. Vernon

Nutwood

5

2

3

47500

Sister
Patchen T (p)

2-24^

Admiral
Shadow

4
4

1

3
8

1

450 00
262 50

Ned

Overland

2

1

1

25000

Voucher

1

1

250 00

Joe Arthurton

Arthurton

1

1

200 00

Sam Lewis (p) . .

Echo

3

1

1

1

187 50

Bonner Jr

1

1

50 00

Total

62

29

19

10

4

$14,047 50

i88y — SABLE WILKES. 269

1887— SABLE WILKES.

His black horse was reckoned the best on the coast.

— Gordon.

The three-year-old colt, Sable Wilkes, was the star
in John A. Goldsmith's stable in 1887. He was by
Guy Wilkes, out of Sable, by The Moor, and proved a
very strong card for his sire, as after defeating Soudan
at San Francisco and Sacramento, where he won the
Occident Stake and having two walkovers, he was
shipped to the Bay District and started to beat 2 119^2,
the world's record for three-year-olds, held jointly by
the Electioneer filly, Hinda Rose, and the Kentucky-
bred colt, Patron, by Pancoast. At the first time of
asking, Sable Wilkes cut the record to 2:18, and when
tried again, three weeks later, trotted in 2:18%. The
mile in 2:18 gave Sable Wilkes and his sire a world-
wide reputation, which they retained from that date
until John Goldsmith drove his last race. Their glory
departed with him. Goldsmith also won four races
for the San Mateo Farm with the two-year-old geld-
in, Grandee, by Le Grand, giving him a mark of
2:31^2 at San Francisco, where he defeated Memo.
Sister picked up two races at San Francisco, cutting
her mark to 2:19^, when she defeated Black Diamond
and Wells Fargo. She did not, however, have speed
enough to win on the trip through the circuit, Lot
Slocum, Menlo and Jane L. being in the way. The
other starters and their positions appear in the follow-
ing table :

270

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts. 1

•g

£

Second.

T3

2
H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won

Sister

2-19>{

Admiral

14

2

4

o

0

$2 180 00

Ella S. (p)

2-2Q

Bob Hal

7

fi

1

1 697 50

Mt. Vernon
Sable Wilkes (p) . .

2:18

Nutwood
Guy Wilkes

8

3
6

3
1

....

1

1

1,45000
1,396 25

Grandee (2) .

2-31^

Le Grand

4

4

717 50

Perihelion

Admiral

6

2

2

1

1

560 00

Jane L.

2-19K

Hambletonian Mamb

1

1

250 00

Lilly Stanley

2:20^

Whippleton ....

1

1

250 00

Pocahontas (p) . . .

Little Washington

3

2

1

237 50

Joe Arthurton

2:22^

Arthurton

5

1

2

1

1

222 50

Allie Whipple
Cling

2:33^

2-29%;

Whipple Hambletoni'n
Grey Jim

1
1

1
1

10000
75 00

Well's Fargo

Geo. M. Patchen,Jr.

2

1

1

Total

60

25

15

11

5

4

$9,136 25

1888— YOLO MAID.

Like a bird on the wing she flashed off in the lead,
Andy talking her back as she took a hold strong;
At the half Pointer brushed and his marvelous speed
Made her dizzy, when "Papa" Geers sent him along.

When the trotters were taken up for the campaign
of 1888, John A. Goldsmith was at San Mateo Farm,
in the employ of William Corbitt, and from that sea-
son until 1894 he was constantly engaged in develop-
ing and racing the get of Guy Wilkes and the three-
year-old champion, Sable Wilkes, with a few tracing
to other families, until he had enough farm-bred ones

1 888 — YOLO MAID. 271

to make a formidable stable. When John Goldsmith
went to San Mateo there were very few foals by Guy
Wilkes on the farm, the only ones trained in 1888
being the three-year-old filly, Hazel Wilkes, her sister,
Una Wilkes, and the two-year-old filly, Lillian Wilkes.
They were not started until the next year. After the
stud season, Guy Wilkes was taken up and started in
the free-for-all stallion race at Oakland, where he de-
feated Stamboul and Woodnut in five heats, the second
and third miles in the event being won by Stamboul.
His last start was in the Grand Stallion Stake for
$3,500 at the California State Fair against the same
horses. On this occasion Woodnut was victorious,
after Guy Wilkes had won a heat and trotted a dead
heat with him in 2:iyl/2.

In his three-year-old form, Grandee won his races
and had two walk-overs. He met Direct in his first
race at Petaluma and won in 2:26, 2:23^, while he
also defeated the Director colt, as well as Balkan and
Moses S. at Sacramento. While in the Circuit, John
Goldsmith drove Ben Ali in six races, of which he won
five and gave him a record of 2 122 at Napa. He also
won four out of five starts with the three-year-old filly,
Yolo Maid, marking her in 2:14 at San Francisco,
where she defeated Adonis, while Rosie Mac, by Alex-
ander Button, had two firsts, two seconds and a fourth
to show for the five races that John Goldsmith drove
her. He also won a three-year-old pace at Oakland
with Adonis, finished second to Don Tomas with Bay
Rose at San Francisco, and won with the Admiral
pacer Perihelion at San Jose, as is set forth in the fol-
lowing synopsis of the season's work :

272

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

w
C

'£

•d

c

•2

'Jo
EH

Fourth.

-a

*5c
c
p

Amount
Won.

Yolo Maid (3)

2:14

Alexander Button

6

4

1

$1,650 00

Guy Wilkes

George Wilkes

2

1

1

1 625 00

Ben Ali

2:22

Geo. M. Patchen, Jr. . .

6

5

1

1,600 00

Rosie Mac

2:20^

Alexander Button .

5

2

2

1

1 430 00

Grandee (3)

2:23^

Le Grand

4

4

1,217 50

Perihelion (p)

2-26

Admiral

1

1

300 00

Adonis (3)

2-20^

Sidney

1

300 00

Bay Rose

2-20^

Sultan

1

1

125 00

Damiana (p)

Gladiator

1

1

60 00

Allie Whipple

Whipple's Hamblet'n

1

1

15 00

Total

27

18

H

8

$8,322 50

1889— LILLIAN WILKES.

Her neck was arched double, her nostrils were wide,
And the tips of her tapering ears nearly met.

— Gordon.

In 1889, the Guy Wilkes trotters began to appear,
John Goldsmith making his first starts in August, at
Napa, where Hazel Wilkes was second to the Palo
Alto filly, Lorita, in 2:22^4, and Lillian Wilkes in a
walkover in the stake for three-year-olds, trotted in
2:18, equalling the mark made by Sable Wilkes in
1887, but which was no longer the world's record,
Axtell having reduced it to 2:14% at Cleveland a few
weeks before ; a figure which he subsequently cut to
2:12 at Terre Haute. Hazel Wilkes won her engage-
ments at Santa Rosa and Petaluma, where Lillian
Wilkes made her first start in a race with Sunol and

1 889 — LIUJAN WILKES. 273

Margaret S. The first heat was won by Sunol in
2:21^2, and the next three by the Guy Wilkes filly in
2:17^4, 2:26, 2:26^. When this trio met again, at
Oakland, the positions were reversed, Sunol winning
in straight order, with Margaret S. second and Lillian
Wilkes third. After the Oakland race Lillian Wilkes
disappeared from the turf, Margaret S. trained on to
a record of 2:i2l/2, while Sunol, after reducing the
three-year-old record to 2:io>2, placed the world's
record to high wheels at 2:o8*4> which remained un-
beaten until September n, 1903, when Lou Dillon
trotted the Cleveland track to that hitch in 2 105.

After trotting second to Lorita at Oakland, Hazel
Wilkes won again at Sacramento, where the two
year-old colt, Regal Wilkes, made his first start and
won in 2:28^. He also won again at San Jose, and
on November 9, the day Sunol trotted in 2:10^2, Regal
Wilkes placed the two-year-old record for colts at
2:20^4. On the same day Palo Alto trotted in 2:12^,
and Stamboul in 2:13^- During the balance of the
campaign Hazel Wilkes trotted second to Emma
Temple at Stockton, where she won two heats and
made a record of 2:20; won at San Jose over Mary
Lou, Alfred G. and Pink, and was second to Direct in
a four-year-old race at San Francisco in 2:19^, 2:19^2,
2:191/2. Una Wilkes, a sister to Hazel Wilkes, was
also started at San Jose, where she saved her entrance
in a race won by Richmond, Jr. Of the other horses
driven by John Goldsmith while in the Circuit in 1889,
Dan De Noyelle's mare, Nina De, by Nutwood, out of
Adelaide, by Phil Sheridan, won three out of five
starts and made a record of 2 126^ ; Victor was
awarded a first and a third, Alfred G. a first, Belle

274

THE GOLDSMITHS.

Button a first at Napa, where she made a record of
2. :2O, but was beaten in her other engagements by
Creole, Racquet and Longwell, while Bay Rose, after
finishing second to Direct at San Jose and third to
Thapsin at the Bay District, won the 2 :2O class on No-
vember 9 over Juno and Thapsin. The other starters
appear in the following summary of the season's work :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

1

£

Second. 1

i

2

H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Hazel Wilkes

2:20

Guy Wilkes

8

4

4

$2400 00

Alfred G

2:23

Anteeo

1

1

1 000 00

Lillian Wilkes (3)

2-17K

Guy Wilkes

3

2

1

980 00

Nina D

2-26^

Nutwood

5

3

1

1

725 00

Victor

2-22

Echo

2

1

1

550 00

Flora Belle

2-25

Alcona

2

1

1

500 00

Lilly Stanley

Whippleton

3

9

1

471 25

Bay Rose

Sultan

2

1

1

402 50

Belle Button (p) ..
Richmond, Jr ...

2:20

2:24^

Alexander Button
A. W. Richmond

4
1

1
1

1

1

1

325 00
300 00

Creole

2:21V2

Prompter

1

1

250 00

Regal Wilkes (2) . .
Ned Locke

2:20%
2:28^

Guy Wilkes
Antelope

4
1

3
1

1

200 00
200 00

Memo

Sidney

1

1

100 00

Una Wilkes

Guv Wilkes

1

1

30 00

Total . . .

39

20

10

4

8

2

$8.433 75

VICTOR.

Handsome is that handsome does — Goldsmith.

The race that John Goldsmith won with Victor
was trotted at Oakland against Direct, Senator, Val-
entine and Junio. McDowell won the first two heats
with Direct in 2:22, 2:21%, Senator picked up the
third in 2. 122, and Victor then scored twice in 2 '.22%,

1890 — FREEDOM. 275

2:2414. The sixth heat was declared dead between
Victor and Direct in 2:2454, after which Goldsmith
won in 2:26*4. Before coming to San Francisco
Victor was considered a wonder at the up-country
fairs, and later on, when the blacksmith who devel-
oped him appeared at Sacramento, he created con-
siderable merriment. When describing Victor's
race at Sacramento, where he won a heat, but was
beaten by Franklin, Joseph Cairn Simpson said :
"Victor was driven without a check, the sulky was
an old and rattling one and the driver was dressed
in a dark navy blue suit, a la military cut, and a cap
that resembled those of the British grenadiers of the
Revolutionary war. It was fun to see Victor score.
When his driver would say "whoa" to him he would
stop as though he was hit in the head with a club, and
would walk to the score like an old plow-horse. He
was always up on a start and the first to turn around
when called back. The colors for Victor were
orange and blue, but the driver's colors were all blue.
When asked where was his orange, he said he had
it in his pocket."

1890— FREEDOM.

Old Hiram settled it at last!

''The time was two — too dee-vel-ish fast!"

— Holmes.

Six of the nineteen horses that John Goldsmith
started in 1890 were by Guy Wilkes and two by
Sable Wilkes, the latter being represented by the
yearlings Thora and Freedom. This pair of baby

276 THE GOLDSMITHS.

trotters made their only starts at Napa in October,
Thora being defeated in a race by the Alcazar colt,
Kebir, while Freedom, after failing to beat 2. 135 on
October 16, was started two days later and reduced
Norlaine's wprld's record of 2:31^ to 2:29^4. Of
the Guy Wilkes trotters, Regal Wilkes had three
walk-overs and made a three-year-old record of
2\iyy2 at Fresno in a trip against time, and Hazel
Wilkes won at San Jose, Napa, Petaluma and Oak-
land, without changing her four-year-old record of
2 :2O, her only defeat during the season being in a
race that Homestake won in 2:18, 2:14^, 2:1414.
Una Wilkes was not so fortunate. She won at Oak-
land, Fresno and Napa, where she made a four-year-
old record of 2 1251/2 ; was third to Beaury Me at
San Jose, unplaced to Silas Skinner in one of her
races at Napa, second to Charles Derby at Petaluma,
third to Silas Skinner in her second race at Oakland
and beaten by both Vic H. and Frank M. at Sacra-
mento. Of the others, Vida Wilkes trotted to a
two-year-old record of 2 :22*4, the three-year-old filly
Milly Wilkes started five times, but failed to win a
heat and the three-year-old colt, Rupee, won five out
of seven races and made a pacing record of 2:163/2
at Fresno, where he defeated Hummer and Princess
Alice. Sister V. made a clean sweep through the
circuit, winning eight races in straight order and
making a record of 2:18^. On the first day of the
Oakland meeting this mare and Hazel Wilkes each
won a first and Milly Wilkes a second. On the
following day John Goldsmith cleared the card with
Una Wilkes and Rupee. Sister V. was by Sidney,
out of Nettie Lambert, by John Nelson. She

1 890 — FREEDOM.

277

proved the most consistent performer in the family.
During the season John Goldsmith also drove Stam1
boul in 2:nI/4, at Stockton, won two special events
at Sacramento with Hummer and Beaury Me, and
started the Nutwood mare, Chantilly, in three races
without getting better than second. She is now
referred to as the dam of Chanty, 2:13^. The other
starters appear in the following table :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

£

Second.

i

A
H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Hazel Wilkes

Guy Wilkes

6

5

1

$4075 00

Sister V

2-18%

Sidney

8

8

3850 00

Rupee (p)

2:16%

Guy Wilkes

7

5

1

1

2,675 00

Una Wilkes

2:25%

Guy Wilkes

9

8

1

R

2

1 630 00

Regal Wilkes (3)..
Vida Wilkes (2)

2:17%
2:22#

Guy Wilkes
Guy Wilkes

4
7

4

6

1

1,170 00
907 50

Chantilly

Nutwood

3

1

2

600 00

Millie Wilkes

Guy Wilkes '

5

4

1

480 00

Beaury Me

2-19K

Nephew

1

1

400 00

Hummer

2:18%

Sidney

1

1

300 00

Maud H

Carr's Mambrino

1

1

250 00

St. Joe

2:26

Junio

1

1

250 00

Vidette

Dave Hill, Jr

1

1

120 00

2-33

Antevolo .

?

1

1

118 00

Thora (1)

Sable Wilkes

1

1

81 75

Mountain Maid

Anteeo

1

1

75 00

Anita (4)

2-25%

Le Grand

2

1

1

75 00

Stamboul

2-11%

Sultan

4

3

1

2-29%

Sable Wilkes

2

1

1

Total

66

37

15

11

1

2

$17,057 25

278 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1891— VIDA WILKES.

Coming events cast their shadows before. — Campbell.

John Goldsmith drove his last races in California
in 1891. He started out in August with five horses
by Guy Wilkes and a pair of two-year-olds by Sable
Wilkes. Vida Wilkes, by Guy Wilkes, out of Vixen
by Nutwood, second dam Sister, dam of Albert W.,
2. :2O, proved the star of the stable, her only defeat
being in the Occident Stake at Sacramento, where she
trotted second to Myrtle in 2:19^2. She won the
Stanford Stake at the meeting of the Pacific Coast
Trotting Horse Breeder's Association, taking a
record of 2:23^4, which was two weeks later cut to
2:18*4 in a trip against time over the kite track at
Stockton during the meeting at which Sunol cut the
world's record to 2:08^4, Palo Alto placed the stal-
lion record at 2:08^4, Arion moved the two-year-old
record to 2:10^4, a mark that has not been changed,
notwithstanding the advent of the bike sulky.

Una Wilkes won her engagements at San Jose,
Napa, Oakland and Petaluma, where she reduced
her record to 2:19^4, while Millie Wilkes had only a
third to Shylock at Napa to show for the season's
work. After being defeated at San Jose by Princess
Alice, Rupee won at Napa, Petaluma, Oakland and
San Francisco, where he made a record of 2:14^ and
was third to Turk Franklin at Sacramento, where
Allanah won from a field of five and made a record
of 2:18. She also won at Stockton and Napa, but
was beaten in her other engagements by Dr. Swift,
Gold Medal, Charley C. and Hummer. Of the Sable

1891 — VIDA WILKES.

279

Wilkes pair McCleay was second to Kebir at Oak-
land, distanced by Arion at Sacramento, won at San
Jose in 2:26^, a mark that was cut to 2 122*4 at
Stockton, while Sabina finished second to Starlight
at San Francisco, second to Arion at San Jose, where
he trotted in 2:25^, won at Napa and Petaluma, and
made her record of 2 127^ in the first heat of a stake
that was won by Kebir over the Bay District track
at San Francisco. The Le Grand horse, Beaumont,
was also tried and driven to a record of 2:23^ at
Stockton, and Serena, a four-year-old by Sidney
which John Goldsmith bred, was also started in seven
events, of which she won three and closed the season
with a mark of 2:29^/2. His other starters appear
in the following table :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

1

&

Second.

i

H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Una Wilkes
Vida Wilkes (3) . ..

2:19#
2:18#

Guy Wilkes
Guv Wilkes

9

8

5

7

1
1

2

1

$3.825 00
3,498 75

Serena (4)

22Q%

Sidney

7

4

2

1

2,350 00

Rupee (p)

2-14K

Guy Wilkes

6

4

1

1

2,200 00

Alannah (p)

2:18

Guy Wilkes

7

8

2

2

1,540 00

Beaumont

2-2Sl/2

Le Grand

8

' 1

8

1

2

1

1,005 00

Sabina (2)

2:27^

Sable Wilkes

5

2

8

923 75

Macleay (2)

2:22 y±

Sable Wilkes .

4

2

1

610 00

2-25%

Abbottsfo rd

1

1

400 00

Wanda

Eros

1

1

250 00

Tippo Tib

2-2Q

Reliance

2

«

1

1

215 00

May Queen (2)

May Boy

1

1

148 75

Millie Wilkes

Guy Wilkes

1

1

120 00

Snecklefritz (p)

2-29

Gladiator .

2

1

1

60 00

Stonewall

Director

1

1

35 00

Alwood K. (1)

Woodnut

1

1

16 50

Perfection (2)

Campaign

1

Total

65

29

16

9

7

4

$17,197 75

280 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1892.— JOHN A. GOLDSMITH COMES EAST.

Happy are thou as if every day thou hads't picked up a horse
shoe — Longfellow.

John Goldsmith was advised of his brother's death
while attending the Petaluma meeting. He was not
feeling very well at the time, not having fully re-
covered from the effects of the accident in which
he broke a leg the year before, and when the season
closed, he decided to race in the East, taking with
him a racing stable from the San Mateo Farm.
Early in 1893 he and Hickok crossed the Mountains,
the former having Hulda and Azote and the latter
Muta Wilkes, Hazel Wilkes, Una Wilkes, Rupee,
Ulee Wilkes, Jean Wilkes and Lesa Wilkes by Guy
Wilkes and Oro Wilkes, Sabina and Sabledale by
Sable Wilkes. Both stables were given their final
preparation at Cleveland. The first start was made
at Detroit, where Muta Wilkes won the 2 130 trot,
Hulda being drawn on account of sickness, after hav-
ing placed two heats to her credit. Hazel Wilkes
after winning a heat in 2:16%, finished second to
Honest George, and Una Wilkes was unplaced to
Martha Wilkes. Hazel Wilkes was again second to
Honest George at Cleveland, where Muta Wilkes
won in 2:20%, and Rupee was awarded second pre-
mium in the race won by Grant's Abdallah. Gold-
smith's next engagements were at Sturgis, Mich.,
where he won over the kite track with Muta Wilkes,
Una Wilkes and Oro Wilkes, the latter also picking
up a second in the two-year-old stake that Marvin
won with Antella. Of his other starters Rupee was

1892 — JOHN A. GOLDSMITH COMES EAST. 281

third to Major Wonder, Ulee Wilkes third to Jack
Spratt, Hazel Wilkes unplaced to Paragon and Sabina
unplaced to Belleflower in one of the greatest fields
of three-year-olds that ever took the word, the score
card presenting such names as Jessie McCorkle,
Czar, Kentucky Union, Wilkesward, Piletta and
Nyanza.

After stopping a week at Grand Rapids, where
Sabledale and Muta Wilkes won their engagements,
Una Wilkes finishing fourth to Nightingale, Sabina
fourth to Belleflower, Jean Wilkes third to Directum
and Hazel Wilkes third to Martha Wilkes in 2:12
2:14^2, 2:14^4, the San Mateo Farm horses were
shipped to Washington Park, Chicago, for the annual
meeting of the Northwestern Breeder's Association.
On the opening day Oro Wilkes won a two-year-old
race from Wilkes Maid and Tuscarora in 2:25^,
2:25^, 2:28^4, his first being the only one placed to
the stable's credit that week, the score for the black
colt's stable companions reading Jean Wilkes third
to Directum, Muta Wilkes third to Geneva, Azote
being between her and the winner, Una Wilkes
fourth to Hamlin's Nightingale and Rupee third to
Flying Jib. The two weeks' meeting at the Inde-
pendence kite track was the next stand, and when
the curtain rang down on this, the greatest of
C. W. Williams' ventures, John A. Goldsmith,
had $8,400 to his credit. He won there with Muta
Wilkes in 2:1414 2:15, 2:17^, and Hazel Wilkes in
2:15^4, 2:14%, 2:i6*/2 and was second to Silicon in
2 :2O_^2 with Oro Wilkes, second to Directum with
Lallah Wilkes, fourth to Kentucy Union with Sabina,
second to Hulda with Muta Wilkes, third to St. Vin-

282 THE GOLDSMITHS.

cent with Una Wilkes, and distanced with Ulee
Wilkes and Lesa Wilkes, the latter having the flag
fall in front of her in the two-year-old race, after
winning a heat in 2:20^4. During the meeting he
also gave Ulee Wilkes a time record of 2 123 and
Sabledale a mark of 2:18^2.

Jumping from Independence to Cleveland for
the fall meeting, Goldsmith, on his second appear-
ance at the Glenville track, won with Jean Wilkes
and Sabledale over Princess Royal, Mambrino Swift
and Tuscarora, was again second to Hulda with Muta
Wilkes, third to Moquette in 2:13^ with Una
Wilkes, fourth to Duchess with Ulee Wilkes and un-
placed to Muggins with Sabina, and behind the
money with Jean Wilkes in the stake that Midnight
Chimes won in 2:18*4, 2:16%, 2:19^4. The next
ship was to St. Joseph, Mo., where Goldsmith won
with Muta Wilkes, Ulee Wilkes and Oro Wilkes
was second to Kentucky Union with Lallah Wilkes,
third to Lobasco with Una Wilkes and second to
Blue Sign with Rupee, after winning a heat in 2:12^.

In October John Goldsmith appeared in his blue
cap and jacket at Lexington after an absence of thir-
teen years, his former visit being made in 18^9 with
Driver. He won a first and a second with Una
Wilkes, giving her a mark of 2:15 in the race she
lost to Greenleaf, a first with Rupee, cutting his mark
to 2:11, a first with Lallah Wilkes, while Sabina
finished second to Directum, Oro Wilkes third to
William Penn in his first race and fourth to Silicon
in his second, and Sabina third to Directum, Hazel
Wilkes being unplaced in both of the events in
which she took the word. She was also unplaced

1 893 — °RO

283

to Greenleaf the following week at Nashville, where
Muta Wilkes won a race for four-year-olds, and Una
Wilkes saved her entrance in the race won by Nelly
Mason. Lallah Wilkes was also started in three
races at this meeting, being distanced by Directum,
unplaced by Henrico and third to Eli in a mile dash.
The following table shows that the San Mateo stable
made a very successful campaign :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts. 1

-p

£

Second.

"g
g

Fourth. 1

Unplaced!

Amount
Won.

Muta Wilkes (4) . .

2:14^

Guy Wilkes

10

7

2

1

$15 875 00

Oro Wilkes (2) ....

2:21%

Sable Wilkes

7

2

3

1

1

4,650 00

Hazel Wilkes (7) .

2:14^

Guy Wilkes

8

1

2

1

4

3,800 00

Sabina (2)

2:27^

Sable Wilkes

6

1

1

?,

2

2,225 00

Una Wilkes (6) ....
Rupee (p, 5)
Sabledale (2)
Lallah Wilkes (3) . .

2:15
2:11
2:18^
2:26

Guy Wilkes
Guy Wilkes
Sable Wilkes
Sable Wilkes

10
5

2
6

2
1
2

1

1
2

3

3
2

3

1
2

2,575 00
1,425 00
1,25000
97500

Ulee Wilkes (4)

2-23

Guy Wilkes

4

1

1

1

1

605 00

Jean Wilkes (3)

2-24K

Guy Wilkes

4

1

1

1

1

550 00

Lesa Wilkes (2)

2-28%

Guy Wilkes

1

1

Total

as

18

15

11

7

Ifl

$33,930 00

1893— ORO WILKES.

Arion, Bevis, Borak all in one. *

The campaign of 1893 was the most successful
in the history of the San Mateo Farm. With ten
horses, three of which were not owned by William
Corbitt, although one of them was foaled on his

284 THE GOLDSMITHS.

farm, John Goldsmith started in eighty-two races,
of which he won twenty-three, was second in
twenty, and was awarded premiums amounting to
$47,565. After a preliminary skirmish at the Phila-
delphia and Meadville meetings, at which he picked
up two firsts with Siva, a second and a third with
Sabina, a second with Hazel Wilkes and a second
with Ben Ali, Goldsmith wheeled into line at Pitts-
burg for the last Grand Circuit meeting held over
Homewood Park. On the opening day he started
Double Cross and Sabina, the former finishing third
to Fantasy and the latter second to Miss Lida in
2:16^2. On the following day Chris Lang won the
race for two-year-olds, making a record of 2:263/2,
and Muta Wilkes defeated Wardwell, Miss Alice,
Aline and Elko in the 2:15 class, cutting her mark
to 2:13^4. Of Goldsmith's other starters, Hazel
Wilkes finished third to Martha Wilkes in the free-
for-all, and Sabina was second to Silver Star, the
latter being forced to step to 2:16^ in the first heat
to stall off Beautiful Chimes. This gave Goldsmith
a line on the brown gelding's speed, and when he
started favorite in the Merchants' and Manufac-
turers' Stake at Detroit the following week, he
backed Siva with confidence and won in 2:141/2,
2:13^4, 2:16^2. She was all in at the finish, and after
being unplaced to Bellini at Buffalo and behind the
money in tfce race Prince Herschel won at Rochester,
Goldsmith sent her home.

On the trip down the line Chris Lang won the
two-year-old stake at Detroit, but failed to show in
front again during the season, Director's Flower
having too much speed for him at Cleveland, Buffalo,

1 893 — ORO WILKES. 285

Rochester, Springfield and New York, while he was
beaten by Cut Glass at Providence, unplaced to
Nellie A. at Lexington and fourth to Axinite at
Nashville. Double Cross won at Buffalo, where she
made a record of 2:1834 and one of the races in which
she was started at New York, the record of her other
starts showing a second to Fantasy at Detroit, sec-
ond to Oriole at Cleveland, second to Fantasy at
Rochester, second to Margrave at New York, third to
Nemoline and fourth to Bellini at Providence, un-
placed to Bellini at Boston and third to Fantasy at
Nashville in the race in which the Chimes filly cut
the world's record for three-year-old trotters to
2:0834.

Muta Wilkes cut her mark to 2:11 at Detroit,
where she won a heat from Hulda. At Cleveland
she was drawn after the second heat of the race won
by Little Albert. Hulda defeated her at Buffalo and
New York, and she was unplaced to Walter E. at
Rochester. These failures were followed by four
firsts at Philadelphia, Providence and Boston, where
she defeated Fanny Wilcox, Martha Wilkes and
Jean Valjean. Hazel Wilkes trotted the race of her
life at Cleveland, where she took the word with Pix-
ley, Dr. Sparks, Wardwell, Dandy, Miss Alice and
White Stockings. Dr. Sparks won the first two
heats in 2:1334, 2:13^2. Hazel Wilkes showed in
front in the third and made her record of 2:11*4.
Pixley was then awarded two firsts in 2:143/4, 2:1454*
after which the Guy Wilkes mare gathered in the
laurels with two miles in 2:13, 2:16%. After this
event she was defeated by Phoebe Wilkes at Buffalo,
Pixley at Rochester, and Directum at New York.

286 THE GOLDSMITHS.

At Providence she won the free-for-all from Jean
Valjean, Martha Wilkes and Belle Archer, after
which she was second to Pamlico at Lexington and
second to Directum at Nashville, when he made his
record of 2:05*4.

Sabina made her record of 2:155^ when she won at
Rochester, after being defeated by Courier at Detroit,
Miss Lida at Cleveland and Prince Herschel at Buf-
falo. She also won again at Springfield at the last
Grand Circuit meeting held over Hampden Park,
but was third to Harry C. at Providence, unplaced
to Caprice at Boston, fourth to Charley C. at Lex-
ington and third to the same horse at Nashville.
Oro Wilkes was not started until the stable reached
Buffalo, where he trotted second to Margrave. His
next starts were at Springfield, New York, Phila-
delphia and Mystic Park, Boston, all of which he won,
his record being reduced to 2:15% at Philadelphia,
where he defeated Myrtle R. and William Penn in a
five-heat race. At the meeting of the New England
Trotting Horse Breeders Association, this great
three-year-old took the word with nine others in the
2 :2O class. Early Bird won the first two heats and
Jay Hawker the next three. In the deciding heat
Goldsmith stepped Oro Wilkes up to second place in
2:16 and secured third money. The race keyed him
up for his engagement in the Representative Stallion
Stake at Lexington, where, after Medio had gather-
ed in two heats in 2:14%, 2:14^, the Sable Wilkes
colt went on and won in 2:15, 2:16%, 2:17%- Tnis
stake was worth $9,850 to the winner. After trott-
ing second to Eoline on the last day of the Lexing-
ton meeting Oro Wilkes was retired for the season,
during which he won '$13,925.

l8Q3 — ORO WILKES.

287

Of the other horses in Goldsmith's stable Island
Wilkes trotted third to Lobasco at Detroit, won at
Rochester in 2:17^4, 2:13%, 2:13^4, after losing a
heat to Corinne, and was unplaced at Springfield
and New York. Una Wilkes was unplaced to Pixley
at Buffalo, third to Azote at Springfield, outside of
the money in the race won by Prince Herschel at
Lexington, and third to Pamlico at Nashville. Ben
Ali was also tried in good society at Philadelphia,
where he was third to Daylight, and at Providence,
where he was unplaced in the 2:21 class. After
this showing John Goldsmith decided that the Pat-
chen gelding was not up to the standard and sold
him. When next heard from Ben Ali was being
"rung" as Home Brewed. He was detected and
expelled, but subsequently raced as an outlaw as
John Y., Sagwa, Weskora, etc. The following table
presents the returns for 1893.

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

1

Second.

5

is

H

Fourth.

Unplaced

Amount
Won.

Oro Wilkes (3) ....
Double Cross (3) . .

2:15

2:18%

Sable Wilkes
Sable Wilkes

9

6

2
5

1
3

1

1

$13,925 00
7,900 00

Muta Wilkes
Sabina (3)

2:11

Guy Wilkes
Sable Wilkes

10
14

5
2

2
^

2
4

1
2

5.750 00
5590 00

Siva

2:13^

Guy Wilkes

5

8

1

1

4,750 00

Chris Lang (2) ....
Hazel Wilkes

2:26^
2:11 %

Sable Wilkes ,
Guy Wilkes

11

9

2

fl

3
8

1
4

3

2

4,000 00
3,475 00

Island Wilkes

2-13^

Red Wilkes

4

1

1

2

1,300 00

Geo M. Patchen, Jr

4

2

2

500 00

Una Wilkes

Guy Wilkes

4

2

2

375 00

Total

82

23

20

IS

10

14

$47,565 00

288 THE GOLDSMITHS.

1894.— MARY BEST— ALAR.

Like an arrow of light she flashed through the field,
Passed Bowne and challenged the black;
Aunt Delilah was beaten and Judge Fisher reeled,
As Mary Best burned up the track.
She was not in the play and brought many to grief,
When she trimmed the brown horse and crumpled Rose
Leaf.

John Goldsmith spent the winter of 1893-4 in the
old homestead at Walnut Grove Farm in Orange
County, his California bred horses and the few others
which he had accepted for the campaign of 1894 occu-
pying the box stalls which had in former days sheltered
the descendants of Volunteer, and when he shipped
to Cleveland to fill his Grand Circuit engagements,
Alden, the only son of his brother, was acting as his
assistant. John was not feeling any too well at the
time, but when the bell rang at Detroit in July he
was ready for the word and won with the Alcantara
mare Alar in 2:14^, while Oro Wilkes was third to
Azote, Mary Best, a sister to Muta Wilkes, fourth to
Rose Leaf, and the Albert W. pacer Amelia fourth
to Joe Patchen. At Cleveland the following week
Rose Leaf was considered invincible. When Col.
Edwards gave the word she was a favorite over the
field, and when the .result was announced it was
found that she had saved her entrance. E. R. Bowne
stepped out in the first two heats and won with Ma-
hogany in 2:13, 2\i2IA. As the Bayonne Prince stal-
lion had never gone such a clip before, he faltered in
the third mile and Goldsmith won with Mary Best
in 2:12^4, her record. After that it was all over but

1 894 — MARY BEST — ALAR. 289

the shouting, the Guy Wilkes mare winning the next
two heats cleverly in 2:131/2, 2:15^. Of the stable's
other starters Alar won the 2:23 class in straight
heats, Oro Wilkes was second to Azote in 2:10,
while Burlingame, Muta Wilkes, Lesa Wilkes,
Paul and Judge Austin were unplaced. The last
two were turned over to W. H. McCarthy after the
Buffalo meeting, where they saved their entrance
in the races won by Hal Braden and J. M. D.,
respectively.

Mary Best and Alar won again at Buffalo, where
Arena picked up first money in the 2 124 class, a
record of 2:15^ going with it. Of the other starters
Whalebone won a 2:30 class for two-year-olds in
2:27^4? 2:27*^ and trotted second to Marie D. in
another event, Amelia was unplaced to Joe Patchen
and Ada, Oro Wilkes third to Azote and Muta
Wilkes unplaced to Pamlico. The following week
the stable was split, the Alcantara pair Alar and
Arena going to Rochester, where both of them were
beaten by Carldon. The balance of the stable was
at Terre Haute, where Venita Wilkes won in
2 126, Mary Best trotted second to Silicon in the Terre
Haute Purse, Oro Wilkes second to Trevillian, Lesa
Wilkes second to Ballona and Whalebone unplaced
to Boreal.

After starting at Chicago, where Whalebone won
the Juvenile Stake in 2:24 and trotted third to Oak-
land Baron, Oro Wilkes second to Trevillian, Muta
Wilkes fourth to Pamlico and Amelia unplaced to
Star Pointer, the stable was shipped to Hartford for
the stake meeting at Charter Oak Park, during which
John Goldsmith drove in nine races and won $16,569

290 THE GOLDSMITHS.

in premiums. On the first two days he won with
Arena, Whalebone, Mary Best and Oro Wilkes. On
the third day, when the Charter Oak Stake was called,
he appeared behind Mahogany and won second
money, the ^honors going to Ralph Wilkes. Alar
also won her engagement in 2:11^4, 2:13, 2:14, after
losing two heats to Carldon, Muta Wilkes was third
to Belleflower, Amelia unplaced to Judge Sterling
and Burlingame behind the money in the stake won
by Nellie A.

Alar was marked in 2:11 at Fleetwood Park, New
York, the first week in September. She was started
in the 2:11 class with Phoebe Wilkes, J. M. D., Cob-
webs and Aunt Delilah, the latter being distanced in
the first heat which Alar won in 2:11^ with J. M. D.
second. The next heat went to Phoebe Wilkes in
2:13, after which Alar scored again in 2:11. On the
next trip Phoebe Wilkes was first under the wire in
2:11^4, after which the race went over to the follow-
ing day, when Alar won in 2:13^. At this meeting
Amelia was second to G. O. Taylor, Oro Wilkes
third to Fanny Wilcox, Lesa Wilkes fourth to Ralph
Wilkes, Whalebone second to Miss Kate and Burlin-
game distanced by Red Bud. The following week
during the meeting of the New York State Trotting
Horse Breeder's Association, which was also held at
Fleetwood, John Goldsmith won with Whalebone
and Mountain Maid and was distanced with Venita
Wilkes after winning two heats. The other mem-
bers of the stable were on the same dates at Phila-
delphia, where Oro Wilkes gathered in a first, Lesa
Wilkes a second in the race won by Ralph Wilkes,
and Arena lost his entrance in the event awarded

1894 — MARY BEST — ALAR.

291

Sallie Simmons, After a trip to Providence, where
Mountain Maid was beaten by Sirock and Miss Car-
roll, Arena second to Margaret L., Hilda S. third to
Sirock, Whalebone second to Amboise, Mary Best
unplaced to Aunt Delilah and Venita Wilkes won in
2:22*4, the Goldsmith stable was shipped to Lexing-
ton where Venita Wilkes won a first and a third,
making a record of 2:14*4, Alar saved her entrance
in the Transylvania won by Azote and Mary Best
was fourth to Ballona.

Nashville was the last stand, and it also proved
the stopping place of John Goldsmith's turf career.
He won there with Alar, equalling her record of 2:11
in the first heat of her race, was second to Heir at
Law with Mary Best, and won the 2 140 stake with
Venita Wilkes in 2:15, 2:13, 2:14^4, after losing a
heat to Red Bud. This was his last mount. The
following table presents a synopsis of the campaign :

Starters.

Record.

Sire.

Starts.

CO

u

£

Second.

T3
In

g

Fourth.

t
p

Amount
Won.

Mary Best

2:12 Y4

Guy Wilkes

8

3

2

2

1

$15,900 00

Alar

2:11

Alcantara

9

7

1

1

11,250 00

Oro Wilkes

2:11

Sable Wilkes

8

?,

3

3

2,000 00

Whalebone (2) ....

2:24

Sable Wilkes

9

4

1

3

1

3,596 00

Venita Wilkes. . ..

2:13

Guy Wilkes

8

4

1

3

3300 00

Mahogany

Bayonne Prince

1

1

2,500 00

Arena

2:15%

Alcantara ...

5

?,

1

2

1,773 00

Lesa Wilkes
Amelia (p)

2-.ny2

Guy Wilkes
Albert W

4

6

2
1

9

1

1

^

1,70000
675 00

Mountain Maid. ..

2:22%

Anteeo

3

1

1

1

580 00

Paul

Bald Hornet

2

1

1

500 00

Muta Wilkes

Guy Wilkes

4

1

1

2

300 00

Judge Austin

McCurdy's Hamblet'n

2

1

1

200 00

Hilda S

Stamboul

1

1

120 00

Burlingame

Guy Wilkes

3

3

Total

73

23

12

12

8

18

$47,394 00

292 THE GOLDSMITHS.

DEATH OF JOHN A. GOLDSMITH.

Death treads in pleasure's footsteps round the world.

— Young.

When John Goldsmith returned to Walnut Grove
Farm from Nashville, he was very much concerned
about his physical condition. In fourteen years he
had amassed a fortune amounting to over $200,000,
the bulk of it having been earned by fortunate in-
vestments in horses or drawn from the betting ring,
and now at a time when he could have settled down
in the home of his ancestors, there was one jewel
missing from the cabinet — health. In three years he
had with twenty-eight horses won premiums amount-
ing to $128,889, their two hundred and eighteen starts
being divided into sixty-four firsts, forty-seven
seconds, thirty-eight thirds, twenty-five fourths and
forty-four times unplaced. This was in itself glory
enough for one man in the field of harness racing,
but like his brother before him, John Alden Gold-
smith, would not stop until exhausted nature de-
manded a halt. Early in 1895, acting under the ad-
vice of a number of New York surgeons, he had an
operation performed for kidney trouble. He recov-
ered, was married and, after resting for a time in
Orange County, saw Alden start off for the races
with a few of his horses. He started Elf and Thelma
at Poughkeepsie, Albany and Rome, where Thelma
won a seven-heat race and made a record of 2:24*4.
Elf also won two races at Syracuse and made a
record of 2 :22j4 m one of them.

In September when the Grand Circuit horses were
at Fleetwood, John was about among his friends and

DEATH OF JOHN A. GOLDSMITH.

293

a few thought that, with another season's rest, he
would be back in the sulky. The hope, however,
only proved the bright flicker of the candle when it
has burned deep in the socket, as in November the
kidney trouble returned. Another operation was
imperative. Two weeks later, Johnny Goldsmith
was dead, Friday, December 13, 1895, being the date
of the sad event. His remains were taken to Walnut
Grove Farm, which he purchased after the death of
his father. On the following Monday he was laid
by the side of his father and brother in the village
cemetery. He was the ablest and most energetic of
his line, as is evidenced by the following table, which
presents a synopsis of his work in the sulky from the
year that he took Driver to Chicago until he answered
the bell for the last time at Nashville in 1894:

Year.

barters.

-2
t

d

4J

c

•d

c

i

'^

4J

1

"8)

$3

Amount
Won.

72

to

£

«

EH

fa

P

1879

5

17

4

3

6

1

3

$ 3,675.00

1880

5

63

21

17

10

5

10

14,335.00

1881

3

7

4

1

2

2,175.00

1882

5

14

7

5

1

1

4,085.00

1883

2

24

12

6

3

1

2

21,030.00

1884

12

46

29

12

3

2

15,867.50

1885

13

60

19

19

15

4

3

11,647.50

1886

15

62

29

19

10

4

14,047.50

1887

13

60

25

15

11

5

4

9,136.25

1888

10

27

18

6

3

8,322.50

1889

15

39

20

10

4

3

2

8,433.75

1890

19

66

37

15

11

1

2

17,057.25

1891

17

65

29

16

9

7

4

17,197.75

1892

11

63

18

15

11

7

12

33,930.00

1893

10

82

23

20

15

10

14

47,565.00

1894

15

73

23

12

12

8

18

47,394.00

Totals .

170

768

318

191

123

56

81

$275,899.00

294 THE GOLDSMITHS.

John H. Goldsmith's style in the sulky was pecu-
liar. With elbows and hands almost on a level with
his shoulders, he rustled the Guy Wilkes family into
the front rank with a vim and a dash that was electri-
cal. Many of the old timers considered it faulty, as
he had very little control over a horse with his hands
so high that the reins were almost lifting the terrets
out of the back pad, but they overlooked the fact that
a shift of the bit and a light tap with the whip was
all that his pupils required after he had completed
their education. No one ever saw a better mannered
or purer gaited lot of horses. They were the evi-
dence of John Goldsmith's skill as a trainer and, as
he seldom broke one down, his skill as a conditioner
must be put on a par with his success as a reinsman.
The following from the columns of the "Breeder and
Sportsman" is very much to the point in this particu-
lar:

"As a judge of horses, he was one of the best, and
whenever he selected a colt or filly and concluded it
was worthy of being entered in a stake or purse race,
he never gave it up until he proved his prediction cor-
rect. A visitor at the San Mateo Farm said 'the
rapidity with which he would select yearlings, two-
year-olds and three-year-olds, and insist upon them
being entered for stake events, was most remarkable,
and after the races ended I always noted that he made
no mistakes in his selections.'

"As a judge of pace, he was one out of a thousand.
He could time quarters and eighths without a watch,
and tell just how fast he was going. He was a
peculiar driver, carrying his hands high, and never
used a whip or artificial appliances to make his colts

DEATH OF JOHN A. GOLDSMITH. 295

and fillies trot or pace fast. -He never shod a de-
scendant of Guy Wilkes forward with a shoe heavier
than ten ounces in front or lighter than five ounces
behind. And when he got behind a horse the animal
seemed to be imbued with the magnetic force so
prominent in him. He could keep a horse tiptoeing
without breaking longer than any one who ever sat
in a sulky, and for rallying a tired horse and keeping
him doing his utmost to the wire, we all remember a
number of exhibitions of this kind he gave us.

"He has gone ! His pleasant smile and merry
twinkling eyes have been dimmed ; his kindly voice
been hushed; the blue jacket and cap which he
wore so neatly have been laid away forever, and only
the remembrance of that strong, manly figure among
the greatest turf generals of the last decade remains.
In the ranks which he graced so well ; in the center
of the little groups of social friends that hovered
around him ; by the fireside where his love and kind-
ness were at all times manifest, his place will never
be filled. He has gone the path we all must go, and,
even though we live for many years, we shall never
forget the impressions his individuality left upon the
tablets of our memory, for there, and only there, shall
we gaze upon his kindly face again."

The story of John Goldsmith has been told and I shall

"No further seek his merits to disclose.
Or draw his frailities from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,)
The bosom of his Father and his God."

Such is the story of the Goldsmiths. John died
without issue. James left a son, Alden, who is fol-

296 THE GOLDSMITHS.

lowing his fathers profession. Their memory will
endiire when all those who knew them have passed
away. In years to come visitors to the village ceme-
tery where their ashes lie interred, will ask for the
spot.

"Where is £he grave of the Knight of Orellian?

Where may the grave of that good Knight be?

By the marge of a brook on the slope of Helvellyn,

Under the boughs *)f a young birch-tree.

The oak that in summer was pleasant to hear,

That rustled in autumn all withered and sere,

That whistled and groaned through the winter alone —

He hath gone, and a birch in his place has grown!

The Knight's bones are dust

His good sword is rust —

His spirit is with the saints,
We trust!"

THE QUEEN.

Bear the crown to Lou Dillon, the queen of the turf,
That startled the world when she turned Readville

Park,

With her hoof beats as swift as the sobs of the surf,
When wind bends the trees and the storm clouds
are dark.

The big star in her face and her coat of old gold,
Were wet with her sweat when the crowd cried
"She'll win/'

But each stride was as true and her action as bold,
As when the bell tapped for the trial to begin.

In the rosy hued past a few looked for the day,
A trotter would march to the two-minute score,

Until Lou Dillon found the blue ribbon of clay
As soft as a glove and as firm as a floor.

The salt air was as crisp as a morning in June,

The flag on the stables hung limp to the pole,
The surroundings all showed the time most oppor-
tune,

'Twas grasped, the mare started, she flashed to the
goal.

'Twas the hope of her breeder to raise such a horse,
He saw her developed and trot in two eight ;

When death claimed him it made the sole strain of

remorse
Which clung to the mile at the two-minute rate.

When his stable was scattered, the matinee king,
Who loves a fast horse for the road or the park,

Was enthused with her speed, bid her off in the ring,
And trained her and raced her to lower the mark.

'Tis of Billings I speak, the new king of the road,
Successor to Bonner, the road drivers' dean,

And in Billings dame nature has reaped what she

sowed,
His father owned Princess and he has the Queen.

OLD BILL.

With a neigh so faint and feeble that it touched me like a

groan,

"Farewell, "he seemed to murmur, "ere I die;"
Then set his teeth and stretched his limbs, and so I stood

alone,
While the merry chase went heedless sweeping by,

Am I womanly and weak

If the tear was on my cheek
For a brotherhood that death could thus divide?

If, sickened and amazed,

Through a woful mist I gazed,
On the place where the old horse died.— Melville.

Carey was the life of the shanty. When I first
met him he was a man of about twenty-four, standing-
six foot in his shoes, as strong as an ox, and ready to
fight his weight in wild cats. That winter — -it was
in the latter part of the sixties — he was the boss of the
log gang. For some reason or other, the men under
him were always on the jump and the books showed
that they did more work than any in the bush. From
morning until night Carey always had a good word
for the men. and there never was a time when he
would not take hold with a cant hook or handspike to-
help out. Later on in the spring it would have done
your heart good to have seen him step about on the
logs in a jam or ride a stick of timber over the water
as high and dry as if he were in the cabin of a steam-
boat. Carey was a dream in shanty life, sure enough.

CAREY'S CLEARING 301

With the breaking up of the camp he passed out
of my life for over ten years. How I met- him again
came about in this way : I was walking across
country on what might be called a visiting tour, the
next point of attack being a distant relation living
near North Gower, in the County of Carleton. It
was a warm day, along towards the latter part of
June, when a farmer, who had given me a lift from
Becket/s Landing, dropped me at a corner of what he
called the Concession. On our way over I told him
where I was going, and before parting he said that I
could cut off three or four miles of the journey by
going through the bush by way of a place called
Carey's Clearing. In those days I was not very par-
ticular whether I lost my way in the woods or not, so
I struck into the bush on what looked like an old
winter road, but which proved to be the eastern out-
let for the man who had made the clearing. After
walking for what seemed to me at least an hour, I
came to a bush fence, and farther on, three or four
rails across a gap between the roots of two trees that
had been blown over, with considerable soil and earth
still clinging to them. As the road led to it, I knew
that it must be the entrance to the clearing, and as I
could step on the head of my shadow I knew that it
was midday ; but where was a hungry traveler going
to get a meal in that "neck of woods?" With this
thought uppermost, I slipped between the bars and
made a survey of the clearing. As near as I could
see, there was a patch of corn and potatoes at one
side of it, while to the left there appeared to be a
bunch of hay and a few acres of either oats or wheat
growing in the rich virgin soil, while the black

302 OLD

stumps and rampikes standing like sentinels all over
the clearing showed that fire had lent a hand in mak-
ing this opening in the forest. A tidy looking log cabin
stood on a sandy knoll in the middle of the opening.
Back of it I could also see the end of a stable or small
barn, as well as a mound of earth, which I afterwards
learned was a root house.

While I was taking observations the door of
the cabin opened and who should appear at the
threshold but dear old Carey of shanty days. He did
not look a day older as he stood there with his shaggy
hair and beard silhouetted against the sky. A home-
made flannel shirt open at the' neck, a broad belt, and
a pair of overalls stuck in the tops of a pair of cow-
hide boots, completed his outfit. He recognized me
before I could speak, and the memory of his "I swan,
where did you drop from," comes back with a relish
after a lapse of twenty years. "Come in, old sailor
boy, and have a bite to eat. I knew someone was
coming, and so I told Mandy," he went on, "when my
fork fell on the floor at breakfast and stood up. Now
don't stand looking around there like a duck in a
thunder storm, there ain't nothing to see 'round
here, so step up. Mandy," this I learned was his
wife, "come here, girl, and see one of my old shanty
boys. You will be glad to see him, even if he does
look like one of them city gents that wear collars and
blacking on their shoes." And so he ran on until I
had been ushered into what he termed the "home
plate of the clearing" and was installed on a chair
without a back opposite him at the end of the table.

Mandy, in the interval, was busy dusting a place
for me with her apron and getting down a plate, knife

MANDY. 303

and fork, from a little shelf over the stove. It did not
take her long to pass over a couple of mealy potatoes,
"early roses with their jackets on," Carey called them,
a strip of pork as broad as your hand, fried in its own
grease, and a slice of bread at least an inch thick. I
tell you, it tasted good, and as a baker of bread, let me
tell you now for fear I may forget it, Mandy was a
success. I could see Carey was proud of her, and
while there would have been no prizes coming her
way at a beauty show, she had that wholesome, tidy
look that is stamped on every genuine home-maker.
None of this "I'm so sorry I am not dressed and have
not a little cake or pie for you," not a bit of it, but
plenty of that whole-hearted welcome which says
plainer than words, "this is our home and we are
proud of it. This is what we live on. It is good
enough for us. It is the best we have, and we know
it is good enough for you." Mandy, I lift my hat to
your memory. It is true that her home was only a
cabin of one room with the stove at one end and a
bed at the other, but everything in it was as neat as a
pin and you could, as the old saying goes, have eaten
your dinner off the floor without getting any specks
in it. Mandy called her husband Carey. So did
everyone that knew him, and, so far as I knew, he had
no other name.

After dinner the pipes were lit and the smile of
contentment on Carey's face showed that he had
nothing to bother him. As Mandy stepped out to the
spring for a bucket of water, Carey reached over and
with a wink, poking me in the ribs said, "Isn't she a
darling?" When I nodded, Carey continued: "Dum
if I know why she ever had me. I hadn't the courage

304 OLD

to ask her, but she did it, and I'm glad she did."
With that he lapsed into silence and blew up such a
cloud of smoke that I began to think he was on fire.

When Mandy returned, Carey proposed that we
could "make a day of it." By that he meant, as I
learned later, a trip to the Corners, and as Mandy
was as anxious that we should go as Carey was to
take me, I had no objections to offer, so Old Bill was
hooked to the single wagon and we started, Mandy
waving her sunbonnet at us as we passed out of the
clearing.

"Now," said Carey, as we jolted over the roots and
through the ruts of the bush road, "put your eye on
that horse. I'll admit he is not much to look at, as he
has, like myself, roughed it in the bush, but he can
outpull any horse in these parts, and there are some
people with two horses that cannot hold a candle to
him. It would do your heart good to see him brace
himself and take a pull on a stump. Somehow he
takes to it natural like; just slips up into the collar
kind of easy, then bears away until everything is tight.
Not a tug or a strain, mind you, but just a steady, long
pull, until the chain snaps or whatever he is hooked
to begins to come. Then Old Bill wakes up and
marches. Curious, ain't it," said Carey, and I had to
admit it was. But that did not satisfy him, so he
stopped and insisted that I get out and take a closer
look at Old Bill, as he termed it, "make his acquaint-
ance."

Old Bill, to be candid with you, was a peculiar
kind of a horse. When getting into the wagon I had
scarcely looked at him, but now, with Carey as exhib-
itor, I had an ample opportunity, under the direction

A CIRCUS HORSE. 307

of a man who was clearly in love with him, if such
a term is applicable to a fellow-feeling between an
animal and a human being. Old Bill had what might
be termed a large head for a horse standing only a
shade over fifteen hands, while his small muzzle and
sharply pointed ears, with the width of your hand be-
tween them, and heavy jowls, gave him an odd look,
but one that to my eye meant courage. His neck was
so short that the big padded collar covered more than
half of the space between his shoulders and crest,
while his body and hind quarters looked like a block
of bone and muscle. The quarters were let down
very deep, or, as a racing man would say, he was well
muscled. Old Bill's legs and feet looked like short
posts, not that they were filled or round, but because
he was so heavily boned, while the tendons were
clearly defined, notwithstanding the growth of hair
at the fetlock joints. As he stood there on the bush
road, the sunlight filtering through an arch of green,
seemed to play hide and seek with the dapples on his
rich, brown coat. I looked and looked again at that
block of a horse with all four feet well under him, and
with the sight of him came back the memories of the
horse I pictured Sir Walter Scott had in mind when
he was writing of Richard, the Lion Hearted, at the
tournament in "Ivanhoe."

Old Bill had a blemish, possibly you might call it
a distinguishing mark. It was a large rim-burst on
his right side, and when I noticed it, Carey told me it
was on account 6f that he came to get him. Accord-
ing to his story, he was coming home from the Cor-
ners on foot one night about three years before I
made my appearance in the clearing and met a travel-

308 OLD BILL.

ing circus. He said it was Dan Rice's, and I have
now no means of learning whether it was ever in that
section of the country or not. At all events, this
horse had broken through a culvert and had been im-
paled on a splintered rail. The men had him up when
Carey came along, and as they could not take the
horse with them in that condition and could not stop,
they made a bargain with him to take care of the
horse and they would send for him in a couple of
weeks. Whether they sent of not, Carey did not
know ; at all events, no one ever came to the clearing.
He named him Old Bill, after a dog that had died a
few weeks before the horse was added to Carey's
worldly possessions. The horse recovered, but had
the rim-burst referred to. It did not lower him one
iota in his new owner's estimation, and as the horse
that could pull the most was the most valuable in
that community, "Old Bill" was soon the "cock of the
walk," as Carey expressed it.

In due time we arrived at the Corners. It was sim-
ply a place where four roads met, and, as I remember
it now, there were but three houses with a few barns
and a section of what had once been a shed. One of
these buildings was either a school or a church, pos-
.sibly both, while the other two were supposed to be
hotels. One was the old house. It was a long, low
affair, painted white, with dull, brown colored win-
dows and doors. It had that woe-begon appearance
which clings to a house that has lost its trade, while
the sheds and barns looked as if they were run down
at the heel. The other house was two and a half
stories high, and had, to all appearances, been built
two or three years. It had never been painted and

PIERCE' S CORNERS. 309

was passing through that shabby, genteel period
which follows in the wake of people who go up like a
rocket and come down like a stick. This was Pierce's,
or at least one of the places was Pierce's, or perhaps
both were, as there seemed to be a great number of
people of this name in that locality. At all events,
before I left I learned that the big house had been
built to eat up all the trade of the old house, and the
result was that both failed. At the time I was there
neither of them had a license, "couldn't afford it,"
Carey said, but both sold what was called "proof."
Oh, but it was vile, and Carey said that "one could not
tell on the t'other, as he dasn't." Then the minister
could not say a word, as if he did, he would not have
a place to stop at when he came to the Corners to
preach. But this is local history.

Bill patronized the old house. He did not believe
in new-fangled affairs with high ceilings and three or
four flights of stairs. He had lived in a shanty and
wanted things so that you could reach out and get
them without running over all creation. Driving into
the shed, he tied Old Bill to a post and made a move
for the house. Up to that time no one was in sight, not
even a dog or a hen. As we entered, a man of about
fifty-five, with an iron-gray mane that would have
done credit to a Percheron, rolled over on a bunk, and
after rubbing his eyes for a minute or two, said :
"How do," without making a move to get in an up-
right position. Thinks I, "what kind of a time is
Carey going to have at the Corners?" To tell you the
truth, it did not look very exciting.

In due time, however, Carey induced the landlord,
who was a Pierce, to get up and "give us something

310 OLD BILL.

and take a little himself," and after it had been re-
peated a few times, he remarked that he had come to
make the bet. "Oh, you have, have you," said Pierce.
"Well, I reckon you have taken plenty of time to think
it over. But I'll go you. An offer's an offer at the
Corners since I have been here."

From the conversation that followed I learned that
about six months prior to this visit a few of the neigh-
bors met at Pierce's on their way home from a bee,
and among other things began boasting of the pulling
qualities of their horses. Carey was there, but did
not say much until all of them had reached what he
termed a "betting pint." He then offered to pull any
two horses in the shed, but as they had an idea as to
what Old Bill could do, there were no takers. At last
someone stumped Carey to hitch to a sill in the long
shed and pull it out. This plate, or sill, was a long
piece of timber standing on three large boulders, and
was the bottom log in the back of the shed. With it
out the building would either settle or tumble over ;
but the loss would fall on Pierce, and as he did not
have much use for it, no one thought he would object,
and so it proved. The bet was a keg of "proof," and
win or lose Pierce would get the money.

Word was sent around to the neighbors that Carey
had come down with Old Bill to make the bet, and by
sundown ten or a dozen sunburnt men had put in an
appearance. During the interval Carey had been
having what he called "a time," and when the crowd
gathered there was no end to his enthusiasm. Before
the pull, I found on examining the shed that a section
of it had fallen or had been taken down and about ten
feet of the sill of that section still projected beyond

A STRANGE BET. 311

the stone on which it rested. How Old Bill could
pull it out was more than I knew; but Carey had
planned it all out in his mind while up in the bush.
Taking me to one side he said: "Now, don't you
offer to bet any money, as the neighbors do not know
what that kind of business is, and at the same time
they might think I brought you here to cheat 'em.
At the same time remember that while they are strong
and hearty, they are a bit shy on the matter of strang-
ers, as some of them have been nipped by lightning
rod fellers and chaps that sign your name to a piece
of paper for one kind of a book and then have some
other one come along with another kind and your
name on a note to pliy for it. They don't come near
me, as they cannot find their way to the clearing, but
somehow they haunt the Corners. Lige, that is him
in the big straw hat, says they can smell proof like a
bear can a bee-tree, and I guess it's so."

After inviting everyone, including what Lige
termed "the stranger," to have something, Carey
began to make preparations for the pull. Old Bill
was unhitched from the wagon and stripped of all his
harness except the bridle, collar, hames and traces.
These were fastened to a heavy second growth
hickory whifHetree which Carey pulled from under
the seat in the wagon, while a chain was at the same
time unwound from the stakes over the back axle. It
was plain that Carey had come prepared to make the
bet, and as Old Bill had never been worsted in a
pulling match, everything looked favorable. Pulling
against another horse or a pair, however, was dif-
ferent from snatching a dead weight or wrenching a
sill from under a tumble-down shed. At the time, I

312 OLD

thought it was the strangest bet I ever heard of, but
I now think that old Pierce, who did nothing but
sleep and scheme when not selling "proof," wanted
the shed down, and took this way to do it and at the
same time m,ake a little on the side.

As a preliminary, Carey had the neighbors carry a
couple of dozen heavy oak plank to the rear of the
shed and lay them flat, making a floor for Old Bill to
stand on. He then covered the plank with three or
four inches of loam, making it just deep enough to
not bother the horse and at the same time keep him
from slipping. Old Bill was then led around and
hitched to the whiffletree which was dangling at the
end of the chain. When Carey adjusted the latter he
gave it a half rolling hitch on the sill, which was
partially flattened on the underside, and I noticed with
some surprise that he placed the chain about a foot
inside of the first stone on which the plate rested.
There were two other stones between it and the end
of the shed. Carey's idea was to give it a roll and
when it heaved, the chances were the sill would slip
out, while the shed could tumble over or settle, which
he or no other person for that matter cared.

When everything was ready he took Old Bill by
the head and with a pat on his neck spoke to him.
The horse knew what was wanted, and after feeling
his way up into the collar, just as I have seen a fighter
feel of a man in the ring, he began to move. As the
traces tightened and the chain began to eat into the
wood, Old Bill settled down to the work. He seemed
to lengthen, as his belly almost touched the ground,
while his eyes began to stick out under the strain.
Every foot held as he made a heave, but the sill never

HIS LAST PULL. 313

budged. At the first strain the projecting end of the
beam trembled, but that was all. Carey saw that it
was a hard one, but instead of using up his horse in
one effort, he spoke to him and finally backed him.

The neighbors were good judges of such matters
and they were sure that Old Bill was "stumped," as
they termed it. Carey did not think so, as after un-
hitching the horse and walking him down the road a
bit to get the numbness out of his legs, he came back
for another pull. The rules at the Corners in matters
of this kind permitted three trials. This was to be the
second one. Before hitching, Carey moved the chain,
pulling it further around and in so doing added to the
purchase of the rolling hitch. I knew enough about
such matters to 'see that he now hoped to twist it out,
as the first trial showed that it could not be pulled
out by straight work. In a hitch of this kind quick
work is required, as Carey had learned in the shanties.
Backing Old Bill up to the wall, Carey spoke to him
sharp, and at the same time Stepped forward quickly.
Quick as he was, Bill was quicker, and as the chain
scrunched when the links slid into place, I saw the
shed heave, while a grinding sort of noise came from
the lower end. There is not speed enough in words
to tell you what happened in the next few seconds.

I saw it all, and when the dust cleared away the
shed was down and Old Bill was under it. Later on it
was found that the sill at the end of the shed was rot-
ten, for that matter the whole end. When Old Bill
put the strain on with a snap, the sill broke loose and
swung around. This, with the rolling hitch on the
log, twisted the partially flattened plate so that it
rolled off the stone behind the horse and caused the

314 OLD

long plate to swing around. As the horse stumbled
forward, the projecting portion of the sill struck him
and knocked him down. Carey dodged under the
plate like a flash and unhooked the chain, but he could
not get the, horse out. The blow had stunned him,
and before he could be moved the shed was down on
top of him. The neighbors pulled the logs away in
the faint hope of saving Old Bill. They hoped in
vain. He was dead. The last I saw of Carey he was
sitting on the grass with Old Bill's head in his lap.
The tears were running down his sunburnt cheeks,
while the neighbors busied themselves in digging a
grave near the spot where the old horse fell. I turned
away and left the place, as "when strong men weep" —
well, you know what happens.

A YANKEE TRADE.

Old Amizah Allyn said that he would stand a treat

As the noddler in his noddy swept the street.

He was up behind a spike-tailed mare, and you should have

seen her fly,
When he picked her up and trotted by singing "how is that

for hi!" — Nutmeg Ballad.

"Hen" Capen lived in Windsor, Conn. He was a
Yankee born and bred in Connecticut, with a pedigree
that traced back to Barnard Capen, a man of Puri-
tanical principles, that landed in Dorchester, Mass.,
in 1636. The said Barnard Capen did not take very
kindly to the rule of Charles I. in England, so like
thousands of others, for religion's sake, he abandoned
a home beyond the Atlantic for the wilds of America.
According to the returns shown by his descendants
the exchange proved a profitable one, although very
little of the world's goods clung to "Hen." The Puri-
tanical ideas were also bred out . of his pedigree on
the way down to him, but what he lacked in steeple-
crowned hat and brown coat palaver, was more than
made up by a sunny disposition and a devil-may-care
sort of life which suited him to a T.

Now, while "Hen" was a dyed-in-the-wool
Yankee, he was not one of the typical sort that you
will, from time to time, find labeled Uncle Sam or
Brother Jonathan in the daily papers, as he was
thickset and as bright as a button, with a ruddy face
and had, like Santa Claus

316 A YANKEE TRADE.

"A little round belly

That shook when he laughed

Like a bowl full of jelly."

In a professional way "Hen" was a noddler, a pure,
unadulterated Connecticut Yankee horse trader, while
as a side issue, and for his own amusement, he con-
sumed rum. It was his besetting sin, and it, as it has
with thousands of others, kept him broke. Still, for
some unexplainable reason, "Hen" was never so
happy as when he touched bottom, as after he
sobered up, a matter that usually took three or
four days, he would borrow a five or ten-dollar note
from someone and begin to run it into material which
could be placed on the market. At such times he
would start off with a five-dollar trader or, in other
words, a horsehide with a few bones and a spark of
life in it, hitched to a borrowed wagon, and in all prob-
ability wearing a set of harness which had more rope
and strings in it than leather. "Hen" was then in his
glory, and from that time on till he felt like a capi-
talist, any man or boy from Windsor Locks to Weth-
ersfield could have a trade, and when he nodded you
were on and in up to your neck if you were interested
financially.

Sometimes "Hen" would exchange horses five or
six times during a day, it all depending how the run
of people came to the stable yards he frequented.
But for that matter, he would swop horses with a
man on the road or any place you met him, and every
time he traded you could rest assured that he got
either a better horse or some money. There are
people in this world who trade horses for amusement,
but "Hen" Capen was not one of them. With him it

"HEN" CAPEN. 317

was business, all wool and a yard wide, and so it
would run on until he felt that his wealth was a
burden. Then he would start on a "tear" and never
pull up until he was down to a shoe string.

In his day "Hen" Capen made thousands of trades,
but all of them are now forgotten, except one that was
consummated a short time after the close of the war.
At that time Peter Pointdexter, possibly that was his
name and possibly it was not, kept a meat store on
Clark Street, in Hartford. He required a good horse
in his business. One morning while driving from
Hartford to Windsor, Peter decided that the horse he
was driving did not suit him. Men will do that some-
times, and why they do, is more than I know. Just
as this thought was rumbling about in Peter's head,
who should swing around a bend in the road but
"Hen" Capen. From the way he was weaving about
in the seat of his wagon it looked as though he had
been taking a little ballast, or at least was letting on he
did, and they do say "Hen" was able to do a little
shamming when he felt it might lead to new business.
As Peter hailed him he pulled up. For the next few
minutes Peter and "Hen" talked horse as only Yankee
and gypsy traders can. This brand of trader, unlike
the Tennessee product, never find fault with the other
man's horse, but can always slip in a sweet word or
two in favor of their own. As Peter wanted to trade,
"Hen" had no objections to offer. That was his busi-
ness, and the result was that after a busy quarter of
an hour, the meat wagon started towards Windsor
with a new horse between the thills and "Hen" jogged
on to Hartford with $50 added to his worldly posses-
sions. The following morning, as the story runs,

318 A YANKEE TRADE.

"Hen" Capen drove into Clark Street, Hartford, be-
fore the sun was up. Peter Pointdexter was just
putting the finishing touches on the proverbial forty
winks before getting up, when he heard a wagon
stop in front of his door, and, with an eye to business,
stuck his head out of the window to see what was in
the wind. He soon learned that he was wanted, and
on coming down to the yard, he found "Hen" with
tears running down his cheeks, weeping and wailing
over how he had been beaten in that horse trade.
The only excuse he had to offer was that he was drunk
and he felt that Peter Pointdexter, owner of a big
estate and a good business, should at least give him
$25 more. Now, Peter was "as close as the bark to
a tree," as the saying goes, but it tickled him to have
"Hen" Capen, the prince of horse traders in Windsor,
admit that he had bested him at his own game, so,
after no end of hemming and hawing, he pulled out
his wallet and handed over two tens and a five, which
made the difference between the two horses $75.

In a few days Peter Pointdexter found that the
horse he had of "Hen" Capen was a counterfeit,
and that the longer he had him, the worse he became.
Someone had apparently fixed him up for the trading
market or "Hen" had done it himself. Who, he did
not care to inquire, as his pride was touched ; but like
a good betting man, he decided after thinking it over,
that the best, place for a man to find his money was
to go and look for it where he lost it. The next move
was to find "Hen" Capen without letting that indi-
vidual know he was looking for him. A week
slipped by without seeing him, and all that time the

TEMPERING THE WIND. 319

horse was going down hill like a barley fed horse pre-
pared for an army contractor. Finally, taking the
bit in his teeth, Peter Pointdexter started for Windsor
and drove into "Hen" Capen's yard. The pro-
prietor of the establishment was at home and in the
best of humor. Smiles and sunshine seemed to flutter
about his head as Peter Pointdexter pulled up, and the
warmth with which he shook the worthy merchant's
hand would make you think he was a long-lost
brother.

After a little sparring Peter blurted out that he
had come over to trade the horse he had off him, as
after a trial he found that he did not suit him, because
he would not stand without hitching, was afraid of
the steam cars, and all that sort of thing. Of course,
he added that if it were not for these little shortcom-
ings he would never part with him, and, strange to
say, "Hen" agreed with him. As they stood there
talking a man drove into the yard behind a big bay
horse which had been clipped. His mane was
"hogged," or, in other words, removed, while his tail
was also cut square off at the end of the dock. This
horse was unhitched and led into the stable. Peter
Pointdexter looked at him and "Hen" could see he
liked him. That was one trick for "Hen." When
they began to talk business, "Hen" asked Peter how
the clipped horse would suit him. "Well, he didn't
just know," but they talked and talked, and finally
Peter swung around to him. "Hen" said that he
would trade for $50, and they traded. Peter Point-
dexted drove home congratulating himself, while
"Hen" walked across the street and had a drink.

320 A YANKEE TRADE.

There were a number of sheds and stables in the
rear of Peter Pointdexter's home on Clark Street. In
order to make the circuit a stranger required a chart,
but the stock on the place carried the plan in their
heads and knew the routes from the yard to the water
trough and^to their respective stalls like animals in a
circus. When Peter, all smiles, drove into the yard
the horse swung around and backed the wagon under
the shed without so much as being guided by the
reins. As Peter told the story, this made him open
his eyes, but when he unhitched and the new horse
walked up an alley to the water trough and then
wheeled around and made a bee line for a stall, he
took out his spectacles and polished them. Even
then he could not understand it, but his mind was
made clear the following morning, when the stable-
man asked him why he had traded for the old horse.
All Hartford and Windsor had a good laugh over it,
and it was many a day before Peter Pointdexter, if
that was his name, heard the last 9f his $125 invest-
ment in his own horse.

THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

I'd one foot in the stirrup, a hand in his mane,

As he took the sod bank in his stride,
I could feel he was going and gave him the spur,

He responded and won, then lunged forward and died
With the cheers in his ears and the sweat on his hide.

'Twas a glorious death, but a few of us cried.
His four shoes are down stairs on the wall.

All of the curious and unemployed -on the lower
end of Manhatten Island were at the Battery on the
morning of August 10, 1888, to see the City of New
York finish her maiden trip and bring into port James
G. Elaine, the Plumed Knight of Maine, who was re-
turning from a coaching trip through Great Britain
with Andrew Carnegie. That morning I was detailed
for a trip to one of the Long Island tracks, and on
reaching the South Ferry station of the elevated I de-
cided to stop over a boat or two to see what had been
heralded as the finest passenger vessel that had ever
sailed for the port of New York. Those who had
glasses soon picked her up in the lower bay, and in a
short time she swept by the Statue of Liberty, on
Bedloe's Island, and passed the cheering and handker-
chief-waving multitude on the Battery on her way to
a pier in the North River. As she steamed by old
Castle Garden, which is now only a memory, I heard
some one in a sing-song voice say :

"She walks the water like a thing of life."

"And see her lines ; they are as fine as those of the
high-mettled racers I rode when a lad in Jersey."

322 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

"It is poetical you are this morning, Luke," came
a gruff voice at my shoulder. "Where on the green
earth did you ever learn such a foine tale?"

"New York police, nothing else," said I ; but when
I turned a view of the first speaker surprised me.
Perched on a park bench, with his hands on the of-
ficer's shoulder, was a little old man who would not
weigh over ninety or one hundred pounds, wearing a
high hat that had been ironed many a time, a high
collar with an old black stock, such as you read about
in novels running back to the Revolutionary period,
a long frock coat, a little the worse for wear, a pair of
light pants creased to a razor's edge, buff-colored
gloves and patent leather shoes with pointed toes.
His hair was white and clipped so close that you could
see the skin of the scalp through the stubble, while an
unusually heavy moustache for a man of his physique
was waxed and twisted into points fine enough to go
through the proverbial eye of a needle. This all came
at a glance as I passed on to the ferry.

The following day, while making the same trip, I
saw him again, and upon my return, the same officer
being on the beat, I asked him who he was. He told
me that the little old gentleman was known as Luke
Lightwood, although he had reason to believe that it
was not his only name, and that the boys about the
Battery had favored him with the title, "Dot and
Carry One," from the manner in which he banged his
cane on the pavement and dragged a game leg after
him. The officer also told me that Luke had been a
jockey in his early days, and now picked up a living
by assisting in the gambling rooms up town. All of
this was imparted sub rosa at the time, being one of
the official secrets which are handed about from day

DOT AND CARRY ONE. 323

to day between the police and those who spin stories
for the press. At a later date I learned that Luke
Lightwood had made it a rule for many years to walk
from his lodgings, in what was called Greenwich Vil-
lage in the old days, and remain on the Battery from
twelve to two in summer, and from twelve to one in
winter, before taking a car up town. He was so
regular in his movements that the clerks in the Cus-
tom House were in the habit of regulating their
watches by his coming or going, while Luke, all un-
conscious of the attention he attracted, took his con-
stitutional, watched the vessels passing up and down
the river and talked with the boys, with whom he was
a prime favorite.

As newsgatherers are fond of odd characters, I had
the officer arrange matters so that I was added to
Luke's list of Battery acquaintances, and when the
old man learned that I was fond of a galloping horse
he was only too anxious to again live over in memory
the old days, when he was in the saddle and riding on
the tracks between New York and New Orleans. On
one occasion, when in a communicative mood, Luke
recited the words of the old song, "The High-Mettled
Racer," which he said was from time immemorial
sung each year by the President upon the removal of
the cloth at the Jockey Club dinner of the South Caro-
lina Jockey Club, which held its meetings at the
Washington course, near Charleston. He also said
that he stood on the lawn and heard it the year (1846)
Childe Harold won the Jockey Club purse from Jerry
Lancaster and Sally Morgan. As I appeared to be
much taken with the words, Luke repeated them, line
for line, while I wrote them in a memorandum book.
The following are the words of the song :

324 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

THE HIGH-METTLED RACER.

See the course thronged with gazers ! the sports are

begun ;
The confusion but hear ! "I'll bet you, sir"— "Done !—

done !"

Ten thousand strange clamors resound far and near ;
Lords, hawkers and jockeys assail the tired ear.
While with neck like a rainbow, erecting his crest,
Pampered, prancing and pleased, his nose touching his

breast,

Scarcely snuffing the air, he's so proud and elate,
The high-mettled racer starts first for the plate.

Now Reynard's turned out, and o'er hedge and ditch

rush

Hounds, horses and huntsmen, all hard at his brush ;
They run him at length, and they have him at bay,
And by scent and by view cheat a long, tedious way ;
While alike born for sports of the field and the course,
Always sure to come through, a staunch and fleet

horse,

When fairly run down the fox yields up his breath,
The high-mettled racer is in at the death.

Grown aged, used up, and turned out of the stud,
Lame, spavined, and wind-galled, but yet with some

blood,

While knowing postillions his pedigree trace,
Tell his dam won that sweepstakes, his sire gained

this race,

And what matches he won, too, the ostler's count o'er ;
As they loiter their time at some hedge alehouse door ;
While the harness sore galls, and the spurs his sides

goad,
The high-mettled racer's a hack on the road.

THE HIGH-METTLED RACER. 325

Till at last having labored, drudged early and late,
Bowed down by degrees, he bends to his fate ;
Blind, old and feeble, he tugs 'round a mill,
Or draws sand, till the sand of his hourglass stands

still.

And now cold and lifeless, exposed to the view,
In the very same cart which he yesterday drew,
While the pitying crowd his sad relics surround,
The high-mettled racer is sold for the hounds.

From other conversations I learned that Luke
Lightwood was born in a New Jersey town and ac-
quired a fair education for the period. Upon leaving
school his father wanted to apprentice him to a tailor,
but his mother objected. She decided that Luke was
cut out for the law, and as in such matters a woman
usually has her way, Luke was, as he termed it,
"articled" to a lawyer. As Luke had no taste for the
calling, he put in the most of his time reading Smollett
and Fielding and dreaming of the days still far away
in the future when he would be free to follow in the
footsteps of Tom Jones, providing he was as fortunate
with the ladies, Roderick Random or even Peregrine
Pickle. Being supplied with pocket money by his
mother, Luke ingratiated himself with a set of young
bloods who were striving to turn night into day, and
in time became so clever that he found his winnings
at the card table were greater than the amount ac-
quired by his system of practicing law.

Luke left his native town when his mother died.
At that time he had enough knowledge of the law to
hang out a shingle in a frontier town, while at heart
he was a gambler, with that hunger for excitement
which comes with winning and losing, getting some-

326 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

thing for nothing, but usually nothing for something.
Like the majority of the flotsam and jetsam of crea-
tion, imbued with the ideas of sudden wealth without
toil, he turned towards New York, wooed the fickle
goddess of fortune and lost. Too proud to return
home after everything was gone, he secured employ-
ment as caretaker of a no account race horse. This
took him to the race track, where, after learning to
ride, he became an exercise boy, and finally a full-
fledged jockey with a silk jacket, cap and top boots.
As he was light, had age and good hands, Luke soon
found steady employment, and in time rode in races
on nearly all of the tracks between New York and
New Orleans, while he also made a trip into Texas
and the adjoining states, and I should infer by the two
stories which he left that he also, for a short time,
made an attempt at practicing law there.

Luke Lightwood's turf career closed on the old
Beacon course in New Jersey. He was schooling a
horse over the jumps when it stumbled at a sod bank,
rolled on him and broke a bone in his hip. From that
day he was a cripple, or old "Dot and Carry One/' as
he said, with a sad smile. As soon as he was out of the
hospital Luke found work about the gambling rooms,
his temperate habits and tidy appearance guaranteeing
him steady employment.

Whenever I had occasion to cross the Battery on
"Luke's hours" I always stopped to talk with him,
and one day, after we had become chummy, he told me
that he had two articles on racing very different from
any I had ever seen ;that he had published them, or in-
tended to publish them, I do not now remember which,
and that he would give them to me if I cared to have

A MISUNDERSTANDING. 327

them. Being called out of the city, I did not see him
again for a month or two, but at our next meeting he
told me that he would bring them the following day,
and if I was not there he would leave the parcel with
the officer on the beat. The following day came, but
Luke failed to appear. He was also absent on the
succeeding one, and as the regular officer was not on
duty, I was unable to make an inquiry until
the next afternoon. I then learned that the man I
knew as Luke Lightwood was dead and buried.

During a misunderstanding, in a room up town,
he happened to be in the way of a bullet and was
killed instantly. An inquest, at which the officer was
present, followed by a funeral from an undertaker's
rooms, and Luke Lightwood dropped out of sight
without a ripple. I had read of the shooting in the
papers, but there was nothing in the name to connect
the victim with the man I knew. The officer ex-
plained it all with the remark, "Two names." Later
in the day I accompanied the officer on a visit to
Luke's rooms. Everything remained just as he left
it. On a table in the center of a little sitting room we
found a large envelope bearing my name. It con-
tained the stories he spoke about. The landlady, who
fell heir to Luke Lightwood's personal effects,
bade me take them, and they are presented here, not
only as unique productions with a sparkle and verve
all their own, but as a tribute to a man who, after
being a lawyer, jockey and gambler, was still a gen-
tleman with a fondness for books, Shelley and Byron
being his favorites, while he was also well read in Scott
and Burns, and told me that, in addition to reading
all of Dickens and Thackeray, he had met both of them

328 THE LUKE UGHTWOOD .LEGACY.

when they visited America. Luke Lightwood, alias

he was buried under the latter, lies

in an unmarked grave at Woodlawn, but the long
sleep in his little house of clay shall not be disturbed
on account of it.

JEWED.

When I first made the acquaintance of Col. Pierch
is not material at present. Years have passed since
that time. Yet I think I see him now. Perfect in his
unities of outfit, he arises before my memory; his erect
form, meagre in its outline, but full of rugged
strength, is clad in a high-collared, short-waisted,
brass-mounted garb of battered blue ; his lower limbs
protected by a pair of pants of home manufacture, and
of that color known to western housewives as the
copperas dye, fitting with the exactitude of an ad-
hesive plaster. Leaving the imagination of the reader
to fill out the deficiencies of the man, as far as clothes
be concerned, we will pass on to remark that the con-
tour of the Colonel's visage was Roman in its outline,
the physique entirely devoid of adipose matter, its
cutaneous outposts having retired upon the bofies of
the face, making there a fiery stand against the sun
and elements. The Colonel's eye was of a whitish
gray, set obliquely, with the outer corners elevated
from a straight line across his face. What though
the storms of more than half a century had spent their
force upon him ; what though he had been the bully of
several counties in which he lived, and had maintained

JEWED. 329

his laurels by the sacrifice of divers finger-joints, and
such other favorite points of vulnerability, with ' his
antagonists ; not to mention fractured ribs, gouged
eyes, etc.? What though he had stood by Jackson in
his Indian wars, and in his grand triumph at New
Orleans ; had passed through the Texan struggle for
independence ; had scouted upon the frontier against
the Comanches, yet, when I first saw him, his footstep
had the lightness of twenty-five, and although so
nearly approaching the close of his mortal career, a
more decided worldling in heart I have never met.

The following letter, received from the Colonel
at a period when the writer was practicing law in
Texas, at the town of Crockett, will open the story of
a quarter race. We propose placing the communica-
tion verbatim before the reader :

"Bucksnort On The Brasis, October i6th, 184-.

"Deer Squire : — After due compliments ov sich
friendship as has ever been between us, I rite more
particularly to inform you that I much wish that you
will come out here next Saturday week, to act fur me
in the bisiness we was speaking ov ; and, furthermore,
to be at a real full-deck race. I've got on my hoss
Rolette agin' a mar oaned by a feller name Cook, gin-
erally noan as Keeno Cook — having interjuce that
game in these parts. Teh mar is called Slidin' Jenny.
I'm to put up a thousand dollars wuth of land switifi-
kets agin hoss property valleyed at cash price.

fur further perticulars wait ontwell I see you,
which I'm in hopes you'll not disappint me in not com-

m£- "Yours, etc., R D< K> Pierch>»

330 THE LUKE UGHTWOOD I.KGACY.

The morning set for the race found us within the
town of Bucksnort, a little village consisting of one
grocery and some out-buildings. The contest which
was to come off had attracted a crowd of some two
hundred persons, the mass of whom, upon our entry,
were gathered about the grocery, from whence pro-
ceeded the sounds of music and dancing, accompanied
by a variety of fancy noises, in the way of imitation of
Indian yells and the various cries of wild beasts,
peculiar to the region of country in which the village
had been located.

In mingling with the crowd, many of whom were
old acquaintances, we found the race the ruling topic
of discussion, with occasional diversions upon the sub-
ject of Indian depredations, regulating cattle-thieves,
inquiries after stray ponies, etc. Rolette seemed the
favorite, and odds were freely given against the mare,
Sliding Jennie.

"If I weren't afeerd," said Bill Speck, a withered,
shrunken old fellow of advanced age, with one eye,
clad entout in buckskin, a handkerchief bound about
his unkempt locks of iron gray hair, a bristly beard,
and chewing a huge quid of tobacco, forcing the
amber in two tiny streams from either corner of his
mouth, like juice from a cider-press, "if I weren't
afeerd it was a 'throw off,' I ain't shore but what I
mout bet a little sumthin' myself. But," continued
Uncle Billy, "you see I've knowed old Baron de Kalb
Pierch a long time ; he's a good naybor, but powerful
onsartin in sportin' matters. I wunce lost a yoke of
steers and three yearlins on a hoss ov his, named Flit-
ter Foot, that didn't suit me no way you could fix it.
I told Pierch, in mighty plain talk, what I thought;

JEWED. 331

but you know he's run for the Legislature, and spoke
about so much a stumpin' uv it, that he kin make
things look all right if you'll oney listen to it.

"Ef er put up we'r struck, boys," concluded Uncle
Billy; "less be shore we'r gwine in on the winnin
hoss."

In the course of the morning I made acquaintance
of Mr. Keeno Cook, and received, and accepted, an in-
vitation to take a drink with that individual. Mr.
Cook was a large, raw-boned man, with nothing of
note in his appearance, except a grave restraint of
manner, rather at variance with the boisterous de-
portment of the mass of the assemblage. The contour
of his face reminded me somewhat of the head of a
buffalo fish, and his dim blue eyes were in good keep-
ing with the resemblance. He was a man of few
words, and evidently felt himself capable of keeping
his own counsel.

The day was on the decline before many vexing
preliminaries, such as choosing judges for the start
and outcome, valuing the horses which were staked on
the race, etc., were gotten through with. These busi-
ness matters were dispatched not without much pro-
fanity and rough sarcasm upon the part of Col. Pierch
directed toward Keeno Cook, who bore them with a
tranquility of manner in perfect keeping with my pre-
conceived opinion of the man.

On arriving at the paths, I found them located
upon the verge of a prairie that was spread out to the
east and north. The early frost of autumn had tinged
the grass slightly with a russet hue. The evening
was lovely in the extreme — a faint hum of insect life
pervaded the air, and thousands of gossamer webs

332 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

floated before the eye. The distant low of cattle, and
the musical chant of water-fowl, winging their way
toward the Mexican Gulf, fell with wild sweetness on
the ear.

One great point in a quarter race is in "getting the
bulge/' as it is termed ; that is, the foremost start
when the word "go !" is given to begin the race. The
rapidity with which the race is run, and the ad-
vantages to the horse gaining it, makes this a matter
of prime consideration. The fast starter is a man of
more importance, perhaps, than either trainer or rider.
On the occasion I am relating, "Greek had met Greek"
in the persons of Col. Pierch and Keeno Cook, who
were considered by their respective friends to be
twenty feet faster than any men known in Texas.
Long after the judges at the start, to decide which
(and by how many feet) of the horses got the start,
and those of the outcome, were posted, were these two
worthies contending against each other for the ad-
vantage in turning their animals loose.

At length, by a wild plunge, Rolette tore loose
from the grasp of his master, and set off down his
path. "Come back ! No start !" was loudly shouted
by the judges. The rider of Rolette, thus arrested,
sought to restrain the frantic animal he bestrode ; in
doing which, a pair of keen spurs, wherewith his heels
were barbed, came in unlucky contact with the horse's
sides. The consequence was that by a desperate
struggle, in which the girth bursted with a report like
the smack of a whip, that injured animal, sent his
tormentor a heels-over-head cruise among the wild
geese passing by.

JEWED. 333

"Now, Aignog," said Col. Pierch, addressing the
proprietor of the Bucksnort Saloon ; "Now, Aignog-,
do you turn that hoss ; I'm gwine to ride him myself."
This remark was made after Rolette had been caught
and returned to his owner.

'Twas a beautiful sight to behold the Colonel
divesting himself of the long-tailed blue, binding his
brow with a red cotton bandanna, having first kicked
off his low-quartered shoes, and thrust the extremities
of his copperas dyes into his green hose, then encir-
cling his waist firmly with his suspenders. Before
mounting, like a prudent jockey, his critical eye and
hand swept every fixture about the horse ; finding
girths, buckles, bits, reins all correct, with a nimble
bounce he vaulted into the saddle, and gathered him-
self up for the struggle. The voice and chirrups of
his master seemed somewhat to soothe the troubled
temper of Rolette, and a prospect of a speedy turn-
loose animated the feelings of the bystanders.

At last, after several skillful and masterly rrla-
noeuvers, like ships in action beating to windward,
Keeno and Aignog, almost abreast, near the starting-
poles. The eye of Keeno has lost its leaden hue; his
face glows, for one instant, electric fire ; his glance is
firmly riveted upon the face of the judge who gives
the signal, and as the thought of utterance fills his
mind, Keeno's grasp falls from the mare's bridle, and
like a flash of light she bounds forth with the word
"go !" a length in advance of Rolette. Ah ! Aignog
was no match for Keeno.

"Hoorah ! hoorah ! my roaring Pierch," shouted the
crowd at the starting pole. "Hoorah ! hoorah ! clear
the track, they are a-coming — they're a-coming," is

334 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

answered in whoop and yell from the out-come. Now
the two horses, closely locked, sink into a slight de-
pression of the track, and now, with fearful speed, they
rise the elevation beyond. Look at Pierch, standing
high in his, stirrups, and thereby showing several
inches of clear daylight between him and the seat of
the saddle — his elbows flattened to his sides, his knees
firmly pressing against Rolette's shoulders, he is lift-
ing him at every bound.

A small streamer of the bounce bandanna is flut-
tering like a fiery meteor through the troubled atmos-
phere. The struggle has been fearful, but it is past;
they are rapidly nearing the out-come. Col. Pierch,
some lengths in advance, is animating his flying steed
with shrill exulting cries, although his eye has never
wandered from between his horse's ears. His prac-
ticed ear has caught the thunder of his rival's tread in
his rear, and before him reeling, shouting in a mad-
dening frenzy of joy, are his friends and backers,
already hailing him victor of the — But, ah ! like all
of life's uncertain ways are the issues of races. Well
said the wise man, "the race is not always to the
swift ;" for lo ! at that very moment an Hebrew huck-
ster, who, during the day had been seeking to vend a
limited assortment of wares to the assembled multi-
tude, with an eye for interest never sleeping, beheld a
delinquent customer upon the opposite side of the
tracks from where he stood. This person the Israelite
had been seeking throughout the day, with a fixed
purpose of bringing him to an adjustment of accounts.

It formed no part of Israel's most extreme hope of
finishing the business then and there, but he wished to
keep near his debtor, to seize the first golden oppor-

JEWED. 335

tunity to consummate the business affair, and for that
desirable end, he determined to cross the tracks at all
hazards, and keep in the wake of his man. A
moment he gazed adown the tracks at the approaching

horses —

"A moment listened to the cry

That thickened as the race grew nigh."

and then, with one brave bound, he crossed the path
nearest him, for one instant bewildered ; he crouches
like a hare in the little space of grass that divides the
two paths ; amidst cries of "lay down," "go on," from
the many-headed ; he plunges into Rolette's path, and
receives from the knees of that animal, in a rising
bound, a glancing blow upon the pack strapped upon
his back, and, amid a loud crash of smashed glass and
boxes, he is spun in a variety of somersets high in the
air, and breaks the force of his fall by carrying an old
man and boy, mounted double, to the earth from their
mule. The accident was fatal to Col. Pierch's in-
terest. Rolette floundered and fell, and ere his rider,
with frightful oath and imprecation, could rouse him
from the earth, Sliding Jennie had swept by like a
storm, and passed through the poles a winner, amid
the shouts and yells of the crowd.

The scene that ensued I will not attempt to de-
scribe. After a partial lull had taken place, I be-
held Col. Pierch elbowing his way through the
crowd, and glaring about him with an eye that
absolutely flashed with rage. It was plain to
see, as Uncle Billy Spark remarked, that the devil
was in him. "I want to speak with that peddler a
minit," the Colonel ejaculated through his bloodless
lips — "only a minit." "Now," said Col. Pierch, con-

THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

fronting the peddler, who had escaped miraculously
from his adventure with but trifling injuries, and had
been endeavoring vainly to make his egress from the
crowd, which hemmed him in on all sides, as by a liv-
ing wall, "now, what did you git in my horse's path
for? Don't" tell me about not meaning anything;
you was hired to do it — hired ! You'd risk anything
for money! You needn't to look around, fur I'm
gwine to have a settlement in full, ole feller, before
you leave this ground. I jest wonder what's keeping
me from chewin' you rite up now, instead ov givin'
you any chance to say a word fur yourself. You don't
remember ov cheatin' my ole woman in a passel ov
rotten cap truck last week? Oh, no, ov course not;
you are are awful — frightful. Gentlemen/' said the
Colonel, suddenly elevating his voice to a shriek — ad-
dressing the crowd that was thickening fast around
them — "you wouldn't believe that that outlandish,
aig-sucking, cent-shavin', black-bearded furrier, which
they're all gwine about eatin' out the intruls of the
country, cheated a poor grass widder, 'Betsey Still-
water/ as lives on the crick below me, an's got a whole
houseful of yearlin' children to support, outen a dollar
an' a half, in changin' money fur some of his cussed
stole goods." The reminiscence was too much for the
pure-minded Pierch ; he forthwith attacked the ped-
dler, tooth and nail, being stimulated thereto and en-
couraged therein by the shouts of the bystanders, who
made the welkin ring with cries of "give it to him,
Pierch," "under-handed licks," "follow him up," etc.
The gallant Colonel, having, at length, by a well-
directed blow, felled his antagonist to the earth, and
presently getting astride of his body, proceeded to

JEWED. 337

carry him through a process of gouging and punching
that reminded me greatly of an excited female do-
mestic kneading dough. The appalling yells of the
miserable peddler at length excited commiseration in
the breast of some of the bystanders,- who, by an ex-
ertion of main strength, rent the Colonel from his
victim.

A short time afterwards, on joining a crowd which
was rapidly gathering about a common center, I found
Col. Pierch had mounted a stump, and was proceeding
to address the assemblage. The speaker was fond of
the art, and never let any suitable opportunity escape
improvement. He began : "Feller citizens, I have
arize before you on this egsitin occashun, called forth,
I mout say, by circumstances which no man could
have calkalated on. We've bin (at least those backin'
Rolette) powerfully exercised in feelins by the con-
duct ov a worthless critter as ought never been al-
lowed on the ground, which it'll be a lesson, I hope,
to every man here, that whenever he sees sich
varmints a-sneakin' about, to give 'em a warping
that'll put 'em in notion of huntin' some other market,
and that pretty fast, too. I've come to the conclusion,
feller citizens, ov raisin' no squabble about the matter,
but to give up the stakes. It weren't Keeno's fault,
who's a good feller, and wouldn't fur a minit uphold
the peddler in sich doin's as has been gwine through;
but though he won by accident, yet he won the race.
Ef we were in his place, I expect we would most prob-
ably be for keepin' the money, too. The fair, even
thing, is the real clever thing. It's the mottow I've
stood by all my life to have a karecter. And I've
often, when ridin' home from a muster or horse race,

338 THE LUKE LIGHT WOOD LEGACY.

or camp meetin', said to myself, you may take my
puss, take my hoss, take my liker, but leave me my
karecter, fur it's a stake as'll do to lariat to the wost
night that kin fall. I've had some satisfaction, feller
citizens," continued the speaker ; "I've had some satis-
faction, for I've laroped that cussed peddler ontwill I
don't think he's gwine to git in a hoss's way agin soon.
Whippin' the cuss has put a bad taste in my mouth ;
less all go back to the grocery and licker."

The Colonel descended from the stump amid the
loud applause of his audience, most of whom were
soon proceeding back to the town to avail themselves
of his general invitation.

"Squire," said the Colonel in a low tone to me, as
we rode back together, "keep dark, but I ain't as bad
hurt as you mout suppose. I compt'd with Keeno, and
got back half my stake. And mind, I don't say
they're fraudulous to my certain knowledge, but I'm
mighty afeard that Keeno, or whoever locates, will
find diffikilty in gettin' patterns . on them surtifikits
he's got— left."

FLUSHED.

In the spring of 185-, Tom J. and myself

were employed upon opposite sides of a cause, which
was set to be tried before the Probate Court of Poin-
sett County, Arkansas. Lawyers are always cheek
by jowl, except when actually engaged before the
Court ; consequently, we started and traveled to the
county seat together. As each wished to examine the

FLUSHED. 339

records before the case came on, we arranged our de-
parture so as to arrive there several days before Court.
Up to the Saturday preceding court-day, we were
busily engaged ; and I must confess that on that
morning I for one was rather pleased than other-
wise when we were informed by the landlord that we
might expect "a pretty smart sprinkling of folks in
town to-day, " 'cause there's to be a big quarter-race
run over thar on the race-track to-day."

"Whose are the horses, and what are the stakes?"
we inquired.

"Why, Jim Donavan's mar' is a gwine to run
against Mat Martin's big black hoss for a hundred
dollars," answered he, "and the hull county will be out
to see it."

Now, Jim Donavan was the Sheriff of the county,
and Mat Martin was the keeper of a favorite grocery
near by ; and as both were great favorites, we felt con-
vinced that the landlord was right in expecting a
crowd.

Sure enough, as the sun began to rise, the people
began pouring in from all sides, and by ten o'clock
there were between one hundred and fifty and two
hundred men, women and children, followed by about
four hundred dogs, gathered in front of the town
grocery. Tom and I were standing by looking on,
having saluted our acquaintances, when the Sheriff,
with whom we were favorites, came into town riding
the mare.

"How-de-do, boys! how-de-do!" exclaimed he
as soon as he recognized us, springing to the ground,
and extending to each a hand. "I knowed it," con-
tinued he ; "I knowed you down-the-country fellers

340 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

couldn't be kept away from this here hoss race as soon as
you heerd that this here mar' was gwine to run !
You've come up here to bet your pile on her, and to
win, too, for I tell you what it is, that thar hoss don't
stand no manner of chance ! He can't tich bottom no
how ! This here mar' can out-run a hatful of bad-
skeered lightnin', she kin ! Come, all you what's for
the mar', let's lick'r."

This invitation was addressed to the crowd ; and
from the number that availed themselves of it, an in-
experienced observer might have inferred that the
black horse had no partisans whatever in the crowd.
That such was not the case, however, was soon
proved, by the arrival of Mat with a similar invitation,
when a fully equal number "lickered" for the "hoss."
The fact is, the whole crowd drank both times. And
now came the closing scene preparatory to proceeding
to the race-ground. The horses were brought around,
amid the cheers of the crowd, and the hectoring of
Mat, who, in loud tones of voice, began advising his
opponents to "blindfold their mar', or put her in the
stable, 'cause if she was to cotch sight of this here
hoss, she'd swooned right away, she would !" And
occasionally he would pretend to blindfold his horse,
" 'cause as how, if he war to get a good look at the
critter he had to run against, he'd be dead sure not to
run a mite, he'd be so 'shamed." Here the Sheriff in-
terfered— swore "he warn't a gwine to hear his mar'
abused that way" — stepped out from the crowd
dashed his hat upon the ground and invited Mat to
step out and "take a chunk of a fight." Mat, nothing
loth, complied with the invitation ; others of the crowd
took sides for one or the other, and matters appeared
very fair for a general "scrimmage," when Tom and I

FLUSHED. 341

interfered, and, by a little judicious management, suc-
ceeded in quieting the excitement and restoring peace.
At our suggestion (and expense) the crowd again
"lickered," and then repaired to the race-ground. But
if we were surprised at the preliminaries, we were
astonished when we arrived at the ground and sur-
veyed the track, or rather the tracks. I will try and
describe them, and sporting men can take items if they
choose. There was no quarter of a mile in the country
level enough to make a track, so they commenced
upon the top of a small hill, descended that, ascended
and descended another, and terminated in the hollow.
Thus, on account of the intervening hill, persons at
one end of the track could not see what was transpir-
ing at the other. Two spaces, each about two feet
wide, had been cleaned the whole length of the tracks ;
and in order to obtain a good bottom, these tracks had
been dug down below the surface of the earth, so that
the horses were to run in trenches, or ditches, — in-
tended, I suppose, to keep them from flying the track.
These two trenches, or ditches, were about ten or
twelve feet from each other; and as the undergrowth
had not been cleared out of the intervening space,
and there grew thick and heavy, only occasional
glimpses couldbe obtained bythe rider upon one track
of any one upon the other. This fact Tom and I
demonstrated to our own satisfaction by riding over
the tracks, but the tracks were not the only objects
of interest. An observer of human nature might have
passed days in that crowd, and each minute of every
day might have discovered some new, and to him
astonishing, trait to wonder at and admire. About a
hundred, or a hundred and fifty persons, of all ageb
and sexes, had collected to witness the race, and as

342 THE LUKE UGHTWOOD LEGACY.

each horse had his partisans, there was a considerable
amount of excitement visible. There was a great
deal of betting, too, and jack-knives, dimes, and thim-
bles were waged freely upon the result of the race,
while a pair of ardent bare-footed lovers, who ap-
peared upon the course hand in hand, were heard to
bet a kiss ; and in a very short time afterwards were
both seen to pay up before it was known who was
to win.

The greatest character upon the ground was Mat
Martin's wife, who, knowing that "doubtful things
are mighty onsartin," and that Mat might possibly
lose the race, had determined — spirited woman that
she was(!) — that she would try to make something
sure anyhow, and so appeared upon the ground, in a
little wagon, well stocked from her husband's grocery
Tom and I soon found her out, and by a few well-
timed compliments paid to the horse so completel}
won her heart that she invited us to drink, and im-
mediately produced a bottle of liquid, which she pro-
nounced to be the "rale brandy, none of your make-
believe stuff," and told us to help ourselves. We
complied without hesitation, and each poured out a
moderate drink and drank it. How I ever managed
to swallow my share of it I do not know, for a more
detestable compound never was labelled brandy. I
did swallow it, however, but could not repress the
look of disgust which rose to my face, nor prevent the
involuntary application of my hand to my burning
"innards." The woman turned fiercely toward me,
and exclaimed : "Now, look here, stranger, you
needn't put on any of your squalmishness and city
ways about that brandy, 'cause I know it is the rale
stuff, 'cause my old man paid sixty cents a gallon for

FLUSHED. 343

it in Wittsburg, and, moren' that, if you don't like the
brandy, he's here himself, and he can whip it out of
you in less than no time, and will do it, too, if you say
so."

This was what might be called a "knock-down
and drag-out argument ;" and as I did not doubt Mat's
ability and willingness to do it, I hastened to apolo-
gize. It took some time to molify the dame; but
after awhile I succeeded, and was able to turn my at-
tention again to the preparation for the race. Mat
and the Sheriff were mounted upon their respective
horses, some hundred yards apart, and communicated
with each other by means of ambassadors. Their
intercourse, free enough before, was immediately
stopped when they arrived upon the ground ; and, like
opposing generals arranging the details of a truce,
each had taken his station, surrounded by his staff,
and communicated with each other, or with the dif-
ferent bodies under his command, only by means of
aids. These important individuals were careering
wildly over the grounds, bearing messages to every
part of the field, while, occasionally, after a close and
eager consultation among those composing one or
other of the principal groups, some one would pace
forward at a more dignified gait, charged with some
communication for the opposite party.

Foremost among the supporters of the Sheriff, I.
noticed his deputy and a tall, thin, straight man in a
red shirt, while Mat had for his "Bowers," a short and
dirty little man, whose name I did not learn, and a
larger specimen of the "genus homo," who rejoiced in
the peculiar and appropriate cognomen of "Rip."
Each and every one of these four evidently considered
himself as second in importance only to the owners

344 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY.

of the horses, and bore himself accordingly. It was
truly surprising to see with what grace and dignity
"red shirt" would step out of the ranks and advance
to receive "short and dirty," who approached, bearing
some message to the Sheriff, and how "Rip" would
bear himself as he repeated some order of Mat's to the
minor aids. From the time that was consumed in
these transactions, vast and important affairs must
have been settled, but what they were I am unable to
state, as outsiders were carefully excluded. In the
meantime, Mrs. Martin drove a thriving business; and
I began to suspect, as evening drew on, without the
preparation being completed, that the managers of the
race were in "cohoots" with her, and were protracting
the "preliminaries" purposely.

Everything must have an end, however, and so did
the horse-race. The horses were put upon the track —
a whoop from the further end proclaimed the start.
Anxiously we waited for their appearance. At length
they appeared, the mare somewhat in advance. A
loud shout from her friends proclaimed their interest
in the race, but the shout stopped the fun for the day.
Both horses became frightened, reared, threw their
riders, and plunged into the woods. Never did I see
men look so blank! Tom and I shouted with laugh-
ter, but we soon found, from the lowering looks bent
upon us, that unless something was done quickly to
turn aside their resentment, our mirth might be
changed into mourning. Fortunately, however, we
knew a panacea for that evil. Before many minutes
we had bought out Mrs. Martin's stock. We placed
the barrel upon the ground, removed the end, and in-
vited the crowd to pitch in — and they did. On Mon-
day morning, when Court met, there weren't enough
sober men to be found to make up a jury, and the
Judge fined the both of us for contempt of court.

JOHNNY'S COLT.

Johnny's wee fuzzy colt with the light bushy tail,
And the big, dreamy eyes so good natured and

brown,

Which reflected your face as he stood by the rail ;
Was the pet of the farm when the folk came from
town.

He was foaled in the lot near the brook where the
skegs

Mark the spot where I took my first trout with a fly,
And was stumbling about on his long wobbly legs

When the groom who first saw him was galloping by.

All the men on the place said he was highly bred,
By a great racing horse, name unknown, while the
mare

Had at one time belonged to a neighbor now dead,
And was known to have won a fast race at the fair.

She was high strung and flighty, but game to the core,
And would try to the finish, to harness or pole,

But went wrong in her hip and was heard of no morer
Until after the boys fell in love with her foal.

In the long summer days I oft leaned on the bar,
And dreamed honors for him on a fast strip of dirt ;

Made him tramp on the records like Major Delmar,
Or spread eagle the pacers like old Prince Alert.

And the cute little chap with a mane like spun silk,
Would look at me and whinner or scamper and play;

Snuggle to me for sugar or call for the milk

Which the farmer prescribed for the colt twice a day.

'Tis these small dreams of hope which prompt many
to try

In the struggle of life for a fortune jolt
Which will make them a winner in the public eye

With a yacht, with a gun, or a bushy tailed colt.

THE TOUT.

"Come on! I'll bet you two to one

I'll make him do it! Will you! Done." Holmes.

You have seen him. You have heard the rattle of
his brassy voice as he offers to bet a dollar on the
outside after the judges have given the word. There
may be a few who have cause to remember the crafty
confidence man of the turf, as touts come in all colors
and flourish in all lands. They swarm in the wake of
the gallopers and "sweat" from town to town with
the trotters. Wherever there is betting you will find
them. They manage to hang on by their eyelids, but
how, none but themselves can tell. To an outsider,
the mysteries of a crap game are simpler than the
wriggling of the tout from one end of the season to
the other.

The average tout's apparel and wardrobe, like a
fresh water fisherman's, depends on the run of "suck-
ers." If they are plentiful, nothing from patent
leather shoes and a diamond pin up to a swell hotel is
good enough ; but the fall conies as sure as fate.
Turn the average tout loose with money and he blows
himself. Wit runs out when wealth goes in, but re-
turns as the roll decreases. There are exceptions,
however, as there has been cases where the dollar
bettor climbed the ladder of success and settled in
Easy Street.

Stable secrets are the tout's stock in trade. When
he finds an empty ear it does not take him long to fill

THE BETTING COMMISSIONER. 347

it with the performances and the breeding of the
starters. He is as familiar with their physical con-
dition as the trainer, and, in addition to that, knows
what each owner and trainer is going to do in the
race. A hint that you will put down fifty and declare
him in, should it win, makes him your boon com-
panion until after the race. Should it fail, and you
are not game enough to look for your money where
you lost it, the information bureau looks for another
"game sport," if he has not already touted a couple of
other horses in the same race to different parties.

As soon as a new man pulls in with a couple of
horses, the tout, if he is inside a good suit of clothes,
interviews him. If down at the heel, he worms his
way into the good graces of the help, boards with
them, if they have a cook, and sleeps in the feed stall,
if they will let him. By doing odd jobs around the
stable he learns what is going on, while he is always
looking for some one who will pay for what informa-
tion he can glean.

Touts have unlimited assurance, and to become
expert in their line of business they must also remem^
ber all of the fairy tales they weave during a meeting.
A gullible man wifl believe another without a
whimper, if he will stand pat even after a losing. He
figures that the man with the information has a key
to something which failed to connect, while he is con-
vinced that the tout, with his apparently flattering
connections, knows more than he does, or even
claims to.

On all of the large tracks there is another class
termed "betting commissioners," or "gentlemen
touts." They have money. At the hotel they have

348 THE TOUT.

the finest suit of rooms, and by a little maneuvering
manage to secure the confidence of a few of the
drivers. As a rule, the manager of a stable wants
some one to look after his interests in the betting ring,
providing he plays a little money. The "gentleman
tout" is on Ijand and ready to do it. He can watch the
tide of affairs and report. If a driver has to be seen,
the "gentleman tout" is ready to report for duty, or,
if it is too glaring, hunts up some one who will do the
work.

The usual method of the "gentleman touts/' and
the "sure thing players," is to get their heads together
and pick out a race for a killing. The outsiders, if
their starters are considered of any account, are inter-
viewed. Should they decline to do business, and
enough pressure cannot be brought to bear to bring
the owner and. driver, or at least the latter, into line,
they either call it off or start out to win, sink or swim.
At such a time the outsider can look for war. If he
has not speed enough to go out in front and stay
there, he can look for pockets, cutoffs, fouls and all
kinds of impediments. A fresh horse will tackle him
each heat and carry him all over the track, up against
the fence, or over it, if the money is on and being
singed.

The "gentleman tout" is also a clever entertainer.
When he is looking for the smiles of a hew man, and
if that man is fresh from the bushes, a quiet little
dinner, with a cold bottle, followed by a trip to the
show, usually does the work- He will put a hundred
on for Mr. Freshman to win ; will see that so and so
does not interfere with his horse, and do a dozen
other things to keep the ball rolling. Nothing is too

THE WORD. 349

good for the new arrival until after the race, when, if
his starter does not come up to expectations, they
part. Should he have a clever horse, Mr. Freshman
is declared in with all the good things in which he has
a starter and is a member of the guild just so long as
his horse holds his form, always providing that he
does not talk too much.

But of "tout," the word itself, Webster says, "One
who secretly watches race horses which are in course
of training to get information about their capacities,
for use in betting." There is nothing in the Diction-
ary to show where the word comes from, but from
other sources I learn that it, like English racing, dates
from the reign of Charles II., when the sprucer sort
of citizens galloped from London to Epsom not to see
the Derby or the Oaks, as they were then unheard of,
but to do a little Epsom water drinking. The waters
were considered efficacious, and the citizens east of
Temple Bar were supposed to receive much benefit
from their use. The citizen on his way to Epsom,
during the reign of the "Merry Monarch," was met at
Tooting by tradesmen, quack doctors and lodging-
house keepers, with so many importunities for patron-
age that the word "touting" derives its origin from
the village where their plying for trade was carried to
such an extent. The step from "tooting" or "tout-
ing" to "tout" is too apparent to require comment.

GETTING EVEN.

Harry called her a Morgan, high-mettled and gay,

With her head in the air and her tail in the breeze,
While her tapering ears were as quick in their play

As squirrels when they romp on the limbs of the trees,
With a neck like a swan; her big eyes had the glint

Which you see in the stars on a cold winter night;
She pleased me — we exchanged without even a hint

That the beauty was balky, could kick, and would bite.
Being sound and well-bred with a place for her feed,

I repeated her 'till she was willing to rest,
And when balanced I found that she had enough speed

To engage in the circuit and score with the best.

There are horse traders, and then there are horse
traders, and all of them follow the calling (you can
scarcely dignify it with the title of a profession) if you
can believe them, to use a racing term, "for some
fun and some money." Its devotees learn from one
another, and by the time one of the old guard becomes
a past master in the art of reading the defects of an-
other man's nag, a youngster comes along and gives
him a sleeper. This is the exception, however, and
only goes to prove the rule that nature, in the end,
evens up all things between the good and the bad, the
sharp and the flat. But in a horse trade those who
have made a study of it will tell you that the only way
to succeed is to let the other fellow do all of the
talking and, if you can hold your tongue, let him do
the trading, or, at all events, propose something.
That is the starting point.

A FEW POINTERS. 351

Experience has also taught the silent trader that
it is not necessary to look at the other man's horse if
you want to learn what is the matter with him, but
it is necessary to keep an eye on what is being done
with your own. You can put it in your pipe and
smoke it for a solemn fact, that when a man is making
all kinds of motions to learn if your horse is blind,
that he is anxious to get clear of one that has a bad
pair of eyes. If he asks about the heaves or begins
to look for spavins or ring bones, in nine times out
of ten you will find something of that kind on his
bag of bones.

There was a day, however, when I did not think
that way. I was driving a stage over the hills in
Vermont, that paradise of horse swappers, and had
made a few good trades. Finally, one pleasant morn-
ing, a farmer with an eye for a horse and church mat-
ters, put a "fitty" one on to me. It was a bad piece
of business and might have been the death of some-
one, but, fortunately, I found it out before any dam-
age was done except a pair of broken thills and a
severe strain on my temper. There was no use
crying about it, however, and instead of sitting down
and taking my medicine, I made up my mind to get
even.

Some time after the "fitty" horse had gone, as all
trading horses go, to another stable, I managed to
get a rip staving, fine five-year-old horse that could
make the old coach hum. I put him on the off side,
so that he would not be bothered when passing teams
and saw that he was kept busy from the time he
pulled out in the morning to the end of the run. I
had my reasons for it, as this clever young horse, not-

352 GETTING EVEN.

withstanding all of his good qualities, had a fault, and
a very bad one. He was a kicker, and one of the
worst you ever put an eye on. The only time he ever
bothered me (I do not know what he did with other
people, neither did I inquire, except in one case, of
which I win relate later,) was in the morning. Then if
you went near him, after he had been fed, it looked as
though his feet were in the air all of the time. He
was so bad that I had to arrange matters so that I
could drop the harness on him from the loft, and the
strangest part of it all was, that as soon as he felt the
straps on his back he became as gentle as a lamb—
or at least he did for me.

As soon as I learned the ways of this horse, I
made up my mind that he was the proper subject for
my friend who gave me the "fitly" one. About a
week after the kicker came to me, I was driving the
coach over a hill when I saw my dear friend on the
top of another one. He appeared to have a right
shifty kind of a horse, but one that did not have as
much style as the off one in my pair. As the teams
approached each other I kept my eye on the horse
coming down the road and saw that he put every foot
in its place, and acted as if there was nothing the
matter with him. We met in the middle of a little
valley, and as there were no passengers on board, I
stopped and stumped him for a trade. He knew that
he owed me one, so I introduced the business by ask-
ing him how he would trade for my nigh horse.

"I would rather have the off one," said he.

"Would you?" says I.

"Yes," said he. "I'll trade you even for him."

THE ACCOUNT BALANCED. 353

"Done," said I, "and we can change them right
here if you say the word."

We changed, my horse to all appearances not
being in the kicking humor at that moment. As he
took up the reins to drive away he turned half around
in his- seat and, with a fox-in-the-hole smile, asked me
if there was anything wrong with the horse.

"Well, now," said I, as I climbed into the seat, "if
you will ask the barn man at the first hotel down the
road, he will tell you all about that horse," and with
a good morning, I drove on. The following day, on
the down trip, I learned that the barn man had given
him due warning by telling him that the handsome
off horse would kick his hat off if he did not look out.
He tried him good and plenty and found it was only
too true, and as he did not have enough work or
patience to get along with him, I sent a man over and
bought him back for $40. The next time I met my
friend with an eye for a horse and church matters, the
kicker was in his place on the off side. He did not
offer to pull up or even return my salute when I
tipped my hat to him.

CHAMP

"I would not have the horse I drive

So fast that folks would stop and stare;

An easy gait — two-forty-five —
Suits me; I do not care;

Perhaps, just for a single spurt,
Some seconds less would do no

Lemuel Jenkins and Uncle Si did not get along
well. They never exchanged words for over thirty
years and Lem went down to his grave without, so
far as the world knows, forgiving the man he sup-
posed to be his enemy. In a roundabout way I heard
that the trouble was originally caused by a trade, but
it had taken place so long ago that those who re-
ferred to it had forgotten the details, if they ever
knew them. As the years rolled by they seemed to
move further and further apart, and when Lem's only
son, on the day he was of age, married Uncle Si's
daughter, Lizzie, in open defiance of the expressed
wish of his father, it looked as though there would be
trouble. Father and son parted in anger, and as the
young man had nothing but a sound constitution and
plenty of pluck to fall back on for a living, Uncle Si
opened his door and took him into partnership in his
livery and sale business. Then there was talk galore
in the village, but neither Uncle Si nor Lem Jenkins
said a word, and the young man was too busy learn-
ing the details of the livery business to pay much at-
tention to gossip.

LEMUEL JENKINS. 355

This Lemuel Jenkins was a cold, sullen man, with
a disposition to find fault with everything from the
weather up, while Uncle Si was just the opposite.
He always looked the world in the face with a smile
and had a good word for everyone, from the little tot
tugging at his mother's apron strings up to the min-
ister. He and Lem had been boys together, attended
the same school and joined in all of their amusements
until both of them were men grown. I might also
add that Lemuel Jenkins was the son of Uncle Si's
oldest sister, Helen. She was married when Cyrus
was in dresses and her boy was but two or three years
younger than his uncle. When Helen was married to
Lemuel Jenkins some said he was old enough to be
her father, and at that she was his second wife. He
had a two-hundred-acre farm three miles from the vil-
lage. It was one of the best in the county, and it did
not lose any of its good qualities under her care, as, ac-
cording to the old proverb, in this case the "gray
mare was the better horse."

Helen began life by looking out for Number One,
and it grew on her; but Uncle Si always remarked,
when he referred to the subject, "he never laid it up
against her." Lemuel was her only child. He was
named after his father, and he, in turn, gave his son
the same name. It was said that there was always a
Lemuel in the Jenkins family for time out of mind,
and I believe it. The above was learned after a dili-
gent inquiry from the older people in the neighbor-
hood, while the balance of the story came to me from
Uncle Si the day after Lemuel Jenkins was buried.
He seemed to be in a reminiscent mood when the
mourners drove away. After looking in the fire for

356 CHAMP.

some time he bade me close the door and bolt it.
When I had done so, he made the following state-
ments :

"When I returned to the village at the close of
the war, I had very little money, but, thank the Lord,
a good stock of health, which has remained with me
from that day to this. Three years in the cavalry
gave me a fair idea of what a horse can do and what
he should look like in order to 'stand grief,' as the
expression goes. This knowledge carried me into
the livery and sale business, which I have followed
from that day to this. My first move was to purchase
the good will of a man that was leaving town. His
business was located in an old barn in the rear of the
hotel on the north corner of Main Street, where the
Post Office now stands. On making an inventory of
the stock I found he had half a dozen wagons for light
driving and as rough a looking lot of horse stock as
ever eat hay and oats. Trading was his long suit,
and from the looks of things he had been getting the
hot end of the poker-

"In order to even up matters, I auctioned the
whole lot and made a trip to Buffalo to buy three or
four good livery horses. I found what was wanted
and then added a pair of workers as a starter in the
sale business. After a week or two I let them go,
doubling my money, as in those days the farmers did
not breed as many mares as they do now. This gave
me an idea 'as to where the money was in the horse
business, and from that time on I always had a few
for sale. Then when I saw a fresh young horse that
I thought would suit the city trade, I bought it and
sent it on. By 1867 I was on my feet and had a little

A CHANCY HORSE. 357

laid by. That spring I made three trips to Buffalo
for horses, and on each trip I saw one that pleased me
clear to the ground. I wanted him for myself, but
could not get him, as the man would not sell.

"From the start, it looked to me that a man in the
horse business should have a good horse for a trade-
mark, and one that the people would know as soon as
they saw him coming down the road or into town.
This horse caught my fancy, and the more I thought
of him the better he pleased me. He was a golden
sorrel, standing sixteen hands full, with four white
pasterns and a broad, white strip in his face. His
owner said he was of the Champion breed, from up
Auburn way, but of that I knew nothing at that time.
I did know, however, that there was not such another
horse in our county, and that he could trot a mile in
three minutes, which was fast enough to keep out of
the dust in this section. In these days the big sorrel
would be termed a 'chancy horse/ as he seemed to be
at home, no matter how or to what you hitched him,
while his bold, fearless way of going rilled me full
every time he stepped by. Perhaps you have never
had that kind of horse fever, but I am free to admit
that I had it once, and had it bad. Whenever I
thought of Buffalo I could see that big sorrel horse
with the white face, and it was so set on my mind I
finally decided to go and get him if he could be
bought in reason."

At this point Uncle Si walked over to a tall desk in
the corner of the room and opened a little drawer,
from which he took a time-stained newspaper and
what proved to be an ambrotype of a horse. As he
unfolded the paper I could see that one of the articles

358 CHAMP.

had a heavy mark drawn around it ; but before refer-
ring to it, he handed me the ambrotype with the re-
mark, "that horse was the cause of my quarrel with
the late Lemuel Jenkins." As I examined it I could
see it was the picture of the horse he had been de-
scribing, and the sparkle in the old man's eye showed
that the sight of it still pleased him- Handing me the
newspaper, he said he would continue his remarks
when I had read the marked article. The paper was
a portion of a copy of the "Buffalo Express" of
August 15, 1867. The following was the article,
marked : —

THE DEXTER TIME RACE.

Two Seventeen And A Quarter.

Naturally, the all-absorbing interest of the occa-
sion centered in the race which Dexter was to trot
against his best time, and his appearance on the track
was the signal for prolonged applause, which grew
louder as Doble, with a smile, leaped into the sulky
preparatory to the warming-up process. Fawcett
was standing on the seat of a barouche near the
judges' stand, watch in hand, and smiling signifi-
cantly, as he viewed the movements of the driver,
who went back and forth several times, and at length
swung around for a full mile, first giving the judges
to understand that the heat was merely preparatory.
It was evident that if the horse could beat 2:19, to-
day was the time for the trial. Every movement
showed perfect condition. Meanwhile, in a carriage
on the right stood a gentleman who few in the vast
crowd recognized, but who kept his eye upon the
horse, and as he passed, shook his head, as if to say,

DEXTER CUTS THE RECORD. 361

"He'll do it." At length the white-footed flyer was
ready, and a hundred watches clicked as he passed
beneath the line. "Thirty-four," shouted a hundred
voices as he flashed by the quarter. Dead silence
ensued. "One ten," whispered the same voices, with
suppressed excitement, as the white face disappeared
behind the half-mile post, and a pin could have been
heard to fall on the grand stand as the horse dashed
into the homestretch, moving swiftly, but without
apparent effort, toward the goal. "Two-sixteen."
"Two-eighteen." "Two-nineteen." (a long breath.)
"Two-twenty-one-ahalf," and a wild cry of disap-
pointment went through the vast throng. Fawcett
glanced at Doble, who merely cast up his eyes, and
the owner of the trotting king quietly replaced his
watch and sat down to await what he now knew was
to be the result. Meanwhile, the unostentatious gen-
tleman in a linen duster, and looking like a traveller
whom, moreover, nobody knew, drew his time-piece
and rubbed his hands with satisfaction, saying
nothing.

It was four o'clock when Doble again appeared on
the track, with difficulty restraining the eager horse.

As before, Ben Mace, on Charlotte F., rode
leisurely after him, as they rolled up to the distance
flag and turned for the second trial. Again the
watches leaped to view and the quiet gentleman rose
from his seat, while ten thousand people held their
breath in suspense. The pace was already tremend-
ous as the horses went under the line and the watches
ticked the start. "Thirty-three and a fifth" at the
quarter. "One-seven" said the time-keeper when the
half was reached.

362 CHAMP.

In a cloud of dust red against the sky, onward
sped the flying feet. With difficulty the excited
crowd was kept from the track, the unerring watches
swiftly marking the seconds as they flew. "Two-
ten." Two-fifteen — without a skip." "Two-seven-
teen, " and the horse touched the shadow of the line
and was gone like an arrow. A wild roar of applause
swept from the assembled thousands and rolled away
in silence as the crowd, leaping all barriers, rushed up
to the stand to hear the official decision. "Two-
seventeen and a quarter." Again and again the
cheers went up, "Dexter," "Doble," "Fawcett," "The
Buffalo Park," — in fact, everything and everybody
came in for a share of the wild enthusiasm which
would not be repressed.

The pleasant gentleman whom nobody knew was
by this time safe in the press-stand, when Mayor
Wells turned to the audience, and looking down upon
the sea of up-turned faces, said :

"Gentlemen : — I am pleased to announce to you
that the magnificent animal whose triumph you have
just witnessed has been purchased by Robert Bonner,
of New York. He will trot once more here and once
in Chicago, and will then pass into the finest private
stable in the world."

Words fail to convey any idea of the scene that
followed. There was something that seemed to
strike the popular fancy in this last crowning stroke
of the man whom the moment before very few knew,
but whom thousands recognized as if by intuition
when his name was spoken. Amid a perfect tornado
of applause the quiet looker-on stepped forward, in
answer to loud calls of "Bonner! Bonner!" and said:

DEXTER SOLD. 363

"Gentlemen — Like my friend, General Grant, I can-
not make a speech, but I can at least return to you
my sincere thanks-" It was better than many words,
and the vast throng once more roared their hearty
admiration of Bonner and Dexter, and with an eager
look at the gentleman in the linen duster they turned
away, satisfied with the glory of having seen in a
single day the master of the "Ledger" and witnessed
the fastest trot in the world.

MR. BONNER'S STABLE.

"You know," said Mr/ Bonner, turning to a friend,
"I always had the ambition to have the largest circu-
lation and the finest horses in the world; at last 1
think I have both;" and he immediately wrote the
following characteristic telegram to a friend in New
York:

"Buffalo, August 14, 1867.

"I saw Niagara Falls this morning for the first
time, and I came down here this afternoon to see that
other great wonder, Dexter, trotz where he beat the
world, having trotted in the unprecedented time of
2:17^4. You know how I like to secure all the best
things, and as I could not buy the Falls, I did the next
best thing, and bought Dexter. He will go into my
stable September 10."

Dexter will trot once more this week, and then go
to Chicago, where he fulfills two engagements. On
the loth of September he goes into Mr. Bonner's
stable, and will thereafter disappear from the turf.
From that time he will never again trot for money,
but in consideration of the fact that the Buffalo Park
has witnessed his two greatest achievements, Mr.
Bonner, it is said, has promised to show him here next

364 CHAMP.

summer, together with his other horses, which are as
follows :

Peerless, who has made the best time to wagon,

2:2314.

The Auburn Horse, eight years old, who can beat
2:20.

Pocahontas, who can go in 2:23.

Lady Palmer and Flatbush Maid, who have to-
gether made two miles in 5 :oi>£ to a road wagon.

The price paid for Dexter is as yet a secret, but it
is over $30,000, probably considerably more.

"I was there that day," said Uncle Si, "and I kept
that paper to remind me of the first great trotter I
ever put an eye on. The next day I bought Champ,
which was the name of the sorrel horse. His owner
was a well-known dealer in Buffalo, and, like many
another man before and since him, took a flyer at
the races and lost. At this fair there was, as I re-
member, a race for horses that had never beaten 2 130.
Nine or ten horses started in it, and every one was
positive that a mare called Crazy Jane would win it.
Champ's owner was sure of it, and if he told me once,
he told me fifty times it was like finding money to
bet on her.

"Well, you never in your born days seen such a
mixed up race as that one was before they were
through with it. If I had been a betting man, which
I never was, my money would have gone on Melton,
as he was the only one in it that I had ever seen in a
race. The year before a young man named Simon
James came over from Canada with this horse and
won a good race, and the best part of it was they were
not looking for him. He sold the horse to a man up

MEI/TON WON. 365

Michigan way and he had him at this time. There is
a summary of the race on that piece of paper pinned
to that newspaper, and by looking it over you will
find that they were at it two days and trotted nine
heats. I remember that Crazy Jane was distanced
after she won two heats, while May Queen and a
horse named McClellan also won two heats ; but
Melton wore them all down and won the race.

"When Crazy Jane was distanced, Champ's owner
found he had bet more money than he could spare,
and he did not make any bones in telling me about it.
I felt sorry for him, and when he asked me to let him
have three hundred dollars to take up a note at the
bank the next day, I told him I would think about it
over night and tell him in the morning. He knew I
had the money with me and was certain I would let
him have it, but he did not remember the old song:

"When one of whom a favor's asked
Postpones it till next day,
'Tis to a man who knows the world
As if he said him Nay."

"Next morning, when I told him I would give him
$300 for Champ, but that I could not lend that
amount, he looked at me rather hard, but did not say
much. Finally he told me to come back at two
o'clock and he would give me an answer. I was there
on the stroke of the clock and got the horse. I
learned afterwards that he tried every way he could
think of to raise the money, but somehow the bank
people learned he had been betting and would not ad-
vance any or extend the time on the note, and rather
than have it go to protest, he let me have the horse.

366 CHAMP.

"That night as we sat by the stable door he told
me all about Champ and his peculiarities, and he had
a few of them. I learned that Champ would stand
anywhere without hitching until meal time, when, if
you did not watch him, he would start for the stable.
If you hitched him in the street he would break the
halter, and if he could not, he would throw himself.
In the stable, if you did not keep him in a box stall,
all you had to do was to turn him loose in a tie stall.
If you tied him he would never stop until he broke
something. He would not go with a blind bridle,
and if you had a whip in the wagon he would refuse
to start until it was taken out or put where he could
not see it. What he would have done if struck is
something I never wanted to find out, and I drove
him for over fifteen years. All you had to do was to
speak to him and he was off, and he would keep
going until you took him back. Up hill and down
hill, it was all the same to Champ. He was as near a
machine as flesh and blood can get, and for me just
as easy to control. This was the horse that caused
the trouble between the late Lemuel Jenkins and your
Uncle Si.

"There was some peeking and craning of necks the
first time I stepped Champ through the main street of
the village. I timed myself so that I arrived home
Friday evening, and on the following afternoon, when
all of the country people were in doing their shopping,
I hitched him to my light road wagon and let him
parade. Champ had brought all of his city airs with
him, and it seemed to do him good as he lorded it over
the farm horses and workers tied around the square.
When I returned to the stable there was a bunch of

LEM COMES TO THE VILLAGE. 367

fifty people to see him unhitched and two or three of
them wanted to buy, one of them being Lem Jenkins,
but I shook my head and told them that I had pur-
chased Champ for myself and would keep him.

"In order not to get ahead of my story I must state
that the fall before Lemuel Jenkins decided that he
had had enough of farming. His father wanted him
to stay at home and help keep up the place, but Lem
would not listen to it. He was always wanting both
his father and mother to sell the farm and move into
the village or go to Buffalo. Both of them knew
that the farm would not sell for enough to keep them
when the money was let out at interest, and they also
knew that they could not make a living at either place
after the money was gone. Helen, that is Lem's
mother, wanted him to marry their neighbor's daugh-
ter, Sarah Leroy, and settle down, but he was uneasy
and wanted a change. The upshot of it all was that
Lem came to the village and went to clerking in
Flynn's store. This Flynn was a long-headed chap
in his way- He saw that Lem could bring him some
trade, which was worth considering when the busi-
ness in the village was cut up between three of them.
Then Flynn knew that Lem, with his prospects when
the old folks were gone, would be a good catch, and
all the mothers with daughters on their hands would
look at it in the same light. And so it proved.

^"Lem Jenkins, in his young days, was a right
smart looking lad, and at a husking, dance, or church
sociable, there were only two or three in those parts
who could hold a candle to him. He could find more
red ears of corn, dance longer, and play more games
than any one I ever heard of, and when you pinned

368 CHAMP.

those accomplishments to the fact that he had an eye
for a pretty girl or a compliment for a plain one, you
can form an idea of the didoes he cut up around here
for a time. At all events, the spring after he came to
the store it looked every afternoon like a church fair
at Flynn's.^ I would hear every few days that this,
that, and the other girl was eternally running down
to Flynn's to buy a paper of pins, a spool of thread, a
bottle of hair oil, or something like that. You never
saw the like of it. It seemed as if all of them were
after Lem hot foot, and he was as proud as Lucifer.
You can rest assured that this did not make him very
popular with the young men in the village, and they
did not fail to show it whenever an opportunity pre-
sented itself. As I was too busy to bother with such
matters, Lem told me time and again of his troubles
and triumphs. I advised him to pull up, but I find
that people do not like advice unless it chimes in with
their own ideas.

''Another card in Lem's favor was played in May
when his mother sent him a top buggy and a hand-
some brown mare. He put them up at my stable,
and you can depend that neither the horse nor buggy
were dusty for want of use. He was out every night
until all hours, and in a short time the neighbors began
to talk. I was told four or five times that he and
one of the village girls were going to make a match
of it, but something always happened. Since tljen
I learned that his mother had someone watching
him, and in a day or so she called on the girl's
mother. This made Lem as cross as a bear with a
sore paw, but he was not sharp enough to learn who
did it.

RILEY, THE MISER. 369

"At that time Peter Pickle lived in a house three
or four doors from my stable- He was one of those
easy going mortals that always had time to help a
neighbor, but no time to do a little work for himself.
He would argue for one hour that two and two
would make five, if the teacher only thought so, and
never told the scholars different, or that the world
was flat, and if you came too near the edge you
would drop off in space. This was the kind of work
he enjoyed. Then if there was a fire or a hurrah of
any kind, he would toil from morning to night with-
out a whimper, but if it came to hoeing a few pota-
toes or a patch of corn for himself, well, he would
let that jog on until to-morrow, or until his wife or
someone who knew her would turn to and do it.
Under such conditions it is not hard to guess how
he stood in money matters, but as the bills were
always paid, and no complaints made to the village,
those who passed up the street smiled as they saw
Peter sitting day after day on a box in front of
Flynn's store where the old fogies, as they termed
themselves, met to talk matters over.

"The women folk, however, knew that Peter's
wife was working week in and week out at her trade
in order to earn food for herself and daughter, as well
as her shiftless husband. As for rent, well, Riley.
the miser, as they called him, owned the house at
the time and I have been told by those who went over
his books after he died, that they found an entry that
no rent was to be charged for the place. Mary Rid-
dle was a dressmaker when she married Peter Pickle.
She told me herself that she refused Riley because
he was stingy in money matters as a young man ;

370 CHAMP.

but that entry convinced me that he always had a
warm place in his heart for her and did not forget her
when she was in trouble.

"When Peter Pickle was married, he had a little
money of his own. Up to that time he had lived at
home and had never done a- day's work. After set-
tling down to housekeeping, he adopted the same plan
as both he and his wife thought that the money would
last forever. With all going out and nothing com-
ing in, they in time, found they were mistaken.
Then there was a spell of borrowing ; after which
Mary, who was too proud to go and live with the old
people, told her friends that she was going to take
up her trade again. This bit of independence re-
sulted in Peter Pickle being cut off with a few dol-
lars in his father's will.

"As soon as Peter found that his wife could earn
money, he stopped making an effort to get any, and
let her keep the house. Mrs. Pickle never said a
word, but worked away until her daughter Mary was
old enough to help her. When I enlisted, Mary was
a slip of a girl in short dresses with a big braid of
black hair hanging down her back- When I re-
turned, she was the belle of the village. Everyone
called her 'pretty Mary Pickle/ but with all her good
looks, she worked away and never lost her head.
Her father continued in the same old rut, while the
village boys with whom he was never very popular,
put in all of their spare time making jingles with his
name, or repeating in his hearing such alliterative
nonsense, as 'Peter Pickle put a pig in Pepper's
pound,' or 'Peter Pickle picked a peck of pickled pep-
pers.' Notwithstanding all this, the mother and

MARY PICKLE. 371

daughter appeared to be proud of him, possibly on
account of his simple ways and old fashioned man-
ners. They kept him well dressed, and every Sunday
morning both of them walked arm in arm with him
to service. At such times, he donned his broad cloth
suit, long since shiny with age, a high collar and
black stock. Poor simple old man, he has long since
gone to his rest. He was a shiftless body, but he
died without an enemy, which is something that few
of us can say.

"The week after I returned from Buffalo with
Champ, I learned that Lem was going with Mary
Pickle, and I did not like it. His mother was the
first one that told me. She drove into the stable
bright and early one morning, and, taking me aside,
told me all of her troubles. Now, while Helen was
my sister, we had never been very close, as she was
married when I was a little tot, and when I began to
grow up, a look from her would make the chills run
up and down my backbone. She told me how she
wanted her Lem to marry the Leroy girl and with
her he would get a farm as large as their own, just
as soon as the old man 'turned up his toes/ as she
put it, and it would kill her if he threw himself away
on that Pickle girl. I could see she was worried, and
had been for some time, when without a whimper
she sat down and went on to tell how she had been
heading Lem off all over the village.

"That did not interest me very much, but when
she began to make unkind remarks about Mary
Pickle, because she had to work for her living, and
her father being 'no account/ something inside
prompted me to take her part, and I just up and told

372 CHAMP.

her that Mary Pickle's little ringer was worth Lem's
whole carcass. That staggered her. She was so
mad, that she bit her finger nails and with a toss of
head and a sniff that made the horses in the stalls
jump, she wheeled right about face and marched out
of the barn. In an hour or so, a man from Riley's
stable came in with an order signed Helen Jenkins
for Lemuel's horse and buggy. He got it. From
that day, my sister would go round a block to keep
from meeting, me. I also learned that the same after-
noon, she called at Mrs. Pickles and forbade Mary,
in the presence of her mother, to go out walking or
driving with 'her boy.' Mrs. Pickle was too much
of a lady to make a scene, and the visit came to an
end without Mary saying whether she would or not.

"When Lem heard of the didos that his mother
had been cutting up in the village, there was a scene.
I do not know what happened when he met her, but
he told me that night, he was going to marry Mary
Pickle, if she would have him. When I heard him
make the remark, it sounded strange, and as he
walked out of the barn whistling, says I to myself,
'I don't think you will/

"That evening I called at Mrs. Pickle's and the
next evening I called at the same place. The fol-
lowing evening, I took Mary Pickle out for a drive
behind Champ, and she was delighted with him.
You have an idea what a moonlight night in Sep-
tember is like. Well, it was one of them, and I
thought she never would stop admiring that horse.
After I had brushed him down a flat piece of road,
she made me stop so she could get out and have a
better look at him. Then she asked me to go up the

CHAMP ON PARADE. 375

road, and drive him by her so that she could get a
better view of him when in motion. Then she in-
sisted that I should get out and let her drive him.
Champ seemed to enjoy it, and I know I did, but
when I left him standing loose on the road until I
climbed over a fence after a hat full of apples, there
was no end to her praises. She afterwards told me,
that that drive was the first bright spot in her life,
and I believe it.

"Next day it was all over the village, that Lem
had been cut out by his Uncle Si, and do you know
it rather pleased me when I heard it. After that, it
was almost an every day occurrence for Mary Pickle
and I to take a drive. As she had to take work home,
I met her frequently. At such times, I picked her up.
It was not out of the way, as she lived so near the
stable, and I thought nothing of it. Champ also be-
came her special pet, and there never was a day
when she did not give or send him a piece of sugar or
a sweetie. That pleased me as Champ was then the
apple of my eye.

"Lem never mentioned the matter, but from the
way he acted he was doing some thinking. That was
the long suit of the Jenkins family. Along toward
the latter part of October, he drove into the stable,
and, after passing the time of day, said he wanted to
trade his mare for something with a little more speed
and style. I showed him three or four horses, but I
could see that they were not what he wanted. Finally
he blurted out 'why don't you show me the sorrel
horse?' I told him that Champ was not for sale.
That did not satisfy him. I could see he wanted him
and would pay the price, but I did not want to sell.

376 CHAMP.

Finally I told him that I would not part with Champ
except at three or four times what he was worth, and
then if I did let him have him he could not drive him.

"Now, if there was anything that Lem prided him-
self on it was his ability to handle a horse, and, be-
tween you and me, he was a clever horseman, but he
had never, up to that time, met as peculiar a
piece of machinery as was wrapped up in Champ's
hide. I learned afterwards how Mary Pickle had
told him what a lovely horse Champ was, and how
she enjoyed a drive behind him, and all that sort of
thing. Lem put this and that together and decided
that Mary went driving with Uncle Si, because she
was in love with the horse, and that he would have
smooth sailing in that quarter if he could only get
Champ. I was not cute enough to see through this
spider web, but I did know that Champ suited me
clear down to the ground, and that I might never get
another horse like him.

"Lem hung on like a bear at a root. I was sick and
tired listening to his offers to trade or buy. In an
hour or so he went away, and I thought that was the
end of it. I was mistaken, as a little after dinner,
when I was hitching Champ up for a jog, he walked
into the yard and said he would go out with me if I
did not object. I could not very well say no, so out
we went. Then he started the same old story. If
he told me once, he told me twenty times, he had
made up his mind not to go home without Champ.
Finally something tempted me to lead him on, and
after he had offered $400 and his mare, I said, just as
a feeler, 'if you will make it $600 you can have him,
but if he does not suit you, I am to have the privilege

CHAMP SOLD. 377

of buying him back.' I could see that the price stag-
gered him, and there was nothing more said until the
horse was being unhitched. He then took me to one
side and said, 'Si, I'll give you the mare and $600 for
Champ if you will take a ninety-day note for $200 of
it.' Situated as I was I could not very well refuse, as
I knew the note would be good some day if he did not
take it up when due, so he led Champ away and sent
me the mare. He was in such a hurry to get posses-
sion of the horse that he never asked me a word about
him, and, to tell you the truth, I was not very anxious
to tell him.

"About a month after the trade I turned out one
morning before daylight to get a train to Buffalo.
Before going down to the depot I ran into the stable
to see if everything was O. K., and as I passed
through the shed there stood Champ hitched to a
wagon. He had a halter on over the bridle, while
there was a foot or so of the shank still hanging to it.
There was not, so far as I could see, a scratch on
either the horse or wagon, but both showed that they
had been out in a storm. I had at the time a half idea
that Lem had tied Champ somewhere and that he had
broken loose. In order to be certain, I drove the
horse over to Riley's stable and there found that a
man was still up waiting for Lem to come in. He
told me that when he came on watch he was told that
Lem had Champ out and would not be in until late,
as he had driven out to a dance at the Four Mile
House. I left the horse and went to Buffalo.

"On my return, Mrs. Pickle told me that Lem took
Mary to the dance, which did not break up until about
two in the morning. When they were ready to come

378 CHAMP.

home the horse was gone, and as his team was the
only one from the village, they were forced to either
stay all night or walk home in the rain. Lem insisted
on remaining where they were, but Mary would not
hear of it. Then Lem said he would stay whether
she did or not, so Mary started for home through the
rain. She was a sight when she reached home, and
was so done up that she did not get out of bed for a
week. As for Lem, he came in on a farmer's wagon
next morning, and when he learned what Champ had
done, it did not improve matters any. As soon as
Mary was up and about he called on her and tried to
square himself, but she would not see him, and sent
him word by her mother that she would never speak
to him again. This pleased Helen, so I have been
told, but it made Lem madder than a hornet, while
the whole village had a good laugh over it.

"I never said anything, but every few days I
heard that Lem was saying I had bested him in the
trade ; that I should have told him Champ would not
stand when hitched, and all that sort of thing. When
the note was due, he refused to pay it, and at the
same time -told the cashier of the bank that he never
would pay it unless I went to law. This stuck in my
crop, but I grinned and bore it, while all of the time
I missed Champ more than I cared to tell. I was
just aching to have a drive behind him, while from
the day Champ went away Mary Pickle stopped send-
ing or bringing over a piece of sugar or a sweetie.
For a time I did not miss that, but it began to wear
on me and I felt uncomfortable. Then I noticed that
I did not meet Mary on the street as often as when I
had Champ, and when I did meet her she usually had

THE MEETING. 379

an errand in the opposite direction to that which I
was going. To be plain, before I sold Champ I
thought that Mary was taking a shine to me ; but after
the horse disappeared I found that all of her favors
were for him, and not his owner.

''That spring it seemed as if everything about the
place was going at sixes and sevens. Lem greeted
me with a distant nod when we met, which was very
seldom, and finally, even old Peter Pickle failed to
come near the stable to loaf for an hour or two. It
looked to me so much like a case of freeze out that I
became disgusted, and had just about made up my
mind to sell out and emigrate, when one afternoon I
met Lem with Champ hooked to a top wagon on the
side road near the gravel pit. I stopped and signalled
for him to do so. As I did so he took his horse over
to the left hand side of the road and pulled up with
the seat of his wagon opposite my dashboard, and so
close that the hubs almost touched. Had he been
driving any other horse than Champ it would have
given me a chill to see him sitting there with only a
foot or so of turf between him and the edge of a
steep bank.

"As he tipped the top of his wagon back, Lem
asked me what I wanted, saying it in a manner that
was anything but encouraging. I told him what had
been said about the trade and that the remarks had
been traced to him, and also reminded him that when
we traded it was on his proposition, not mine, as I
did not want to let Champ go. I could feel myself
getting a little warm as I talked, for it was an aggra-
vation to have him sit there and never say a word,
while Champ would keep turning his head to look at

380 CHAMP.

me. Finally I told him that if he wanted to plead the
'baby act' I would then and there trade back.

"As I said this I could see a flush creep over his
face, while a wicked look came into his eye. Then,
when I asked him why he had not acted like a man
and taken up the note, he grabbed the whalebone
whip out of my buggy and raised it over his head as
though he were going to strike me. Champ also saw
it and, I suppose, thinking the blow was intended for
him, wheeled like a flash and upset the wagon. As
it went over the bank the king bolt snapped and
Champ started for the village on a gallop with the
front wheels behind him and the reins flying.

"It was all over in an instant, and before I could
get my wits together, Champ had whisked around the
corner at the foot of the hill, while the balance of the
wagon was lying bottom side up about half way down
the bank. As I looked at it, I felt like following the
horse and leaving Lem to get out of it the best way he
could. I spoke to my horse and was moving off when
the thought of him being dead flashed through my
brain. With it came the dread that people would
say I killed him. The mere idea made my blood run
cold, as in its wake came such details as an inquest, a
jury trial and possibly worse.

"Nature finally got the better of my anger, and
after tying my horse to the fence I tipped Lem's
wagon over and laid him on the grass. He was in-
sensible, dead for all I knew, while I could see a cut
on the side of his head, and that his right arm seemed
loose, as though it were broken. What to do I did
not know. There is a little spring near the place, and
getting some water in my hat I bathed his face with

CHAMP REPURCHASED. 381

it. About all the good it did, so far as I could see,
was to wash away the blood. There was not at that
time a house within a mile of the place, and I was
afraid to go for someone and leave him by the side of
the road.

"Just when I was at my wits' end who should walk
over the hill but old Peter Pick4e. He took in the
situation at a glance, and without asking any ques-
tions, told me to drive to the village for the doctor. I
was off before he had finished the sentence. You
can guess the balance of the details. Lem was taken
home in a wagon box half full of hay. When he came
to, it was found that the arm he was going to strike
me with was broken above the elbow. The cut was
not very serious; but he was so badly bruised that it
was three months before he was about.

"On the night of the accident I found that Champ
stopped at my stable. He was in his old stall when
I drove in. Three weeks rolled by and no one called
for him. On the third Saturday Sarah Leroy called.
I could see that she was rather pale as she asked for
me. When I came up she handed me a letter from
Lem. I opened it, and on reading it, saw that it was
written by a woman. When I asked who wrote it,
she said she did, as she was helping Mrs. Jenkins take
care of Lem. In the letter Lem said that if I gave
Sarah the note and sent him his mare I could keep
Champ and he would never mention the subject to
me again. I accepted the offer, and he never did
mention that or any other, as we never spoke to each
other from the day we met on the hill. From that
time on he hated me, not so much on account of the
affair on the hill, but what happened a few days later.

382 CHAMP.

"On the evening that Champ was again my
property I hitched him to the best wagon in the shed
and invited Mary Pickle to go for a drive. She
jumped at the chance, and as we stepped down the
road she told me time and again that she would like
nothing better than to go on driving behind Champ
forever. •

" 'Then why not?' said I.

" 'Of course/ said she, and a roguish twinkle came
into her eye when she twisted her head to look at me.

' 'I suppose you would want to hold the reins/
said I, as I took a good look at her out of the corner
of my eye.

" 'Under no other conditions would I go/ said she,
as she looked off over the fields.

" 'Then marry me/ said I, 'and you can have the
horse/

' 'I will do it/ said she, just as free and easy like
as if she were speaking a piece in school, but there
was a hug and a kiss that went with it to bind the
bargain.

"We were engaged before we returned and mar-
ried in a week. That was speed for you, but Champ
did it. As you know, Lemuel Jenkins married Sarah
Leroy and now his son and my daughter are man and
wife. Our little war is over, but of all that were here,
I am the only one left to tell about it."

FICKLE GAMEY.

Hear the sledges with the bells, —

Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

-Poe.

Yes, I'm a tout. What of it? You don't have to
look at my teeth to learn that. My harness, my shoes
and my tile tell the tale. Perhaps they have seen
better days. So have I, but, as they say in the ring,
I am down on my luck. Made good money up the
line, got gay, went up like a rocket and came down
like a stick. Trifle seamy! Well, rather; but
good things will come again. Am on to one for
to-day, and for a fifty spot you can be in with it.
Furnish the long green and I will gather the tickets
and split what we win. Are you on? Did you
shake your head? Well, I never! Ten, did you
say? That will help at times, but not for this one.
It is too good for a nibble. A tenner will do for a
heat, but when you find a forty to one shot, hit it-
See ! Hit it hard. Let them know you are on earth
and stepping through the deep footing. Get busy;
dip deep in the roll, so you will know you are playing.
Lose a little, or win a strip of Broadway. Do you
bite? What, did you shake your head again? Well,
there are others. Oh; I thought you would thaw.
Twenty-five, did you say? No nonsense. Peel a
hundred off your roll, and when they cash in to-night
you will have something. I'm on ! Jump in the
band wagon and let them play. It will give both of

384 FICKLE GAMEY.

us a lift. Will you step ? Ah ; that's proper. Fifty,
it is — good enough. It will be put where it will do
the most good when they open.

Was I ever there, did you say? Well, I should
remark, that is a proper question for a gentleman
who has made paths between race tracks for a bunch
of years. In my whirl I have seen both sides of the
card, played black and red, won on star green, been
flushed with birds, and chased to cover by the
Pinkies; and for what — to live without working. By
my wits, did you say? Who told you? Ha! ha! It
was Gamey tipped you the wink. Gamey of all the
world. He lived before they were off at the Gut.
Snowballs in plenty in those days — ey, Gamey! But
for once I will chirp. Not in my line, but as Gamey
has tipped me off, here goes.

In the old days when Harlem was further from
New York than it is now, the transportation being
slower, Gamey, the bird on the stick, hopped out
among the goats to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth
Street. He was swagger, you had better believe,
with his fedora and cigar at an angle of forty-five, like
a well-shod trotter, and as he paraded down Lexing-
ton Avenue, what did he do but run full tilt into the
arms of a maiden sister to a sporty butcher in Har-
lem. Like a bit of trading stock, her age was uncer-
tain, but she wanted a man, and Gamey being a bird
in the hand was worth two in the bush. Before you
could prance around a block, the pair were thicker
than thieves in Mott Street, and nothing would do
but that Gamey would hop home with her for tea.
Would he go? Well, when any of the craft steps by
a feed, let me know it. They had buns, beer and

IN HARLEM. 385

bologna and what not, and by the time for bedding
down Gamey was ticketed for the spare room in the
flat. No one could expect a gentleman of leisure to
boom home in a horse car from Harlem at one in the
morning. It was bad morals. Gamey struck it rich
and did not know it. But when were we wise?

Off and on until the snow came, the amiable card
kept popping up in Harlem, and then for the finish.
The maiden lady's brother had a trotter which he had
no time to drive, and as for Gamey he could do that
to perfection. Had he not acted as an understudy
for Mace, Murphy and all that ilk? Well, I should
remark ! Out he went one fair afternoon with the
lady in the robes, and when bed time came they had
not returned. But of that — well, do you want to hear
the balance?

Go on, did you say? Well, see me step! The
pair cut a splurge up Seventh Avenue to McCombs'
Dam bridge, and tarried for a little air and refresh-
ments at Gabe Case's old place on Jerome Avenue.
Wheeling- into the yard with a jingling of bells and
the flourish of a Wall Street blood who had made his
first strike, Gamey flung the reins to the head boy
and flounced the lady into the back parlor. "A small
bottle," says Gamey. Just think of it. I suppose
in the excitement he forgot the warm bird; but no
matter. Up came the fizz, and the tears popped into
the maiden lady's eyes when she sipped it. They
sparkled like the" bubbles in the glass. Reckon she
thought she had hooked on to an abbreviated million-
aire in disguise. And there was Gamey. The way
he put on airs, the waiter told me, was enough to
crack the pictures on the wall. With a cigar as long

386 FICKLE GAMEY.

as a scraper in the corner of his mouth, he told the
maiden lady of this and that on racing until she could
feel the ponies tramping on her hair. After another
small bottle, that was the limit, and with a wink to
charge it to Murph — the gall of the beast — the pair
stamped out on the stoop and called for the horse.
He came out prancing, and the way Gamey trounced
the lah da dah speed owners up and down the avenue
that afternoon was a revelation to dogs and little
fishes. His old "hicar" could be heard from Judge
Smith's around the bend and by the glass front stoop
at Case's, where Murphy and the rest of them were
thawing out with hot toddies and cracking their
sides laughing at Gamey's gall in charging two small
bottles to Murphy's account. Murphy never winked
an eye. He knew that he would catch up with the
old peg later.

After trimming everything he tackled, Gamey
pulled up at Judge Smith's and ordered his horse
cooled out and fed. He was making a splurge, as
the maiden lady told him she had two tenners
knotted in the corner of her pocket handker-
chief, and on the strength of it he ordered a
supper that would bring up all standing. The
likes of him had not been seen on the road for
a few days, and Gamey was out to win- After the
'steenth, "here's looking at you," with the boys in
the cafe, while the lady was up stairs brushing up
for the banquet, one of the rakiest lads in the bunch
stumped Gamey for a trade. It was the first nibble,
and it went into the sawdust with the drinks Gamey
had not swallowed. Oh, but he was a smooth one !
After another bite that looked as though he had taken

STlLIv WAITING. 387

the hook, the pair stumped out to the shed and looked
at the goods. The blood offered two hundred and
his nag. Gamey wanted four, but after a haggle and
a hitch, took three and a check for the dinner.

How much was it? Oh, go away. How do I
know, I did not see it. In the middle of the night
Gamey and the maiden lady rode home over the snow
by moonlight. They had a new horse, but she did
not notice it, and Gamey was so busy with other
matters that he did not peep. Gamey did not go in
when they stopped at the home plate. Like a good
boy he jogged the horse around to the shed, tied him
under it, put all the blankets on to keep him warm,
and left Harlem forever.

Hold up your palm to him. He is the pick of the
basket. And now make it a hundred; three figures
always make a good play. There, I knew you would.
So long. Will see you to-night if the good thing con-
nects. What is it, did you say? Waiting. As the
embryo plunger looked at his score card, the tout
disappeared in the crowd- Waiting was drawn.

TOM.

This happened in the good old days,

Before Budd Doble came
To Yankee land, with Goldsmith Maid,

And his "catarrhal name."

Uncle Si always remarked that a balky horse was
annoying, and there are still a few people in the world
who will believe him. I at one time had one that was
just the reverse and one that I shall remember as long
as I live. In the spring of 186- I drove a medicine
wagon out of Springfield, my orders being to go west
and keep going until I reached Detroit or thereabouts.
I had a wagon full of medicine that would cure any-
thing from a cold to hydrophobia, a fine set of harness
and a rather shabby pair of horses. They had been
over the road many a time, and I told the boss, when
I climbed over the wheel, both of them needed trad-
ing. He did not object to matters of that kind so
long as the wagon could keep on the move and a man
came home with as good a pair as he went out with,
which would be a very difficult matter unless he came
back on the cars. I never heard of any of the drivers
rendering an account for boot except when they
traded in medicine, and by keeping awake a man with
an eye for a horse could occasionally make a dollar.
As spring slipped into summer, my wagon rolled over
the Berkshire hills, across New York State, and the
strip of Pennsylvania on which Erie is located, into
Ohio. I do not remember now how many times I
traded horses or swapped one for two, tieing the odd

FINDING HIS IDKAI,. 389

one to the end of the wagon until I found a purchaser.
But that is not here or there, as it is not a part of this
story.

In due time I reached Toledo, and, as the roads
further west were deep, I decided to turn back from
that point and make for New England. I then had a
gray and a black, both good horses for the road, but
only ordinary every day horses. There was not
much wrong with either of them and what it was, it
would take a better man than me to find out. Now,
while I do not wish to interrupt this tale, I wish to
say on the side, as the actors do on the stage, that
every horse trader, at least all that I have met and
known, has away down in his heart the idea of a
horse he would like to own and retire satisfied that
he had the best to be found. With some it is a chest-
nut with four white feet and a flaxen mane and tail,
and with others a gray with almost sense enough to
talk. I also had up to that time an idea of the horse
I wanted, but to save my life I could not describe him.
It was, however, something that I had never seen,
or, at least, examined close enough to feel that I
wanted to own it. Like many another man, I found
my horse in Toledo. He crossed my path on a Sun-
day morning as I was sitting in front of the stable
where I had put up, and just after I had cleaned up
everything so as to^be ready to start east the follow-
ing morning before the sun was high enough to take
the starch out of a collar, as it is powerful warm in
Northern Ohio about the first of September- On
looking down the street, I saw a boy coming towards
me leading a bay gelding with a diamond-shaped
spot on his forehead. There was nothing remarkable

390 TOM.

in this, but as that horse came up the street he seemed
to grow upon my mind and fill my eye until I could
see nothing else. Something seemed to say within
me "there is your horse," and to be candid with you
he was a tidy looking one.

When L shut my eyes I can see him now as he
stood there that morning, a bright bay with black
legs, short back and a shoulder, while a trifle straight
for fast work, but just right to fit into a collar for a
long and a strong pull, an eye that said plainer than
words could tell, "you cannot conquer me," and an ear
that played about as if he were still looking for the
chickadees to sing to him. My, how I wanted that
horse, with his clean flat legs, round hoofs, and short
neck with just a little bit of an arch to it.

He looked like gold standing there with his legs
well under him, just like a big buck in the woods gett-
ing ready to jump over a wind fall. To make a long
story short, I traded for him, giving my gray horse
and $100 in money. I would have given $150 just as
quick, as I had the money and the fit was on me, but,
instead of holding off, took the first offer made for
fear J would not get him. I think now in my heart
that the owner of the horse felt sorry for me, but he
could not make me believe it, as there was something
in that horse's make-up or action which drew me to
him, just as some men say a snake can charm a bird,
although I have never seen it done. After I had traded
and had paid my money, the man I traded with took
me aside and said, "Now, stranger, the bay horse is
yours. His name is Tom. It is not necessary for
you to tell every one what you gave for him or what
you are going to do with him, but if you are going

HIS ONLY FAULT. 393

away from Toledo, let me advise you to never carry a
whip in the socket or strike him with one."

Naturally I asked him why he made such a re-
mark, as he had assured me that the horse was true
and kind in harness.

"Do you want to know?" said he.

"I certainly do/' said I.

"Well, then, stranger, if you want to know, and
you do not care to ask any one in Toledo, I will tell
you confidentially ; If you hit him he'll balk and stay
in his tracks from sun rise to sunset," and with that
he left me.

Now that was a nice state of affairs, but I made
up my mind to keep Tom whether he balked or not,
and started east with him on the off side, while my
whip with the lash rolled round the stalk was strap-
ped on the top of the wagon where I could not get it
if I wanted to.

As I drove over the roads near the southern shore
of Lake Erie through Oak Harbor, Sandusky, and
the other towns, I did a very fair business for Sep-
tember and exchanged the nigh horse of my team
several times, but no one could show me a horse or a
pair of horses that I would think of taking in trade
for Tom. He and I took to each other and the longer
I had him, the better I liked him- From morning
until night he was right up on the bit and became so
free that I believe he pulled about all of the load, as
in those days I always saw to it that there was a
strong pair of straps from the double whifHetree to
the axle and equally strong straps on the neck yoke.
No poles falling down or saw toothed pairs would
satisfy me when driving a wagon on the road.

394 TOM.

I reached a town called Elyria on a Saturday
morning. It was well along in September, and, as I
drove by the square in the center of the place, I saw
fifteen or twenty teams hitched to posts and rails
running round it. One horse in particular attracted
my attention, it being a harum scarum looking chest-
nut mare with a white splash on her face and three
or four white legs. Her owner had just driven up
with her and, from the trouble he was having in hitch-
ing her and making her stand, I made up my mind
that he was not very anxious to continue as her
owner- She also looked to me like one that would
stand training on the road, so I drove over near him
and asked him how he would like to trade for the
nigh horse of my team. The nigh horse was a very
good one, but rather dull and what would be called
in the trade so-so. The farmer jumped at the chance
as I supposed he would, and, after looking my horse,
as I thought, inside and out and asking all kinds of
questions about his steadiness, and if he had ever
run away, said he would trade even. I did not think
he would, but at all events when I drove out of town
that afternoon I had the chestnut mare and twenty-
five dollars of the Lorain County farmer's money in
my inside pocket.

I reckon that few people in Elyria ever saw such
a pair of horses step out of town to a medicine wagon,
and some of the old people there may remember them
to this day. There had been a light shower during
the morning. It laid the dust, cleared the air, and
made a horse feel like going. Being of the opinion
that the white-faced mare would require a little more
attention than Tom, I changed him over to the nigh

THEY'RE OFF 395

side and he seemed to like it. From the way he step-
ped out of the stable yard around the corner and
down the main street, I began to think he was a cir-
cus horse, while the mare acted as light and jaunty
as a feather on your hat. In this way we started for
Cleveland, and at a clip which I knew would whirl
me east in short order.

I did not know then, but I have learned it since,
that this chestnut mare was a noted runaway in those
parts and had been in scrapes without number. I
could never learn how many wagons she had wrecked
or how many owners she had had, but that is not here
or there, as I tamed her.

The road from Elyria to Cleveland is a very good
one, being well gravelled and on high land. As Tom
was in grand road shape, and the mare acted very
free, I let them move along just enough, as it were,
to take the wire edge off. After going five or six
miles, I slowed them up a little, as both of them were
taking hold of the bit hard, and let them cool off.
From that time until I was within seven or eight
miles of Cleveland, I did not have much bother.

In some way my whip, which had been strapped
to the top of the wagon, worked loose at one end
and made a slapping noise, something like a sliver
will on a rail fence on a windy day, but a little louder.
The mare did not like it and, as she looked around
at me, I could see the white of her eye. As she began
to fish for the bit or take hold of the iron, as the
drivers say, I could not stop and fix it. Then
the thought flashed through my head that if Tom
saw the whip he might forget all I had taught him.
What to do I did not know. Just then the mare be-

396 TOM.

gan to switch her tail and twitch her head from one
side to the other and all the time feeling for the bit,
as it were, and started to run. I could see the road
ahead of me, dead level for over a mile, so thinks I,
I'll let you have it out as a runaway horse, like a
woman, will have her way. As soon as I let go of her
Tom started and it was nip and tuck as to which
could run the the faster.

The wagon was a strong one, having been built
for heavy work, but I could feel it swaying as they
bounded forward. I did not care as I made up my
mind that I could ride as fast as they could run and,
if the worst came to the worst, I could still jump and
let them have it out between themselves. That,
however, is the last thing that a driver should do, as
I have always maintained in good and bad weather
he should, like a pilot, stay with the rig.

As the pair raced head and head, I had time to look
about me and found that the road was on a high ridge
with a big valley on the right hand side. Through
this I could see a small stream, so I knew there was a
bridge ahead, but where was it and how was I ever
going to get down to it. To be on a level with the
road a bridge would have to be over two hundred
feet highland it looked like suicide to think of racing
over it at the clip I was going. As this flashed
through my mind, and I can assure you it only took
a fraction of a second for it to come and go, I looked
ahead. The road made a slight bend to the right, and
after a sharp dip disappeared. That meant a corner
on the edge of a ravine, and how was I going to make
it behind a pair of runaways?

THE LAST CHANCE. 399

Men tell that when drowning your whole life pas-
ses before you, as it were, in review and I believe it.
In the span of a few seconds all that I had ever done
or said seemed to come and go, these thoughts being
as it were, a vivid background of what was going on
around me. I was sure I was going to my death, as
it would not require much of a bend in the road to
send me with the wagon and horses rolling down
among the rocks, stumps and logs, into the water.

As the wagon began to make the dip in the road,
it flashed on me to jump and let the pair get out of it
the best way they could. As I raised in the seat the
wagon lurched and tilted me back- I threw out my
left hand to save myself from falling between the
wheels. It struck near a small guard rail which ran
around the top of it and, striking the whip, broke it
loose. As the whipstock rolled under my hand, I
grabbed it, and with the familiar feel of it came the
thought "would I strike Tom." If he failed me I
could still jump. Swinging around I made another
pull on the reins but it was no use, my arms were
numb. At last in desperation, setting the brake with
my foot, I raised the whip in my left hand and gave
it a whirl around my head in order to get the lash free.
I could hear the lash hiss and saw it knit into Tom's
hide as it fell like a white band from the point of the
shoulder to his quarters, then all was a blank.

The balance of the story was told to me a few
days later as I lay on a cot in a little brown house
under the hill and near the bank of the stream which
I learned was called Rocky River. The man who
related it was going, towards Cleveland when he saw
my team coming at runaway speed. In order to be

400 TOM.

out of harm's way, he ran up the bank and from the
crest of the hill saw what happened at the bend of
the road. When he saw me put on the brake and
strike Tom he said that he was sure I was a madman,
and he could not understand it until I told him of the
trade in Toledo.

He said that when I struck the horse he made an
effort to brace himself and stop. With his haunches
well under him he slid to the bend of the turn, the
mare all of the while doing her utmost to pull him
along. Her struggles swung Tom around, and as
the wagon followed them, it tipped over. The mare
was thrown, while Tom was flung clear and clean
over the top of her. When he struck, his back was
broken, and death soon put him out of misery. He
was buried under a big maple tree near the brow of
the hill- The mare escaped with a few scratches, but
the wagon and harness presented a very battered
appearance. This man also said that as soon as I
struck Tom and the jolt came through him trying to
balk, I went over the dashboard and was picked up for
dead. Fortunately it did not prove as bad as that.
A few days later I visited Tom's grave on the hillside
and clipped a lock of hair from his tail. I had it made
into a watch guard, which I have worn from that day
to this.

THE CONFESSION.

On a cold, rainy night rather late in the fall,

When the wail of the wind makes you think of the
dead,

A despatch took me out on a very strange call,

'Twas to hear a confession. This is what was said.

"When I'm dead tell the men not to bury me deep ;

Dig my grave by the big sandy bluff near the road,
So my bones can forever be near the hoof beat

Of the teams as they pass up the hill with a load.

"And I'll tell you, but Jack, do not call me a slink,
I am guilty and stopped your brown mare at the
Bay;

But, dear Jack, when I did it they gave me the wink,
And remember, you bounced me the very next day.

"The touts paid for a dinner and opened some wine,
And we then had a box at a vaudeville show ;

The next day when I pulled her they said it was fine,
But they soon cut me dead and I saw I could go.

"You now know that I stole, still you're smoothing
the way

For a villain who cheated you. These are the facts.
You have good cause to leave me and let the town pay

For the box to hide me. I'm ashamed of my acts.

"It almost broke my heart when I had to get down ;

I was poor and help's scarce when you're loaded

with grief;
In a week I was starving; in two weeks the town

Had to aid me because I was marked as a thief.

402 THE CONFESSION..

"It may not look as well to be down on the ground
When the tempters called winners roll by in a hack,

But I know I feel better when out for the round
That is coming to me on eternity's track.

"I'd have jogged out my race without ever a word
As I've had my full portion of trouble and fun,

But it may be that many who of me have heard

Will, when tempted, say No, see the course Charlie
run.

"That is all ; now the starter can send me away
On a trip that is dark, and I don't know the track,

With a chance for a pardon upon the last day
If you go by the Book, as no one has come back.

"I have broken the rules and with you played the
deuce,

To all that and to more I am free to confess,
But I'm dying, dear Jack, and a limping excuse

Cannot lighten the burden or make my sins less.

"That is all. I feel strong. Do you think I'll get

well?
Now my mind is at rest. There's no pain in my

head.
But, dear Jack, where's the light? Did you hear the

call bell?

Wait for me, Judge, I'll come." With the words
his life fled.

THE END.

And this is all I have to say

About the parson's poor old bay,

The same that drew the one-horse shay.

— Holmes.

The yarn for this volume of "Tales of the Turf
has been spun. The horses whose names have been
woven into the warp and woof of the book are again
in their places on the shelves for another run out with
the dust and to "dumb forgetfulness a prey." As
they again pass into the shadow, thoughts of those
who made them famous, and of those who recorded
their performances peep through the smoke wreathes
of memory and flutter for a few minutes like moats
in an arrow of light. They, too, with few exceptions,
have been carried to their little palaces of clay, the
simple records of the facts being all that remains for
their labor and sweat, toil and trouble, ambitious
dreams and hope of reward. Others took their places
and the world jogged on without a ripple. It has
been so since Creation's dawn, and shall continue.
All come and all go. For a few the footing is good,
sky clear and everything favorable, while others find
the going heavy and rough, see banks of clouds on
the horizon and meet obstacles at every turn, but
when the race is finished and the last of the fates
snips the thread, the end is the same.

404 THE END.

"Question not, but live and labor

Till yon goal be won,
Helping every feeble neighbor,

Seeking help from none;
Life is mostly froth and bubble,

Two things stand like stone, —
Kindness in another's trouble,

Courage in your own."

In the deepening twilight troops of shadowy
forms march down the avenue of memory. They
bear thoughts of those we knew. An old friend that
was buried last month spoke of it, now we speak of
him. In time others will speak of you and I, for, not-
withstanding the knowledge acquired by man and the
control which he has achieved over the elements, the
machine wears out just the same as when "Adam
delved and Eve span." Still the old world is not half
as bad as many strive to make it, and while like
Tennyson's Brook "Men may come and men may
go/' you can rest assured that the ponies will go on
forever.

PLAIN PATTERN REGULAR HEAD.

Lou Dillon, 2:09

READVILLE, Mass., Aug. 26, 1903.
CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL CO.

Hartford, Conn.

Gentlemen : - This is to certify that we shod
Lou Dillon with Capewell horse nails when she
trotted a mile in two minutes, the fastest mile ever
trotted on any race track, and we have shod with
your nails other horses of note, such as "Direct
Hal," the unbeaten pacer and winner of thirteen
straight races, securing a record of 2:04X the first
season out ; also "The Abbot," 2:03^, the cham-
pion trotting gelding of the world; "Lord Derby,"
2:05^, and several others. We find the Capewell
Horse Nail the best in the world; best to drive, best
for horses' feet, and they hold better than any other
nail on the market.

Yours respectfully,

W. B. KOPE, R. E. NASH.

THE CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL CO.,

HARTFORD, CONN.

New York

Boston
Cincinnati
Baltimore

. BRANCHES .
Philadelphia Chicago St. Louis

Detroit
New Orleans
Portland

Denver

San Francisco

Buffalo

PLAIN PATTERN CITY HEAD.

For Sale.

Scotch Deerhounds

BY

CHAMPION SIRES

OUT OF

PRIZE WINNING DAMS.

HILLSIDE KENNELS,

Lancaster, - Mass.

ALFRED HEALD,

K^ennelmun.

7)

American Horse Breeder

AN

ILLUSTRATED

Journal for Horse Owners

PUBLISHED
EVERY TUESDAY

Term s :

Two Dollars per Year in advance, including postage
prepaid in United States and Canada ; $3.50 per annum
to England and the Continent, postage prepaid by pub-
lishers.

Specimen Copies free to applicants.
Advertising Rates on application.

PUBLISHED BY

The American Horse Breeder Publishing Co.

161 HIGH STREET,
BOSTON, - MASS.

TALES OF THE TURF

By WM. B. FASIG.

Twenty-Seven Stories with Memoir.

EACH SHOW THE SPIRIT OF A MASTER HAND, A GLINT OF WIT, AND "THAT TOUCH
OF NATURE WHICH MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN."

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS INCLUDE

TROTTING TRACES.— How to build,
take care of and manage them, with
plates showing how to lay out a
half-mile, a mile and a kite-shaped
track.

THE SANDPIPER. -How the Dutch-
man did not balance his bill for
gravel while the little man in brown
stood pat, and won.

McDOEL.—Ho-w the the best green
horse in Missouri broke into turf
history.

ANDY AND /.—What the well-known
pair learned in France and England.

GOOD LUCK.— The magical words
which make many a man's little
"world hum.

AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE.—

The idol before which we all salaam.

THE SECRETARY.— His trials and
tribulations in the merry days of
racing.

A STRANGE LAND.— How a ship-
wrecked Buckeye showed his ingenu-
ity in another racing world.

STRANGER.— A lightning going
pacer of Northern Ohio, whose his-
tory has a pinch of romance hooked
onto it.

IN BRETHARTE'S COUNTRY.-How

Fasig identified Starbottle and the
Kentucky Colonel.

MUSKET.— The unluckiest horse that
ever breathed. Don't run. He is dead.

RIDE OF A LIFE TIME.— How

Flying Jib put a crimp in the boss
trotter on the speed drive in Wade
Park.

Their are Others.

To this is added a MEMOIR in which is presented a sketch of William B.
Fasig's career on the turf and in the sale business, an outline history of the
Cleveland track, and how the Quadrilateral Trotting Combination, which
grew into the Grand Circuit, originated.

A Few Press Comments

The Tales of the Turf are full of
quaint humor and interesting anec-
dotes. — Kentucky Stock Farm.

When you open the volume, you
\vill not close it until you reach the
end. —Turf, Field & Farm.

The statistical value of the book is
much greater than its selling price.
— The Horseman.

In our judgment it is one of the
most interesting books to a trotting
horseman ever published.

— The Horse Review.

Of all the books that have been pub-
lished regarding the trotting horse
business, there is certainly none that
contains such a varied and valuable
amount of information.

— American Horse Breeder.

Every man who has a particle of
love for harness racing, will find a deal
of pleasure in reading "Fasig's Tales
of the Turf. ' ' —Horse World.

It is admirable in style and the
reminiscences are couched in such
beautiful diction as to make them ex-
ceedingly entertaining.

—Rider & Driver.

"FASIG'S TALES OF THE TURF" is a three hundred and
fourteen page book, bound in cloth. Price $2.00, all charges prepaid*
Address orders to

W. H. GOCHER,

Hartford, Cor\n. , U. S. A.

"RECEIVED
FEB 08

1RCULATION DEPT.

JAN 1.6 1992

CIRCULATE

RECEIVED BY

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