Evolution of the Trotter
How American Breeders in Fifty Years Have Brought to Perfec
tion the Greatest and Most Useful Type of Horse tho Cunning of
Man Has Yet Produced.
* - - --
Great cations produce great, horses.
The higher the civilization the purer
are the equlue breeds. In the ancient
as weit as the modern world this rule
holds true, and the foremost raeps of
men have always possessed the high
est types of breeds of animal life.
A stranger who witnessed light har
ness sport, say. for the first time at
Memphis recently, and who saw Lou
Dillon trot in 1o8i&, Major Delmar In
1:59%, and Dan Patch pace In 1:5644.
would naturally ask, how are those
horses bred, and bow long has it taken
to bring the breed to such perfect
speed perfection9 He would be aston
ished to learn that the breed did not
exist half a century ago; that in 1845,
2:30 was thought to be the speed
limit, and that trotting races were
rare, while now the continent is
studded with stock farms, with many
millions invested; that about 1,500
meetings are held annually, at which
85,000,000 in stakes and purses are
competed for, and that just as all
countries go to England for the thor
oughbred, so ail the civilized world
comes to America for the trotter.
As speed is the test of the progress
of the breed, and the record at the
wire the proof of quality and value, it
I but he was then bought by the late
Robert Bonner for $36,000 and at onct
retired. Four years later that mosi
wonderful of all trotting mares. Geld
smith Maid, also driven by Budr
Doble, went in 2:17. From year tc
year she out down her time till, or
Sept. 2. 1874. at Mystic Park. Boston
when 17 years old. she placed the
trotting record at 2:14. In those days
the sulkies weighed seventy-five
pounds, the tracks were not improved
and Doble Is firmly of the opinion to
day that the marvelous Maid, had she
been on the track at the present time
would have been a champion. Gold
smith Maid was an “ir'ved." bein.s
by Abdallah 15, a son of Hamble
Ionian, while her dam was Ah, bv
Abdallah 1. the sire of Hambletouian
While the number of fast horses
steadily increased and the stock farms
were not only increasing their output
but breeding more intelligently foi
the great object in view’, the record
was not again broken till Aug. 3. 1878
when John Splan. at Buffalo, trotted
Rarus in 2:131 *. He was at once re
tired, us Mr. Bonner bought him foi
§35,000 and sent him to his stables,
where he had previously sent Dexter.
These sensational prices gave addi
facturers of sulkies to conceive the
idea that the small tire wheel woult
get round turn quicker, and thai
there would be far less resistance
than with the old high wheels, witt
steel tires. They were introduced ir
1892, and there was at once a startling
reduction In time. Nancy Hanks
who in 1891 had trotted in 2.09 with
the old wheels, in 1892 in a grand
series of performance's successively
reduced her record to 2.04. She is by
Happy Medium, dam Nancy Lee, by
Dictator, both^if Hambletonian. Two
years elapsed before there w-as any
reduction, and then came to the front
the beautiful and symmetrical mare,
Alix, by long odds the greatest com
bination of speed, proportion, style
and quality which had yet appeared
upon the trotting turf. After a grand
racing career, in which she defeated
ail comers, at Galesburg, 111., Sept.
19, 1891, she trotted In 2.03s4.
For six years the battle was waged
against time and every assault was a
failure until the priests of finality
declared that the time limit had been
reached at last. The mares had cer
tainly had a long reign, but with the
new century the records began to gc
with startling rapidity. The Abbot
———-----■ - — ■ ■ ■ ■■■ " ■ ■ I ■■■ 1—1
Match Race Between Ethan Allen and Mate and Dexter to High-Wheel Sulky.
i
will be of interest to note the develop
ment from the date when the famous
Irfidy Suffolk first trotted in 2:30 or
better in 1845 to the present time,
when the record is l:58Vs- On Oct.
13. 1845, the little gray mare Lady Suf
folk, at the Beacon course, Holtoken,
N. J., trotted in 2:29V&. Through her
sire, Engineer, and the sire of her
1am, Don Quixote, she traced direct
oack to Messenger. In 1849 Pelham,
of unknown pedigree, reduced the rec
ird to 2:28. He was a converted
pacer, which shows that even at that
early period the interchangeability of
the gaits was understood. Highland
Maid, another ex-pacer, in 1853 re
duced the mark to 2:27. Then came
the remarkable mare, Flora Temple,
who, over the Union course. East New
York, driven by that first great knight
of the sulky, Hiram Woodruff, went
under the wire in 2:24V*;. Flora Tem
ple continued her victorious career
till she, at Kalamazoo. Mich., on Oct.
15, 1859, trotted in 2:19%. being the
first of her race to get below 2:20.
tlonal impetus to the great breeding
interests, and from that time on the
record moved down rapidly. In 1879
St. Julion. by Volunteer, he by Ham
bletonian, at Oatkland, Cal., went in
2:12%, and later reduced it to 2:11%.
Then came that great queen of the
trotting turf, Maud S., by Harold.
Harold was by Hambletonian, dam
Enchantress, by Abdallah 1, the sire
of Hambletonian. On Aug. 12, 1880,
at Rochester, N. Y., she trotted in
2:11%, and then went on to 2.10%,
2:10% and 2:1<>%, and the trotting
world saw that 2:10 was in sight.
Everybody looked for the great daugh
ter of Harold to do it. But out of the
west came the black whilrwind, Jay
Eye-See, who at Providence, R. I., Aug.
1. 1884, placed the record at 2:10. Jay
Eye-See was by Dictator (brother to
Dexter, 2:17%). by Hambletonian. He
was the monarch of a day. for at
Cleveland on Aug. 2. Maud S. trotted
in 2:')9%. and regained her throne.
Her final triumph came a year later,
when over the same track she cut the
by Chimes, a grandson of Hambleton
ian. on September 25, 1900, clipped
half a second off the record, and a
few months later, on July 20, 1901, at
Cleveland, O., the mighty Cresceus
the first stallion to win the world
trotting record, shot under the wire in
2.02%. A week later, at Columbus, he
cut it to 2.02%.
When the season of 1903 opened even
in the best informed circles there
was not the slightest expectation of
any reduction of the trotting record.
Major Delrnar had a record of 2:06%.
but no one saw in him a future cham
pion. Lou Dillon was an unknown
quantity. Her pedigree goes up to
Hambletonian through Sidney Dillon
and Happy Medium, though about 50
per cent of her pedigree is unknown
as thoroughbred. At Readville. Mass.,
on August 24. she trotted in 2.00 and
thus realized the dreams of the en
tnusiasts who have predicted that
time as the ultimate limit and perfec
tion mark of the breed.
This looked like glory enough for
*.
. I
I- - I
Ethan Allen and George M. Patchen in Skeleton Wagons.
The record was hailed as the limit
at the gait, while a few visionaries
talked of a possible 2:10. while here
and there was an enthusiast who
talked of two minutes.
In 1807 the brown gelding Ilexter,
by Hambletoniau 10, dam Clara, by
American Star, at Buffalo. N. Y., cut
the record to 2:171i. He was driven
by Budd Doble. then a young man and
still on the turf in all the vigor of a
green old age. Dexter at that time
was nine years old and would in all
probability have reduced his record,
record down to 2:08%. Mr. \V. H.
Vanderbilt had in the meantime sold
her to Robert Bonner for $40,000, and
she was duly retired. It has always
been a universal regret that this great
mare never had a foal. The last of
the old high-wheel sulky champions
was Sunol, who in 1891 over the kite
track at Stockton, Cai.. went in 2:08%,
and again Mr. Bonner’s desire to own
champions was so great that he paid
$41,000 for her.
The marvelous speed achieved by
bicyclists led horsemen and the manu
Dexter, With Budd Dobie in the Saddle.
! one season, but in the meantime a
| new star had appeared in the bay
gelding Major Delmar, who had enter
| ed the ring In a fight to a finish with
j Father Time. Starting the season
with a record of 2.06% in a series of
brilliant performances he cut it down
in sections till finally on Sept. 26, at
the Empire City track, he went in 2.00
; ar.d divided regal honors with Lou
Dillon. Major Delmar belongs to the
Electioneer-Wilkes branch of the
trotting family.
This looked like the climax, but na
ture rarely stays Still. On October
20, at Wichita, Cresceus trotted in
1.59%, and Oct. 24, Lou Dillon regain
ed her throne by trotting in 1.58%.
The story of the trotter would be In
complete without a note as to his
value. The highest price ever paid
for a trotter was $125,000, at which
figure J. Malcolm Forbes bought the
2-year-old trotter Arlon, 2.10%, from
the late Senator Leland Stanford.
While a few thoroughbreds have been
sold at a higher figure, this is still
the high water mark for a 2-year-old
of any breed. Axtell, 2.12, the cham
pion three year-old stallion of his
nmc, brought $105,000, and $150,000
was refused for his stable companion,
AUerton, 2,09%. Mr. Smathers paid
$40,000 for Major Delmar, a gelding.
—“Dexter,” in the New York Simday
Telegraph.
! NEBRASKA STATE NEWS
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.
Student* Are Better Prepared for
College.
It has been currently reported this
fall by instructors and others in the
colleges and normal schools of Ne
braska that nev<M- before in the history
of the state have the members of the
freshman classes been so well pre
pared for their studies. The rumors
interested. State Superintendent Fcnv
lcr to such an extent that under date
of October 24 he sent the following
letter to the heads of the state uni
versity, the state normal school, four
of the leading colleges of the slate
and the three largest normal schools:
“The claim has been made that the
students entering the colleges and nor
mal schools of Nebraska this fall are
better prepared for the work they are
to, do in these institutions than ever
before. This Is a matter of great in
terest to me. am’. I would be pleased
to receive from you at an early date
an expression of your opinion. Are
the matriculates of 1903-4 better pre
pared to take up collegiate work in
your institution than those of past
years? In other words, does your in
stitution not need to maintain as
much preparatory or academic work
this fail as in previous years for its
freshmen classes? If this condition
bo true, what conclusion do you draw
from it?”
TURKEYS ARE SCARCE.
|
Fremonters May Have to Eat Plain (
Chicken Thanksgiving.
FREMONT—Fremonters may have
to fall back on chickens this year for
their Thanksgiving dinners, ' on ac
count of the prices that are being
asked for turkeys. Twenty cents a
pound is what the dealers say they
will have to charge. Too much wet
weather during the summer is given
as the cause of the dull condition in
the turkey market. Many of the
young fowls were drowned during the
August and September floods, and even
the older birds on some farms lo..*
their lives.
But the crop of chickens, ducks and
geese is fully tip to the average. While
the heavy raln3 were playing havoc
with turkeys, they were just what
pleased ducks and geese. These are
practically as succulent and toothsome
as turkeys, and will be sold at for
mer prices, or about 12Vk cents a
pound for young stuff. Thus it will
be unnecessarv to cut out the Thanks
giving dinner because the American
bird has r.ot been able to withstand
the Nebraska climate.
Husks Corn for Wager.
DAKOTA CITY—George Hirsch
bach. the champion corn hnsker of
this section, has wagered with an
Iowa man that he can husk and crib
150 bushels of corn in ten hours. The
contest will be pulled oft about
Thanksgiving.
Collision on the Elkhorn.
VALENTINE-Train No. 6, oast
bound on the Elkhorn. stopped at
Crookston for water and a cattle train
following crashed into the rear,
smashing iho sleeper so ft had to bo
left. Nobody was hurt, hut the pas
sengers were badly frightened and
shaken up.
Looking Into Harbert Cace.
LINCOLN—Governor Mickey has
ordered an investigation In Lie ease of
J. C. Harbert, fireman at the Kearney
industrial school, who lias been arrest
ed by the Beatrice police while in com
pany with a young Beatrice girl who,
upon being “scolded” by her mother
for being too often with Harbert,
knocked her parent down and choked
her. Harbert has a wife at Kearney.
If found guilty he wd'.l lie discharged
from tlie employ of the state.
Hay Stacks Burred.
NELSON—A steam thresher en
gine passing along the road by Frank
Spurck's hay fields set fire to the
grass and before it could be extin
guished three large hay stacks, about
thirty tons, had been consumed.
Highwayman’s Victim Dead.
RED CLOUD—John Anshutz, the
farmer who was held up by a high
wayman and shot near his home in
Kansas, thirteen miles southwest ot
here, died from his wounds.
Safe in Bank Blown.
LYONS—The safe in the First Na
tionai bank here was blown at 2
o'clock in the morning, The robbers
secured $2,000. of which $1,500 was in
bills, $400 in gold and $100 in silver.
The robbers were not spen by ary one.
At the eastern edge of town they
stole a team from the barn of E. II.
Harendeen, a farmer, and drove east
ward. The bank safe and all the
furniture in the bank were utterly
ruined.
THE STATE AT LARGE.
Charles F. Higgins of Omaha died
suddenly in his chair while serving as
a juror.
The new’ union depot in Fremont
will he 1 early for occupancy in De
cember.
For stealing four turkeys two men
in Cass county were sentenced to im
prisonment. for thirty days.
Death is announced of H. A. Bur
rill of Fremont, who had resideS
there for twenty-five years.
Near Decatur, Albert Fuller, a farm
er boy, 17 years old, was dangerously
hurt by the explosion of a gun while
out hunting.
Typhoid and scarlet fever are prev
alent at Papillion. There have heen
several fatalities from typhoid. School
has been closed for a period.
Washington dispatch: The senate
in executive session confirmed the
following nomination: Church Howe,
Nebraska, consul general at Antwerp.
Mr. and Mrs. George F. Norton o'
Beatrice celebrated their sixtieth wed
ding anniversary. They have been
residents of that city for a great many
years.
The Clark Automatic Telephone
company of Sioux City is putting in
a rural telephone line to run out from
Dakota City, covering a distance of
about thirty miles.
W. J. Dre3ser, the man who gave
himself up to Sheriff Bauman of Dodge
county, stating "hat he was an escaped
convict from the Iowa state peniten
tiary, was released. It was learned
from the Iowa authorities that Dresser
had been released on parole, but had
violated the terras of his release.
A young man by the nam° of Don
aldson, living five miles southwest of
Palmer, while in the field husking
corn accidently discharged a gun with
the muzzle towards him. The entire
charge, after passing through the end
gatc of the wagon box, lodged in his
side. A favorable outcome is doubt
ful.
The jury in the case of Robert Wag
ner vs. the city of Columbus returned
a verdict awarding the plaintUT dam
ages in the sura of $400. Wagner fell
on a defective sidewalk last March
and sued the city for $5,000. Judg
ment was entered on the verdict and
the amount will probably be paid with
out any further litigation.
On account of insufficient room to
accommodate the new offices of clerk
of the district court and assessor the
commissioners of Sarpy county have
decided to enlarge the court house.
Burglars attempted early in the
morning to enter the residence of
Mrs. Ida Bell at York, but when they
heard the many burglar alarm bells
and saw the entire house immediately
lighted from cellar to garret they de
cam ped.
John Crown, an aged resident of Te
cumsoh, narrowly escaped losing his
life under the wheels of a’ moving
stock train. The train was doing
some switching in the yards, and was
backing down over the street cross
ing when the old gentleman attempted
to cross. The moving cars struck him
in the back and knocked him down,
nnd would have crossed over his body
had it not been for the prompt action
of F. A. Thiele, who happened to be
standing near.
An extra freight train, west bound,
was wrecked on the Rock Island near
Lewiston. Light cars left the track
ami rolled down an embankment fifty
feet high. The cars were loaded with
coal, potatoes and lumber.
Advices received by stockmen at the
union stock yards in South Omaha are
to the effect thaf no tariff legislation
whatsoever, affecting western inter
ests, will be accomplished this winter:
This broad statement appears to in
clude the Cuban treaty which western
beet growing interests affirm will se
riously damage the beet sugar Indus-'
try in Colorado and Nebraska.
Judge Baxter lias signed a decree in
the foreclosure suit brought by Eliza
B. Patrick on the home property of
Former Senator John M. Thurston,
•Thorwald,” at 24th and Farnam
streets, Omaha. Suit was brought on
a $12,000 mortgage, which with inter
est amounts to $13,152.20. Judgment
is rendered for that amount, but the
defendant is given twenty days tn
which to make payment, before the
property will be ordered sold.
One of the most prominent citizens
and Grand Army men of Osceola met
with a severe accident. He was
trimming trees and in pulling down a
limb while standing in a wagon h"
frightened the horses and they ran.
Mr. Pulver was thrown to the ground,
striking on his head and shoulders.
Mrs. Anna M. Ludeman has com
menced suit against 'August Moeller,
a saloon keeper at Goehner, and his
bondsmen, for $5,000 for selling her
husband liquor by which she says lie
has been made an habitual drunkard.
..i ' ii—■— —| —
PLANS THAT WENT WRONG.
Showing How Hard It Is to Drive
Folks Into Matrimony.
Once upon a time, before everybody
hart learned to attend strictly to his
own alfafrs, a man and a maid were In
love with each other, but, though this
was patent to all their friends, neither
of them knew It. However, their
friends said unanimously: "We will
demonstrate it to them and write a
triumphant Q. IS. D. upon thojr wed'
ding morn.”
Therefore, the maid never was in
vited anywhere that she did not And
the man invited also; nor was the man
invited anywhere but that he found
the maid likewise a guest. Further
more, the man always was detailed to
take the maid In to dinner, and they
could not so much as glance at each
other without everybody else having
an errand out of the room, and society
became a vast manufactory of oppor
tunities for them to revel in each
other's company alone and undis
turbed. Now. before this had time to
become a habit with them, both the
man and the maid penetrated the dark
plot.
Whereupon the maid tossed her
head, saying: "They needn't think I
have only one chance,” and immedi
ately betrothed herself to an impeculi
ous fortune hunter whose only rec
ommendation was his title.
And thereupon the man hastily mar
ried himself to a grass widow from
Chicago, whose reputation, they do
say, was responsible for the big Are.
Consequently all their friends nod
ded their heads sagely, and whispered
to each other, “Didn't 1 tell you so?”—
Alex Iticketts In Philadelphia Hedger.
Medieval Marconi.
Several old writers mention mys
terious methods of aerial communica
tion, and Strada, an Italian antiquary
who wrote during the IGth century,
describes an invention having an ex
traordinary resemblance to Sig. Mar
coni’s present-day wonder.
Strada says that two friends about
to Le separated each procured a nee
dle magnetized at the same odestone
and affixed them to swing on dials
marked with the letters of the alpha
bet.
They agreed that, at certain speci
fied periods after they parted, each
should retire into a private apartment
with this apparatus; and thereafter,
by directing the needle to the letters
necessary to spell out their meaning,
the pair were able to convey theii
thoughts in an Instant to one another
across the continent, as Strada puts
it, “over cities or mountains, seas or
deserts.”
This, at the last, is an astonishing
forecast, and may be a fact, for to ex
pound such a scheme at that period
was to chance being burnt as a sor
cerer—a risk Strada would be un
likely to run for mere fiction.—Stray
Stories.
A Song of Hope.
Here’s a think I guess you hadn't
Never thought;
An’ if so, you hasn't been happy
As you ought.
It’s a thought to make you glad.
For a feller '-an't be sad
When he st-\- th' things a-comin’
That he's sought.
This Is It; Th' furder on we
Mortals go.
All th’ brighter does th’ future's
Promise grow.
Some keeps harpin’ on th' past
Wtshln’ childhood's joy might last—
llain't got time fer any slch a
Bunch o' woe.
Ev'ry day since I been livin’
I have found
Lots an' lots o’ hope an’ sunshine
Scattered 'round.
Life's brimful o’ love an' light
If a feller lives It right— ;
Always got th’ best time coinin’.
I'll be bound.
*
..JL;~. .
I ain’t been along th' road as , ,
Pur as some.
But she's kep' a-gltlln' better
As I've come.
'Twill be better still next year
Sure as I'm a-settin' here—
Lo .ikin' hack I'll roi some mountain*
1 have dumb.
t’hirk up. growler; light yer face up
With a smile;
Better walkin' on ahead there
'Bout a mile
Keep a-singin’ songs o' hope,
Never get around an' mope;
l-’t tills life grows sweet an' sweeter
All th’ while.
Immense Piece of Building Stone.
The largest and heaviest building
stone ever quarried in England waa
taken from the Plankington bed, neai
Norwich. It was in one piece, without
cracK or flaw, and weighed over thirty
five tons.
Swiss Hotels.
There are now 2,000 hotels and pen
sions in Switzerland, employing some
thing like 35,000 persons during ths
summer season. It is estimated that
380,000 people visit Switzerland in the
season and spend about $25,000,00#
there.
Record Tea-Drinkera.
The Australians are the greatest tea*
drinkers in the world, annually con
suming 7% pounds per head. In Engr
land the consumption Is about 0%
pounds per head, and In the United
States only 1 pound 2 ounces.
Long-Lived Horses.
A good authority on horses says
that the grey will live the longest, and
that the roans come next In order
Blacks seldom live to be over twenty
and creams rarely exceed ten or flf
teen.
Holland’s Irrigation Works.
Holland has 10,101) windmills, each
of which drains 310 acres of laud. a>
an average cost of 25 cents an acr«
a year.
The Tall and the Short.
Norwegians and I*apps, the tallesl
and the shortest people of the world,
live side by side.
Spread of Temperance.
One man in six in the British Davj
is a total abstainer.
