Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, June 22, 1902, Image 27

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    Some New York Millionaires and
Their Horses
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MR. AND MRS. J. J. ASTOR.
MARRY PAYNE WHITNEY ON II U R RICA N E.
E. I MOKi; ANS CONCORD STACK COACH
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ALFRED OWYNNE VANDERB1LT AND PAIR.
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1. W. C. Whitney; 2. H. H. Vreelund; 3. Miss Whitney; 4. H. H. Uiresford; 6. Miss Hanilolph.
WATCHING PRIVATE RACES ON W. C. WHITNEY'S PLACE.
(Copyright, 1902. by Paul Denby.)
NIU M.lkl'l 1J I Dium ..m. '
I coinmndore has been his equal as
1 n V. . . : . . . .i . i nnil nnlir una nf tn
a uuiaviuaii) niiu j 1 vm.
members of the family now llv
Ine. Frederick W.. Is devoted to
the trotting horse. Frederick W. loves
the sprightly steppers quite as fondly as
either the founder of the family or his son
William H., to whom Early Rose and the
peerless Maud S. were as the apples of his
two eyes.
Mr. Frederick's fondness for the trotting
horse Is of a different brand from the com
modore's. He undoubtedly got as much
pleasure in making a public show of him
self and his horses as he did out of the act
of driving. Consequently, he used to speed
his steppers Invariably in New York,
where he cculd see and be seen, wher
both he and his nags could receive the in
spiration that is furnished by an admiring,
cheering crowd. Frederick drives his
horses solely for his own pleasure and that
of his friends. He doesn't care for the
applause of the groundlings and virtually
never shows himself behind a speedy trot
ter except on the secluded roads near Hyde
Park, his Hudson river country seat, or n
the vicinity of Newport. He has rarely
been seen driving in New York of late
years and it Is doubtful whether he was
ever on the Speedway, a bit of glorified
Hotting horse road that would have driven
the old commodore wild with delight, and
upon which he would have shown himself
daily hud It existed in his lifetime.
Vanilerbllt Home Gosalp.
Frederick W. drives quite as well as
his grandfather ever did, however, and
better than his father, William H. A man
who has known four generations of Van
ilerbilts says that William H. was little of
a horseman in reality. He rode ai a young
man the romance which culminated in his
naniase with pretty Mips Kiss:m began
in a f ill from a saddle horse in Alliany--liiit
he never understood horsin.. He hadn't
a tithe of the ciiminodore'a dash and nerve
as a driver and it was always his trainers
that fcot close to his horses not William
11. Cornelius the secend wa. never a
horseman and the same may be said of
(Uorge, the youngest of the commodore's
grandsons.
Alfnd Ciwynne and Reginald, sons of the
commodore's grandson Cornelius, are the
best horsemen of the family's fourth gen
eration. Their brother Cornelius, who has
been discountenanced by his family be
cause he married Miss Wilson, Is no horse
man at all, almost never being seen either
riding or driving. His cousin, William K.,
jr.. though owning horses a-plenty, owns
them chiefly because as a rich man it's the
thing to do; he cares much less for thetn
than for his various motor cars and other
horseless vehicles. W. K. Vanderbilt, his
father, takes an Immense interest In racing,
to be sure, but no true horseman considers
"Willie K." a member of the horse-loving
and horse-knowing fraternity.
Nor is Alfred Gwynne's fondness for the
horee at all like the feeling entertained for
the noble animal by his grtat grandfather
and his uncle. It Is considered the proper
thing for a rich man of the inner circle to
drive four-in-hands, tandems and pairs,
and therefore he takes Interest In coaching
and the like, among other things driving
the coach "Pioneer" from one of the big
hotels to some point up the Hudson at
regular intervals every spring.
llis polo playing is said to have been be
gun because he is not very robust and it
was expected that the st nn nous game
would build up his physical strength. This
txpectation lia been measurably fill 111 led;
he is stronger now than ever before and
besidrs he has contracted a genuine liking
for the game. Recently he has inlarged
his polo grounds at Newport so that they
are now of the regulation size, and the
"younger and lighter" set in which he and
his intimate friend, Robert Livingston
Gerry, son of Elbridge T. Gerry, commo
dore of the New York Yai ht club and best
known as the "Cruelly to Childrtn" man,
are such Important factors, will do much
of itti playing on this Held this season.
Young Mr. Gerry, by the way, drives the
"Pioneer" generally when Alfred Gywnne
finds it inconvenient to do so, and chanced
to be on the box the other day when a
"Cruelty to Animals" olllcer held up the
coach, claiming that one of the horse was
suffering from a galled shoulder.
Reginald Vanderbilt Is a better horseman
than Alfred Gwynne, perhaps, and a more
daring polo player, but this is duo almost
altogether to stronger physique and greater
weight. None of the "younger and lighter"
set is qualified to play polo with the Fox
hall Keene set.
i;. II. Mornim, llorneiiiini.
A man who knows the various sets of
New York millionaires about an well as any
one says that in a certain setiwe E. li.
Morgan, grandson of the famous war gov
ernor Morgan, is the best all-around horse
man of the lot. Horsemen generally might
not agree with this, hut for all that Mr.
Morgan loves the horse for his own sake
as do few professional lioiHciin ii and still
fewer millionaires. Resides, Mr. Morgan
knows the horse and his points thoroughly.
Ho has a rule not to go into a business
enterprise of any sort without thorough In
vestigation and he curries the rule out in
selecting his horses, never taking any onu s
Judgment but his own when buying. This
wus truo of old Commodore Vauderliilt, but
it has not been true of hid sevt rul sons-in-law
or of any of his descendants save
Frederick W. Like the latter, Mr. Morgan
is averse to publicity and never makes a
town display of bis prowess as a driver,
though he tools a four-in-hand with much
skill.
It was E. D. Morgan, by the wuy, who
made the famous "four-in-hand trip around
the world" a few years ago. Ho did not
circumnavigate the earth on thu box of a
coach, of course, the circumnavigation bung
effected on board the big English steam
yacht Amy, but he took along with him a
coach-and-four, and wlurever he lauded
there landed ulso his driving establishment.
Mr. Morgan has driven his own four-lu-band
In Ceylon, the suburbs of Calcutta,
over tbo roudu near Hong Kong, Tokio and
Honolulu and many other strange places.
No other man living or dead has pulled
the ribbons over the bucks of bis own
horses in as ninny out-of-the-way region:
as be. Mr. Morgan keeps his ow u horsi s
(there are forty or fifty of them) at his line
500-acre place in the Wheatley hills, on
Long Islaud. It wus the second of the
splendid millionaire establishments to be
set up in that region and is situated about
seven miles from the W'cslbury slatiou, on
the Long Island railroad, which iu its turn
is twenty miles from New York. Mr. Mor
gan's visitors uio often eouve)ed from the
lailruud sluliou to his homo on the top of
his "Coucold" couch, famous iu society und
uiillluuatredom, if nut with the public.
Moi-kiiii' A ii 1 1 lie I iinell.
He is especially proud of this vehicle und
frequently hi 111 si 1 f lianulcs I lie reins from
its box. There is an iupreusiou tliul tho
vt lin le is ul least a century old, but ex
perts iu couch architecture declare I', to be
of the vintage of about liCO, and there is
warrant, iu tradition for lhc statement tha.
it was put lu coinuiiiisiou as a regular stage
couch about eighty years ago. Mr. Murguii
run uit'i.fcs It iu .Maine some years since,
it was still iu use, or hud been only a
shoii lime before, but to seu It wus to
covet it with him, und after that 11 was u
question of price only.
(inula who are particularly favoied re
leive photographs of the old coach as
souvenirs on ucpurlure sometime.! Uus
photograph shows Theodore und Mra.
Roosevelt as inside passengers. Mr. Mor
gan himself has the reins, while Center
Hitchcock, Jr., J. lJ. llcrcttford uud Stanley
Mortimer are silling with him on the box.
Uiuiiduig on the rear axle of thu coach Is
itrady, Morgan's superintendent, t ho same
who ucled us his coachman during the
"four-in-huud trip "round the wor.d." Mr.
Morgan believes Maine is the best place to
buy coach horses and U was while hu
wus looking up hoists for his own stables
thut he found the old couch.
Mr. Morgan Is almost as proud of his
(Coutinutd on Eighth Page.)
Remarkable Photographs Which Show the Formation and Flight of Tornadoes,'Taken at Seribner, Neb.
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CLOUD THAT WENT NORTH, SHOWING TWO Fl'NNEI.S
WHICH FORMED ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY.
LARGEST OF THE FUNNELS OHSKRVEI). WHICH
FORMED DIRECTLY OVER THE VILLAGE.
SAME l.(il l AIKU T ONE MILE EAST OF VILLAGE, SHOWING
THE SNAKY TAIL REACHING FROM CLOUD TO GROUND.