1804, at the same place and the same price.
1805, at Bishop Underhill’s, in Westchester Co., N. Y., fifteen miles from Harlem Bridge. Price reduced to $15.
1806, back again at Townsend Cock’s, and the terms fixed at $15 for the season, and $25 to insure.
1807, again at Bishop Underhill’s on the same terms as before, and this was the last of his twenty years’ stud services. It will be observed that the horse is located every year except two, and these locations are determined, not by tradition or hearsay, but by copies of his advertisements for each year. In giving the prices charged for his services I have given the value of the guinea or the pound as five dollars.
Messenger died January 28, 1808, in the stable of Townsend Cock, on Long Island, in his twenty-eighth year. This date has been as familiar to all intelligent horsemen for the last forty years as any prominent event in the history of the nation. The news of the death of the old patriarch spread with great rapidity, and soon the whole countryside was gathered to see the last of the king of horses and to assist at his burial. His grave was prepared at the foot of a chestnut-tree some distance in front of the house, and there he was deposited in his holiday clothing. In response to the consciousness that a hero was there laid away forever a military organization was extemporized, and volley after volley by platoons was fired over his grave. Some of the young men and boys who witnessed and participated in the ceremonies of the occasion were still living twenty years ago, and as they related the incidents of the occasion to me, their recollections seemed to be as clear and bright as though the occurrence had been of yesterday.
CHAPTER XIX.
MESSENGER’S SONS.
Hambletonian (Bishop’s) pedigree not beyond doubt—Cadwallader R. Colden’s review of it—Ran successfully—Taken to Granville, N. Y.—Some of his descendants—Mambrino, large and coarse in appearance—Failure as a runner—Good natural trotter—His most famous sons were Abdallah, Almack and Mambrino Paymaster—Winthrop or Maine Messenger and his pedigree and history—Engineer and the tricks of his owners—Certainly a son of Messenger—Commander—Bush Messenger, pedigree and description—Noted as the sire of coach horses and trotters—Potomac—Tippoo Saib—Sir Solomon—Ogden Messenger, dam thoroughbred—Mambrino (Grey)—Black Messenger—Whynot, Saratoga, Nestor, Delight—Mount Holly, Plato, Dover Messenger, Coriander, Fagdown, Bright Phœbus, Slasher, Shaftsbury, Hotspur, Hutchinson Messenger and Cooper’s Messenger—Abuse of the name “Messenger.”
It is not my purpose to write a history of all the descendants of Messenger, for that would fill several volumes and would be simply writing over again the trotting and pacing records of the past twenty years. I will, therefore, limit the chapters on this topic to such of his descendants as have demonstrated the value and prominence of their blood, as a factor, in the make-up of the American Trotter. Naturally, the immediate progeny of Messenger will first demand consideration, and then will follow the succeeding generations that have written their own history in the official records of trotting and pacing. Completeness of description and space occupied will be determined, chiefly, by the prominence and historic value of the animal under review. In this scope and without following any chronological order, I will try to embrace all that is known that would be of value to the student of trotting-horse history.