“Fellow citizens,” went on the man, in a deep, earnest tone, “aftah much reflection an’ mature deliberation, I have decided that South Carolina was a little too hasty.”
He was so solemn and earnest that he was greeted with a big laugh and shout.
[Note—Under this heading, in a near issue, will be the illustrated story of the Old Nachez Trace and the story of the death of Meriwether Lewis.—Ed.]
A Famous Horse Race
By Ben McCulloch Hord
[The incidents in connection with this great race, so graphically described by the writer, were given him by an old turfman who at that time was a young jockey and witnessed the race.—Ed.]
At the time of which I speak, there were a number of famous horses on the turf, necessarily producing much rivalry between their various owners and friends. The most prominent that I can call to memory now were Boston, Duane, Decatur, Vashti, Balie Peyton, Fannie Wyatt, Charles Carter, Lady Clifton, Clarion, etc. Boston was just beginning to win the fame that afterward made his name a household word throughout the racing world, and nearly all of the best horses of the day sought to measure strides with this distinguished son of Timoleon. In the language of an old turfman, they were laying for him. At this time Boston belonged to Mr. Nat Reeves, of Richmond, Va., and after Decatur had defeated Fannie Wyatt in a four-mile heat race at Washington, D. C., Mr. James Long, a great admirer of Boston, and a close friend of Mr. Reeves, proposed to Captain Heath, the owner of Decatur, to match Boston against him, four-mile heats, for a purse of $10,000, to be run at Camden, N. J., provided that he could get the use of Boston for the race. The match was accepted and $1,000 forfeit put up. Mr. Long went over to Long Island, where Mr. Reeves had Boston attending the spring meeting, and made known his match, which was agreed to. Decatur was at Washington, while Duane and Charles Carter, both in the same stable, were gathering turf laurels at other places. Boston had never gone four miles up to this time, and there were many prominent turfmen who doubted his ability and courage to negotiate this distance in good company, consequently as soon as the match between him and Decatur became known it made the latter largely the choice in the betting, he having recently defeated that good mare, Fannie Wyatt, in the four-mile race above referred to.
Messrs. Reeves and Long, however, were not slow in finding out Boston’s courage—they were already satisfied as to his speed—so they gave him a trial, which was entirely satisfactory, he having defeated in this trial his stable companion, the celebrated Atlanta, 108 times the length of Mr. Long’s walking stick, a novel way, certainly, to measure distance, but it was certainly done in this case, and in those days horses were tried with horses, and not by the watch, as now.
Just before the match came off, the Boston party concluded not to run, but to pay forfeit, which they did. Their idea was that they could bet their money to better advantage in the four-mile purse race, which was to come off in a day or two, and in which both horses would enter, knowing that Decatur would be largely the favorite in the betting, and even more so, as they had paid forfeit to him. On the day of the race the track was quite heavy. This also lengthened the odds on Decatur. But Boston won, after a close contest, and largely enriched his friends. He was now considered the champion racer of America, and he was sent over to Long Island to attend the second spring meeting, to come off in a few weeks.