Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-10-04
Race in Thunder Storm After Dark,


We doubt if there is on record more
perilous race than one in which the late
Hiram Woodrough bore conspicuous part,
and now appears as the narrator. We find
the account in late number of Wilkes
Spirit of the Times:
In 1843 Dutchman was brought to New
York and again placed il my charge Our
first race that season, and it was
the last season the old horse trot-
ed on the turf, was against Amer
icus and Lady Suffolk, two mile heats
in harness, over the Beacon Course
Bryant drove the Lady, Spicer Americus,
and 1, Dutchman. Dutchman won the
first heat, Americus the second, and
Dutchman the third. Lady Suffolk was
third in all the heats In week or ten
days thereafter, we went three mile heats
in harness, over the Beacon Course,
and it was tremendous race of four
heats. The first was won by Dutchman.
The second was stoutly contested, but
Americus won it. The third heat was very
hotly contested, and resulted in adead heat
between the old horse and Americus. Lady
Suffolk was now ruled out for not winning
heat in three, and the betting was heavy,
Dutchman having the call. The long sum
mer day had drawn rapidly to close. At
the same time the heavens were overcast,
and with fading CLEANS of dim, yellow
light, the sun sank into great banks of
clouds. They mounted higher and higher,
and seemed to lie like load upon the
weary earth. The heat was intense, and
not breath of air stirring to break the
ominous report. With the last flicker of
day, the swift scud began to fly overhead,
| and the solid seeming clouds to tower up
and come on like moving mountains. It
was dark when we got into the sulkies, and,
| soon after the start the storm burst upon
us with fury l have never since seen equaled.
The wind blew o hurricane and the pelting
rain fell in torrents as though the sluices
of the skies had opened all at once.
| Nothing could have overpowered the
mighty rush of the wind and the furious
| splash of the rain, but the dread, tremen-
dous rattle of the thunder. 1t seemed to
be discharged right over our heads and
only few yards above us. Nothing could
have penetrated the thick profound gloom
of that darkness but the painful biua blaze
of the forked lightning. L could not see,
| in the short intervals between the flashing,
| the faintest trace of the horse before me,
and then, in the twinkling of an eye, as
though the darkness was torn away like
veil by the Almighty, the whole course, the
surrounding country, to the minutest and
most distant thing, would be revealed
| The spires of the churches of Newark, eight
miles off, we could see more plainly than
in broad daylight, and we noticed that, as
the horses faced the bowling elements,
their ears lay fiat upon their necks.-
Between these flashes of piercing, all per-
vading light and the succeeding claps of
! thunder, the suspense and strain upon the
mind was terrible. We knew that it was
coming SO as to shake the very pillars of
the earth we rode on, and until it had rat
tied over our heads we were silent. Then,
in the blank darkness, as we went on side
by side, we would exchange CAUTIONS
Neither could see the other, nor hear the
wheels nor the strides of the horses, by
reason of the wind and rain.
''Look out, Hiram" Spicer would say,
''Or we shall be into each other"
A few strides further on and l would sing
out ''take care, George, you must be close
to me"
Now the noise of the wheels and the
tramp of horses cauld not be heard in the
roar of the wind and the patter of the rain
and yet our voices could be- and were. For
O. mile and half, in the very crater, as it
were, of the volcanic war of the skyey ele-
) ments, we went side by side. Then Dutch
J man lost ground The track was clayey,
, and he having on fiat shoes began to slip
} and slide at every stride. Americus grad
: ually drew away from him, and when l
7 reached the stand at the end of the second
mile 1 stopped. have seen great many
!, summer storms in my time, and have been
S out in few of them, but of all that re-
l member none quite equaled in terrific fury
2 and awful grandeur that which burst over
3 the Beacon Course, just as we began that
3 heat. Spicer says the same.