The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-11-12

private nature, and then the former re-
tired to the balcony OF the hotel, where
he remained until the saddening fret
heat was over.
ef-a~- BEFORE THE CONTEST. ra
AS the hour approached for the
horses to be rung up for the race the
scene on the ground became quite ex-
citing, The, crowd in itself was ia.
spring, and the interest around the
pools and among the betting men had
in no wise absted. The carriages on
the inner circle of the track stretched
out fully half mile, and as nearly every
one was filled with handsomely dressed
ladies the spectacle was a beautiful one.
The two grand stands looked like two
banks Of many colored roses. On the
one on which reserved seats were sold
there must have been at least 1000
ladies, all Of whom were glove betters
on the favorite, of course. At 2
o'clock there must have been between
5000 and 10000 people on the ground.
There were all manner of vehicles,
from the gravel cart to the elegant i'm
ported landau.
STRIPPING FOR THE FRAY.
At halt past two o'clock the judges,
who were Edgar Mill, of Sacramento,
c. j. Weeks and John NJ. Duncan,
mounted the stand and rang up the
horses for the first heat. The timers,
Messrs S. |. Kelly, c. w. Kellogg and
c. F. Reed, took their places, and then
the order WAS given toelear the quarter.
stretch. This was no easy task. Al
though an extra charge OF one dollar
was made for admission to the quarter
stretch, there.were no less than 00Opeo.
pie gathered there, and the men en-
ployed to keep the track clear found
themselves unable to perform that
onerous task without more help. Mr.
Convey hunted up Chief Crowley, who
was there simply as "a locker on in
Vienna" and requested his assistance
There were eight or ten Of the city police
force (off duty, of course) among the
crowd, and gathering these together the
Chief male an onslaught on the crowd
and kept it pretty well cleared. The
horses were then brought out, and after
a little sponging and fixing they
started up the stretch for the send off.
ooCIDENT WINS TIE POLE.
In the throw for position Occident
won the pole, which, on this track, was
regarded as an immense advantage, in
asmuch as the course was better on the
inner circle and the horses gait is well
adapted to help him around the short
turns. The horses went up the stretch
tor the start at a jogging pace. Lucy's
driver, Hickok, was dressed in suit OF
drab corduroy and black velvet cap,
while Eoff wore the brown Cardigan
jacket with which every bodyls familiar
The scoring now began. ln the first
trial Lucy turned a little distance in
trout OF Occident down the stretch, but
the latter failed to come up even with
her to the score, and their steps were
retraced for another attempt
THE FIRST HEAE-A BAD BREAh.
This time they were more successful.
A fair start was had and away they
claitered On the first turn Occldenr
had the best of it by length, but as
they nea-ed the quarter.pole he made a
very bad break. Lucy at once collared
and passed him in a few strides, and
went trotting by the quarter pole in the
splendid time for a slow track of thirty
four and quarter seconds. Ere Eoff
could land Occident and get him down
to bis work the mare had opened a gap
Of twenty or thirty lengths. Orcident
failed to close up any Of his lost ground
at the half mile, Lucy making 1t in
LILO. She kept on at steady but not
very fast gait, ard as she was entering
the homesrretch Occident made another
wabble, but it was a brief one. It
seemed at this moment rs though Eff
was to win the distance fl 20. However,
Hckok let up on Lucy for the greater
portion of the homestretch, while Occi.
dent was making splendid time, after
having got settled Lucy, however,
trotted over the score at about go
gait, beating Occident out by three or
four open lengths.
A GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT.
The time was hung out on the black
board, 2:254, and as the announcement
was made something like a groan of
derision went up from the crowd. The
bad beat, and in such wretched time,
too, created a feeling of intense disgust
for the horse and all concerned. Occi-
dent at once dropped to almost nothing
in the pools, selling at only $40 to
Lucy's 500 and $3.50. In larger pools
he brought but $50 to Lucy's $400.
Barney Sergeant stood bv one OF the
pool stands showing in 500 bills on
Lucy like peas in hopper The Orci-
dent men would give but S. and $40 for
any OF them.
THE SECOND HEAT-THE SCORING.
At the expiration Of the usual twenty
minutes the bell sounded and the
horses were again called up. Blu, little
excitement was now apparent. 1t was
a toregone conclusion that Lucy would
win and all interest seemed to cease.
Occident came out hitched to new
sulky-a different one from that in
which be trotted the first heat. Both
horses appeared to have cooled out
well, and it seemed to be the impress
son that Occident had become settled
by his efforts in the first heat and that
he would do better in this one. Scoring
was now commenced in earnest. Lucy
turned ahead Of the gelding on the first
effort to get up, but her competitor was
unable to overhaul her in time to get a
lair start; consequently they turned
back Tor another one. This resulted
in no start, as also did the third at
tempt, when Lucy seemed to get miffed