Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-09-11
HENRY CLAY,S HORSES.

81 recollect Henry Clay's turnout very
WE'LL" said an old resident OF Washington.
''He had one of the old style Concord bug
gies, with top that suggested Mother
Hubbard bonnet. 1t was evidently sec.
ond-hand affair that Mr.. Clay had picked
I'D in trade, and nowadays would do very
we'll for an old woman to haul vegetables
around town in.
"The cushions were stuffed with moss,
and so well worn you could see the moss
sticking out at the sides. I'll bet Henry
Clay didn't know what a laprobe was, and
as for whip he didn't have any. He used
to slash his old sorrel stallion with the ends
off. The steps of the buggy were gone, and
Mr.. Clay used to jump over the wheels.
When he wanted to get in he put one foot
on the hub and swung the other round over
the wheels and dashboard. The wheels
were so high he had to let the top down to
get out. They had aXlegrease in those days,
but Mr.. Clay evidently never found it out.
He always drove his horse at canter, and
you could hear the wheels of his buggy
squeaking as many notes as there are on the
piccolo.
"Ah, we'll do I remember that sorrel stall
lion," continued the old-timer. "Henry
Clay won him one night at poker in John
Hancock's saloon, which is still running on
the avenue, from Colonel Jim Bright, who
lived at FalPs Church, Va. Bright used
to come over every week and play poker
with Clay, and generally went back to Fall's
Church with pocketful Of money. But
with 81 ZOO of Bright's money, his watch,
saddle and bride, overcoat, saddle bags, a
new suit Of clothes that were in the saddle
bags, three finger rings and breastpin,
brace of pistols and a pair of boots
"Oh, you needn't laugh" said the old
timer with great animation: "that is the
way they played poker in them days. A
man went the Wholeho or nothing. Why,
didn't you never hear of the time that
Henry Clay bet himself clean down to his
undershirt, and he offered to pull that off,
but the other fellow didn't wear any under
shirt to put up against it? Well, sir, it's
so anyhow, and the very table he played
the game on is in the front room up stairs
over Hancock's saloon. It's an old pine
table about three feet square, with hole in
the middle to drop the percentages through
for threes, fulls, fiushes and jackpots. Well,
sir, about that old stallion. He was we'll
known around Washington for several years.
He always nickered when Clay came near
him. Clay carried a pocketful Of shelled
corn, and he gave the horse handful every
time he got into the buggy. The boys knew
the stallion we'll, and they used to give him
| plcCco vi DIctlIl, CtthC, Hulo, VI any ViiihS Va
the sort. He'd eat watermelon and meat,
and I've seen him eat wads of paper as
though he was trying to make the boys
laugh: Well, sir, Clay had nigger named
Sam. One day he loaned the stallion to
Sam to drive to Alexandria. Sam got drunk
before he left town, and he started out on a
gallop. He didn't stop till he got to Mount
Vernon, twenty miles off. Then he turned
around and galloped all the way back. The
4 4 ,H>1Is Of {l,n nlrr Of
South Washington. There were over 100
boys at the funeral. In revenge Clay sold
the nigger to Louisiana sugar planter,
with proviso in the bill of sale that the
planter should hitch Sam in shafts and work
him in cane mill. Fact, sir!"